We have provided pointers to Twitter posts as a counter source of useful information for readers. That will no longer be possible.#
[Note: Since this was written, more has been posted than we initially understood and that goes beyond the reason initially written. Dave Winer writes: #
“At this point, I don't plan to convert any of the software to [Twitter’s] new API, or to pay for the connection to Twitter. So the features that are broken will likely stay that way. #
To be clear: I haven't decided to cut the connection from Twitter to my products -- Twitter did that. ...”]#
-- Update on one of Dave’s websites and pointers to more.scripting.com#
Dave Winer, the programmer of the Drummer software used to produce this webpage, has decided he can no longer support his interface with Twitter because of a decision by Twitter to label certain threads primarily funded by government. There are consequences to those of us who would like to use the software he created since politics have gotten in the way of his programming. It is his prerogative. However some of us, at least me, who endeavor to use his software wish Dave understood a little more about the strengths of our economic system before making that decision.#
Thinking about Capitalism is a video course available from Great Courses. that does more to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the practical system of the American economy. One of its inherent strengths is that it allows people to do business with people with whom they may disagree. At a community barn-building, you didn’t have to like your neighbor, but you were expected to show up. Before radicals began to pervert the economy with their cancel culture, you could do business with someone even though you had political differences. Now, if you are obliged to conform, the result will be a splintered and intolerant society, which is what radicals want. Don’t believe destruction of social cohesion is what they are after? Look around. Social chaos makes it easier to replace governance with rule.#
Cancel culture is a newly manufactured weapon leftists have crafted to undermine civil society. When my grandfather was publisher of our community newspaper, he was asked by a judicial candidate for editorial support. Grandfather declined to editorially endorse the candidate he believed had questionable ethics. Nevertheless, despite his personal view, the newspaper continued to run articles and advertisements from all candidates. #
When you disagree with someone over political issues, it is a good idea to ask them where they get much of their news. In this case, the New York Times seems a primary source The Times has its views, but they aren’t necessarily an accurate representation of news. However people define journalism, at its core, #news is what you need to know to plan your best future. One reason the country is in its current mess is that to many in corporate media have failed the practice of #journalism. #
The evidence comes from over almost fifty years in journalism, many of those years publishing a small the daily newspaper in upstate New York. The experience was enough several years ago to push me to publish a book, available on Amazon, Take Back your News, because the Associated Press, after regular prodding, decided it was more interested in serving its views to member newspapers and their readers rather than provide “what you need to know to plan your best future.” The book was written to provide evidence so readers could decide for themselves.#
In 1995, our newspaper used Dave Winer’s “Frontier” scripting software on an Apple Macintosh to provide our readers with an online version of our newspaper. Frontier was brilliant software that allowed us to forego a high tech composing room no small-town newspaper could afford. It served us well for another ten years at which time Dave decided that Apple was a company he no longer wished to support. #
Recently, he decided to update and move Frontier onto Linux. Good for him. Many of us who prefer to use computers rather than program them would value it.#
Several years ago we became interested in a different project Dave had begun called “Drummer.” Drummer was outline-based software that allowed a user to blog and post on Twitter—an association we found useful. It was important since many corporate media outlets and the Associated Press, unknown to readers, had adopted the habit of selective reporting. They would leave out pertinent details or insert loaded words and phrases that would color interpretation of events. An alternative channel was needed where readers could find material to weigh for themselves. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn coined the term “Samizdat” for that informal press arose in the USSR when the only official press was, shall we say, selective in what it reported.#
Twitter was an improvement on corporate media and the AP since it allowed access to a multiplicity of voices, some of which provided links to original sources. Readers were given the opportunity to analyze and decide for themselves their own degree of trust. Drummer allowed a user to easily gather recent posts and retweets with links to material unfiltered by the Main Street Media (#MSM). That model proved useful for more than a year.#
The first wrench in the works came around COVID19 as government quietly infiltrated Twitter to feed advice that would recommend who could post what and when as well as who could read posts. The more recent wrench came after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the #TwitterFiles that exposed the first wrench.#
Picking up the pieces of Twitter almost destroyed by government intervention, Musk decided to label media that could be government-influenced. They were still allowed on the platform. NPR objected, claiming it received only one percent funding from government sources. Their claim wasn’t exactly accurate insofar as when local station subscription fees was included government may fund NPR at a rate just over 30 percent according to congressional reports. NPR acknowledges government funding is essential, but says that the funding does not affect editorial policy. In protest over Twitter’s new labeling policy, NPR and other publicly-funded entities have ceased to post further on Twitter, abandoning all their Twitter readers. #
In support of NPR, Dave Winer decided to no longer allow the connection to Twitter that he built into Drummer. Again, that is his prerogative. Ironically, the action cuts off alternative sources of news and information that might have caused him to rethink his understanding of news.#
The importance of the process is covered in Simple Wisdoms: Individuals and Society, a pamphlet I published this month and available on Amazon. The book examines how two institutions we hire to stand guard for us — journalism and education — have rusted over the last 75 years to become a shadow of what is needed. #
Until now, Dave Winer’s software helped address the failings of the journalism. As the book explains, the reason that matters is that we are in a battle to preserve the remarkable 230+ year experiment in governance where individuals who believe in community with others govern from the bottom up rather than what radicals want with rule from the top down.#
