Narcissists are probably much more common than we think.
I had one as a Best Friend for a while. He (platonically) love-bombed me and won my affection, then spent a couple of years involving me in misadventures that skirted the edges of decent behavior while always somehow proving that he was the funnest and most popular person in an ever-expanding circle of acolytes.
It was quite a ride. I only broke off the friendship when he tried to force me to approve of his sudden decision to abandon his wife and child for someone new.
I feel certain that, if he somehow became the richest person in the world, he would attempt to buy the internet and destroy his detractors rather than trying to, say, alleviate world hunger.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 6:17 pm
by coopasonic
I've never personally known anyone I would call a narcissist. In fact, the closest I can think of is me and honestly I might have even fit the bill loosely up through my 30s. Can you outgrow narcissism? I eventually learned to be much less of a smarmy, manipulative asshat. No idea what drove that reformation other than re-evaluating my role in my personal relationships.
On a related note, I could never be the richest person in the world... as soon as I have enough money to never work again, that's what I am doing. If I hadn't bothered getting married and having kids I could have been LordMortis 10 years ago!
Ken Follett wrote:"The trouble with being a tyrant is that your position is so insecure. You can't relax your grip for an instant. As soon as you show weakness, the smell of blood is in the air and the jackals gather. Machiavelli said it's better to be feared than loved, but he was wrong. A popular leader can make mistakes and survive, up to a point. A tyrant can't."
Interesting take. I'd point out that tyrants often get to decide what is a mistake and what isn't. Typically along the lines of "If I did it, it wasn't a mistake."
Yeah, which is the kind of behavior we're seeing here with Musk.
KMr Fed nspired me to sign up. roughly 20k into the wait list - I'm not huge account tho. If anyone is signing up, this is my referral link to speed up the post.news waitlist..
My late friend and co-writer Patrick started @Popehat’s Twitter account and built it. I only started using it around 2014 or so. Gradually I used it more and he used it less, until he split off to his own account. I miss him, and his perspective and wit and humanity, keenly. Twitter’s not the same without him. That’s one reason I’m leaving it.
The other reason is that I think it’s fundamentally changed, at least for now. I’m not just talking about the increasing tech glitches. Just as Twitter’s former leaders exercised their free speech and free association rights to brand Twitter one way, Twitter’s new boss is exercising his rights to brand it another way. That new branding is ugly and despicable and I don’t want to contribute content to it. The last straw was Elon Musk sending lunatics and bigots against former employees and leaning into conspiracy theories. So I’m exercising my free speech and free association and leaving, and shuttering the account. I’ll probably delete the past tweets because I can’t stomach them being available to promote this enterprise.
This is exactly how it’s supposed to work, as I’ve been arguing for years. Twitter — or whoever runs it — has rights. I have rights. If one of us disagrees with the other’s exercise of rights, we can part company.
RIP Tareeq. We still miss you!
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:44 pm
by malchior
CNN - Former top Twitter official forced to leave home due to threats amid ‘Twitter Files’ release
I'm sort of feeling Fed's vibe on this. This weekend was the last straw for me. I have work reasons to continue to monitor Twitter but I'll use it to source information but I'm not posting and I will begin to think about what I directly link from Twitter. Fed used the right word. Despicable.
Twitter’s former head of trust and safety has fled his home due to an escalation in threats resulting from Elon Musk’s campaign of criticism against him, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.
Yoel Roth, who resigned from the social media company in November, has in recent weeks faced a storm of attacks and threats of violence following the release of the so-called “Twitter Files” — internal Twitter communications that new owner Musk has released through journalists including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.
Roth’s position involved him working on sensitive issues including the suspension of then-President Donald Trump’s account in 2021. On Monday, Weiss posted a series of screenshots purported to show internal Twitter documents where Roth and others discussed whether to ban Trump’s account, with some employees questioning if the former president’s tweets violated the platform’s policies.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:08 pm
by Skinypupy
I’ve never posted, liked, shared, or commented on anything in Twitter. Haven’t ever intentionally clicked an ad either, although I’ve had clumsy thumbs on occasion I only use it for entertainment and/or doom scrolling.
Feeling much the same way as others after watching the continued slide into MAGA derpville over the past week. I don’t want to really be involved in that. Will likely ditch it entirely as well.
Let it turn into Gab/4chan…I don’t need to be involved.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:22 pm
by RunningMn9
coopasonic wrote:I've never personally known anyone I would call a narcissist. In fact, the closest I can think of is me and honestly I might have even fit the bill loosely up through my 30s. Can you outgrow narcissism?
The kind of narcissism displayed by Trump and Elon is at least transparent enough that it’s easy to identify. They’re desperate need to be loved manifests in absurd aggrandizement of themselves and their “accomplishments”. But it can never be enough.
You can’t outgrow it. It’s what you are. I don’t know if you can overcome it, but I doubt it because that require an amazing amount of self-awareness to realize you suffer from NPD, to work at it. That’s not in the wheelhouse of narcissists.
NOTHING is their fault, and they’ve never done anything wrong. What is there to fix?
