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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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Well, as of a few days ago, I’m officially there. But still feeling my way around. As I have found to my embarrassment in the past on a new site, it’s easy to misinterpret a new icon and do something you wish you hadn’t.
It would be nice to say au revoir to the Zuckerbook but at the moment that’s where everyone seems to be.
I am. I’m still figuring it out; it isn’t as user friendly as Twitter. And when I am using Tweetdeck I can create columns of various users and/or hashtags; a feature not available on Twitter.
On the other hand, Twitter is foul, corrupt, communist, and restrictive of free speech.
I am – and following you since I joined
I’m there, Father. @Dahveed.
I don’t use Parler. I have thought about joining up at Gab in the past.
I’ve toyed with getting off Facebook. I have a Twitter account, but I don’t post anything there because it’s a cesspool.
There isn’t much point in going to another platform no one else is there, or if the only people there are of like mind.
I think the best course is the blogosphere. Back to either maintaining a blog of your own or commenting on others’ on the topics that are of interest. You can’t be shut down so easily – at least as a commenter.
I actually tried to join it yesterday but it asked for a mobile phone number and I don’t have a mobile phone. So, I don’t think I can join Parler. What is the point of excluding people who only connect to the internet with a desktop computer? Not sure where to get real news right now. My trust in most existing media is kind of gone.
I just joined this week, still testing the waters
I haven’t been able to join without giving them my phone number. Is it possible?
I am learning to navigate @bethanymom92
Paulus….I am staying on fb as well…however whatever I post there I also post on Parler. That way when fb censors I can repost on fb…kinda fun
Joined earlier today. And now getting a “either you have a bad network connection or we are over capacity” error. I suspect they are flooded with new people! Also joined MeWe, which is a lot like FB.
Am also considering starting blogging again.
Also went to a meeting of our ladies’ group at church this afternoon [after Mass]. Just meeting in person with a good bunch of people has put some starch back into me. Community will be vital!
Anyone got a summary of how MeWe/Parler/Gab compare to Facebook/Twitter beyond free speech? My biggest objections to social media have more to do with the format encouraging sharing of soundbite-sized emotional reactions with poor control over who you’re conversing with in the first place, and the temporal organization where everything gets harder to find the less recent it is so long-term discussion and memory is replaced by the latest outrage of the week. It’s not impossible to have a decent conversation one-on-one or in private groups but it’s way harder than the “default” behavior. I’d be much more inclined to start trying other platforms if I knew what steps they took to address that, assuming they take any.
I have been on Parler for months but didn’t see much going on until now. People I know from Facebook and follow from Twitter are there, so my feed isn’t looking empty. I also follow some political commentators I haven’t followed on the other platforms.
I think there are YouTube tutorials for Parler. A trusted friend shared this one but I have not had the chance to check it out yet. https://youtu.be/sGMQYLNmo5w
I’m still going to monitor FB and Twitter to see what’s going on there but I hope to make my presence there much less than before !
@MaryMantilla
Here is an observation: In comparison to “tw..r” it is very slow. Then again: “tw..r” gives the impression of being active, but here is the thing: there must be thousands of posts pouring in all the time, yet when I look at it, I read only a handful, arriving in slow doses. Which means that somebody sorts out the comments and directs my way only some of them, chosen for me. The end result, collectively, means that there is no real conversation: instead, people are sort of talking to themselves. Likeminded comments are directed to likeminded recipients. An impression of a true exchange of ideas is created by the administrators (who remain invisible) while the participants are deluded. Conclusion: you can get much more out of the slower Parler.
I signed on months ago. Gotta start somewhere. Alternative sites can’t grow without support. Some folks I respect (and their opinions) are there, including our courageous Spiritual Director for the internet.
I’m on Parler. Still learning my way around. Am finding more and more there to read and listen to.
I just figured out from these responses that Parler is another one of the social media “mushrooms”. On principle I don’t do social media.
I am
I am, but I wasn’t ever active on tw…, so I’m not sure I’ll be active on Parler.
I have an account, rarely use it, but the experience isn’t greatly compelling. Maybe I’ll give it another shot.
Most definitely. But they have issues with staying on line.
What is on Parler. Who is on Twitter.
I tried registering today but was not successful. I recall trying in the past and couldn’t manage to get on then either.
I’m on fb, twitter and now parler and mewe. Let’s see how the latter two fare…
I am @alexrodriguez seems to be the way to go, Twitter and others are clearly out to censor anything they don’t agree with.
I’ve been on there for some weeks. It’s been lonely, but I think activity is increasing.
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It seems you’re on there 3x father. I hope they’re all really you.
I am looking at it. I don’t want to use a gmail email because I don’t trust Google and you need an email address. Why does Parler need a phone number? Are there other email servers that are better?
