Back to the future: how Mastodon is restoring the lost art of online conversation | John Naughton | The Guardian

The Guardian takes notice of Mastodon. Reconstructed mammoth or mastodon

The new social network with its interconnected ‘fediverse’ is a welcome alternative to blustering rival Twitter and Elon Musk

— Read on www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/21/back-to-the-future-how-mastodon-is-restoring-the-lost-art-of-online-conversation

Where Gratitude Gets You | #HiddenBrain #Podcast

Many of us struggle with self-control.  And we assume willpower is the key to achieving our goals. But there’s a simple and often overlooked mental habit
— Read on hiddenbrain.org/podcast/where-gratitude-gets-you/

I am totally a grasshopper. But a good thing to practice in the coming year is gratitude, rather than trying to guilt myself into a goal.

Posting to my #Wordpress blog this via the #Tooot #sharesheet in #iOS as a “publish immediately” post. The “draft” option in the #iPhone app didn’t trigger the #Mastodon plugin. It works from the desktop version but there’s a little checkbox that should always be ticked. The phone app doesn’t have that option.

Listened to this #HiddenBrain episode this morning, and I’m grateful for electric power, warmth, clean water, love, and a couple of simple gifts.

Choosing Between Lifeboats: Why Not Both?

Seth Abramson over on Post.news thinks everyone needs to run, not walk, to the lifeboats. I also added that link to the mini posts column to the right, since it’s easier to grab the link via WordPress’ “publish or draft post via share sheet” option.

Another story that’s been making the rounds on Post.news is the one about the steps you need to take to lock down your Twitter account and get your data. I had already downloaded my data but missed the window for grabbing it. I’m considering requesting it again before the end of the year and sunsetting my Twitter accounts, but Seth’s warning has added a note of urgency. 

I’m using both Post.news and Mastodon and liking both for different reasons. Post is still in beta, while Mastodon has been around long enough to have useful WordPress logins and an actual APP that formats well on both the iPhone and iPad – it’s especially nice on the tablet screen in landscape mode. I’m waiting for Post to catch up on the features side before coming to any kind of decision about committing to one or the other. 

So currently I have a foot in each lifeboat, so to speak, and although it’s a bit precarious, it all seems to be working. It’s a bit awkward having to manually repost everything to Post.news, but I could see hanging out there to do the blabbity news commenting and hanging out on Mastodon for more entertainment and community-building social interaction, since this blog now autoposts there. 

Both of them have their strengths and weaknesses as social media platforms – and both thus far are clear of trollish minions. Twitter, though, soon will be flooded with enthusiastic wannabe shitlords acting like huge flocks of soiled budgies flying out of people’s lavatories,  infringing on people’s personal freedoms. 

Mrs Premise and Mrs Conclusion Discuss Personal Freedoms

Probably best to start paddling the lifeboats somehow, or doing that thing from Mythbusters with the awkward aquatic shoes.