I Traded A Tweet For a Toot

What the hell am I talking about you ask? I decided it was time for another change in my online life. I normally don’t talk about these things; I just brush them off and stick to the subjects I want to talk about, and I don’t do anything unless something affects me.

That is what happened with Instagram. I remember when I was still using that app, I didn’t really like its shift from photography to videos. Sure, I liked the story feature even though Snapchat did it first, but once reels came out, that was the app’s main focus from then on trying to be better than TikTok. I still let it slide because I occasionally liked doing reels, hell I still remember the last one I created where I showed off the outfit for my OC in my Resident Evil Village fanfiction. But I did nothing to save myself from the trouble arising until the worst case scenario happened to me there: which was when my account was hacked.

Instagram had a hacking problem all along before it happened to me, if I had known about it, I would have got the hell outta there but I didn’t until it was too late. Once again, I am beginning to feel the same way about Twitter.

I first left Twitter in late 2017 due to personal reasons: a buildup of harassment over the years and I began to get out of control with my tweets during the Ontario college faculty strike as an upset student who felt unfairly held hostage in the situation. I deactivated my account and did not return until August last year, deciding to use it just to promote my blog and remain anonymous. Ironically, that was after Trump’s account was suspended.

Another factor that made me leave Twitter in 2017 was the constant political crap I was muting and blocking on a daily basis. Not just from Trump but many other sources as well.

So what makes me want to possibly leave Twitter again?

When I found out that Elon Musk had purchased the app/site, at first I didn’t know what to think of it until I learned who he really was and what his intentions were. When he started yapping about allowing all forms of free speech on the platform, as a victim of harassment in the past on Twitter, (not just from particular people in the Ghost fandom aforementioned) but in general as well in certain circumstances: this was a huge red flag for me. Sure, I didn’t have a huge following with my current account but in case that would be subject to change, or I responded to another tweet sharing my own thoughts, Mr. Musk has basically enabled the green light for more people to verbally attack me and other women for any reason.

While I have always been pro-free speech, there is a time where I draw the line in the sand. If your form of free speech is to verbally attack people for their race, sex, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, or just for having different personal interests and beliefs than you, then that’s not free speech, it’s cyberbullying and harassment and it’s only going to get worse.

I also don’t agree with the ability to pay eight bucks per month to get a little blue tick next to your account name, because if anyone out there decides to be an asshole and impersonate you, you’re screwed if you don’t have that blue tick. It’s like the victim is punished and not the offender. Also a big no for me.

I’ve also heard rumors that he’s looking to undo the suspension of certain people from the app like Trump which will turn Twitter into a political shitstorm once again.

That’s not something I want to be a part of.

I have already been subjected to enough harassment as a woman on the autism spectrum and once again I do not go on social media to be bombarded with politics. But, I still want to be able to promote my blog for the people who don’t have Facebook or Discord so what do I do now? Well, I might be leaving Twitter, I don’t know when but it seems nigh for me at this point. Might as well consider getting out before it gets worse or before something happens to my account.

My fellow blogger friends Magi and Belghast recommended a place called Mastodon which acts like Twitter except its not owned by anyone, there’s no ads, no subscription plan, and you make an account under a specific server catered to your needs. It also has a 500-character limit which is a lot better and after researching a little, I decided to give it a try.

The only downside is it won’t automatically publish my posts here to my profile there, but I’ll make up for it by writing something custom instead.

I’m still learning how to use it but it might be a better place for me. I wasn’t sure what server to join so I just picked a general one. I have found some of my blogger friends on there already. What’s funny is that Mastodon is also the name of heavy metal band from Georgia!

I’ll get used to Mastodon eventually. I probably didn’t need to join cause I’m sure I can manage just with promoting my content on Facebook and Discord but after learning about Mastodon, I decided I wanted to try it out for the hell of it and we shall see if I stay. I also don’t want to go back to Tumblr cause I’m afraid I’ll get addicted to reblogging random shit on there again and not doing anything else. I’m also that rare type of human who was happy they banned porn because I hated seeing that when I was still using the app.

Reddit I am against due to some clown making a nasty thread about something I wrote here long ago (the post and its subject has been deleted since my discovery of the thread) and the stories on the news I heard about women being sexually harassed there from photo-sharing without consent.

So, if I had to choose, Mastodon it is!

So yeah if you’re looking for me on Mastodon I am known as simply Monsterlady there. I’m still building my profile but it’s a start. As for my Twitter account, I don’t think I’ll be using it anymore, but I may not deactivate it right away. If I’m going to do that eventually, I want to give my followers there a chance to find me elsewhere if they still want to stay in touch with me, whether it’s my new place in Mastodon or the other platforms I’m on.

👽Emily