Ms. Fisher-Quann sounds like a bright. interesting, perceptive person. I am Gen X , and it thrills me to know that there are young people who are intuitive and attentive to the performative aspect of of modern life. I like that she is aware of the fact that "attention" creates the need for more and more attention and how addictive it can be. She is the voice of her generation. No one can effectively understand a generation unless they are part of it. Rayne did not ask to be born in Canada around the turn of the century. It just happened. She is making the best of it. If she were my child, I would do everything I could to empower her on her journey. I LOVE that she aspires to a more basic life when it becomes financially viable. She has a clear vision. I am so, so sorry that she was exposed to hateful, sexually explicit commentary regarding " what people would do to her." No human being should be subjected to that. She seems to get that it was anger directed towards her persona, not her person. Lot's of folks want to be where she is, and envy makes people mean. Thank you for introducing me to her.
So refreshing to hear these kind of voices being amplified! Feeling very understood as a fellow 21 year old woman who may have escaped advanced sinister algorithms as a child but now faces them head on entering the adult world. With the internets’ mammoth integration in our lives, and it’s exponentially expanding influence, discussion around it can no longer exist just on the sidelines but needs to be front and center as we move forward. This conversation is especially important for today’s children to hear, who are coming into this world that is very different from what previous generations of youth experienced. I am so glad to hear Miss. Fisher Quinn receive such well deserved recognition for the work she is doing. I’m surprisingly grateful for Substack’s promotion of this genuinely valuable content via my inbox. This gives me much hope! I think (select groups) of Gen Z have reached a turning point wherein the internet’s inherent self-reflection is turned back upon itself, forcing us to face toward the online systems that raised us, how they have changed, and now are affecting younger generations. I think we feel for the children nowadays in a way no other age group can understand. Thank you for this!!! So inspiring.
Count how many times she says the word "like" just in the first 3 minutes of the recording. What happened to the youth of today and their ability to speak proper English. I guess maybe it's because social media platforms all have Like features that liking something has been implanted in the brains of the Gen Z population. What kind of people are we becoming?
Stating that Gen Zers say "like" a lot is overlooking the fact that their use of English is atrocious sounding and an improper use of the English language. Sure, I can deal with it but I can't listen to someone for any length of time, who's considered intelligent or not, using the word "like" as an adverb when communicating to a large audience about an important topic or topics.
adverb
1.
INFORMAL
used in speech as a meaningless filler or to signify the speaker's uncertainty about an expression just used.
I agree. It is an abomination. I think it discredits the speaker, especially when speaking to an audience. My ears cease listening upon hearing “like” more than once in a short span.
“Like” and “literally” are malignant. Both of these words, slang, and acronyms my daughter is banned From saying near me. Not only is the English language butchered daily, but it is also slowly dying because the definitions of words no longer retain their meanings. Worse, everybody seems to interpret words differently; similar to the perception of facts and truth nowadays, the meanings of words aren’t absolute as they should be.
I think you’re both partially right. Languages do naturally shift and always have. Depression-era parents thought their Boomer kids’ language was absurd. Boomers thought same about their kids. Etc. But I do think the moment we’re in now is a little different, mainly due to the incredibly fast pace of technology and social media, etc, which has clearly had a big impact on language and the way many young people talk. Yet still this is so normal/common. Give it ten years and the next Gen will be mocking their Gen Z parents. Such is the nature of the beast.
However, fringe leftist ideology has also molded language is some very bizarre ways and, as you said Corey, has hollowed out many words into meaningless shells. What does the word woman mean anymore? Or racism? It depends on your ideology, political views, personal subjective stance now, etc. So yeah. Complex. Like everything. I actually wrote a post on my stack a couple months back on this called The Problem With Language.
Yes, each generation complains about the absurdity of the next generation’s language, taste in music, and so on. Still, I think the situation here is far different and doesn’t center solely on a decline in language but a decline in literacy. It irks me that when writing for an online audience nowadays, the standard is to write at a level no more advanced than eighth grade, which is surprising since I believe I read somewhere that something like 50 percent of Americans read and writes at a sixth-grade level.
I’m finding it relieving that there’s people like this online, people utilizing all the SM tools at their disposal at a high level and still being very honest about their downsides!
