#state of twitter's search function... yikes

[batsplat]

What do you think about this fim push to not classify moto2 / moto3 championships towards the overall world title counts? I’m uhhh personally not sure how likely that is to happen / if it would even happen the way people are saying. But I’m seeing a lot of people freak out about it (and find a way to blame one particular rider for it…he really is the busiest man on earth the way he is apparently finding the time to be involved in EVERY bit of drama in current motogp…according to some on here)

icl I'm not well placed to answer this ask because I have zero context for any of this, I haven't seen anything, I didn't know this was a thing. my tried and tested method for following motogp is checking the subreddit like once every few days, having a list of a few journalists on bluesky + listening to podcasts, and having a moan on twitter if something crosses my feed - which means there are swathes of discourse I simply remain unaware of. so idk exactly what's prompted these latest worries and how well-founded they are... I can remember last year when the liberty deal was announced that there was concern about moto2/moto3 being treated as similar in stature to f2/f3, rather than world championships in their own right. obviously we haven't really received much indication on that front one way or the other, so we'll have to see

that being said. in general, ofc the non-premier class categories have gradually declined in significance and prestige anyway, this is a long term trend. angel nieto won.... *sigh* 12+1 championships, which were all in non-premier class categories, and he's widely considered one of the greatest motorcycling racers of all time. back in the day, the lower categories weren't necessarily seen as rungs in the ladder to get you to the premier class, and it was way more acceptable for accomplished riders to remain in a non premier class category. jorge martinez is another obvious example of a renowned rider who never raced in the premier class... biaggi is seen as like,, the master of the 250s - which is also kinda important contextual information for the valentino rivalry, since modern fans will be likely to put too much stock into the 'no premier class titles' thing. even as late as with dani, it really wasn't a foregone conclusion that he'd make the step up to motogp, primarily due to his height; staying in the 250cc class and dominating there was seen as a potentially viable path. that doesn't mean snobbishness about the lower categories hasn't already historically been a thing. doohan didn't think anything but premier class victories counted, as he pointed out when valentino overtook his grand prix win count. casey said in his autobiography that at the end of the day, he was only really interested in the real deal - premier class titles. (a cynic might suggest this stated disinterest did have something to do with losing the 2005 250cc title in rather a painful fashion.) I haven't done a survey but my guess is that there's also a bit of an anglo/non-anglo divide here, probably driven by how american/australian riders were more likely not to have gone through those other classes on their way to the premier class

still, in general, there's been a decline in prestige. there's also been a decline in numbers of classes - fifty years ago, you could compete in 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 1250cc and 50cc. you could also compete in several different classes at the same time, which gave the whole thing a different vibe. do think the professionalisation of the sport probably plays a part in that,, increasing level of competition and more weight placed on the premier class as the be all and end all of achievement in the sport. and the thing is... I mean, this is a battle that was lost a long time ago, but tbh I still think it was a mistake to rebrand the classes to moto2/moto3. having 500cc vs 250cc vs 125cc has a completely different vibe to motogp vs moto2 vs moto3. the former essentially sounds like weight classes comparable in prestige, the latter sounds like you've got a premier class and then feeder series. I like other world championships having weight too! partly because of how it ties into the history of the sport, partly because I like watching all classes and feeling like they really *matter* as more than talent-spotting events. it's ultimately cool to give fans three races on a race day at every single event, as long as you give them good reason to be invested in all three of them. I do get why you needed to rename them to bring it in line with the 500cc -> motogp rebrand (fairly sensible), I don't have any fantastic suggestions for alternatives off the top of my head, but like. I just wish they hadn't gone with That

still, it is kinda inarguable that there's been a pretty steep decline in prestige. nobody rates a biaggi 250cc title in the same way they do the one secured by tito rabat. zarco sticking in moto2 for another year to defend his title was seen as a Big Thing that attracted a big range of opinions. there's an age limit now for moto3... the gradual decline of high level riders who stay in lower categorie - which is a development that dates back to *wiggles hand* maybe around the late nineties - means that the lightweight categories are just inevitably going to be taken less seriously. it's not seen as a career path in and of itself - the goal is always motogp. idk, I personally wish they weren't just feeder series, I think it's fun being invested in several categories with a diverse age profile and competitive spread. kinda torn on this because part of me goes 'well, this is just commercial realities, it's quite likely to continue heading in the same direction, nothing to be done'. but also my main sport has just had one of its traditions butchered in the name of commercial realities and I HATE that and sometimes it's easy to be a cynic for cynicism's sake, so. to be clear. I think this development is Bad. I think the long-term trend is to the sport's detriment, I wish it wouldn't continue. it's probably going to continue, it just reflects how modern sports is set up. we're just trying to chase child prodigies through feeder series now so we can get them as many of the 'best' titles as possible, it's all about relentless maximising of talent and profit and everything else. I'm too much of a romantic about sports for that, I feel like it diminishes the whole sport's soul. so... this is where we're at, but also I don't like it

