Camestros Felapton

FELAPTONL

Correia Flees Facebook

As part of the post-Trump trauma, noted Sad Puppy and bestselling Baen author Larry Correia is semi-leaving Facebook after years of time-outs and post deletions.

“I’m done helping those parasites. Facebook is trash. We all know it. We’ve all seen it. We’re just there because of inertia. Over the last decade, working with some stupendous moderators and great fans, we built a gigantic, thriving, fun, fan page here on Facebook. It’s one of the bigger author fan pages on the internet where the author can still actually talk to his fans. Being able to interact there was great. But Facebook took that from me on a whim. They banned me from my own group because of what I MIGHT say.”

https://monsterhunternation.com/2021/01/21/a-farewell-to-facebook/

He set up some time ago an alternate version of his fan group on the MeWe social media platform: https://mewe.com/join/monster_hunter_nation. Currently, MeWe is a popular alternative for many people concerned about Facebook’s approach to either privacy or politics or both. Over there, Larry describes the situation.

“For the record, we’re still trying to keep the fan page mostly politics free.
That’s because:
A. we don’t know how long our fall back position will last before big tech crushes it too, or they fall in line to keep from getting Parlered by big tech and we don’t want to put a giant target on our head.
B. it can get super annoying, and you’ve got the entire rest of the internet to talk about politics. Like my personal page, I’m always political, you want to talk politics there, go for it.
And yeah, I get that it is hard. The world is extra stupid right now and you want to talk about the stupid shit with your friends. I get it. I truly do. Except we need to be smart and figure out how to operate around the bullshit. Because head butting the bullshit merely results in us getting banned again, and I’ve not figured out what the backup to the backup is quite yet.”

It is interesting that even the smallest push back by big-tech has lead to some of its more toxic users rethinking their choices. Also, it gives me an opportunity to re-use this colouring-in page.

camestrosfelapton

,

60 responses to “Correia Flees Facebook”

  1. Certainly this is your blog and you can write what you want, but wasn’t the whole puppies thing 5 or 6 years ago? I mean, why give free press to people you clearly don’t like.

    Also, as you know, I’m a social and political conservative. No, I never voted for Trump, but I didn’t vote for Clinton or Biden either. I’m not binary that way. However, a number of my friends and I have created MeWe accounts, not because we’re fascists, but because, to one degree or another, many of us have felt the censorship hand of Facebook and twitter.

    That you happen to agree with what appears to be the prevailing opinion of the big tech social platforms is fine and dandy, but it’s possible for some of us to disagree with at least some of those points without actually being “evil.” I’d hate to think that the world has become so polarized that folks really do believe their are only two kinds of people in the world. In my sixty-some-odd years of life, I’ve found human beings to be far more nuanced than that.

    Just my proverbial 2 cents.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Plenty of leftists have had troubles with Facebook, too. Happens all the time. Facebook really needs some competition.

      Liked by 3 people

    • I’m still talking about a group of people who pushed a conspiracy theory that ‘elites’ were plotting against them to rig elections for progressives in the Hugo Awards because they all went on to say the same thing about US elections.

      As for Facebook, Larry is quite correct that it is an evil and exploitative company. I don’t disagree with him on that point.

      By the way, I was once kicked off Facebook myself…after Sad Puppy supporters filed reports against me 🙂

      Liked by 10 people

    • …many of us have felt the censorship hand of Facebook and twitter.
      Translation: “Many of us broke private companies’ rules that we agreed to when we created our accounts and now we’re butthurt after they enforced them.”

      What you experienced was not ‘censorship’. What you experienced was the digital equivalent of ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service’. Learn to deal with the consequences of your own actions. And come back when you understand how freedom of speech really works. You haven’t quite got the concept yet.

      Liked by 2 people

      • That’s the problem. I can’t always tell. I’ve been tracking my tweets in terms of those standards and about the most “dangerous” I get is criticizing certain decisions and statements by Biden, Pelosi, and AOC. I also tend to be pro-Israel (my wife is Jewish) and post a number of Holocaust education info. Beyond that, it’s comic books, SciFi art, nature photography, NASA and related info (I grew up with the Mercury and Gemini programs) and the occasional promotion of my own work. The best I can figure out is I simply have different opinions than the status quo, but when was that ever dangerous?

