---
title: "Goodbye Twitter, Hello Fediverse!"
date: 2022-11-12
series: twitter
tags:
  - fediverse
  - rant
hero:
  ai: "Waifu Diffusion v1.3 (float16)"
  file: "bird-fleeing"
  prompt: "light blue bird, sunset, crying, landscape, anime style, space needle, clouds, sun, genshin impact, teyvat, breath of the wild, hyrule"
---

I have been watching in horror as Elon Musk seems to be doing his best to
destroy Twitter as fast as he can. This has been really hard to watch, but at
the same time I can't help but watch the trainwreck unfold. The biggest thing
that this all has been making me think about is the fact that Twitter has been
one of my main ways that I use the Internet for so long. My phone tells me that
I've had the Twitter app open for an absolutely depressing amount of time. I
would be willing to argue that I have been _addicted_ to Twitter. Twitter was
consuming a large part of my life.

I've been aware of how bad it was getting. This has been made slightly worse by
the fact that a large part of my job involves stalking Twitter, but in general
it was starting to be a problem. At some level, I am relieved that Elon Musk is
destroying Twitter. At another, I am horrified that one of the main ways that I
communicate on the Internet is being destroyed.

This feels like it's [freenode](https://withinstudios.itch.io/closed-projects)
all over again. Same story, different threat actor. The main difference is that
there is no one [libera.chat](https://libera.chat/) to take over and save us
this time. Twitter is too big for one community to absorb _that many_ people. It
can feel like there is going to be a massive diaspora of former communities into
god knows where. It feels like you will become an anonymous voice in an infinite
crowd, never to be heard from again.

However, I think there is a way that we all can get off of Twitter and _still
retain some of the communities we will lose_. I think that we all need to take
the [Fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse) more seriously. The
main gimmick of the Fediverse is that there's no longer one platform, one
provider, one service. Instead there are a constellation of independent
platforms that communicate with eachother. If you create an account on
[vt.social](https://vt.social), you can follow me on
[pony.social](https://pony.social). You can also follow people on other websites
that participate in the Fediverse. There's even a whole YouTube clone called
[PeerTube](https://joinpeertube.org/) that can federate out to other websites.
Follow a PeerTube user from your Mastodon server and then you can reply to the
video and _those replies show up as comments on that video_. No more siloes, no
more having to create an account everywhere to do basic interaction. You just
follow and reply to people on other platforms like they were on the same website
as you are.

One of the biggest complaints I've heard about the Fediverse is that they get
analysis paralysis from having to _choose_ a server to start out with. This is
most common with people that aren't used to the fact that this is how the old
internet started out. There weren't big siloes. You had to choose where to hang
out. However, just pick something at random. [You can move your account
later](https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#migration) if you want to. It
is not hard to do. Trust me.

<XeblogToot url="https://mastodon.sdf.org/@Ricardus/109322650979345324"></XeblogToot>

For a while I was running a crossposter between [my Fediverse
profile](https://pony.social/@cadey) and Twitter. I have turned that off. The
only things that I am going to use Twitter for in the future are the automated
posts for this blog and whatever else I need to do for work. It has been really
hard to build up the courage to torch an almost 6-thousand person following on
Twitter, but I feel that this will be better for everyone involved.

<XeblogConv name="Cadey" mood="enby">
  Being able to have 2048 characters per post is also helping me recover from
  the koan-like shitposting style that Twitter forced me to adopt. 280
  characters is _just not enough space_ for nuance. 2048 characters allows me to
  use _sentences_ and _paragraphs_. It is such a lovely feeling. Even the
  Mastodon default of 500 characters leaves so much more room for nuance.
</XeblogConv>

## Follow suggestions

On the Fediverse there is a tradition we lovingly call
[#FollowFriday](https://pony.social/tags/followfriday). Every friday people will
make a message with the hashtag `#FollowFriday` and list out a bunch of people
that they think are worth following. Some people will name why they should be
followed and I did miss my `#FollowFriday` this week because I was on a train
with absolutely terrible WiFi so I'm going to list out people I think are worth
following here:

[@xe@vt.social](https://vt.social/@xe) is my Lojbanist vtubing alt. I'm working
on being more comfortable with being _wrong_ in front of people as a part of
getting better at public speaking and healing from my past. If you choose to
follow this account, please keep in mind that I am _committed to the bit_ and I
will be posting _entirely_ in [Lojban](https://lojban.pw/welcome/).

<XeblogToot url="https://vt.social/@xe/109308323411835557"></XeblogToot>

[@cwebber@octodon.social](https://octodon.social/@cwebber) is one of the
co-authors of the ActivityPub specification. She has done incredible work in
making the Fediverse shine and I suggest following to see what she has cooked up
next.

[@ghuntley@ghuntley.com](https://fediverse.ghuntley.com/@ghuntley) is one of the
most amusing people I know. Don't be fooled by the fact that his profile picture
is a Bored Ape NFT. He's actually quite vocally anti-NFT and cryptocurrency in
general. He has that Bored Ape because he randomly got a _pirated ape_ shoved
into his Ethereum wallet and now uses it out of pure irony.

<XeblogToot url="https://fediverse.ghuntley.com/@ghuntley/109329174967503675"></XeblogToot>

[@LunaFoxgirlVT@vt.social](https://vt.social/@LunaFoxgirlVT) is the creator of
[Inochi2D](https://inochi2d.com/), an open-source vtubing application for
Windows, macOS, and Linux. Luna is a passionate game developer and someone that
I personally sponsor on GitHub. I don't even use Inochi2D _yet_, but I support her
mission of making vtubing free and easy to use for the masses. Give her a
follow!

[@Lyude@queer.party](https://queer.party/@Lyude) is someone I have been friends
with for almost a decade. Lyude is the person I go to when I have issues with X
and Wayland. Lyude is also a fearless rustacean and someone that I would love to
work with some day. If only we worked on things that were remotely related to
eachother.

[@Gankra@toot.cat](https://toot.cat/@Gankra) is one of the most powerful
rustaceans I know. Gankra fearlessly helps make Rust easier to use and is
adept at posting. Here's an example of a Gankra post:

<XeblogToot url="https://toot.cat/@Gankra/109320427252456972"></XeblogToot>

[@cult@pony.social](https://pony.social/@cult) is the person that runs the
Mastodon server that I post on. He's worth following because he has a true
understanding of irony and humor that you can only really get from a sarcastic
German.