on the specific point raised in the ask - not referring to overall title counts and just premier class ones, I'm going to assume either in official promotional material or commentary or both. yeah, that sucks, I could imagine that's something that comes from dorna's instructions if it is a thing. apart from anything else, it just feels wrong - valentino is a nine time champion, jorge five etc etc. also, valentino isn't a seven time motogp champion, I suppose you could say he's a seven time premier class champion but that's also not really promoting the motogp brand. it does fall quite neatly into this trend of diminishing the other world championships by use of linguistically re-framing of their prestige/relevance, like with the moto2/moto3 thing, which is pretty interesting from a purely academic perspective. idk if it'll be a thing, I hope it's not a thing, it might be a thing, I could believe it's a thing but also I haven't seen anything suggesting it's a thing. won't radically change anything because it's part of a broader trend, also it'll probably be successful - eventually, enough fans won't care enough to mentally correct in their heads and you'll effectively have redefined what attainment in the sport involves. which is a shame. alas

[joeys-piano]

Things I’ve Learned After A Week on Twitter + General Comments

Disclaimer: There are a lot of features I don’t know much about. Sooner or later, I’ll pop onto Google and do some minor searching to figure things out; but this week was not one of those weeks, and this’ll detail my genuine first impressions.

What kind of bothers me is that there isn’t a queue. Can’t really schedule when tweets or retweets or what-have-yous will be posted on your timeline. Technically, I could use the bookmark feature on Twitter itself. Since I mainly use Twitter on my internet browser, I could also bookmark tweets on FireFox itself or create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the tweets that have caught my eye and meticulously schedule when I want to retweet things. But that’s a lot of work, can be a hassle, and the time I spend doing that could be used for something else. Having a queue is what I admire a lot about Tumblr, despite all of its flaws. The queue functions helps me schedule posts for later and when I find a lot of cool content, I want to space out when it gets posted and not just dump a wall and flood someone’s timeline.

I didn’t know this at first so it boggled me: you can view content from people you indirectly or don’t even follow if the person you’re following follows them or those people follow the same person you follow? If it sounds confusing, rest assured that I’m confused as well. But hey, I’ve gotten to see some cool stuff and found more creators that I wanted to follow. Can also be a double-edged sword because you’ll find things that you don’t want to see and that’s not a great surprise.

There are filters in place to mute and/or block people and certain tags I believe? The technicalities are lost on me, but I’ve used one of those buttons twice so far. Indeed, I’m learning and this brings up another thing I admire about Tumblr. It’s easier to filter through someone’s post and just see their original content on Tumblr than it is on Twitter. You can probably setup a different twitter account that has all of your creative content and keep it separate from the one you main, but not everyone does that. I mainly bring this up because there’s someone whose work I admire, but I disapprove 75% of the rest of the things that are typed from their keyboard. And well, I don’t know if there is a way to filter out their personal thoughts or comments because...yikes.

Tying with the above observation, sometimes you’ll be scrolling through your Twitter timeline and you read the things that come to people’s minds and you wish you hadn’t read it. Again, something else I admire about Tumblr is that when I’m rambling about whatever is on my mind, I can designate a certain tag with that post and if someone doesn’t want to see my rambles, they can go on their account and put #Joey Speaks on a tagging blocklist. As of right now, as I’ve stated earlier, I don’t know if Twitter has that option. I think the only way to not see some things is to just unfollow or mute/block the individual. But it’s only certain things I want to filter out and well, that feature’s probably not supported on Twitter. So I’m gonna have to figure out what I’m going to do and see what’s right for me.

Not sure if others feel the same way, but it’s a lot harder to have casual conversations with people on Twitter. Harder in the sense that I like to engage with people who enjoy my content, and I like to have a casual chat with them. It’s easier on Tumblr but on Twitter, it’s highly likely that someone will see the thanks you gave, wonder who the Hell you are, and pretend the conversation didn’t exist. Which I can understand because Twitter and Tumblr support different audiences and Tumblr culture is more...lenient and/or more readily to reciprocate a conversation with someone you may not know but there’s a common ground of interest. I can describe it as striking a conversation with someone who’s occupying the same space as you and you gradually get to learn their interests and find something to talk about vs. knocking on a stranger’s door and waiting for them to open it so you both can converse. Both platforms have different vibes although there’s quite a bit of overlap

You’re probably wondering if there’s anything I actually liked about my first week on Twitter, and I think one of the things I did enjoy was just seeing another side to fandom that I rarely get to experience on Tumblr. On Twitter, I get to see artists whose works I’ve never encountered on the Tumblr space before and I got to find new creators that I wanted to support. I got to engage with some Tumblr mutuals who’re more active on Twitter and they’re gradually showing me the ropes of the platform and figuring things out. In terms of what I want to do on Twitter, it gives me another avenue to share my writing and music to another side of fandom. I’ve been keeping my eggs in one basket for years and ever since I created my SoundCloud earlier in the summer, I’ve been spreading out and showcasing my work on other platforms and engaging with others. That’s been a cool experience, even though it feels like I’m starting over again and I’m re-experiencing what it’s like to build a name for myself and gradually building an audience that enjoys what I do

 Twitter is definitely a very different avenue than Tumblr. It’s entire culture that I’m not used to; but if I managed to survive Tumblr with some sanity in tact, I can probably survive Twitter.

[birbofathena]

twitter has a character limit, which is why we’re here

hi there. it's been a lil while, huh.

scrolling through my twitter, i found this (seen below) and i'm in the mood for rambling on and on so woo here we go.

Have you ever

1. skipped class

never with the intent of skipping class. i've missed quite a lot of class in my time, but my brain gets awful sick in the winter, which really inhibits my ability to do "normal human" things. i see a therapist every two weeks.

2. done drugs

nah. addiction plagues my paternal family line, and we're seeing glimpses of it in my brother as well. will i try drugs? maybe weed. anything that can be a one-and-done thing, just to try it. never nicotine. never alcohol.

3. self harmed

nope. i have an irrational fear of the consequences that might come of that specifically, and frankly i'm better off for it. heaven knows i've spent enough time thinking about that for one lifetime.

4. drank

see question two. it's funny that a differentiation between alcohol and everything else exists, imo.

5. shoplifted

i don't think so. i'm really starting to wonder about the demographic that this question set was originally made for.

6. gotten a tattoo

nope! maybe one day. probably a nice little flower, with an inkling of color peeking at the edges of its petals. probably on my back somewhere, so that i'm always a bit surprised when someone points it out. "oh yeah, i have that. cool, huh?"

7. broken up with someone

once. even then, we weren't official. my reasoning was that i wasn't ready, though frankly i think we both weren't. i didn't even know what i wanted. perhaps what i do want is something that maybe not a lot of high-schoolers want - something pragmatic, honest, somewhat more private. or that could be what most people do want. i really don't get out that much.

What's your favorite

8. show

my gut response is over the garden wall. i love, love, love fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood too, though i'm waiting until i have the chance to watch it with a friend of mine to finish it. it's sooooooo intense. don't spoil me, please!

9. movie

i'm not a real movie type of person, so i always default to the movies that i grew up watching whenever this question is asked - the incredibles, the lion king, monsters inc. ...

10. song

you might as well ask, "who's you're favorite child?" there are simply too many. here, if you want to feel out my taste for music, this is my main playlist. feel free to follow that (and me) for more! i get a kick out of having followers on spotify, for some reason. (sidenote: i created a whole new account so that i could change the username, so that account really needs some love again. curse the constant state of toil for consistency i'm in. everywhere the world must know me as birbofathena.)

11. artist

i read a lot of webcomics, so while i can't speak of any historic artists, i do think you should definitely check out ari (and his comic here), owen (and the comic she writes and colors for here), toby (and his comic here), and vi (and her comic here).

12. singer / band

this is an easier question, because i can just take a look at whom i listen to the most. now, i listen to a lot of ambient music, so right off the bat, i can recommend moby, ulrich schnauss, balmorhea, and chihei hatakeyama. speaking about the more "mainstream" artists, i like marina, mgmt, elton john, the 1975, patti page, and tessa violet.

13. memory

lately i've been thinking a lot about how i, as a kid, spent my time laid on the cement by the yard of my first house, watching the bees work on the clover. from one small flower to the next. watching them dig through the petals in search of nectar. it may not be my favorite, but it's what comes to mind.

14. book

i'm reading the poisonwood bible right now, which has been so fantastic. seriously, read it if you haven't yet. aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe is another excellent book.

This or that

15. invisibility or the ability to fly

invisibility, because violet is my favorite character from the incredibles. she's so cool. also worth noting: you start flying everywhere, and soon enough you'll find that you've become a living carnival ride.

16. cookies or cake

when done right, cake every time. cookies produce more consistent results though - as far as pleasing me goes - so long as there's chocolate somewhere within. ~~cookies without chocolate are an atrocity.~~ EDIT (10TH MAY '19) - jamie, u ignorant slut. i completely forgot about sugar cookies, in their entirety. forgive me. cookies can live their lives as they please. i know nothing.

17. twitter or facebook

twitter. hell, anything that isn't facebook. facebook's the place that moms go to to eat each other alive. having a facebook account is plain unhealthy.

