I’m moving off social media. I feel like while it helps me keep in touch with friends, it has little to offer in terms of advantage or reward for me for participating. The way the algorithms work and the way the algorithms manipulates US combines, I think, toward highlighting upsetting, controversial issues, and exposes us to our worst sides. I’ve had very few friendships end up feeling stronger through the medium of social media, and a very many that have imploded in the same media.
So I am leaving social media. This starts with Twitter, on the eve of Elon Musk acquiring it. But I expect to also withdraw from Facebook.
But of course I will stick around on the Internet. Can’t really do tech jobs without it. And I still have my hobbies and pursuits and projects. To that end, if I disappear from where you know me and you’ve come looking for me, here are the particulars of how to find me. I will try to keep this reasonably updated.
For the past decade or so, my email has been: malcolm.gin@gmail.com
As a backup, you can also use perigee@malcolmgin.com
If you need to reach me by phone, text or leave me a message at: +1 510-815-9847 (this is Google Voice, so if you’re a spammer, you’ll likely be filtered)
I also own and run a Minecraft server, mostly for adult players. But if you want to try it out, let me know and I can whitelist you.
My current/planned Internet activities/presences:
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/malcolmgin
Here I administer my projects (primarily the cancer project, and game streaming), and take and collect donations toward the work.
To contact me there you would probably have to become a patron and then message me. I would refund you the membership if that’s what it took to contact me (and you weren’t wasting my time). - Shuffle Collective: https://shuffle.do/@perigee
This is a closed community but my profile is publicly accessible. Here I outline and try to update my progress on various writing projects.
To contact me there, you’d have to join the collective (there’s a waitlist), and then follow me there. You should then be able to leave comments on project updates. - Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tsaomao
Here I’ve been trying to do one-hour-long video game/PC game playing streaming sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Currently working on Watch Dogs (1).
To reach me here, you’d want to comment on one of my videos, or even join me during a streaming session. - Mastodon: https://rage.love/@perigee#
I haven’t really been posting much on Mastodon, but perhaps I will.
To reach me here, you’d have to reply to a toot, or send me a direct message. - Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/malcolmgin
Here I will occasionally add projects and data sets to my Data Analytics portfolio.
To reach me here, you’d send me a direct message. - Dreamwidth: https://perigee.dreamwidth.org/profile
This is what Livejournal users moved to after a Russian company bought Livejournal. I don’t post there much, but I do read/skim sometimes.
To reach me there, you’d send me a private message from the profile. - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MalcolmGin
I use YouTube to publish archives of my game streaming sessions.
To reach me there, you’d probably comment on one of my videos. Probably a more recent one. - PeerTube: (Profile on my own server) https://video.perivid.xyz/a/perigee/video-channels
I use these instances of PeerTube to publish archives of my game streaming sessions.
To reach me here, you’d go to my videos, choose a recent video, and comment. That should send me an email. - Discord: On Discord I am tsaomao#5101
Discord is a communications platform that works on different servers and has a direct message capabilities.
To reach me here, you’d join Discord, then add me as a friend, and converse with me there. - Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/malcolmgin/
Steam is a games distribution platform that has some minor social capabilities.
To reach me there, you’d probably have to sign up for a Steam account, then add me as a friend. - CaringBridge: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/malcolmgin
This is where I keep followers updated on what’s going on with my medical journey (since the diagnosis for leukemia – fwiw I’ve been in remission for 1+ years after stem cell transplant)
To reach me there, you’d sign up and then comment on a recent post/journal entry. - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@malcolmgin
Yes yes, Chinese spying/data mining, yes, yes, algorithms and propaganda. But it is also amusing and sort of fantastic and vibrant. I don’t post many videos, but I do share them with close friends. So if you’re a close friend, add me, and I may share with you.
To reach me there, sign up or login to your TikTok, and then Follow me. I’ll probably follow you if I recognize you and you’re not a butthead.
Tools that may help the coming social media upheavals:
This is just a list of possible – I can’t vouch for all of them – tools you might use to try to track friends (or enemies) from/to various social platforms and architectures:
- https://twitodon.com/
Find your Twitter friends on Mastodon. - https://www.commotionmade.com/
Bulk Find Mastodon Users. - https://halcyon.mstdn.social/login
A web client for Mastodon and Pleroma that aims to reproduce the look of Twitter.
Primers, Guides, and Introductions:
These are a list of reasonable-seeming guides to technologies and platforms that may be new to you.
- https://wordsmith.social/elilla/a-futuristic-mastodon-introduction-for-2021
A futuristic Mastodon introduction for 2021. - https://github.com/joyeusenoelle/GuideToMastodon
An Increasingly Less-Brief Guide to Mastodon
DON’T PANIC.
This page was last updated on 1/13/2023..