Gab

Since my permanent suspension from Twitter, I've become a regular user of Gab. To begin with this was fine, but over the past 2-3 months its owner, Andrew Torba has become increasingly unhinged. He thinks of himself as a protector of American constitutional first amendment rights, but this is only partly true. What he is also doing is allowing those who shout the loudest to disrupt those who want intelligent discussion or simply sources of information. 

The owner's approach is rather like that of a poor teacher. Teachers who allow ongoing disruption in the classroom, fail both the disruptive student and those there to learn. 

People often say that Gab is a free speech platform and to either get used to it, or mute or block people. With the latter approach, that's rather like sitting in the noisy room with your ear plugs in and music playing to block out the disruptive noise. It may work in some minor way, but it doesn't work overall.

What I'm saying is that Mr Torba is being inconsistent. He doesn't allow pornography for instance, but he does allow egregious hatred, such as antisemitism and abuse of others by the rabid few. So, the site is moderated, but ineffectually. This I think reflects Mr Torba's personal views rather than any coherent social media policy.

So, I think Gab will fail. It must fail if it maintains its current trajectory. This may be a good thing as Mr Torba's idea of developing a parallel economy is foolish in the extreme. If anyone was to follow his advice, they stand to lose a lot of money. 

I'm staying with Gab until after the 2023 general election in New Zealand. After that, I'll be looking for a stable hangout. Possibly that social media space hasn't yet been established.