Platforms & Ethics

All stats and my thoughts about them are current as of October 2026. Strap in, this is long.

Being any kind of author in 2026 isn’t easy.

And every day we wake up to find that more hurdles have been throw into the road for us to figure out how we can cross without breaking us.

The newest? Well, for today at least it’s fucking Meta and their fucking insistence to try and extract value from the only people keeping their platform afloat by insisting that if they use it, Meta has the right to send AI bots to their websites and scrape them.

Uh, that’s not going to get them more users.

But they’re a collapsing giant and they are pulling everyone down with them in an attempt to be relevant. They know Facebook is basically a holdout for older folks and those who are still there because of those folks or groups that they need for their hobby or business. Younger people generally do not use Facebook; they barely use Instagram. [They’re on Tiktok, but that has a host of other uh, problems cough]

Now I’m going to be very honest here [which I always am but I’m making a point]: I use social media. I am on both Facebook and Instagram. I am not on Tiktok, but I was for a hot minute, until the whole fiasco where Oracle and some other sketchy entities bought out the US version. None of these platforms are Good or Virtuous or even Positive For Me. They exist to make money on the attention of their users and have been used to push political agendas and sow division. They also unfortunately are a large piece of the online agora, where a decently sized chunk of the populace gathers to meet, do business, and be a community–more or less. I preferred the Internet when the agora wasn’t Sponsored by Various Nefarious Corporations, but that’s what living in late stage capitalism is all about. Sometimes we’re forced to pick the least harmful option if we want to participate in the world.

But you know what? Maybe it’s time to stop participating in that version of the world.

Let me tell you, I’m FURIOUS about what unfettered capitalism has done to the Internet. When I first started coming online, a million years ago, websites were new and clunky and it was pretty easy to get a space and learn HTML and talk about your favorite thing. I had a personal one and then one for my band. Both were terrible! I loved them! What I loved even more was realizing that I could read thoughts, research, and interests from people all over the world, any time I wanted. I could talk to people who loved the same kind of music and books and poetry that I did, and not have to wait for letters to show up in my PO box. We could have actual, real-time or almost real-time conversations! There were newsgroups and IRC channels and bulletin boards and webrings and of course email, which hadn’t been enshittified with endless spam yet. I talked and video chatted with people on the other side of the world regularly. I made friendships that I still have today. [a lot of those people are still on Facebook; now you see one of the reasons I’m still there, though I generally don’t post. It’s my only point of contact these days with some of them.]

So what’s the answer?

I wish I could tell you. What I can say is that I’ve already reduced my footprint on Facebook, and it’s lost me very little. Again, I’m only there to keep in touch with some people I would lose otherwise. People say “get their email!” Buddy, that isn’t going to work. Most people these days are loath to be in their email for fun or socializing, because it’s a huge part of their job, and/or it’s full of spam and advertising, and we’re exhausted just looking at it. I wish we would go back to emails. But I can look at the metrics from my business emails, which more often than not are chatty and conversational rather than pointed at selling, and people don’t open or engage much. I think email is pretty dead as a way to maintain a relationship, which is tragic as far as I’m concerned. I love text–obviously, it’s what I do–and letters in particular.

I’ve been more active on Instagram, and now I need to decide what I want to do about that. With Meta threatening the big AI scrape, I have a few choices but all feel icky, other than leaving outright, which effectively cuts me off from a chunk of my audience. I already don’t do paid advertising, so that leaves me with posting or word of mouth. Posting is spotty when it comes to being seen and Meta is doing it’s best to reduce that even more, and word of mouth is unreliable at best. I have a small core of supporters who talk about my work, but I can’t and shouldn’t depend on that. It’s not their job to promote me, even if I wish they would tell everyone about my books! What I want and what is reasonable to expect can be and often are worlds apart, but at least I recognize that, ha.

I talk a lot about integrity and ethics and how I strive to keep the business of writing ethically aligned with my morals. I do that for me, and also for you. It’s important to me to show you how I think through my choices, especially in these challenging times; it’s also helpful for me to think them through in real time, publicly, so that I have a record and receipt for my choices and thoughts. There are lots of choices I make that I’ve had to explain and have had pushback about [my stance on joining Substack/the Nazi bar, for example] and I feel fine with my choices but talking about them can be helpful for others weighing the same decisions. I think in the weeks to come I’ll be dropping some of the social media I’m on and talking about where I have stayed–at least for now–and why.

In case you’re curious or unaware, I’m currently active on Instagram [to be assessed], Bluesky, and YouTube. I’m less active on Discord, Mastodon, and Tumblr, in that order. I am on Facebook but only post events and use messenger to keep in touch with friends who aren’t anywhere else. This also is going to change drastically, thanks to Meta’s new rules; I will be deleting my author account by October 30th. Oh, I guess you could count Goodreads, but I really only use their groups to promote.

So do you have places you’ve found to be friendly to readers and authors and artists that aren’t actively trying to extract our worth? [hahahaa I know, I know] Please do share! And how much do you think about the ethics of the platforms that you use?