I use both, but honestly, some mastodon users can’t help but be outright patronising and hostile to newcomers.

The whole “we don’t do that here” vibe clearly puts folk off. Weirdly, it isn’t the long term users that do that, bug more recent converts.

Why do you think that is?

It is a great step forward, but the barrier to entry is relatively high. You can sign up to substack for free and they take a cut of your profits (that most writers don’t draw enough attention to earn.

Meanwhile ghost charges $9 a month, billed annually.

That’s a significant barrier to anyone that can’t afford to see if their writing will be popular and as long as that remains it will struggle to gain traction in the same way.

And yeah, I know you could host your own too, but again a price point and a technical barrier.

I like ghost, the interface and the ecology, but the truth is that it isn’t going to attract the sort of vibrant, young community it needs if you have to stump up $108 just to see.

I think one of the great things about 2000s/early 2010s internet was the proliferation of free to use platforms like livejournal, blogger and WordPress. Sure there was a lot or jank, but I found some of my favourite writers back when they were scratching their name into the internet.

Hey, the idea might have been a bit dodgy, but you are made of better stuff.

Credit to you.

Just thought, fuck it. Why no add a second elected chamber where each other community can elect a representative to have oversight on everything the mod does?

Let’s democracy the hell out of this.

No moderation without representation. IOW: mods should be democratically elected.

Yeah, no.

Don’t turn this into a popularity contest. One that can be bought and cheesed.

Who has time for oversight on that? Why not voter id too.

Is this first past the post or proportional representation?

Term limits, right? Does that include a hand over? How much of their term will be spent getting up to speed?

Where is the incentive to someone starting their own community if it is going to be taken from them when they’ve put in hard work for no money. Should they not be rewarded for their labour?

Will the inherent democratisation of communities alter the content posted on them? Should we place bans in meta-political posts that support only the incumbent mod?

What if they choose not to leave? Insurrection? Send in the troops?

My friend, I say this genuinely, you are trying to police the internet. Don’t. It’s a folly.

You have the power to walk away. You have the power to start your own community.

Do it and run it better.

And back to the democracy thing… Democracy is a wonderful thing in the governance of human civilization… It’s not a fix for every situation you encounter that you don’t like. It often means instead of having one asshole to deal with you’ll get a carousel of different assholes on a regular basis.

I’m not sure what you mean by “whole organ” haggis. I haven’t seen anything different to what I’ve described in the last 50 years.

The stuff we have still has pluck… The offal, but it’s always minced.

Can you find a picture of it? I’d be really interested in seeing if I can get hold of some to try.

According to McSween’s website, their haggis contains:

Oats, Water, Vegetable Margarine (Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Salt, Emulsifier (E471), Flavouring), Black Kidney Beans (10%), Carrot (5%), Swede (5%), Mushrooms, Red Split Lentils (5%), Rehydrated Onions, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Salt, Ground Spices.

That looks like the haggis we get here in Glasgow.

It’s always looked like that. You mostly see the texture of the oats instead of the pluck.

I highly recommend veggie haggis though. Seriously, it’s good food.