Post AnSLfAmX2QLYO4DmE4 by kaffiene@mastodon.nz
(DIR) More posts by kaffiene@mastodon.nz
(DIR) Post #AnOLuNwvaOfUwBUvyK by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T00:26:10Z
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I'm not going to lie. In its glory days, Twitter did a much better job of keeping us informed when there was a big international breaking news story than these new-fangled social media sites.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuP8fAFeKcrzou0 by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T01:01:31Z
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@billbennett that was because the soon-to-be-demolished mainstream media & official gov't channels leapt into Twitter boots-and-all & naïvely built all of their reporting lines through a foreign 3rd party media org they didn't control. Now they haven't got the resources or skills necessary to back out of it. And due to the inherent frailty of a centralised profit-motivated supplier to being corrupted combined with lack of savvy, they haven't been able to pick a suitable replacement.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuQ6vYBr5dmBwps by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T01:03:02Z
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@billbennett I think the choice is obvious, but they're not savvy enough to understand why it's inherently superior and in their interests.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuR3Q2idwZBYf0S by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T03:52:36Z
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@lightweight There isn’t really a plausible replacement from the publisher’s point of view. Twitter would deliver readers to news sites by the truck load. Nothing else does. In numbers terms Mastodon isn’t even 5 percent of that audience. It’s well below the ‘worth bothering with’ threshold.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuRn9IhDsr0xBHk by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T05:07:36Z
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@billbennett it's a chicken and egg problem, eh. Every investor wants to get in on a winner at the ground level, right? Well, this whole 'communities doing it for themselves' has the potential to vastly surpass Twitter, although it might take a while... But the decision makers are typically lacking in vision and understanding. That's why shit's falling apart. They're stuck in a capitalism ueber alles mindset and they don't accept/realise that it's a dead duck.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuSiZrB9zj7p2nY by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T05:44:05Z
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@lightweight I never look at it, but isn't this what Stuff's Neighbourly was supposed to do?
(DIR) Post #AnOLuTSJ79jw0xDZ4q by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T06:08:25Z
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@billbennett dunno, never looked at it. It was pseudo-local, and profit motivated, and centralised under Fairfax, no?
(DIR) Post #AnOLuTqleDJ1Eof6Ce by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T05:12:58Z
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@billbennett by 'it's' I mean centralised, US-based, profit-motivated, gratuitous algorithm-kowtowing social media. The mainstream doesn't grok it yet, but I'm calling it: it's on its way down. It's lost any hope of credibility now or in future. Any one that might accidentally achieve cred will be bought by Musk or a wannabe and ruined. The world needs means of communicating that can't be packaged up and sold off to a Musk or Murdoch.
(DIR) Post #AnOLuU2ovOwlqCIizQ by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T07:54:03Z
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@lightweight> It was pseudo-local, and profit motivated, and centralised under Fairfax, no?Sounds right. Although Fairfax sold a lot of kiwi stuff off a decade or so back. Not sure who ended up with ownership of Neighbourly or what they're doing with it. But it would be great if we could convince the owners to Exit to Community, turning it into a platform co-op owned by the people using it.@billbennett
(DIR) Post #AnOM9KFjc1vPofQ1qa by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T05:51:10Z
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@lightweight Have to say, I was so disappointed WordPress finally showed its true colours, but it has looked increasingly like a "nickel and dime the customer" greed machine operation for a decade. The signs were clear for anyone who took notice. I dropped out four years ago.
(DIR) Post #AnOM9LVMxO1dhRk1r6 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T07:56:52Z
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@billbennett> WordPress finally showed its true coloursHuh?@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnONyOcTEjKa59yAW8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T08:17:15Z
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@billbennett> Mastodon isn’t even 5 percent of that audience. It’s well below the ‘worth bothering with’ thresholdThe same was true of the web as a whole in the late 90s, when crew were setting up Scoop, the original Stuff (pre-Fairfax) and Aotearoa Indymedia. As more publishers started websites, interest grew.Unlike learning to navigate an algorithmic DataFarming platform, publishing over ActivityPub (fediverse) is no more complicated than over HTTP (web) or RSS (podcasts).@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnONyWOwIvGEDVhTXM by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T08:17:15Z
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Public media need to lead the way, as @Ianforrester is doing in the BBC R&D Lab;https://dot-social.simplecast.com/episodes/ian-forrester-etAvLsaE@billbennett @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnOOxT6VB6vbef8bxI by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T08:28:14Z
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@strypey @billbennett I tend to agree, Bill - the *whole* point about Copyleft is that it doesn't matter what the 'founder' does. The code is everyone's. I don't know enough about the Automattic/WP Engine fracas to have an informed opinion, but even if Mullenweg is in the wrong, I'm still running a lot of WordPress. He's way better than literally *any* proprietary software vendor: because what I (or you, or any of us) do isn't dependent on him. Because of his past decision.