The other kind of narcissist is much worse (in my opinion), rather than the constant bragging and projection of self-importance, they bend their world around them through guilt and emotional manipulation.
They are exhausting to deal with, and very difficult to escape.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:42 pm
by YellowKing
My podcast has built a fairly sizeable following on Twitter, and it sucks we're going to basically have to start over at square one. But I'm at the end of my rope as well. Our feed is now filled inexplicably with MILF porn accounts, Elon Musk rants, hate speech, and other shit we never had to deal with before. Looking for alternatives, but I don't think the Twitter refugees have quite settled on an agreed upon platform yet.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:53 pm
by Smoove_B
YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:42 pm
Looking for alternatives, but I don't think the Twitter refugees have quite settled on an agreed upon platform yet.
Just from the reputable people I've been following that are also now leaving, there's no consensus. There's nothing quite like Twitter and there doesn't seem to be a universal platform that works as well for what Twitter used to do.
I get so much good info (well, I did) from Twitter so to see it imploding like this is very, very frustrating. At the risk of sounding dramatic, we're collectively diminished because of what Musk has done.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 11:29 pm
by malchior
Elon is literally encouraging people to seek out QAnon material now. He is going to get someone killed.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 11:34 pm
by Isgrimnur
YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:42 pm
Our feed is now filled inexplicably with MILF porn accounts
Well, hey, nice to know Ted Cruz is a fan.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 11:40 pm
by Carpet_pissr
I deactivated my account as well. But not before I read some hilarious ‘The Great Booing’ posts and replies! Epic.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:34 am
by Rumpy
Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:53 pm
I get so much good info (well, I did) from Twitter so to see it imploding like this is very, very frustrating. At the risk of sounding dramatic, we're collectively diminished because of what Musk has done.
Agreed. The sad thing is that it's been an incredibly useful tool. My Dad for instance, an amateur astronomer, doesn't really do social media, but he he had been convinced to join Twitter at one point, with the sole purpose of posting astronomical tweets, ie what to see in the night sky at on any given day.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:50 am
by Kraken
I signed up for Twitter in the olden days because I heard it was a way to market one's business for free. But being asocial and not very good at capitalism I didn't get how to do that, and abandoned it after a few weeks when I finally realized it would involve interacting with strangers. I probably made three tweets 15 years ago. After that I never paid any attention to it until Florida Man used it as a megaphone, whereupon I unavoidably became a Twitter voyeur. Despite never using it myself, I saw (and still see) a ridiculous number of tweets that I would rather not know about.
I get that it's so useful it's almost a public utility, and hope another forum can pick up the ball. Heck, maybe I'll even join that.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:40 pm
by AWS260
Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 8:25 pm
Mr Fed is bolting...
YellowKing wrote:My podcast has built a fairly sizeable following on Twitter, and it sucks we're going to basically have to start over at square one. But I'm at the end of my rope as well. Our feed is now filled inexplicably with MILF porn accounts, Elon Musk rants, hate speech, and other shit we never had to deal with before. Looking for alternatives, but I don't think the Twitter refugees have quite settled on an agreed upon platform yet.
Mr Fed has been active on mastodon the past day or two.
It seems to be gathering some momentum, especially in that some of the confusing personal server setup pieces have been changed.
Giving it a shot while pending the postnews waitlist (not even sure you can browse postnews without an account). Mastodon does seem to be getting a bit slammed today tho. Had a few 500 internal server errors this morning.
YellowKing wrote:My podcast has built a fairly sizeable following on Twitter, and it sucks we're going to basically have to start over at square one. But I'm at the end of my rope as well. Our feed is now filled inexplicably with MILF porn accounts, Elon Musk rants, hate speech, and other shit we never had to deal with before. Looking for alternatives, but I don't think the Twitter refugees have quite settled on an agreed upon platform yet.
Mr Fed has been active on mastodon the past day or two.
It seems to be gathering some momentum, especially in that some of the confusing personal server setup pieces have been changed.
Giving it a shot while pending the postnews waitlist (not even sure you can browse postnews without an account). Mastodon does seem to be getting a bit slammed today tho. Had a few 500 internal server errors this morning.
Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk
Hmm. He had me at "notorious lickspittle Lindsey Graham".
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:53 pm
by Holman
I'm inclined to quit Twitter because Musk is a right-wing troll, but quitting feels like a real loss.
I almost never post, but I've built up a strong list (me following them) of journalists, academics, comedians, writers, and people connected to my interests and hobbies. For the past seven or eight years, Twitter has been a great place to get news and developments from people I've curated as good sources. Keeping the app set to "Latest Tweets" rather than "Top Tweets" has preserved my sanity by allowing me to ignore most of the Shit unless it became newsworthy.
Sigh. I suppose everything comes to an end.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:23 pm
by Blackhawk
Give it time. People will settle, something new will fill the void.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:59 pm
by Jeff V
Yesterday, colleague of a former boss posted an article on team building on LinkedIn. I responded, "yeah, you could do that, or you could just hire me and consider it done." He replied that he'll keep that in mind next time his team expands.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 2:11 am
by Rumpy
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:23 pm
Give it time. People will settle, something new will fill the void.
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:23 pm
Give it time. People will settle, something new will fill the void.
Like a Musk-less Twitter? One would hope.
Or a Musk-less something that doesn't require people to post threads of fifteen micro-paragraphs to communicate.
If email has for decades done a three line view that could opened into a long page, and SMS gave way to MMS I don't know when, why hasn't Twitter adopted that ability but not requirement to expand as soon at threads became a thing?
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 10:20 am
by pr0ner
Holman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:53 pm
I'm inclined to quit Twitter because Musk is a right-wing troll, but quitting feels like a real loss.
I almost never post, but I've built up a strong list (me following them) of journalists, academics, comedians, writers, and people connected to my interests and hobbies. For the past seven or eight years, Twitter has been a great place to get news and developments from people I've curated as good sources. Keeping the app set to "Latest Tweets" rather than "Top Tweets" has preserved my sanity by allowing me to ignore most of the Shit unless it became newsworthy.
Sigh. I suppose everything comes to an end.
Latest Tweets is the way. I always laugh when people complain about the algorithm when Twitter (unlike Facebook) at least gives you some control over what your timeline looks like.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:14 pm
by Blackhawk
This
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:14 pm
by Blackhawk
was
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:14 pm
by Blackhawk
always
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 12:15 pm
by Blackhawk
absurd.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 2:50 pm
by pr0ner
I'm pretty sure when Twitter was designed, people weren't anticipating it being used as a blog, where people post threads that are dozens (or hundreds) of tweets long.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 4:25 pm
by Pyperkub
FWIW, as I check out mastodon (it was Tareeq and Mr Fed who got me to finally join Twitter back in the day), so Mr Fed's goodbye gave me a kick in the pants to check it out as it seems to have dramatically improved since the early days last month.
Here's me:
Pyperkub
@ pyperkub @ mastodon . social
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 7:50 pm
by Holman
pr0ner wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 2:50 pm
I'm pretty sure when Twitter was designed, people weren't anticipating it being used as a blog, where people post threads that are dozens (or hundreds) of tweets long.
Well, it has always been a "micro-blogging site," the the great benefit being that it was all in one place rather than scattered across a hundred webpages.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2022 3:58 am
by Kraken
I clicked a Facebook ad for a home delivery meal service because food porn, decided it cost too much, and bounced away. FB quickly served up ads for several competing services, which I ignored. The next time I logged into FB the first company came back with an ad targeted at senior citizens. That's kind of brilliant, even though I'm even less inclined to buy because Who you calling old?
When my mom was in the early stages of Alzheimer's she lost the ability to plan and cook meals and didn't know how to feed herself. I suggested frozen dinners, and that worked for a little while. One of these services would've been good for her until she lost the ability to operate the microwave or boil water. They're trying to be Meals on Wheels for rich people.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 6:07 pm
by Jaymann
Never been on Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. and never will. Now when I go to websites I keep getting messages to sign in using Google. No thanks.
I set up a separate email on Proton under my pen name and made a FB account to promote my books, but have done nothing with it.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:03 pm
by pr0ner
Let's see how this goes:
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:07 pm
by Rumpy
No he won't. He'll totally ignore it like he's been ignoring everything else. Chances are, he'll even ban those who voted yes.
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:10 pm
by Max Peck
pr0ner wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:03 pm
Let's see how this goes:
"Help me, Obi-Wan McTrollfarm. You're my only hope!"
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:15 pm
by LordMortis
Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:07 pm
No he won't. He'll totally ignore it like he's been ignoring everything else. Chances are, he'll even ban those who voted yes.
How many of those who would have voted yes have already left? He just put out a removal and/or suspension notice for pretty much anyone working cross platform.
Twitter is where the public conversation is happening, and where people from all over the globe come to promote their businesses, art, ideas, and more. We know that many of our users may be active on other social media platforms; however, going forward, Twitter will no longer allow free promotion of specific social media platforms on Twitter.
What is a violation of this policy?
At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL:
Prohibited platforms:
Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr
3rd-party social media link aggregators such as linktr.ee, lnk.bio
“check out my profile on Facebook - facebook.com/username”
Accounts that are used for the main purpose of promoting content on another social platform may be suspended. Additionally, any attempts to bypass restrictions on external links to the above prohibited social media platforms through technical or non-technical means (e.g. URL cloaking, plaintext obfuscation) is in violation of this policy. This includes, but is not limited to, spelling out “dot” for social media platforms that use “.” in the names to avoid URL creation, or sharing screenshots of your handle on a prohibited social media platform.
Example: “instagram dot com/username”
Re: Social Media Discussion
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:25 pm
by malchior
Rumpy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 8:07 pm
No he won't. He'll totally ignore it like he's been ignoring everything else. Chances are, he'll even ban those who voted yes.
He wants an excuse to walk away. He is probably fighting a hell of a battle at Tesla right now at the board level. The million dollar question is who does he install. And does that meaningfully change anything.
It is no coincedence this is happening right after the number 3 shareholder called for him to move on.
