Thread by @TheRealHoarse

This entirely summarizes my relationship with Twitter lately:

A while ago, I posted about getting my car back and thanked some very kind people who, unprompted, put some money in my tip jar which helped offset some of the bill. I was appreciative and wanted them to know…

1/

Some woman replied, all pissed off and offended, that I “took donations” when her husband used to “lie in gravel” to repair her kids’ cars.

So, let’s just pull this one apart a bit.

The lady was mad that people wanted to help me pay for something *she* got for free.

2/

And this was a person who followed me.

I’ve been on Twitter since 2016. I’ve written the equivalent of nine novels in that time.

That content might be valueless to the vast majority of people. However, if they follow me, apparently they find some value in it.

3/

So, Angry Wife of Gravel Mechanic apparently believed there was some value in what I brought to her timeline.

Like her husband’s car repairs, she paid nothing for it.

And she was actually angry that *anyone* would voluntarily pay *anything*.

4/

This is such a Twitter phenomenon.

95% of the content is created by 5% of the accounts.

Yet, a whole lot of people who only consume content on Twitter get entirely indignant when someone *who they CHOOSE to follow for free every day* requires money to live.

5/

Here is what Twitter could be:

The world’s foremost farm system for developing writers, journalists, analysts, and creators.

It could be a venue for subsidizing people who produce content of value and who couldn’t afford to otherwise.

6/

Instead, it’s a venue where stupid assholes who log in every day to eat for free snipe at the people who populate their feed because those people occasionally like to have lavish things like working brakes on their 12-fucking-year-old car.

Fuck you, lady.

7/

I am tiring of this place. I have been for a while.

Pre-election, I was too head-down and focused on the tasks at hand to think about it.

Now, every stupid asshole like that person makes me hate this place more.

8/

There are great people here.

And there are stupid fucking assholes with big mouths who show up and take - people who add nothing of value and who merely make this suck for people who do - or who try to at least.

9/

I think a lot about how I carry myself on here.

I am harsh and acerbic on purpose. It keeps down the number of trolls. It allows me to be heard without being undermined by sniping.

But it is also unfun. And it isn’t how I am in real life - but people here don’t know that.

10/

There are very, very few large accounts on political Twitter who are just regular people.

There are a lot of reasons for that. It’s draining. It is expensive. Even dumb tweets take time. And at a certain point, it just sucks.

That’s just a truth: at a certain point, it sucks.

The stupid assholes like Mrs. Gravel Mechanic overshadow the good people.

You’re left to choose between turning off all notifications and not engaging at all or perpetually having to smack down assholes to minimize future assholes.

12/

So this turned into a whole “First share at a Twitter Anonymous meeting”.

And now you all say in unison “Welcome, Mike.” and then I go get a coffee and donut from the back.

So, hey, thanks for listening.

And now I’m gonna hit post without even reading what I wrote.

//

p.s. I see folks replying with kind words. I wasn’t fishing for compliments though and they make me a little uncomfortable.

So, if you don’t mind, it would truly make my night if you instead wrote something nice to someone other than me who you follow on here and appreciate.