it is So Cool And Good that once you become a certain level of known that you lose all personhood and instead become a constellation of ideas and loose signifiers for people to interpret as they see fit, divining whatever meaning is most useful for them at the time - ThreadSky

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social • 43 days ago

it is So Cool And Good that once you become a certain level of known that you lose all personhood and instead become a constellation of ideas and loose signifiers for people to interpret as they see fit, divining whatever meaning is most useful for them at the time

Reposted from Swolesome 🍉

I've learned having minor visibility online is that there are people who go from liking your work to hating *you* based on their interpretation of one sentence. No seeking clarification, no questioning whether or not they misunderstood, no room to misspeak or make mistakes--you're just the villain.

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asmalldeer.bsky.social•43 days ago

One becomes art in a twisted death of the author warping where you could just ask them directly. Instead they divine meaning by using the person as a mirror instead of another source of perspective and enrichment in life.
It's fucked, but can't say I haven't done it either.

praiseshadows.bsky.social•43 days ago

The shit folks will project onto people is wild. Someone the other day who even supports my work said this assuming that I didn’t even have like basic reading comprehension skills because they didn’t like a few things I said and weren’t willing to engage with what I was actually trying to say.

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

jesus christ

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

like beyond accusations of "hating waffles," part of what makes this so frustrating is that this practice deeply disincentivizes speaking directly and sincerely; instead, we proactively cache our points with a litany of caveats, trying to head off the immediate bad faith takes

sbaudelaire.bsky.social•43 days ago

i had it shown to me a long time ago it's a losing game to try to explain yourself or head off criticism, because it's 1000% in bad faith. so now i just say what i mean and i don't care if some fuckhead who can't tell waffles from pancakes gets upset

it helps not to be getting paid BY these people

scriptor.bsky.social•43 days ago

which always ends up being a losing game with the character limits. And if you clarify in the replies there's a strong chance that no one will see it there

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

yup yup! i've gotten pretty good at shortening my main point to fit in one post, but at the cost of a lot of nuance and flattening of occasionally very niche points

shivambhatt.bsky.social•43 days ago

fucking THIS

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

like it's not just dealing with people being critical/assholes, but the silencing effect that these practices have are absolutely awful

spectramtg.net•43 days ago

I have no following and even I end up deleting many replies or posts because i dont want to have a 30 character bit have a 4 reply thread of why i understand what i said is nuanced. I can’t imagine how bad it is for high-follower folks.

anontranshoe.bsky.social•43 days ago

this is, I think, part of why I’ll never be a huge acct; I got no filter and I’m just too damn tired of useless internet drama, so I’m unwilling to play these kinds of games; I just speak my mind and ppl can either like or dislike it, idc

larkonus.bsky.social•43 days ago

That is one of the toughest parts of online discourse, I've found. Retail work had already been conditioning me to over-explain and even pre-answer questions, and online discourse has only compounded those feelings. It's tiring.

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

one of the components to this that i don't think is really spoken about enough is the perceived access - once you deal with a customer, they're probably going to go on their way/maaaaybe you see them one more time. but given that the internet is Always On, there's no escape from bad actors

sharpdresseddyke.bsky.social•43 days ago

That was the scary thing I encountered a decade ago - the way they will just keep trying to get access to you in various places. I even dealt with people who knew me both IRL and online being targeted as part of regaining that access to me.

larkonus.bsky.social•43 days ago

Holy shit that's terrifying. Hopefully they gave up the chase. I can't imagine someone would go to those lengths to ask something like "what's your favorite cookie recipe."

larkonus.bsky.social•43 days ago

All the more reason I hold so much respect for content creators of all kinds and other public faces. Any amount of fame means people will demand access to you, be they entitled or just curious. I always strive to remember the person, but I know I'm far from perfect on that front.

bugsmaytrix.bsky.social•43 days ago

imo the medium of social media/posting is designed to flatten the person behind the screen/reduce them to the Endless Scroll, so like thanks for fighting the good fight but don't worry if you slip up sometimes

jestibelle.bsky.social•43 days ago

I want to start a YouTube channel where I discuss books and I've practiced speaking as if I was recording, and I caught myself adding so many caveats and reassurances under the assumption that ppl will attack me if I don't

I'm not even actually making videos yet and it's preemptively exhausting!

thehermitdruid.bsky.social•43 days ago

mangobanjo.bsky.social•43 days ago

I have next to no visibility online, and the fanfiction people write in response to what I say still gets so unhinged. I made a post saying I tore down a neo-nazi sticker and someone responded that I probably threw it on the ground and littered???

ambivalentagender.bsky.social•43 days ago

I've never seen a better representation of crappy modern liberalism than this post. Like I want to make it into a political cartoon.

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