@viticci gross. Do better.

@viticci As an indie developer, I deeply appreciate how you have been, and continue to be, a force for good in this world.

The world is messy and I wish you didn’t have to make this compromise. Every one of us makes a mix of decisions that help and harm the world, but what matters is the balance, which for @macstories is massively positive.

Hang in there and (huge) thank you for your work.

@viticci TLDR:

@viticci I applaud the move, the reaction to it shows how deeply people have fallen into their own algorithmic bubbles. Tribalism needs to stop. 𝕏 is one of the more politically diverse major platforms and reflects the real world far better than ideological echo chambers like Mastodon. Are there bad actors on 𝕏? Of course—but they exist on every platform. Most of the criticisms people are making about 𝕏 could just as easily be made about the internet as a whole, yet no one is abandoning that.

@viticci I’m really sorry for you having to take that decision. I know it’s been a hard choice to make between what it’s right and what the business needs. I hope it doesn’t damage MacStories reputation by a lot, and hope you will still be supporting alternative platforms like Mastodon and BlueSky.

@viticci Not ok.

@viticci It sucks for you all, getting all of this hate from this. If you ran a physical store, selling physical things, at some point a nazi might walk in, or a pedophile, or thief.. Any store operator as to still sell their goods regardless of what that person thinks.

This is no different. You’re a business trying to sell a product. None of the people posting this hate towards you will even go on Twitter to see these posts anyway.

@viticci Sad, so I’m saying goodbye here.
The info on AI was interesting, since AI is indispensable today.
But the fact that you took such a strong stand against AI, are now promoting it…

Some people try to hold on to their values, while others are only too happy to trade them for money—it's sad.

And now you actively collaborating with Nazis, this is too much.
When will you celebrate ICE and the murder of people? Next year?

@viticci Mmm… So you're looking for the american nazis' money now. Right.

There’s a reason why X is a residual network in Europe

@viticci Weak sauce 👎🏻

@viticci business is hard, especially small businesses. I don’t begrudge anyone who has to make hard choices to keep their business afloat. And TBH posting on X doesn’t seem like a hard business choice to me, it’s the logical next step for MS seeing as that’s where the AI community reside.

Ironically, all you’ll get on here is hate.

@viticci I do hope you’ll reconsider. Perhaps you won’t miss me, but I’ll miss you.

@viticci the response to this post just shows what a horrible platform Mastodon is. Just full of terrible, spiteful, hateful, judgemental virtue signaling assholes. Never seen such a miserable bunch on any other platform.

As for you Federico, I hope this is a eye opener. You were the same virtue signaling asshole like these people who are turning against you. I’m glad you’re seeing the benefit of X despite what these miserable little shits have you believe. That alone makes you 10x better than the 3 insufferable holier than you trio at Accidental Tech.

@viticci support a Nazi, call into question what it means to be a person supporting a Nazi.

@viticci bad call

@viticci

@viticci I support you 10000%.

I’m on X too. It’s great. I wish you much success

@viticci you have sinned in the church of Mastodon, now you must pay 😂

@viticci nope. I’ll miss your blogs and podcasts but that’s inexcusable. Enjoy the nazi bar.

@viticci I hope the folks who are swearing you off and accusing you of being a fascist don’t shop at Amazon or Walmart or use Threads or Instagram, for starters.

I appreciate it was a tough decision. I hope you continue to stick to your ideals and run the business as well as you can. I’ll stay engaged.

@viticci seriously? 🙄

@viticci thanks for this — I really appreciate the time and care that went into it

@viticci Have fun hanging out with the Nazis, rapists and other scumbags! You are literally helping them grow their brand too.

To which I say: YUCK!

But hey, at least your AI girlfriends "like" you.

@viticci in 2022 leaving Twitter was the right decision. Good, you had some principles. It was the right decision for me too - though I had no skin in the game. 4 years later has something about the platform gotten better? Or was your principled stand more about trying to get off a social media platform going downhill and on one with some momentum? And now, will X welcome you back or will they remember your perfidy as you help feed the enragement? Congrats, you & MacStories get blocked too.

@viticci We all use platforms, purchase from companies, and pay taxes that are used for things we disagree with. We can use our voices to push against those. There’s a strong purity testing culture on Mastodon that can’t see this nuance and reduce complex decisions to black-and-white straw man arguments.

@viticci Oh, and also - tell Myke at Relay that Connected is off my list due to your participation. @imyke

@viticci unimpressed.

"The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges"

@viticci Money has gotten us in a fight for the survival of humanity. Values have to be more important. Your new passion of AI is only adding to the degradation of the planet. More interesting articles would be better than dropping your values.

@viticci Honestly, nah. If you need to suck at the teet of a nazi to stay in business, you shouldn’t be in business.

@viticci " A substantial part of the audience interested in what we cover is still on X, and by leaving the platform, we stopped reaching those people [...]"

I'm curious if you actually tried to actively encourage people to follow you here.

On a related note, have you read about The Forkiverse?

https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/fediverse-an-overview-for-community-organizers/#case-studies-forkiverse

@viticci this is tough to read. I think business wise you would be better off creating a new website for all the AI stuff. I get that’s what you’re passionate about and I don’t fault you for that, but trying to drag Macstories with you and saying it’s just more automation feels off to me.

Going back to X is a doozy. That’s where the AI audience is, but I think to all of us that left for principled reasons watching people go back, makes us realise that us leaving had no effect and that hurts.

@viticci Hey - thanks for the apology… I'm still pretty disappointed with this move, after y'all wrote before how you quit Twitter and Threads out of principle, and now you come back, and pay for a premium account, even though nothing changed there… but I understand that running a business is hard.

@viticci The fact that this is posted here and not on MacStories is illustrating the problem - it feels sneaky. I unsubscribed months ago because of the pivot from apps to AI, and after this I think the respect is gone for good.

@viticci they’re making fun of you guys all over my timeline, btw. calling you sellouts, basically. said you went full bandwagon already. just fyi.

@viticci Nope.

@viticci@macstories.net dude just fuck off from the fediverse if you are so invested in white supremacism. like, you know it's wrong, why don't you at least try to hide it and delete your account entirely

@viticci gross. I was disappointed with you all for posting so much AI garbage recently, but this is next level.

@viticci Federico per quanto non é che sia un fan della direzione editoriale attuale di macstories, troppo ai, poco app cover, ritengo che questa shitstorm sia veramente assurda, e sia ahimè colpa della visione semplicistica che hanno gli americani della nostra community riguardo al mondo

Musk ha idee politiche deprecabili, ma letteralmente a miliardi di persone non importa nulla, io ho lasciato Twitter solo perché non ci sono le app ma c’è ancora tanti contenuti e tanta gente… fate bene, ciao

@viticci

@viticci This post doesn’t fix anything at all 😕👎

@viticci Well... you had one problem, but now you have two. Good luck! 😅

@viticci so many people here seriously need to touch some grass. This outcry is so disproportionate

@viticci
”returning to X does not represent a change in our values, what MacStories or we stand for, or an endorsement of Elon Musk.”

Except it does! You aren’t just automating links on the MacStories account, you and John are back on personal accounts, an not only that, you’re also paying for a premium membership at the Nazi bar.

Claiming this doesn’t represent a change in values or and endorsement is just ridiculous and as a long time reader and listener I expected better of you.

@viticci That’s your choice.

My choice is to stop reading and boosting MacStories.