A few poorly thought out takeaways :)
Im gathering there is a fine line between trying to be viral and trying to be true to self that is hard to toe, and some of these points make it easier, like not being reflexively defensive online. Substack also makes it easier by making it less of an incentive to just get the most likes, not that substack doesn’t make it attractive to reach more people. It simply feels like a much healthier place to spend most social media time.
I am curious, as a person who would like to reach lots of people on the internet with my writing, how do I come to terms with what social media does to me, and others, while utilizing it to develop my brand (barf at having to develop me brand) and share my work?
Readers needing to be attracted to your persona really stuck out to me. I really studied the post with Doomberg last week and that was one of the points made there as well. It’s interesting because my mind equates writing success (if defined by ultimately reaching lots of people) with simply finding a topic people want info or entertainment around and then making good stuff about that topic. But the persona, letting people connect with you or your character, seems to be really key, and something that I have found challenging when trying to have a consistent persona I can inject across all my work.
I really found the read useful and can’t wait to listen to the entire interview on my drive to work!
The attraction to your persona was echoed by another Substack staffer at an event this year. It’s not enough to be a good writer but to be marginally interesting as an individual. Social media notoriety requires a lot of engagement first, though, so if you’re not prepared to build that following, you may be at a loss. I know I haven’t quite figured it out yet and sometimes don’t want to.
My friend has written about not being a brand, but a person. I agree and in that respect being on social media and trying to garner that attention is hard. It seems a cross between digging into who you are and setting up that reproducible image of that self. Not everyone wants to be that. They might want to just exist as themselves without the curation.
When you figure out the secret, let me know. I have to listen to the whole convo as well.
You make an excellent point about needing to be willing to do the social media part of things as well, which always bums me out slightly. But it’s also extremely important, you’ve got to market yourself, as gross as that sometimes feels, to me anyway. But it’s very unlikely that anyone gets a book deal as an unknown person. it isn’t impossible, but most people build an audience themselves and then things happen, not the other way around. I didn’t mean to focus so narrowly on that one thing you said but that’s been the thorn in my side lately.
Ultimately, I think the persona needs to be pretty true to who the writer is, or at least envisions themself as. Very hard to be consistent when everything is made up. It gets very interesting when it’s fiction vs non fiction!
I was asked to “sell myself” at an interview once and I was at a loss. I didn’t know what exactly to say. I was looking for the *correct* answer. Today I’d approach it differently. I know what I have to offer and it might help figure out how you can market yourself. Once you know what you have to offer, what your skills are, where you’d like to explore or get better, it might be easier to create that image because, like you said, it’s true.
Rayne is a towering GenZ figure on Substack and a great example of Creators reverse-engineering and diversifying back to the written word. I love that!
Given how much mental health TikTok pressure she has, was really disappointed to see some of the comments below.
Substack really needs TikTok and YouTube creators just to make it, we need to be celebrating these people not putting them down.
I do think that a persona that’s pretty true to self is a wise choice. It’s what I’ve tried to do because, frankly, it’s easier than creating a whole detailed personality that is as intricate as my real personality, and then keeping that consistent forever. But, there are plenty of classic books that are full of characters with consistent, and totally made up, personalities! Just mess around with posting for a year and see what feels natural, try it all! Look at my home page, very few of my posts are very consistent with the previous, it’s all about finding yourself
I don't know why I didn't consider this. I primarily write fiction (not on Subststack), so you would think writing from an altered personality or tone and whatnot would have occurred to me. It is definitely something to think about.
I think you’re being a little too hard on her. You can be totally authentic...but I think she’s largely correct; when online we all to some degree create a persona, consciously or not. Don’t you think?
I guess I'm way too old to even remotely be able to emulate any of this. And I don't really want to. My focus in life these days (and with my Substack) is to get away from the self as this pin-point center of the universe and try to include more and more other sentient beings with "me". Non-human animals; forests; that kind of thing. The most challenging: other human beings such as the current Twitter owner... 😉
Fascinating. Pretty impressive for a 21-year-old, especially from Gen Z. I was happy that she didn’t vomit ‘like’ every 2-3 seconds. She reminded me of Clementine Morrigan a little. Her self-awareness is solid. I’m definitely going to check out her Stack. She refers a lot to ‘women’ which pleases me and makes me think she admits there’s a biological difference between men and women. Good, promising start. And clearly this woman is intelligent. Insightful. Open. All good things. We need more critical thinkers from her age group. I can’t deny that, as a Substack writer myself who had *some* success ‘out there’ first, I’m jealous of her brand-name success: New York Times!? At her age??? I mean wow, right?