        Like

      • The don’t care. Break their rules and watch what happens to your account.The rules themselves are arbitrary. Witness any number of women and LGBT people calling out death and rape threats who get removed while their harassers get off Scot-free.
        You seem to suffer from the common Conservative delusion that private companies owe you a platform. Allow yourself to learn that they don’t.
        If you start a fight in the virtual bar, don’t be surprised when the virtual bouncers come along and throw you out.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Jessica, based on your other comments here, I can tell of your bias against conservatives, and that’s fine. We all have biases for and against something or someone. Seeing how this is a hostile environment and I should have “read the room” (although I was the first one in the room), I shall withdraw. Enjoy the weekend. Bye.

        Like

      • @James Pyles (if you’re still reading/here) – do you recall specific posts for which you were temp banned or blocked from Twitter or Facebook? I frequently see leftists complain of being blocked, usually for (what seem to me) pretty silly reasons. I follow various anti-fascist activists on Twitter and have seen neo-nazis having a blast threatening to rape and/or murder them, their pets, their families, etc., without suffering any consequences. I’ve also seen people temp banned for using the term TERF or saying (on FB) “white trash.” Aside from the TERF thing, I can usually see why FB/Twitter bans/blocks the account in question, even though I usually disagree. OTOH, they obviously don’t enforce these rules consistently. I’ve seen a lot of complaints about censorship from the right, but a lot of that (at least recently) involved Twitter or Facebook flagging misleading or outright false propaganda being used in support of the ex-president’s attempted coup, or his (and other conspiracy theorists’ and con artists’) efforts to worsen the pandemic.

        Liked by 1 person

      • And so the snowflake melts down and flounces.
        You wouldn’t last a second in the conditions your friends have created for Leftists on the internet.

        Liked by 1 person

      • And Mr. Pyles, starting from his first post, demonstrates why people don’t take cries of ‘censorship’ from the loud self-described conservatives seriously.

        Because they dismiss everybody else’s complaints of hostile environments, even after explicitly helping to create them, and then start screaming the moment the environment turns hostile on them, at far less of a level than others have already had to deal with. Because the systems they’ve used to bash others shouldn’t be used to bash them. Grifters have been using Facebook’s policies to get fact-checkers booted off the platform for years.

        See also the person storming the Capitol who, after finally running into some resistance, complained about how the police were supposed to be targeting BLM protestors, not people like them. Or how suddenly the Trump supporters started complaining about police brutality after that event, never mind that they were treated sufficiently with kid gloves to start with that they got into the bloody building in the first place.

        Liked by 1 person

    • That you happen to agree with what appears to be the prevailing opinion of the big tech social platforms is fine and dandy, but it’s possible for some of us to disagree with at least some of those points without actually being “evil.”

      Totally. And if you do, you should look around for alternatives, and/or start your own alternative.

      However, if the platform you choose is small enough that (say) fascists compose large proportion of the demographic, then there’s a chance that people (wrongly, for multiple meanings of wrong) initially assume that any specific user of said service may have fascist sympathies.

      To be clear, doing that is a form of prejudice. “Not all X” and all that.

      Liked by 1 person

      • On the other hand, when a Fascist sits at a table with 11 other people and those 11 other people don’t immediately either kick him out or leave in disgust, you haven’t got a Fascist and 11 other people. What you’ve got is a dozen Fascists.

        Liked by 3 people

      • Alright, let’s talk about Parler. Like twitter, what you see depends on who you follow. In my case, it was pretty much a lot of my acquaintances who wanted to talk about their (non-violent) politics and religion without inspiring the ire of people who oppose our perspectives. Yes, from all reports, a lot of far, far right nutcases also used Parler, but that they existed on the platform doesn’t mean we supported them or could even see them. It’s sort of like being on twitter when it’s being used by Islamic Jihadists to “shout” things like “death to Israel” and “death to America.” That such individuals are using twitter for their platform doesn’t make everyone else on twitter complicit in inciting violence or terrorism. That said, Parler is (for the most part) gone. I do maintain an account on MeWe, but it’s the same. I follow those individuals and groups that are part of my friendships and interests. At the end of the day, it’s important to realize that most conservatives are not right-wing white supremacists like Hitler, just like most liberals are not far-left radical socialists like Stalin. People are individual human beings, not stereotypes. It’s only safe to label each other because the illusion of anonymity allows for people to consider the other as “not-human” regardless of who the other happens to be or the “observer” happens to be.

