Back at it again with a Prompt, Promptly entry. The semester has started up, classes are being introduced, students are trying to crash, and there is paperwork up the ass. I desperately feel like I need to update something
I need a mental break. Let’s see what the random daily prompt gives me, shall we?
Don’t come APP me with that!
The prompt today feels more like an opportunity to just plug every I can be found on social media. To be honest, I am not hugely interested in this one, but it was what was chosen for me, here. I’ll let you know up front I am “hpkomic” on virtually any website where I legitimately post. With that said, my active social media accounts are linked here on the blog in the top right corner of the header.
There, plugged my social media without actually sharing a single link. Wasted opportunity? Absolutely.
Actually, you know what? Visit my links page. That’s what I want to plug.
Anyway, time to think about my preferences for online communication.
Information Superhighway Rest Stop Bathroom Stall Graffiti
As much as I post on social media, I’m not big on it, especially in the form of microblogging like Blue Sky, Mastodon, and the like. It really is more of an obligation to use these services if I desire traction in my creative work. It is, hands down, my least favorite form of online communication.
And yet, I am a contradiction in that I no longer use X, formerly Twitter, despite it having the greatest possible reach under the influence of the worst possible person.
My desire for readership? All-consuming. My tolerance of Elon Musk? Non-existent.
I don’t regret leaving X, for the most part. Losing my audience cultivated from prolific shitposting is something I’ve never really recovered from.
And that’s the thing, really, my usage of social media is primarily shitposting; it is nothing of value and is largely meaningless. But it did help me out when it came to get my work out there, too, and such a huge loss of an audience in my switch to less “Musky” platforms does smack of regret just a little bit, I think.
It’s like doing half the shitposting for a quarter of the results. Like clout chasing as two part-time jobs rather than one that pays a living-clout-wage. It is a pain in the ass to post an update across four platforms when I used to be able to do it in one.
I think I liked social media better when it was slower and contained to longer messages in specially designated discussion channels.
You know, like internet forums.
Email Me About It
My preference for online communication has been, and always shall be, email. I love email. I think email is the perfect communication tool.
Yes, spam and marketing sucks. But when you are looking for pure, online communication, email is it, baby. Not the first method of online communication, there is a whole developmental history before the first “true” email that we would recognize today – but it is pretty close comparatively. It really is the peak of online communication for me.
Emails can be as short or as long as I need them to be. I can attach whatever I want and these days most limits are unobtrusive. I can have dozens of threads of deep, documented discussion. I can answer them when I want. There’s no chasing the dragon of social media influence.
Email is great because it is just words at my own pace, in as many of as few as I want to use.
Discord: Not Quite IRC but We Can’t Really Have Nice Things Anymore, Can We?
I do want to send an honorable mention to Discord. Discord is just IRC with a fancy skin and more investor pleasing monetization. Peak fun online for me came in the form of IRC chats.
Discord does well enough for what is is (btw the SuperNatPod Discord is great and you should join!), but it lacks that kind of “jank” of IRC I love – black background, colored text, and no goddamn pictures, really. It also feels like Discord constantly wants to make money off of me, which is really the vibe internet at large today.
Feh, now I’m annoyed. I think the biggest conclusion we can draw from all of this is that I miss the old days of the internet. I’ll use the tools of my time, but my God, do I long for some janky, less time-sucking applications that offer simple communication.
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