18. movies or books

depends, really. there're awful movies who have awesome book counterparts, and vice versa. and to be fair, each medium offers things that the other one can't. if you were to ask me though, i'd say books. the feeling that you get when you reach the end of a book is like no other.

19. coke or sprite

this is a lame question, and everyone knows it. the real question on everyone's mind is: coke or pepsi? and i am a pepsi drinker. though the flavored cokes that've been coming out lately are pretty tasty as well. f me up with that strawberry guava, yes please.

20. blind or deaf

anxiety or depresson? brain cancer or pancreatic cancer? alzheimer's or parkinson's? need i say more?

21. tea or coffee

i haven't actually ever tried coffee, though i've been told that i'd like it (due to my liking dark chocolate so much)! i don't really like most teas though; i'll only drink this one herbal tea called bengal spice which is a pseudo-chai tea.

What's your

22. age

i'm 18. i was born 18th february, 2001, at 18:18. whew.

23. sign

pisces sun, capricorn moon, virgo rising

24. height

5′8″ or 173 cm

25. sexual orientation

gay

26. shoe size

9.5 in US mens

27. religion

i don't associate myself with any one religion. i think it's one of those things that's good for some and terrible for others. just do what makes you happy.

28. longest relationship

tbd. the non-relationship described in question 7 went for nearly three weeks.

Opinion on

29. gay rights

i always hear that a lot of homophobic people are lgbt themselves, which is strange to me. though i suppose it's in my nature to be unforgivably confrontational when it comes to inner turmoil, so i'll never really be able to understand homophobic lgbt folk. it goes without saying, then: i support "gay rights," if that's even a differentiation we want to make. i also support "women's rights," "homeowners' rights," and "dogs' rights."

30. second chances

i think for the most part i can empathize with those whom have struggles and missteps i haven't personally experienced. i am a very feeling person. there is an exception to this, but only when one's done something so blatantly wrong - decisions driven by greed or malice.

31. long-distance relationships

tough and complicated. having a relationship through messaging allows both parties to understand how the other thinks - their opinions, their emotions. essentially how their brain functions, because there are few things more idiosyncratic than language, and writing allows one to take full advantage of that. however, having a relationship in-person grants this knowledge, and so much more. (no one said that in-person relationships can't include any messaging, anyway.) we don't speak with just our tongue. what about the silent conversations? what about physical compatibility? like i say, it's tricky, but i think it's more-or-less doable.

32. abortion

i'm pretty pro-choice. if one'd like to offer up their child for adoption, that'd be cool, but no one should feel obligated to do so. whatever you're comfortable with is what i'll support you doing.

33. the death penalty

absolutely not, not ever. it costs more to pull that trigger than it is to sentence someone to life in prison. they must be absolutely sure that they have the guilty before killing them, which takes a long time to decide, and attorneys' time is expensive. and if a mistake is made and an innocent person is killed, boy, do you have one hell of a lawsuit on your hands. not only that, but it is so hypocritical of us to be killing someone... for killing someone. the whole thing doesn't make sense, and i'll tell you why it's still around: people want to kill, kill, kill anything that is bad, bad, bad. dog bites your child? kill that monster. say goodbye to the family pet. people feel so strongly that they've triumphed over evil when they see this drastic result - a carcass underneath their feet. to hell with that.

34. marijuana

i keep saying this: do what you want. marijuana doesn't hurt anything. humans have been doing it ever since we discovered fire. it's absurd that we regulate it now.

35. love

love. it's different for everyone, but for me, it's an enhancement of life. not something necessary, but something that's nice to have. to have someone to bounce ideas off of 24/7. to have someone to turn to in a crisis. to have someone who mourns with you after a loss. indeed, one can face these alone with relative ease, but it's just easier to have someone by your side along the way.

Do you

36. believe in ghosts

yes. old houses might just as well have a mouth, they have so much to say. brand-spanking-new houses are barren, lifeless. i know you know this feeling. ghosts aren't necessarily the malicious, turbulent spirits everyone wants you to believe. they're the vestiges of life, left behind by anyone who's ever felt strong enough to leave them.

37. shower facing the shower head or away from it

away from it, always. who faces the shower head? do they shower with their eyes closed the whole time? just... what?

38. sleep with the door open or closed

i sleep with it closed, though i need to start leaving it open more. it's been getting awfully stuffy.

39. love someone

no. it's not something i'm currently looking for, though my therapist did ask in my last session... i don't know. will it be something i will ever truly look for? i hate the idea of online dating, though that's just my first impression. i just don't know.

40. still watch cartoons

of course. i watch plenty of anime, but if that doesn't count as "cartoons," i also watch and rewatch steven universe, over the garden wall (as mentioned above), and gravity falls.

41. have a boyfriend / girlfriend

nope.

42. like yourself

hell yeah.