        Like

        • James Pyles: At the end of the day, it’s important to realize that most conservatives are not right-wing white supremacists like Hitler

          Yeah, no, I’m going to stop you right there.

          As of July 2020, 34% of Americans identified themselves as conservatives. Of 255 million eligible voters, 74 million (29%) voted for Trump.

          Trump made it quite clear what he stood for, and what his objectives were: white nationalism, racism, xenophobia, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Those 74 million Americans can make excuses about why they voted for him anyway, but the reality is they knew what they were voting for.

          29% is indeed the majority of 34%. The majority of conservatives voted to support white supremacy. You say they’re not white supremacists like Hitler. I say that is just semantics. The majority of conservatives (74 million out of 86.7 million) voted for white supremacist policies and actions, and they knew what they were voting for.

          Stop making excuses and justifications. Own it.

          Liked by 3 people

      • Alright, let’s talk about Parler.

        Yes, let’s. I refer you to the well-known saying ‘lie down with dogs, get up with flees’. Also see above regarding a dozen Fascists.
        You become known by the company you keep. If you get upset about Parler being deplatformed, then perhaps the white hood fits and you should wear it.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Won’t lie, this is (unsurprisingly) turning into a classic case of “Concern Troll is Concerned” to my eyes.

        Liked by 3 people

    • James, I’ve always been wary of Big Tech, and I can certainly understand resenting getting slapped down by those firms. Frankly, I’m glad to see that people are seeking some alternatives to sharecropping for Facebook and Twitter, and maybe more people than just self-described conservatives will realise that, when you’re an unpaid provider of free content, i.e., are the product and not the customer, you are permitted only the activity that the stakeholders and their actual customers (adtech and data-mining interests) want you to have.

      Personally, I put any substantial writings on my own self-hosted Internet server, and don’t sharecrop for anyone. Anyone who wants the freedom to say what he/she wishes on the Internet, limited only by civil litigation, can do likewise and not be merely under the thumb of a different content baron. Long before the Web (1960, in fact), The New Yorker’s A.J. Liebling aptly explained matters: “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

      My desire to help everyone enjoy that freedom (who so wishes), self-described conservatives certainly included, is something I’ve expressed for decades, and you can see for yourself that I’m kind of an Adlai Stevenson liberal. I’ve even considered helping Theo Beale understand how to do DNS properly. ;->

      Liked by 2 people

  2. So Correa is searching for a safe space for the easily triggered. Not surprising. He has always had a hard time dealing with the world around him.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. He’s not really going. That’s why I’m not giving this a stand-alone post. He’s just hoping to push some of his audience to MeWe.

    Liked by 6 people

  4. “I’m always political”

    I thought the Puppy dogma was that discussing politics was bad? Didn’t one of them claim that his story about Trump becoming God-Emperor (not turning into a worm though) was totally apolitical?

    Liked by 3 people

    • To be fair: No, it was never puppy dogma that discussing politics was bad. The dogma was that it was bad to let politics infuse your science fiction. They wanted – so they said – books (and short fiction) that didn’t spread political messages. They wanted awards to recognize books for their entertainment value, not their political message.

      In the particular post you’re quoting from, Correia says that he wants the fan page for his books to be mostly free from political discussion, but that he is political on his personal page. I suspect that when Correia says “no politics, please”. the actual polics is going to be more like “no political statements I disagree with, please” – but a desire to keep a particular forum mostly free from political discussion is not an unreasonable position in itself.

      Like

      • And SF that spread a political message they agreed with was “not political”, because there was no cognitive friction, and thus it must be apolitical.

        Liked by 3 people

      • It amused me that the first Monster Hunter International book screeched to a halt a few times to explain what a bad thing Big Government was. Presumably that’s not a political opinion.

