it's been real twitter
Like so many other people, I have decided that it’s time for me to bail on Twitter. This hasn’t been a decision I’ve taken lightly, because a large majority of the success of my career can be attributed to the relationships and networking that has been possible because of Twitter. But, it’s not the Twitter we knew and loved - and it hasn’t been for a long time.
Twitter has been on a death march since 2019 or so. The 2020 election really accelerated the impending doom, driving us all further and further into our silos, and giving voices to fascism, racism, and all but removing the ability for people to get verified. For cis white males, getting verified is just a vanity metric, but for everyone else, it comes with enhanced tools to protect you.
I’m not a fan of Musk, I’m not a fan of billionaires in general, but I have a distinct distaste for him which has only grown of late. Before anyone remarks, yes we own a Tesla. It checked the right boxes for us at the time, but we will not be getting another one when our lease is up. He purchased Twitter under the guise of wanting to protect free speach, but what that has actually materialized as is enabling fascist, racist, anti-LGBTQIA+, and other vile folks to get a free pass. Moderation has been gutted. Engineering has been gutted. Labor laws have been broken. He’s ripped apart basically anything that protected vulnerable groups, randomly shut down services that made 2FA work, and made moronic decisions without understanding what the implications are.
Being a billionaire essentially gives you a free pass in our society and it makes me sick. Just because you’re #1 on an imaginary scoreboard, does not mean that you’re more important than anyone else. It does not mean that you get to swing your dick around and put lives in danger - because let’s face it - that’s what’s happening here. By removing protections and moderation, people are going to get injured or die.
Felon Tusk’s plan was to get Twitter profitable quickly, because the bank loans against his Tesla stock will come due and he’ll need to find the money somewhere. In his rash approach to making Twitter profitable, he’s made these decisions which have turned out to be disasterous. Firing thousands of people without understanding the impact, then coming back to them within a week and asking them to come back… Are you kidding?
Anyways, far more energetic folks will write a more aggressive and more thoroughly research post about this train-wreck, but the moral of the story is, I’m done. I will no longer allow my content to be used to generate money for this clown. I will not advertise that Twitter is the best place to contact me.
So where will you find me? Here.
Also, on Mastodon: @[email protected]
You can email me here: wk [at] thisdomain