Gerald,
Some tech friends of mine were sitting at lunch back in 2008, talking about time-syncs in our lives. We all generally agreed that social media was one of the worst. As a result, we all made a pact to eliminate fb/twitter/etc... and none of us have looked back. There are positives to it, but from a bottom line standpoint, it really doesn't give you any more than text messaging the right people in technical circles, following the right email threads and being on the right IRC channels can give you. And, you get to avoid clickbait, popup-adds and suggestions and other content that are really all just adds in disguise. You basically allow other people to filter through all the garbage and post things to an email thread when it's actually good... allowing you to save precious and valuable time. Oh, and did I mention... Politics? If you intend on avoiding amateur radio politics by resorting to twitter, etc...be advised. You will find a lot of amateurs raging, quite outlandishly about other amateur radio operators, policies, members, even their families and the like... basically, like you've seen on the -bb for the last several months but magnitudes worst...
And don't get me wrong... i'm not some sort of pre-historic anti-technology hater. I actually developed the core social media components for EAs Madden 2013 title using a PS4 Tool (that's a playstation 4 development kit). You can see me in the credits. This includes the Facebook, Twitter and SMS hooks for the title. I understand the APIs, aggregators, etc... To me, it's all about the SNR. I don't regret dropping off and I miss nothing about it. I feel that it has intellectually saved me from a substantial number of people that want to make themselves seem and feel important by mostly making noise. The way I explain it to my kids is... imagine you're trying to read a book, and someone is shouting over your shoulder every 10 seconds. Yes, you can do it... but gosh, it's annoying. There are ways to stay informed without it and they are worth pursuing to me :-)
Anyhow, see how it all goes for you, post back in 6 months and let us know how you feel then ;-)
#rant, Joseph Armbruster KJ4JIO
On Wed, Oct 7, 2020 at 6:02 PM Gerald Payton via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
I have fundamentally opposed to TWITTER doe to the NONSENSE on it! However, I see many references posted here.
I am having second thoughts about signing up. PLEASE, will someone direct me to WHO I should follow regarding AMSAT and possibly others.
Many thanks,
73 Jerry AB5R EM12kh _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb