Kind: Replies

a reply to content typically on another site

Illogical

Here's what I read in November by Ben WerdmüllerBen Werdmüller (werd.io)

New data makes it clear: Nonvoters handed Trump the presidency. Even if you hate the eventual candidate, if you have the ability, please vote in 2020.

By this illogic, those of us who voted for other parties are also to blame. What utter shite!

In 2016 the two major parties gave us Trump.  The truth is, "None of the above" was the principled vote.  I voted Green Party.

In 2020, we get to do this all over again. I will vote Green Party because "None of the above" is still where I sit.

My Republican tribe friends will dismiss me as a tree hugger.

My Democratic tribe friends will try to shame me because if I don't vote for their candidate and Trump wins a second term, it's all my fault. Because you know, in Democratic leaning New Jersey with a winner takes all electoral college, my Green Party vote is a deciding factor.

And according to this Pew Research article, if I decide to sit the whole thing out, it's still my fault. Damned if I do vote, damned if I don't.

Both tribes will behave as though my votes belong to them. It makes this black person wonder if his right to vote only matters so long as he votes for the blue tribe.

Community Norms?

On blogging and intentional sharing by Smokey (A journal at al-Qâhira fî Amrîkâ)

As I wrote in my reply on Micro.blog, the first, and most important, aspect of intentional sharing is simply to think about whether the “content” is appropriate for the community.

I agree with much of what Smokey wrote but the post and the thread on the micro.blog smacked of one group of people - insiders - deciding for a much larger community.

And what do you say if the person has read this post, considered what you to say, and the response is:

"There's no rule against posting everything I do to the timeline. So I am doing it because it's my mine, and you don't get to tell me how to be."

Community norms are why I have self-hosted on WordPress for nearly 15 years. What happens is that early participants of the community think they can dictate behaviour and expectations to later participants.

They develop a "this is my community, and this is how we behave" mentality, which I find no different than the IRL conversation a white/Christian community have with non-whites/non-Christians who are moving in. The "we don't do that here" conversation.

The disadvantage of community norms is that people stop questioning the purpose of the "norms" and whether they are still relevant for themselves or the community. And this often means that they stop thinking for themselves.

Manton has already spelt out how to behave on his platform. It's his platform, his house, and his house rules. I see nothing in there that excludes posting as often as one wants on any topic one wants so long as his guidelines are met. His instructions are the only norms I care about.

Live Your Life for You, Not to Please Expectations.