(DIR) Post #AnPTShAnVrB9F3FjNY by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T20:53:20Z
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@strypey @lightweight Yes, but this isn’t the early 90s. Back then publishers had plenty of leeway and the revenue to experiment, now it’s a case of one-false-move-and-you’re-dead.
(DIR) Post #AnPlU7qjc9gjRRhTDk by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T20:51:03Z
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@lightweight @strypey It probably will stay that way. Well… hopefully. ;)Mullenweg versus private equity or venture capital would be fine in principle, but his actions have broken things for millions of end users. Some are now moving to proprietary alternatives. And there are landgrabs going on which may not end well. Still… it is possible to fork and I understand there are great projects which have done just that.
(DIR) Post #AnPlU8Xz1MHbbZw0dE by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T22:24:54Z
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@billbennett @strypey people moving to proprietary systems will regret it.
(DIR) Post #AnPlU9QZkNx4KtTbiy by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T22:37:38Z
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@lightweight @strypey It’s a short term move, but people in publishing don’t have the luxury of long term thinking.
(DIR) Post #AnPlUANmCHJ5IVAt04 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:14:41Z
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(1/?)@billbennett> people in publishing don’t have the luxury of long term thinkingInsert pithy saying here about doing the same thing and expecting different results.These are precisely the people who don't have the luxury of *short term* thinking. That's exactly how they sleepwalked themselves into the existential crisis they've woken up in; one short termist, unprincipled decision at a time.@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnPlUB6RWD2HX24Yca by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:14:42Z
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(2/?)The NewsMedia have handed control of their business to people who don't care about the truth or democracy by;1) outsourcing their web presence to reputation launderers ("marketing" companies)2) letting them stuff it full of proprietary cruft, tracking their audience and feeding them clickbait filler the editors never see3) outsourcing their audience discovery to DataFarmers4) outsourcing their comment moderation to DataFarmers5) outsourcing their content delivery to DataFarmers
(DIR) Post #AnPlUBsIeHJhvSSmDQ by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:14:43Z
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(3/?)6) outsourcing their survival to governments whose idea of fixing the problem is;a) giving private companies more subsidies (PIJF, which I grudgingly supported but it's finger-in-the-dam stuff)b) trying to force a handful of the most powerful media corporations on the planet to give local media companies free money, to pay for the privilege of doing their audience discovery and comment moderation for them gratis, and in some cases still doing their content delivery too
(DIR) Post #AnPlUCgzbnrmSgBGEK by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:14:44Z
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(4/?)This series of disturbingly shortsighted decisions reflects an OxyContin-addiction level of dedication to the quick fix. It's a short termist epidemic among the professional-managerial class(1) running our news media.Given this, it's a miracle we still have professional journalists at all. If we can't take back what's left of the news media from the quick fix addicts soon, it won't last much longer(1) https://davidgraeber.org/papers/anthropology-and-the-rise-of-the-professional-managerial-class/
(DIR) Post #AnPlUSzf0AJ11D2OY4 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:14:44Z
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(5/5)Professional journalists in Aotearoa are outnumbered by professional reputation launderers by about 3:1. Most of the latter are ex-journalists. What is our news media brains trust's big plan for how to turn this around?Oh yes, the bill with the most euphemistically misleading name since the "Harmful Digital Communications Bill"; specifically the "Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill". See point 6b above.This. Will. Not. Work.
(DIR) Post #AnPlreQGfsQh7rXR1k by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T00:19:44Z
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@billbennett> Mullenweg versus private equity or venture capital would be fine in principle, but his actions have broken things for millions of end usersFrom what I've read so far, Matt is cutting off the patient's leg to save their life.Melon Husk buying Titter broke things for millions of users. If private equity companies succeed in their attempted takeover of #WordPress, it will quickly become that broken.Which points to the real problem; most of the web using one CMS.@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnPsoFOvwlFiKjEpv6 by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T08:33:06Z
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@billbennett Bill, the 'media' as you're thinking of it is ready for its coup de grâce. It's time to work out what's next. The ones who work that out won't be billionaires. They'll be much better than that.
