💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2021 › 202102 › 20210209-journaling-on-twitter.gmi captured on 2022-04-29 at 12:32:19. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-04)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
---
I actively used Twitter for about nine years, from mid-2009 to early 2018. My primary account is still there, but I have since deleted its contents and now keep it only as a shell account to prevent anyone from using my username falsely.
From 2011 to 2017, I had a secondary account that I dubbed my "rant" account. Its tweets were protected, and I did not let anyone follow the account, nor did I follow anyone else with it. When I wanted to talk about very private or sensitive topics, or if I simply wanted to blow off steam in an irrational fashion, I would post there. The account acted more like a journal than a social media profile.
While I interacted with many people, mostly in mathematical communities, with my primary account, I found that I made far more actual posts on my "rant" account. I found myself far more interested in reading old posts from the "rant" account than from my primary account, and when I archived my posts from both accounts before leaving Twitter, I was much more interested in preserving the "rant" account than my primary account.
I very much enjoy the microblogging format, especially when posting in a stream-of-conscience manner typical of writing down miscellaneous thoughts. After leaving Twitter, I wrote a Bash script that adds microblog "posts" to a flat "timeline" file in Markdown format, emulating the private account I used years ago.
My reasons for leaving Twitter are many, but the biggest factors were privacy and control over my data. These were also the primary reason why my replacement was a homemade pseudo-Twitter script system instead of migrating to another service.
For my actually social media needs, I plan to branch out to Mastodon soon; I have heard many good things about the open-source communities there. I've tried a few other services recently but have not enjoyed them very much.
---
[Last updated: 2021-10-28]