I've had several people either private message me or ask me why I've been so absent from Mastodon over the last few weeks or so, and today, I think it's time to update all of you as to why.
When I first came to Mastodon, it was super fun, super awesome, everyone was super nice and there was little to no drama or toxicity.
For the most part, that hasn't changed, except for the drama part of it. That side, has changed DRAMATICALLY! (cont...)
About 3 weeks or so ago, everyone went on some dramatic spill about block lists. People went on and on and on for days, even weeks in some cases, and to be honest, it was absolutely ridiculous and stupid in my opinion.
Yes, I get it, we are allowed to voice our opinions on things, and that's fine and all. But when you state "I don't want to be part of the drama" and you continuously involve yourself and bring that drama back to the surface, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM! (cont...)
There were NUMEROUS people that I was associated with at the time that felt it was their job, their duty, their place and sadly, their passion, to be involved in the block list drama and to keep stirring the pot every few minutes. In fact, for some folks, that's literally ALL they talked about here on Mastodon and even in specific Discord servers that were created for something completely different. (cont...)
These people posted thousands and thousands of messages in certain places and to me personally, it really showed their true colors. So much so, that I was called a "priviledged white cis male" for simply stating that I couldn't stand the drama and that I felt people should just stop bringing the drama to the surface every few seconds or every few minutes.
I was told that I was clueless and nothing shy of being a complete idiot for stating my opinions. (cont...)
Yet it was perfectly ok and normal for them to state their opinions and that when I brought that up, I was told that I was wrong and that it was only me that shouldn't be voicing my opinion. This was told to me by fellow instance admins, that I will NOT mention by name.
Those people are in my opinion the ones that are THE PROBLEM. Not the ones they are bitching, whining and crying about. (cont...)
Because of those statements and because of the continuous drama, I felt it was best to take a break from what I was feeling to be a "shitty platform to be on", though knowing in my heart and soul, that this was and is the best platform for me. I needed to walk away and hope that this stupid drama that was happening would settle down and go away.
After a few days, I checked in and guess what? Still the same drama that had been happening several days earlier. (cont...)
At that point, I knew I needed to make drastic changes to the people I was associated with. I got associated with certain individuals by my own mistake of following them based on being part of a specific Discord server where the drama truly originated, and then carried over to Mastodon. That was ALL ON ME!
I decided to unfollow those folks, and many of them, instance admins or not, I blocked/muted them, and moved forward. (cont...)
At that point, I waited a few more days and checked back in again, and let me tell you, since blocking/muting those certain individuals, I could tell that my Mastodon feed was back to where it was prior to associating myself with such horrible individuals.
My feed had little to no drama, as you can't completely get rid of drama, unfortunately, and there was very little whining and bitching going on about a stupid block list. (cont...)
At that time, I decided I wasn't going to post too much here, and I was going to see how things went for several days before coming back and starting to post regularly again, which today is that day of my return if you will.
While I had those people blocked/muted, I checked in on them in other ways, and guess what? Drama still happening, so I knew I had made the right decision.
Today, I'm returning with my head back in the game. (cont...)
I'm able to return today due to having fully cleared out the bad apples in the bunch.
Again, I won't call them out by name, but I personally feel that others know exactly which instance admins are good, and which ones aren't. I also personally feel that those individuals know they are themselves, they just refuse to admit the truth that THEY ARE THE ISSUE here on Mastodon.
Let me also state, there are some AWESOME instance admins out there too. (cont...)
There were a couple that checked in on me due to noticing that I had stepped away from here a bit and was a bit quieter than usual. To those of you that did that, THANK YOU! You know who you are, and again, I'm not going to mention names in any way at all.
Your friendships are the ones I want and appreciate, big time and you're the ones I want to be associated with and will continue to be associated with! (cont...)
Going forward, if you're going to be one of these "whining, crying, bitching, moaning and groaning" individuals on this platform, I'm simply going to mute you, block you and move on because you are NOT worth it.
I've needed to get this off of my chest for a while now, but I felt I needed to do it at the right time for me personally and today, is that day as I stated.
I know to many of you, this will seem like drama as well, and if so, you have that right. (cont...)
I respect your opinion and your thoughts or whatever else. What I don't respect, is the drama and the people who cause it.
I hope everyone understands where I'm coming from here. Also, I want everyone to respect my decision to NOT name names of those that I feel are the biggest problems on this platform. I will NOT provide those names to anyone for any reason via DM or anything else. So DO NOT ASK, PERIOD! (cont...)
With all of this said, I know I'll likely get backlash over this as well. And if so, that's all on me personally and I'm ok with it. Those that give me backlash are instantly letting me know exactly what I need to know and for that, I thank you in advance!
I love this platform and love the people that I connect with and speak to regularly! Thank you for making this place such an awesome place to be!
@joel LOL Sorry about the thread. I honestly don't particularly care for them either, but I wanted it posted here for a specific reason as I know a lot of folks simply wouldn't read the blog post or even look at it. This gets to them directly for the most part.
I certainly appreciate the free pass. Long threads from me don't happen very often, I promise!
@kylewritescode I hear you sir! I hope it's nothing too serious or too bad and you know, if you need anyone to talk to or anything, my doors are always open.
We certainly do miss your smiling face around here though!
@kylewritescode Ah, gotcha! Sorry to hear that man. Hopefully things get better for you soon. Hopefully the new job is at least decently good and not causing mental/emotional issues like the previous one.
Totally feel that, and I’ve been burned out a little on Fedigardens development as a result. The new exclusive lists feature has been helping a little, and not browsing the timeline as much.
Nowadays I’m just posting game dev content about my WIP game and seeing discussions come out of that.
@cliffwade I just read your thread and was wondering what people were talking about. I’d like to know only if you wouldn’t mind, of course. I was blocked by someone recently only because I had chimed in because I felt someone was treated unjustly. I think you were right to step away because sometimes online spheres can be vile in some circumstances. I hope you’re fine with your current experience and am glad you shared your view as well as for the steps you took.
@Kephinio Like I said, I won't go into complete details, as those details were out there for weeks on end, and I certainly won't name names of anyone involved in any way at all.
I will say, this was mostly with regards to the block list stuff that mostly started with regards to The Bad Space.
That's all I'm going to say, as I feel everyone can do their own research and form their own opinions, just as I did myself.
Hopefully that doesn't come across as rude or anything!
@cliffwade Hey, don’t worry! I just wasn’t sure what you meant by “Block”. 😀
No specifics needed. And, of course, you are completely free to tell what you feel like telling. 😌
Thanks for replying despite the negative topic.
Here’s to being able to enjoy the platform again! 🙆🏼♂️
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