But I wish her nothing but the very best. You go, girl! Keep up the hard work.
Without any background on this person it was reassuring to hear their ability to communicate their perspective critically at such a young age. It’s probably obnoxious to hear that critique on age but objectivity and insight aren’t great strengths of most 21 year olds. They sounds like they’ve lived through some hardship that seems to have aged them.
When I first entered the world of social media, it was in Twitter, and I was shadow banned, censored, and finally booted the first year. I’ve left many sites for being censored. I just refuse to stay after having my Constitutional rights violated. It’s such a horrible feeling, and call me what you will, I’m so glad the Left is finally getting a taste If how it feels. After years of abuse, being called names, and dealing with such judgmental people, I’d basically had it, and this new Twitter takeover is delicious. I’m savoring every bite. I was very naive at the beginning. I thought we were all there to share and pass on important information, like NumbersUSA for immigration, Govtrack.us for reps on The Hill, their addresses, emails, phone numbers, voting, etc., Precinct Strategy, truethevote, and so many other important sites we needed to become involved in to save our Republic, and they went absolutely no where, no interest whatsoever, so I decided to become involved locally and do what I could in that area. That’s where I can do the most good, and it’s very satisfying. Works for me.
Citing constitutional rights on private property can be tricky. Most serious people would probably take issue with it. I’ve heard of Govtrack but not the others. I’ll have to check them out.
I don’t know what you mean about “Citing Constitutional rights on private property...”. I’m not allowed to say anything about my Cons. rights have been violated on a private site? I’ve done it dozens of times, and you’re the first to say this. Just curious to know more. Here’s better site info: truethevote.org (Katherine Engelbrecht), patriotgames.com (Gregg Phillips), iv3.us (Gregg/Katherine, help keep voter rolls accurate), precinctstrategy.com (become a precinct committee member, be the voice of your community, be a spokesperson for them to the political mafia on The Hill - last thing they want) - #America’sbestkeptsecret, besides how many illegal invaders are here already and how much they’re costing us. NumbersUSA.com (Wealth of info, plus email/telephone/fax your reps through correspondence they create and we can modify if we wish.) They couldn’t make it any easier for us. Hold them accountable or get rid of them, their worst nightmare. 😃
What I thought you meant was the common complaint of being censored or banned on websites and considering it an infringement on your rights. These are protections from the government. They are not rights granted to individuals to interpret and wield how and wherever they want. There is no right to peaceably assemble in my living room for example. There is no right to free speech in my house or on my property. I choose what is appropriate speech within my home and on my property. I choose what is permissible and what isn’t. It’s my house. The same goes with my business. I decide what speech is appropriate and what speech isn’t appropriate. I make the rules and I change the rules. All of this within reason and within the framework of the local and federal law of course. I don’t know your specific situation. I’m just speaking generally.
I suppose it’s something we have to decide for ourselves, whether we choose to stay at a site where some are allowed to speak freely and others aren’t because of their political views. I just never stay anywhere where my posts are deleted or I’m shadow banned. I do feel my rights are being violated, and it’s a personal decision on my part. I guess when Elon Musk talks about wanting Twitter to be a freedom of speech site, it’s all going to depend on what he decides freedom of speech is. It doesn’t matter what we think it means. I’m not going back anyway. Too many mean gals and guys online, and I don’t want their bad vibes to rub off on me.😁 Thanks for the post! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Hope you like the sites!
Ms. Fisher-Quann sounds like a bright. interesting, perceptive person. I am Gen X , and it thrills me to know that there are young people who are intuitive and attentive to the performative aspect of of modern life. I like that she is aware of the fact that "attention" creates the need for more and more attention and how addictive it can be. She is the voice of her generation. No one can effectively understand a generation unless they are part of it. Rayne did not ask to be born in Canada around the turn of the century. It just happened. She is making the best of it. If she were my child, I would do everything I could to empower her on her journey. I LOVE that she aspires to a more basic life when it becomes financially viable. She has a clear vision. I am so, so sorry that she was exposed to hateful, sexually explicit commentary regarding " what people would do to her." No human being should be subjected to that. She seems to get that it was anger directed towards her persona, not her person. Lot's of folks want to be where she is, and envy makes people mean. Thank you for introducing me to her.
💕💕🔥❤️. Yeah she’s very self-aware.
So refreshing to hear these kind of voices being amplified! Feeling very understood as a fellow 21 year old woman who may have escaped advanced sinister algorithms as a child but now faces them head on entering the adult world. With the internets’ mammoth integration in our lives, and it’s exponentially expanding influence, discussion around it can no longer exist just on the sidelines but needs to be front and center as we move forward. This conversation is especially important for today’s children to hear, who are coming into this world that is very different from what previous generations of youth experienced. I am so glad to hear Miss. Fisher Quinn receive such well deserved recognition for the work she is doing. I’m surprisingly grateful for Substack’s promotion of this genuinely valuable content via my inbox. This gives me much hope! I think (select groups) of Gen Z have reached a turning point wherein the internet’s inherent self-reflection is turned back upon itself, forcing us to face toward the online systems that raised us, how they have changed, and now are affecting younger generations. I think we feel for the children nowadays in a way no other age group can understand. Thank you for this!!! So inspiring.
Count how many times she says the word "like" just in the first 3 minutes of the recording. What happened to the youth of today and their ability to speak proper English. I guess maybe it's because social media platforms all have Like features that liking something has been implanted in the brains of the Gen Z population. What kind of people are we becoming?
this comment does not pass the vibe check, like literally
Vibe check?
Did not mean to "heart" this. Young people say like a lot. So what. Like, deal with it.
This is us “dealing” with it. It is a debatable topic being discussed. Nobody is right or wrong; only expressing opinions.
Stating that Gen Zers say "like" a lot is overlooking the fact that their use of English is atrocious sounding and an improper use of the English language. Sure, I can deal with it but I can't listen to someone for any length of time, who's considered intelligent or not, using the word "like" as an adverb when communicating to a large audience about an important topic or topics.
adverb
1.
INFORMAL
used in speech as a meaningless filler or to signify the speaker's uncertainty about an expression just used.
"I was, like, so hyped up I couldn't go to sleep
I agree. It is an abomination. I think it discredits the speaker, especially when speaking to an audience. My ears cease listening upon hearing “like” more than once in a short span.
Ditto
“Like” and “literally” are malignant. Both of these words, slang, and acronyms my daughter is banned From saying near me. Not only is the English language butchered daily, but it is also slowly dying because the definitions of words no longer retain their meanings. Worse, everybody seems to interpret words differently; similar to the perception of facts and truth nowadays, the meanings of words aren’t absolute as they should be.
Spot on, Corey. Thanks for sharing your comment with us.
Well said and I totally agree. However, to her credit she DID use ‘like’ much less than many celebrities in her generation.
People have been complaining for centuries about how young people are corrupting language (as far back as Cicero). Language change is inevitable!
Your exclamation makes me think you are for languages degrading.
Most linguists would agree that "degradation" is an inaccurate characterization of perfectly natural language change.
Natural doesn't mean improved.
I think you’re both partially right. Languages do naturally shift and always have. Depression-era parents thought their Boomer kids’ language was absurd. Boomers thought same about their kids. Etc. But I do think the moment we’re in now is a little different, mainly due to the incredibly fast pace of technology and social media, etc, which has clearly had a big impact on language and the way many young people talk. Yet still this is so normal/common. Give it ten years and the next Gen will be mocking their Gen Z parents. Such is the nature of the beast.
However, fringe leftist ideology has also molded language is some very bizarre ways and, as you said Corey, has hollowed out many words into meaningless shells. What does the word woman mean anymore? Or racism? It depends on your ideology, political views, personal subjective stance now, etc. So yeah. Complex. Like everything. I actually wrote a post on my stack a couple months back on this called The Problem With Language.
Yes, each generation complains about the absurdity of the next generation’s language, taste in music, and so on. Still, I think the situation here is far different and doesn’t center solely on a decline in language but a decline in literacy. It irks me that when writing for an online audience nowadays, the standard is to write at a level no more advanced than eighth grade, which is surprising since I believe I read somewhere that something like 50 percent of Americans read and writes at a sixth-grade level.
Agree but same as I said to Corey: Placed against the standards of her own generation, she used ‘like’ much less than is often sadly typical.
I’m finding it relieving that there’s people like this online, people utilizing all the SM tools at their disposal at a high level and still being very honest about their downsides!
A few poorly thought out takeaways :)
Im gathering there is a fine line between trying to be viral and trying to be true to self that is hard to toe, and some of these points make it easier, like not being reflexively defensive online. Substack also makes it easier by making it less of an incentive to just get the most likes, not that substack doesn’t make it attractive to reach more people. It simply feels like a much healthier place to spend most social media time.
I am curious, as a person who would like to reach lots of people on the internet with my writing, how do I come to terms with what social media does to me, and others, while utilizing it to develop my brand (barf at having to develop me brand) and share my work?
Readers needing to be attracted to your persona really stuck out to me. I really studied the post with Doomberg last week and that was one of the points made there as well. It’s interesting because my mind equates writing success (if defined by ultimately reaching lots of people) with simply finding a topic people want info or entertainment around and then making good stuff about that topic. But the persona, letting people connect with you or your character, seems to be really key, and something that I have found challenging when trying to have a consistent persona I can inject across all my work.
I really found the read useful and can’t wait to listen to the entire interview on my drive to work!
The attraction to your persona was echoed by another Substack staffer at an event this year. It’s not enough to be a good writer but to be marginally interesting as an individual. Social media notoriety requires a lot of engagement first, though, so if you’re not prepared to build that following, you may be at a loss. I know I haven’t quite figured it out yet and sometimes don’t want to.
My friend has written about not being a brand, but a person. I agree and in that respect being on social media and trying to garner that attention is hard. It seems a cross between digging into who you are and setting up that reproducible image of that self. Not everyone wants to be that. They might want to just exist as themselves without the curation.
When you figure out the secret, let me know. I have to listen to the whole convo as well.
I think that’s part of the beauty of Substack: It allows writers to be writers, versus marketing experts.
You make an excellent point about needing to be willing to do the social media part of things as well, which always bums me out slightly. But it’s also extremely important, you’ve got to market yourself, as gross as that sometimes feels, to me anyway. But it’s very unlikely that anyone gets a book deal as an unknown person. it isn’t impossible, but most people build an audience themselves and then things happen, not the other way around. I didn’t mean to focus so narrowly on that one thing you said but that’s been the thorn in my side lately.
Ultimately, I think the persona needs to be pretty true to who the writer is, or at least envisions themself as. Very hard to be consistent when everything is made up. It gets very interesting when it’s fiction vs non fiction!
I was asked to “sell myself” at an interview once and I was at a loss. I didn’t know what exactly to say. I was looking for the *correct* answer. Today I’d approach it differently. I know what I have to offer and it might help figure out how you can market yourself. Once you know what you have to offer, what your skills are, where you’d like to explore or get better, it might be easier to create that image because, like you said, it’s true.
🔥🔥🔥❤️
🔥🔥🔥🔥
Rayne is a towering GenZ figure on Substack and a great example of Creators reverse-engineering and diversifying back to the written word. I love that!
Given how much mental health TikTok pressure she has, was really disappointed to see some of the comments below.
Substack really needs TikTok and YouTube creators just to make it, we need to be celebrating these people not putting them down.
A persona—that’s what I’m missing. My authentic self seems counterproductive to gaining readers.
I do think that a persona that’s pretty true to self is a wise choice. It’s what I’ve tried to do because, frankly, it’s easier than creating a whole detailed personality that is as intricate as my real personality, and then keeping that consistent forever. But, there are plenty of classic books that are full of characters with consistent, and totally made up, personalities! Just mess around with posting for a year and see what feels natural, try it all! Look at my home page, very few of my posts are very consistent with the previous, it’s all about finding yourself
🔥🔥🔥❤️
I don't know why I didn't consider this. I primarily write fiction (not on Subststack), so you would think writing from an altered personality or tone and whatnot would have occurred to me. It is definitely something to think about.
I think you’re being a little too hard on her. You can be totally authentic...but I think she’s largely correct; when online we all to some degree create a persona, consciously or not. Don’t you think?
I wish I was. . .
😅
Wait … I got it. My persona is pretending to be a writer.
I guess I'm way too old to even remotely be able to emulate any of this. And I don't really want to. My focus in life these days (and with my Substack) is to get away from the self as this pin-point center of the universe and try to include more and more other sentient beings with "me". Non-human animals; forests; that kind of thing. The most challenging: other human beings such as the current Twitter owner... 😉
🔥🔥❤️
Hamish, you are doing a brilliant job interviewing. I look forward to your Substack posts. Thank you for your excellence.
