I’d like to wish all family, friends, regular readers, commenters and all other visitors Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, A Happy New Year or any other Holiday Greetings you prefer! As usual, I prefer Happy Newtonmas because Isaac Newton was born on December 25th, but I’m very democratic in that respect and let everyone celebrate the the holiday they like.

2022 ? I’m not sure I can even describe this year anymore. Corona year three would have been manageable, but then the world literally caught on fire with a war right on Europe’s doorsteps. Since February, everything feels slightly surreal because nobody really thought it could get that bad. But with Russia invading Ukraine a massive uncertainty arrived for everyone not only in Germany but all over the world – the resulting energy crisis has been on everyone’s mind and has quite a few real life consequences even for those not directly affected by the war.

TL;DR: I haven’t abandoned Twitter (yet), but I’m now also on Mastodon!

I remember a time when many people thought that Elon Musk was basically a good guy who is just a bit peculiar… but those times are long gone. The Tesla and SpaceX owner, now the richest human being on Earth, has mutated from benevolent billionaire to grotesque supervillain in just a few years – and with the recent purchase of Twitter this spiral has only intensified.

I don’t really have a stake in Twitter, I mostly follow, read and only post my photos there, but seeing an at least relatively well-functioning social network collapse in just a short time beacuse of the new billionaire owner’s very “special” management style is spectacular to watch to say the least. If Twitter goes under, I will not be particularly sad about it because this isn’t my first rodeo – a couple of years ago I witnessed Google+ being eliminated from the face of the Earth first hand!

While I think that Twitter is still going to limp along as a former shadow of itself, I’ve never put all my eggs in one basket. That saved me when Google+ was killed off, because most of everything I write and post comes from my own websites where I have full control over (almost) everything. I’ve tried out several Google+ replacements in the last couple of years, but I didn’t really got along with anything and instead ended up posting my photos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter… until now.

I had already created a Mastodon account earlier this Summer when the whole Twitter debacle was not even on the horizon, but I only recently decided to really post over there. Right now I’m mainly crossposting my daily photos from the Photography Blog that also appear on the other social networks, but I’ve also started to repost some other retrocomputing and games content that I had originally created for Google+ and never got around to put on a proper website over here. There’s also a new Mastodon icon on the top right sidebar!

I’ve also written a short introduction post too a Month ago:

Time for an introduction? Hi, I’m Guido and I live in a small-ish city in northwest Germany. I usually post photos, but I’m not a professional photographer even though I work in a camera store. I also like to dabble in music, playing piano and guitar and I love old computers and (vintage) games. I also love all things science and astronomy! I’ve had a presence on the web since the late 90s and I’ve been on social media for over ten years. I’m also a Google+ and probably soon Twitter refugee.

Mastodon just feels right, like the early Google+ way back ten years ago when people discovered each other through circle sharing and not through algorithms. Mastodon basically relies on word of mouth and the decentralized server structure is almost like the Fidonet and Usenet of the 1980s and 1990s, just with slightly more modern technology. There are so many interesting people of all kinds all over the Fediverse and many are just setting up shop after abandoning Twitter. I really like the friendly atmosphere and I’m already following people from all over the world and chatting with them, mostly in the science and astronomy fields but also in the vintage computer and gaming communities.

Myself, I ended up on the original main mastodon.social server because I didn’t know any better in the beginnig – with hindsight, I probably should have chosen another server but for now it will have to do. The beauty of the Mastodon technology is the decentralized nature of it since you can always follow users from other instances and you can basically make your own federated universe, the Fediverse. My posts on Mastodon might be temporary and not be archived for all eternity, but that’s why I will always be maintaining my own websites. I’ve also archived the few Mastodon-exclusive shorter posts I’ve created lately to make some new content for this website too.

I haven’t made any decisions whether I should actually stop posting to Twitter or just continue as usual, but most of my posts will go out as usual to Facebook and Instagram too because quite a few people still follow me there. Nothing will disappear as long as I can pay for my own webspace.

I have no ides where this is all going to lead, but for now Mastodon feels like a good idea. Just come over to the Fediverse, everyone – it’s a new beginning!