Wil Wheaton, an actor and author, writes personal posts about depression, his child-star career, and social media.
Commenters link his post on being forced to be a child star, and cite his Mastodon experience in debates about moderation.
I totally get why so many peple are jumping to BlueSky, and I may yet, one day, join them. But I'm still almost exclusively on Mathstodon.xyz, only visiting a few places to stay in touch with a few people who are refusing to move (sometimes for perfectly valid reasons).
Having said that, I invite you to read this essay:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/02/ulysses-pact/#tie-yourself-to-a-federated-mast
I found that it expressed eloquently reservations of my own that I had been unable to put into words.
* https://wilwheaton.net/2024/11/nothing-but-bluesky-is-such-a-predictable-title-for-this-post/
For people who build connections and create content, I advise most strongly that they prepare from day one for having to move. Create your content elsewhere and then copy it to BS, keep a separate record of people you want to stay in touch with. Do not rely on a platform like BS for keeping anything.
The article exactly captures why I am using Mastodon-the-Platform and not BS. If I do put things on BS, I will be prepared to lose them, and connections.
But each person has their own reasons for using any of these platforms. I'm getting great technical content, mathematical content, connections, and conversations on Mathstodon.
PS: For the avoidance of doubt: mathstodon.xyz (carefully note the spelling) is one instance of Mastodon-the-Platform.
PPS: Again, I totally get why people are choosing other platforms, and this is not a criticism. It purely an explanation of my…
"Eli Lilly" did effectively join Mastodon, in 2018, except that it was Wil Wheaton, and ... things went poorly.
Wil joined what was at the time my own home instance, following something of a flameout on Twitter, itself caused by 1) people harassing him there, 2) Wil employing a shared, user-generated blocklist which 3) by both its own size and celeb-driven adoption rendered many other Twitter accounts effectively blocked --- not by Twitter, but as a result of individual adoptions of that blocklist. How legitimate inclusions were, and/or how feasible it was to get off the blocklist, I really can't say. That said, Wil arrived on Mastodon with both a large fan and foe base.
Harassment of Wil began on Mastodon.
<https://www.theglobaldispatch.com/mastadon-shuts-down-wil-wheaton-after-attacks-from-sjw-mobs-trolls-as-they-win-again-11877/>
The admin/moderator was ... less than transparent or capable, and responded to a case of "this profile is causing me problems" by banning that profile rather than seeking out the root cause of the griefers who'd in fact triggered the problem.
<https://mastodon.cloud/@wilw/100635779449174251>
Ultimate, Wil left Mastodon as well, writing his own account of the matter:
<https://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/>
Mastodon's evolved its own tools and practices (both technically and as a community, including a community of admins), and should perform better in…
It might help to expand your horizons a bit. I see a lot of dudes on there I easily spotted for having limited range from the start. The trouble is people like this float too far off the ground and never come down to catch up. They usually lose their touch long before they gain the limelight, but are able to cruise a bit.
The big tell: is "being a public intellectual" all they have? Do they have no experiences with the real world to temper flighty, assumption-based beliefs? Bad news. Even Zeno of Citium saw the world as a merchant while Stoicism was cooking in his head. You can't create or benefit from philosophy isolated from people who challenge your assumptions.
Here's some people to get you started:
On Malik (some interesting photography too): https://om.co/
Anil Dash (appreciates a good Prince pun): https://www.anildash.com/
Judith Butler, just about anything they put out in public.
bell hooks (deceased, but has a lot worth reading)
Adam Savage (lots of good life advice in Q&As): https://www.youtube.com/@tested
Wil Wheaton (yeah I know, but he hit a new gear once he got past alcohol and started really dealing with his childhood trauma): https://wilwheaton.net/
Michael Rosenbaum (played a solid Lex Luthor and now does great interviews): https://www.youtube.com/@InsideOfYouPodcast
Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating (from Enterprise to interview show): https://www.youtube.com/@ShuttlepodShow/
Twitter has had (unofficial, via third-party services) user created blocklists for awhile now, but still feel like something only used by power users. And the complaints/anger over censorship still exist — IIRC, Wil Wheaton (the uber-Twitter power user) was hounded off of Twitter and Mastodon because of his promotion of a controversial user’s blacklist:
http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/
https://medium.com/@AmberEnderton/wil-wheaton-has-a-listening-problem-accdf6277b88
It's a complicated issue however there is a difference: film stars make money from being famous. The more well known they are, the more money they get for an appearance in a film. Being famous is just as much their job as acting.
I'm not saying that they therefore have no right to privacy - I'm not even sure exactly what my views are on the issue - but there is definitely a difference.
Somewhat related: http://wilwheaton.net/2012/09/heres-my-flabby-forty-year-old-nerdy-self-on-the-beach-in-hawaii/
The author raises Donald Trump as an example, I'll counter with Wil Wheaton's experience on Mastodon[1].
It's great that there are moderation teams that will accept inflammatory and controversial characters. But if the userbase doesn't believe in freedom of speech, it doesn't really matter if the platform does.
1 - http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-right-now-and-thats-largely-because-it-is-what-we-make-it/