        Liked by 5 people

      • To be fair: that was their second or third dogma. First it was “Larry wants a Hugo” then “Larry wants to pwn the Libs”, then “too much politics”, then “let’s burn it all down”.

        Liked by 2 people

  5. I’ve never used Facebook, so I don’t know much about it. Is quitting it something that deserves a farewell post?

    Like

    • It’s not really leaving unless you flounce. And it’s not really flouncing unless you come back. That’s how the Internet works. I don’t make the rules, I just wonder at their perfect beauty.

      Liked by 5 people

      • I wonder what the over/under is on when he goes back.

        I look forward to ignoring his self-justification for why he returns.

        Poor Larry seems to have a problem distinguishing between “I am being oppressed” and “I am suffering the consequences of my own actions”. Seems to happen to him regularly.

        Like

      • Like smoking, the easiest way to quit Facebook is never to start using it. Also there’s a lot of peer pressure to use it in some circles and a lot of people keep using it, even though they know it’s bad for them.

        Liked by 1 person

    • I would say that, in a case like this, where an artist (of whatever calibre) is using the cite as a platform to interact with fans (owc), then letting the fans know you will no longer be using the platform is, at the very least, polite.

      The real question is, as ever, when departure is announced, will he stick the flounce, or will he be back?

      Like

      • Yeah, that makes sense – using Facebook as a place for fans of a particular author to meet is different than using it for purely personal reasons, and an “I’m moving” message makes sense for the first case, even if not for the second case.

        Like

  7. All of the Puppies would like to have us accept that they’re the ultimate In victims. After all the systems are rigged against them, are they? That was the Big Lie that Trump was selling ever so hard.

    Liked by 3 people

    • I think he’s only ever published with Baen, who by their own admission don’t bother to edit the books, so he’s never had anyone point out the difference.

      Liked by 2 people

  9. As I have thought many a time at many a whine from Puppies — and even more since the election was called for Biden:

    Boo-fucking-hoo.

    Put on your big boy pants and deal.

    Like

  10. Just as an aside, I probably wouldn’t name a site I intended people to take seriously after something that is very easily rhymable with SheWee.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. So what did Correia actually do/allow that got Facebook to bounce his fan group page? Political/election “misinformation” lies, QAnon crap or violent bigoted threats related to the election?

    Like

      • I don’t suppose Larry shared Faceplant’s temp-ban scold notice? That would probably be more enlightening than “banned me from my own group because of what I might say”; possibly even interesting.

        Like

        • I believe many accounts had a temporary ban on access to groups or setting up new groups. I assume this was related to people pushing election conspiracies but as I only look at Facebook pages pushing election conspiracies my sample is biased

          Like

      • There are a lot of glitches and the banning is so random anyway, it might have been a legit accident.

        But Larry never misses a chance to claim victimhood.

        Why are all these macho guys so eager to say they’re victims? Seems like admitting you’re a wimpy loser with delicate sensibilities, not an alpha male.

        Like

      • 1) You can’t be a hero unless someone is trying to thwart you, so you have to have been thwarted so you can strike back or overcome.

        2) The important thing is to plant as a norm outrage that the superiors — those who rule and like social hierarchies and prejudices that let them rule — should not be challenged, that criticism of them and their views, goals and rigged advantages is totally illegitimate. It’s the “don’t you know who I am” aspect, complaining about the service.

        Liked by 1 person

      • This is unrelated but someone was tweeting today that they got a 12-hour ban on Twitter because an AI filter found their tweet saying in part “die Bernie Sanders.” The thing is that the tweet was in Dutch where “die” is just “the.”

        Of course, The Simpsons did it first with Die Bart, Die

        Liked by 2 people

  13. Correia’s flounce is all the more pathetic when one realizes that Facebook basically coddles fascists like him. I’ve reported numerous comments from alt-righters that accuse their enemies of being pedophiles, or make death or rape threats, and Facebook’s response is that those are fine. Call one QAnon person an idiot for believing in ridiculous conspiracy theories or use a phrase like “white fragility” and they will put you in Facebook jail immediately.

    Like

Blog at WordPress.com.