Quick note about having all but completely left Twitter. Posted here because I can’t actually tell you where I went because of their policies will not allow me to link to my new profile.

About mid-October of 2022 I decided that Twitter was no longer a place I wanted to use as my primary micro-blogging platform. There are many reasons for this but it mostly comes down to the behavior of the CEO, his treatment of employees that work there and the way he is handling the platform. When Elon Musk bought Twitter I was hopeful that he would do a good job with it but it was quickly squashed with news of unreasonable demands of employees, allowing certain people back on the platform and more. It is within his right to do with the platform as he pleases and it remains in my right to choose not to be a part of it. I don’t fault anyone who chooses to remain on the platform but for me it was time to move on.

Instead, I have found a new home on the Mastodon network. You can read about it in this excellently written article at https://tidbits.com/2023/01/27/mastodon-a-new-hope-for-social-networking/ which goes into detail about what it is, how it works and even how to use it. My profile on Mastodon, hosted on my own private instance of the software, is at https://mastodon.dustinrue.com/@dustinrue. After getting past the initial confusion of how the platform works I have settled in and found that I enjoy the platform more than I have Twitter. I appreciate the federated nature, the fact I can block entire instances, being able to follow hashtags, being able to self-host and more.

Mastodon as a platform is still relatively young that has recently seen explosive growth due to people being equally disenfranchised with Twitter and looking for alternatives. I highly recommend people give it a try and see if it is the right fit for them!