Yesterday I read about Stephen Fry quitting Twitter and ended up tweeting the following:

It bums me out that many of the people I follow on Twitter are now self-admittedly spending most of their time in private Slack channels.

I wanted to expound a little bit on that, because I want to make it clear that I’m not blaming anyone for anything. 

I follow a lot of iOS developers, tech journalists, and podcast hosts on Twitter. Lately, I’ve sensed a change in how many of them use the service (and several of them have mentioned it themselves). What used to be a steady stream of jokes, opinions, and silly banter between friends has slowed to a trickle of safe, carefully edited statements.

And I get it, I really do. Twitter is a toxic environment, especially for minorities and people with lots of followers. As your follower, I know I’m not entitled to your wit or opinions, or to know what’s going on in your private life. You’re a human being, and you have every right to step away from the raging dumpster fire of humanity that is Twitter.

It’s just…I miss you! I miss reading what you have to say. I miss feeling vaguely part of all your weird in-jokes. I live in the middle of nowhere where there is no developer community and even though I never actually tweet at any of you, “hearting” your tweets gives me a small sense of belonging. I realize that sounds sad, but it’s true.

So by all means, enjoy the private party bus that is Slack. But every once in awhile, consider getting off the bus and letting the rest of us party with you too! :)