We have provided pointers to Twitter posts as a counter source of useful information for readers. That will no longer be possible.#
[Note: Since this was written, more has been posted than we initially understood and that goes beyond the reason initially written. Dave Winer writes: #
“At this point, I don't plan to convert any of the software to [Twitter’s] new API, or to pay for the connection to Twitter. So the features that are broken will likely stay that way. #
To be clear: I haven't decided to cut the connection from Twitter to my products -- Twitter did that. ...”]#
-- Update on one of Dave’s websites and pointers to more.scripting.com#
Dave Winer, the programmer of the Drummer software used to produce this webpage, has decided he can no longer support his interface with Twitter because of a decision by Twitter to label certain threads primarily funded by government. There are consequences to those of us who would like to use the software he created since politics have gotten in the way of his programming. It is his prerogative. However some of us, at least me, who endeavor to use his software wish Dave understood a little more about the strengths of our economic system before making that decision.#
Thinking about Capitalism is a video course available from Great Courses. that does more to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the practical system of the American economy. One of its inherent strengths is that it allows people to do business with people with whom they may disagree. At a community barn-building, you didn’t have to like your neighbor, but you were expected to show up. Before radicals began to pervert the economy with their cancel culture, you could do business with someone even though you had political differences. Now, if you are obliged to conform, the result will be a splintered and intolerant society, which is what radicals want. Don’t believe destruction of social cohesion is what they are after? Look around. Social chaos makes it easier to replace governance with rule.#
Cancel culture is a newly manufactured weapon leftists have crafted to undermine civil society. When my grandfather was publisher of our community newspaper, he was asked by a judicial candidate for editorial support. Grandfather declined to editorially endorse the candidate he believed had questionable ethics. Nevertheless, despite his personal view, the newspaper continued to run articles and advertisements from all candidates. #
When you disagree with someone over political issues, it is a good idea to ask them where they get much of their news. In this case, the New York Times seems a primary source The Times has its views, but they aren’t necessarily an accurate representation of news. However people define journalism, at its core, #news is what you need to know to plan your best future. One reason the country is in its current mess is that to many in corporate media have failed the practice of #journalism. #
The evidence comes from over almost fifty years in journalism, many of those years publishing a small the daily newspaper in upstate New York. The experience was enough several years ago to push me to publish a book, available on Amazon, Take Back your News, because the Associated Press, after regular prodding, decided it was more interested in serving its views to member newspapers and their readers rather than provide “what you need to know to plan your best future.” The book was written to provide evidence so readers could decide for themselves.#
In 1995, our newspaper used Dave Winer’s “Frontier” scripting software on an Apple Macintosh to provide our readers with an online version of our newspaper. Frontier was brilliant software that allowed us to forego a high tech composing room no small-town newspaper could afford. It served us well for another ten years at which time Dave decided that Apple was a company he no longer wished to support. #
Recently, he decided to update and move Frontier onto Linux. Good for him. Many of us who prefer to use computers rather than program them would value it.#
Several years ago we became interested in a different project Dave had begun called “Drummer.” Drummer was outline-based software that allowed a user to blog and post on Twitter—an association we found useful. It was important since many corporate media outlets and the Associated Press, unknown to readers, had adopted the habit of selective reporting. They would leave out pertinent details or insert loaded words and phrases that would color interpretation of events. An alternative channel was needed where readers could find material to weigh for themselves. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn coined the term “Samizdat” for that informal press arose in the USSR when the only official press was, shall we say, selective in what it reported.#
Twitter was an improvement on corporate media and the AP since it allowed access to a multiplicity of voices, some of which provided links to original sources. Readers were given the opportunity to analyze and decide for themselves their own degree of trust. Drummer allowed a user to easily gather recent posts and retweets with links to material unfiltered by the Main Street Media (#MSM). That model proved useful for more than a year.#
The first wrench in the works came around COVID19 as government quietly infiltrated Twitter to feed advice that would recommend who could post what and when as well as who could read posts. The more recent wrench came after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the #TwitterFiles that exposed the first wrench.#
Picking up the pieces of Twitter almost destroyed by government intervention, Musk decided to label media that could be government-influenced. They were still allowed on the platform. NPR objected, claiming it received only one percent funding from government sources. Their claim wasn’t exactly accurate insofar as when local station subscription fees was included government may fund NPR at a rate just over 30 percent according to congressional reports. NPR acknowledges government funding is essential, but says that the funding does not affect editorial policy. In protest over Twitter’s new labeling policy, NPR and other publicly-funded entities have ceased to post further on Twitter, abandoning all their Twitter readers. #
In support of NPR, Dave Winer decided to no longer allow the connection to Twitter that he built into Drummer. Again, that is his prerogative. Ironically, the action cuts off alternative sources of news and information that might have caused him to rethink his understanding of news.#
The importance of the process is covered in Simple Wisdoms: Individuals and Society, a pamphlet I published this month and available on Amazon. The book examines how two institutions we hire to stand guard for us — journalism and education — have rusted over the last 75 years to become a shadow of what is needed. #
Until now, Dave Winer’s software helped address the failings of the journalism. As the book explains, the reason that matters is that we are in a battle to preserve the remarkable 230+ year experiment in governance where individuals who believe in community with others govern from the bottom up rather than what radicals want with rule from the top down.#