Fascinating. Pretty impressive for a 21-year-old, especially from Gen Z. I was happy that she didn’t vomit ‘like’ every 2-3 seconds. She reminded me of Clementine Morrigan a little. Her self-awareness is solid. I’m definitely going to check out her Stack. She refers a lot to ‘women’ which pleases me and makes me think she admits there’s a biological difference between men and women. Good, promising start. And clearly this woman is intelligent. Insightful. Open. All good things. We need more critical thinkers from her age group. I can’t deny that, as a Substack writer myself who had *some* success ‘out there’ first, I’m jealous of her brand-name success: New York Times!? At her age??? I mean wow, right?
But I wish her nothing but the very best. You go, girl! Keep up the hard work.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
This was a very interesting piece that makes you ponder a lot of things.
I’ve been doing my own pondering about all things TikTok, and it’s call to be ban.👇
https://open.substack.com/pub/shawn57255/p/if-tiktok-has-to-go-so-should-facebook
🤮🤮🤮
Without any background on this person it was reassuring to hear their ability to communicate their perspective critically at such a young age. It’s probably obnoxious to hear that critique on age but objectivity and insight aren’t great strengths of most 21 year olds. They sounds like they’ve lived through some hardship that seems to have aged them.
When I first entered the world of social media, it was in Twitter, and I was shadow banned, censored, and finally booted the first year. I’ve left many sites for being censored. I just refuse to stay after having my Constitutional rights violated. It’s such a horrible feeling, and call me what you will, I’m so glad the Left is finally getting a taste If how it feels. After years of abuse, being called names, and dealing with such judgmental people, I’d basically had it, and this new Twitter takeover is delicious. I’m savoring every bite. I was very naive at the beginning. I thought we were all there to share and pass on important information, like NumbersUSA for immigration, Govtrack.us for reps on The Hill, their addresses, emails, phone numbers, voting, etc., Precinct Strategy, truethevote, and so many other important sites we needed to become involved in to save our Republic, and they went absolutely no where, no interest whatsoever, so I decided to become involved locally and do what I could in that area. That’s where I can do the most good, and it’s very satisfying. Works for me.
Citing constitutional rights on private property can be tricky. Most serious people would probably take issue with it. I’ve heard of Govtrack but not the others. I’ll have to check them out.
Forgot this site - last but not least - frankspeech.com. Great site with different video creators.
Thanks for all the extra sites. Plenty to look into it seems.
I don’t know what you mean about “Citing Constitutional rights on private property...”. I’m not allowed to say anything about my Cons. rights have been violated on a private site? I’ve done it dozens of times, and you’re the first to say this. Just curious to know more. Here’s better site info: truethevote.org (Katherine Engelbrecht), patriotgames.com (Gregg Phillips), iv3.us (Gregg/Katherine, help keep voter rolls accurate), precinctstrategy.com (become a precinct committee member, be the voice of your community, be a spokesperson for them to the political mafia on The Hill - last thing they want) - #America’sbestkeptsecret, besides how many illegal invaders are here already and how much they’re costing us. NumbersUSA.com (Wealth of info, plus email/telephone/fax your reps through correspondence they create and we can modify if we wish.) They couldn’t make it any easier for us. Hold them accountable or get rid of them, their worst nightmare. 😃
What I thought you meant was the common complaint of being censored or banned on websites and considering it an infringement on your rights. These are protections from the government. They are not rights granted to individuals to interpret and wield how and wherever they want. There is no right to peaceably assemble in my living room for example. There is no right to free speech in my house or on my property. I choose what is appropriate speech within my home and on my property. I choose what is permissible and what isn’t. It’s my house. The same goes with my business. I decide what speech is appropriate and what speech isn’t appropriate. I make the rules and I change the rules. All of this within reason and within the framework of the local and federal law of course. I don’t know your specific situation. I’m just speaking generally.
I suppose it’s something we have to decide for ourselves, whether we choose to stay at a site where some are allowed to speak freely and others aren’t because of their political views. I just never stay anywhere where my posts are deleted or I’m shadow banned. I do feel my rights are being violated, and it’s a personal decision on my part. I guess when Elon Musk talks about wanting Twitter to be a freedom of speech site, it’s all going to depend on what he decides freedom of speech is. It doesn’t matter what we think it means. I’m not going back anyway. Too many mean gals and guys online, and I don’t want their bad vibes to rub off on me.😁 Thanks for the post! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Hope you like the sites!