zHEIGHTgeist

I knew that if I was going to spread the word about the podcast, I would have to return to social media.

I quit most platforms due to security issues. Facebook builds profiles of people who don’t even have accounts, aggregating data from all their friends and family who are on Facebook. They’ve repeatedly been accused of unethical data mining and data breaches, arbitrary censorship, breaking international laws on harvesting private information, and even attempted to emotionally manipulate users in a 2014 “experiment.” Xitter, of course, has been imploding due to the wanton mismanagement of its idiot man-child purchaser, Elon Musk, who fired the talent and the regulators and opened the doors to bigots who had previously been banned for hate speech and sedition.

I can’t stay there in good conscience. I went there, because I know that’s where the Size community congregates, and I had to reach my potential audience. But I felt sick every time I logged in to Xitter, to post a new episode or to check on feedback. My feed has been overloaded with right-wing propaganda and hate speech. I’m not sure how or why everyone else is so comfortable with fascism, much less supporting it.

Given that interaction on Facebook and Xitter has been low to nonexistent, I don’t feel I’m losing anything by deleting these accounts. I’ve offered BlueSky invite codes to anyone else looking to leave, though no one’s taken me up on that.

I’ll have to try a new experiment for the next dozen episodes: finding a new audience instead of luring the community to the podcast. On the other hand, but for a few close friends, the Size community has been conspicuously silent on this podcast, so after a dozen more I’ll have to decide whether this project is amusing enough to continue. “Seemed like a good idea at the time!”