(DIR) Post #AnPsoGPKCn9xSEQfAW by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T21:02:25Z
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@lightweight What I’d like to attempt if I was still employed as a publishing executive and had a budget would be to build a news site with a full interactive comment system, but spend money managing it properly. On site this would be carefully edited by experienced editors, policed for defamation, racism etc, fact checked and so on but it could link out to a wider audience using activitypub or similar. Would be great also for news leads, breaking stories and so on.
(DIR) Post #AnPsoIDLUIlX3eq7m4 by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-26T21:08:01Z
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@lightweight The other thing I’d love to see would be an aggregator for paid subscription newsletters, so you’d pay $200 a year or so but get access to, say, 100 decent newsletters.
(DIR) Post #AnPt9QHufInYBB3Glc by jackyan@mastodon.social
2024-10-27T01:41:17Z
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@strypey Spot on. And what gets me is that they are coming to these realizations very, very late.In 2004 we branched out into print after seven years online since it was obvious where the CPM rates for the web were heading. I only began seeing these concerns relayed in the 2020s.By 2009 it was obvious that putting anything into Facebook from your RSS was killing your own readers, so we stopped doing the feed, and put minimal effort into US social media platforms.
(DIR) Post #AnPuU8kbACiBp7uaQK by lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-26T22:31:39Z
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@billbennett the reason I'd be skeptical about that, is that 'decent' is very subjective and I seldom like most of any compendium someone else has put together. I'd rather give money to those whose voice I value, but in amounts that are trivial to me, but in aggregate could make such efforts quite sustainable.
(DIR) Post #AnPuU9tUubQNN15Cvw by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-27T01:55:48Z
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@lightweight> I'd rather give money to those whose voice I value, but in amounts that are trivial to me, but in aggregate could make such efforts quite sustainableThis succeeds in theory but consistently fails in practice, for reasons Clay Shirky explained in his classic essays on micropayments; people hate being nickel hands dimed, as he put it;https://archive.is/LFUW4@billbennett has the right idea. We need many curators, each with non-exclusive access to any content.
(DIR) Post #AnSKmHRcZ4cJ7lGWg4 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:00:18Z
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@jackyan> By 2009 it was obvious that putting anything into Facebook from your RSS was killing your own readers, so we stopped doing the feedWait, FarceBook had an RSS feedreader? I missed that one.@lightweight @billbennett
(DIR) Post #AnSKwchOOd6TwIZfkm by jackyan@mastodon.social
2024-10-27T01:48:53Z
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@strypey I’m not saying we’re raking it in, but none of the recent developments took me by surprise, and it makes me wonder why the brains’ trusts of our collective media companies couldn’t see the logical outcome of developments that started in the 1990s and 2000s.@lightweight @billbennett
(DIR) Post #AnSKwdpwALX5T5a0i8 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:02:14Z
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*Puts up a sign*Warning: professional-managerial classes wreck everything they touch.@jackyan > it makes me wonder why the brains’ trusts of our collective media companies couldn’t see the logical outcome of developments that started in the 1990s and 2000s.*taps the sign*@lightweight @billbennett
(DIR) Post #AnSL2BDtSnV4SiQUAi by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:03:07Z
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*Puts up a sign*Warning: professional-managerial classes wreck everything they touch.@jackyan > it makes me wonder why the brains’ trusts of our collective media companies couldn’t see the logical outcome of developments that started in the 1990s and 2000s.*taps the sign*@billbennett> the problem is less about the internet and more about... well other thingsExactly.@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSLBmHh2X4u0nmQCW by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-27T02:04:44Z
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@jackyan @strypey @lightweight I could talk all day about this. It's my life experience. I've been an owner, a publishing executive and an editor at different times over the years. Oddly, the problem is less about the internet and more about... well other things. The one thing I'll leave you with is that most media companies are run by the wrong people and have been for 30 or 40 years now. They have the wrong boards and the wrong senior management.
(DIR) Post #AnSLBnPWqswLVOSC3M by jackyan@mastodon.social
2024-10-27T02:08:49Z
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@billbennett @strypey @lightweight Next time you’re here or I’m up your way … and totally agree with your last para in that post. I could say the same about some of the agencies and media buyers.It has never been about the medium, I agree. It’s whether one skilfully negotiated each new medium as it came along. TV worked for those who embraced its potential—and who didn’t treat it as radio with pictures.