I don’t use twitter much, only to read posts by Fr Z and others. I am on FB but lately I rarely post, mostly to see and comment on posts on various groups I belong to including several Catholic groups. I also keep in touch with extended family in the UK. I do have a Parler account but haven’t linked up with many on it yet.
Mark R. Levin is there:
just joined it – it appears they ask for your phone number in order to send you a code that you need to input in order to continue to register – I guess so they know it’s really you – I have no idea what they may use it for later
I joined Gab several months ago. There is at least one Catholic group there. Gab has been really helpful in the past week as there is a steady daily set of links to news and updates that are simply not available on the “popular” news sites.
Gab has an interface very similar to FB, but also has Twitter-like elements. Gab gets criticized because it is supposedly a haven for “Nazis” and “white supremacy,” but you really have to go looking for it. Gab allows you to block anyone you don’t care for, so it’s easy to have a news feed without any “crazy” stuff showing up.
Also, don’t forget to visit qanon.app.
I am on Parler. Be patient folks, there is such a heavy influx of new accounts that Parler was struggling to keep up. Good stuff is happening there!
@Heatherschweitzer04
Elizabeth D wrote:
“ I actually tried to join it yesterday but it asked for a mobile phone number and I don’t have a mobile phone.”
I tried to make an appointment for a flu shot, last week and ran into a similar problem and I have tried to buy from places that insist that you have a credit card. Apparently, people with hermit-like dispositions are being discriminated against. I should start a movement: The Chicken’s League Upholding Common-sense Connections or CLUCC.
In the old days a Slashdot-like site would have fulfilled all of your social media needs. Why doesn’t someone just start a garage-based Catholic social media platform like Twitter? I mean, how hard could it be? I would start one, but I don’t have a garage.
The Chicken
More about Gab: Gab does not ask for a mobile phone number.
The Catholic group there is very active, and Andrew Torba, the founder of Gab, is Christian and unabashedly so. My newsfeed has many postings of Scripture quotes, and posts about interesting saints — today I heard about, for the first time, St. Benignus of Armagh, who worked closely with St. Patrick in Ireland.
People on Gab are not afraid to profess their faith. It is really amazing and a welcome change from FB.
Update: I have tried for hours and days to get onto that site. It doesn’t work! Do you think the leftward fallen silicone valley technocrats hacked it? If they can hack an election, hacking an app shouldn’t be a problem. They are wizards.
I’m @mccs on Parler. Also run my own mastodon server. I’m @sean@geekstream.org (https://geekstream.org/@sean). And my own blog is Small But Disorganized (https://smallbutdisorganized.com). I used to blog quite a bit, with the rise of social media, it tapered off as it has with so many. But now its apparent, we need to own our own content on platforms we can’t as easily be kicked off of or silenced from. So I deleted my facebook and twitter accounts.
Eventually, they’ll get around to forcing web and DNS hosting services to kick us off the ‘net entirely. But this is not that day! ?
Ron Van Wegen: That’s gold.
Is there a way to get on Parler without going through Google Play and getting their app? Don’t want Google controlling my social media. I am looking at MeWe right now.
Chicken: Check out Gab. It has an active Catholic group, and the entire platform is openly Christian.
I’ve been on for a few months now. There are a few conspiracy theorists, and the occasional liberal trolls (who notably are allowed to post their nonsense without being censored, unlike some other sites), but overall it’s a good place for conservatives to communicate without fear of suppression.
Chicken; Your recommendation to create an alternative social media venue is spot on. Despite your not having a garage, you really should consider creating such a resource. Should you pursue this further, you might entertain a name for your alternative media more in keeping with your own habitat; perhaps something like ‘Coop de Grâce’ or (if a Catholic site), ‘Eggsultate’….oh dear, oh dear…why did I post this?
Good ones!
On Parler, sure. Am trying to get into the habit of looking (and occasionally posting) at MeWe, Gab, and Parler but am too much a creature of habit for it to be an easy process. And, as many others have mentioned, at Parler you can hear the wheels turning slowly and the joints creaking. (Have been deleting the overtly partisan political pages simply because those folks and their employees update so often that my timeline was submerged beneath Bongino, Levin, McKenna, Bongino, Levin, Epoch Times, Bongino etc etc.)
MeWe is great, I think, but too many of the pages I follow remain only on Fb (music ensembles, a traditional Mass group where Drs Kwasniewski and DiPippo post etc etc).
SP3RN is a wonderful Fb/Twitter/Parler-like site, too– a work associated with or begun by people in the orbit of St Maximilian Kolbe (that was his radio call sign, evidently), ‘a private social network for Catholics’. Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus on the front page, and signing up one is asked to re-affirm one’s baptismal promises and affirm that there is one Pope now reigning at Rome (Franciscus, evidently, since they let me join). I stumbled upon SP3RN just yesterday.