Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why Techrights Doesn't Do Social Control Media

More about Social Control than about Media. Standing on one's own means more freedom of speech and no self-censorship.

One-tree hill

Summary: Being managed and censored by platform owners (sometimes their shareholders) isn't an alluring proposition when a site challenges conformist norms and the status quo; Techrights belongs in a platform of its own

AFTER posting more than 670,000 tweets and having coined the term "Social Control Media" (which even Julian Assange and Wikileaks adopted) I decided to no longer use Twitter except to check replies once a day. It had become a massive productivity drain and usually an utter waste of time. I still have stuff posted there, albeit only as copies exported from decentralised and Free software platforms such as Diaspora and Pleroma (Mastodon-compatible).



"It seems pretty clear where Twitter is going with this; it wants to eventually become another Facebook."A decade ago Techrights, Boycott Novell and TechBytes had active accounts in Identi.ca (and two of these in Twitter as well). At some stage it seemed clear that this kind of activity was detrimental to -- not contributory towards -- actual journalism. Techrights never had a Twitter account and character length is still a major limitation. Over the years surveillance and bloat got a lot worse; almost exactly a year ago Twitter also killed third-party tools by deprecating key APIs. It seems pretty clear where Twitter is going with this; it wants to eventually become another Facebook. We probably don't have to explain why Facebook is so bad (many aspects to that).

There's nothing to regret here overall; we didn't participate in these sites and we probably lost nothing by staying out of these. I have personal accounts there, but these express my personal views (on politics) rather than the site's.

"There's nothing to regret here overall; we didn't participate in these sites and we probably lost nothing by staying out of these."Social Control Media (so-called 'social' 'media') is neither social nor media; when people socialise they don't get managed by the billions by one single company/shareholders and media has generally (historically) checked claims/facts. Twitter lacks that.

Social Control Media has sadly 'replaced' the "long form" writings in a lot of blogs. That's a shame really. Quality is being compromised for the sake of speed and concision. When we're trying to actually find/syndicate reliable blogs we nowadays come to realise that many are inactive/dormant. Instead of sites they become "accounts" (on someone else's platform, complete with throttling, censorship and ads); what used to be a site/blog is just some Twitter account that posts and reposts unverified nonsense. Techrights doesn't wish to ever become something so shallow.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Microsofters Have Just Shared Privileged Trial Data With Microsoft
There are serious ramifications for liability accountability as Microsoft salaries sponsor these SLAPPs
Trolls With LLM Slop Are Disrupting Communications About Mass Layoffs at IBM
LLM slop to drown out the signal
[Video] IBM Shakes Hands of Prince Mohammed bin Salman
handshake of loyalty
 
Inviting the Founder of GNU/Linux to Events (It Only Costs His Travel Expenses) and Recalling the True Origins
It's reassuring to see belated recognition
Slopwatch: Microsoft's Anti-Linux Propaganda and Cover-up, Slopfarms Clogging Up Google News
slop-tracking activities that observe googlebombing of "Linux"
AstroTurfing by IBM in thelayoff.com is Highly Risky (and Likely Outsourced)
Microsoft did this in Reddit (and got caught), so why won't IBM too?
Links 17/05/2025: Stabber of Salman Rushdie Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/05/2025: Happier on Gemini and Manipulating Reddit
Links for the day
ComEd and Microsoft: A Mess of Spaghetti Held Together By Circus Clowns
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 16, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 16, 2025
Links 16/05/2025: Microsoft Sacks Pregnant Women, People Fired on Their Birthday; Adobe Censorship Failing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/05/2025: "Repairing Our Way out of Commodity Fetishism" and Pre-librebooted Computers
Links for the day
The SLAPPs From Microsofters Distract From Serious Copyright Infringement by Microsoft and Apparent Business Crimes
Aside from other issues, such as strangling women
Enshittification is Everywhere: You Pay More, the Services Get Worse
"Enshittification" is a term coined by an online friend; I increasingly use this term to describe what's happening even outside the realm of technology (which it was adopted to describe)
Microsoft Reduces Office Space Ahead of More Waves of Mass Layoffs
"The Gerstnerisation of Microsoft"
Anti-Linux FUD Produced by Microsoft LLMs to Blame "Linux" for Microsoft's Own Failures
We call out some of the worst culprits
Gemini Links 16/05/2025: Hoking GPS, Grabovac, and Tanana
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 15, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, May 15, 2025
Microsoft WARN Notices Proliferate in the United States
From what we've seen, this wave was more than 3% (a lot more) and the next wave/s will be even bigger (possible as imminent as weeks from now), based on insider leaks
Links 15/05/2025: Google Betrays Publishers Again, Openwashing by Sysdig
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Still Respected by Many in the Libre Graphics Community
Richard Stallman and Professor Moglen never harmed anyone
If You Read Techrights, Then You Probably Want to Read Tux Machines as Well
That site is more active than this one
Gemini Links 15/05/2025: Forced Music in Publicly Accessible Space and ~silv is Online
Links for the day
Links 15/05/2025: KOSA Censorship (USA Becomes More Like KSA) and More National Cuts
Links for the day
Bing Might Shut Down - Just Like Skype Did - Some Time in the Coming Months/Years (Parts of It Already Shut Down)
they try to bring the losses under control
Your Real Ally Would Not Defend the Company of SLAPP and Strangling of Women
who's left to tell us what's true?
Breakdown of Microsoft Layoffs Shows It's About Cost, Not Performance or Hype (Like "AI")
MSN (Microsoft) reposted this with some unnecessary spin
The Lawyers Working for the Serial Strangler From Microsoft on SLAPPing Techrights Have Apparently Lost Their Voice
the moment we mentioned that their media lawyer is leaving they went all quiet in social control media
At IBM, Relocation Can be a Trick or a Trap (IBM Gets Rid of Staff Under the Guise of "Relo")
IBM is not being honest with employees
Microsoft Rumours: This Week's Scale of Layoffs "Higher Than Reported" and More Coming Soon ("A Lot More Severe" Than May's)
The "3%" figure is false
Slopwatch: Sloppy Brian, Brittany Slop, and General Observations
Creative people don't need slop; there's just nothing good about it, slop appeals to lazy people careless about quality
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Beyond Mass Layoffs at Microsoft: Entire Units Shut Down for Good
And it's far from over
Links 15/05/2025: Crikvenica, Analog Computer, and Slop 'Hallucinations'
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 14, 2025