(DIR) Post #AnSLBoMjImIMT09TKS by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:04:56Z
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@jackyan> who didn’t treat it as radio with picturesAlthough I'm just old enough to vaguely remember that Radio With Pictures was much cooler than RTR Countdown ; )@billbennett @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSLfAmX2QLYO4DmE4 by kaffiene@mastodon.nz
2024-10-27T01:50:51Z
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@billbennett @lightweight that would be great. Interactivity is imo kinda the point of the Web but most publishers seem to have given up because it's too hard
(DIR) Post #AnSLfBuipSUZtl3pdA by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:10:13Z
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@kaffiene> Interactivity is imo kinda the point of the Web but most publishers seem to have given up because it's too hardIf anyone is looking for a technical consultant to work with small-to-medium news outfits, someone who;* understands network media from the inside out* has experience running media projects on a photo of the smell of an oily rag* is currently available for a steady gigI'm right here folks. Must put a website like @lightweight's pimping my services ; )@billbennett
(DIR) Post #AnSMAzSYfXgwXT3BVw by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:15:59Z
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@kaffiene > Interactivity is imo kinda the point of the Web but most publishers seem to have given up because it's too hardWhat frustrates me is that the crew I worked with on Aotearoa Indymedia in the noughties would have traded limbs for the tech available to publishers now. It's right there for them to use, free! For the money we used to spend hosting our IMC site, we could now host a full multimedia stack, publishing to the web, AP, RSS, WebTorrent, etc.@billbennett @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSMQB5lhbBKxZdHm4 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:18:46Z
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BTW If anyone is looking for a technical consultant to work with small-to-medium news outfits, someone who;* has experience running media projects on a photo of the smell of an oily rag* understands network media from the inside out* is not scared of getting elbows-deep into research on the right tool for every job* is currently available for a steady gigI'm right here folks. Must put a website like @lightweight's pimping my services ; )@kaffiene @billbennett @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSMVdFiQhyLkIt0Cm by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:18:59Z
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BTW If anyone is looking for a technical consultant to work with small-to-medium news outfits, someone who;* has experience running media projects on a photo of the smell of an oily rag* understands network media from the inside out* is not scared of getting elbows-deep into research on the right tool for every job* is currently available for a steady gigI'm right here folks. Must put a website like @lightweight's pimping my services ; )@kaffiene @billbennett @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSMwYR6Rdlucw3AAa by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T06:24:36Z
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@billbennett> this isn’t the early 90s. Back then publishers had plenty of leeway and the revenue to experimentI sort of sympathise and I sort of don't. The budget of even a relatively cash-strapped operation like RNZ or TVNZ is a fortune compared to everything I've ever worked on. > now it’s a case of one-false-move-and-you’re-deadAll the more reason to grok that the move now is protocols not platforms, as @mmasnick.bsky.social put it;https://knightcolumbia.org/content/protocols-not-platforms-a-technological-approach-to-free-speech@lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSPr2mH1Tbmr214jI by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-28T06:56:54Z
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@strypey @mmasnick.bsky.social @lightweight Yeah, I read everything Mike writes.... he gets it and he is closer to the US action than us so he gets it sooner.
(DIR) Post #AnSQ3kAFXPPOtIHprc by billbennett@mastodon.nz
2024-10-28T06:59:19Z
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@strypey @jackyan @lightweight God yes, RWP rounded off the weekend perfectly. Always something good in every show. When I first came to NZ from the UK it quickly taught me to love the local music scene.
(DIR) Post #AnSjk4nz5H2aCOlu2S by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T10:39:56Z
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FWIW Matthew Slater of CommunityForge and Credit Commons beat Mike to the punch on the 'protocols not platforms' argument by at least 2 years;https://matslats.net/protocol-cooperativism-platform-cooperativism@billbennett @mmasnick.bsky.social @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSjscrWLQmo8qVD8K by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2024-10-28T10:40:54Z
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@billbennett > read everything Mike writes.... he gets it and he is closer to the US action than us so he gets it soonerFWIW Matthew Slater of CommunityForge and Credit Commons beat Mike to the punch on the 'protocols not platforms' argument by at least 2 years;https://matslats.net/protocol-cooperativism-platform-cooperativism@mmasnick.bsky.social @lightweight
(DIR) Post #AnSywcpdtjCiWCzNqq by jackyan@mastodon.social
2024-10-28T13:30:20Z
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@strypey @billbennett @lightweight Guessing I am older since I watched it before the word Countdown was appended!
(DIR) Post #AnSz4sw3uQYomNvjwO by jackyan@mastodon.social
2024-10-28T13:31:33Z
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@strypey @lightweight @billbennett They might still do? All I know is I stopped using it in 2009.