Despite what you have heard, there is an internet place for social interaction, that does not cause your brain to melt. I know because I frequent it often. If you go looking for it you will find a ton of disinformation about it. I have read such things as: "this place banned me, after my first post" or "this place has no free speech" or even "why would you trust a place run by a digital security expert."
Is everybody there? No. Why would you want that ?
Are your potential customers there? No. It doesn't do ads. Are your friends and family there? Not yet. Does it have restraints and limitations? Yes. Why? Because all human inter-action has limitations and restraints. (I will talk about these a bit later).
Ok, Right, Then this must then be an expensive, exclusive, and private space? Nope. It is free to use. And simple to sign up. You can do it right now. All you need is an email address. You say "I already have a social network, and all my friends have moved there." Well that's cool. More power to you. You don't have to give anything up.
But I will ask. How does using your new social network make you feel? Are you having to fight off trolls, spammers, and personal attacks? Have you read the Terms of Service? Do you know exactly what personal information this place you now use is selling to others? How many times has personal information leaked or been hacked from this place you hang out?
Seven years and absolutely no leaks or hacks. Why? because this place never collects any, and it is run by a digital security expert.
Also who owns what you post? Is some AI, or LLM stealing what you write? Are your Direct messages really secure? When you delete a post, is it really gone, I mean nobody can ever read it again? I ask these questions, to get you to think a bit about the whole social media landscape. Who does it benefit?
What if I told there is a place that puts you the user first. That has grown slowly, and added features only when they benefit you. A place that takes trolls so seriously, that they often last only minutes. That has NO bots, because most are nipped before they post, and banned forever within minutes, if they appear at all.
But, You ask, Why haven't I heard about this place? Mostly because they don't advertise, It doesn't need massive growth to exist. They are not owned by rich corporate tech bros. It takes NO investment capital. It is privately owned and run. It's completely funded by its users. Yet remains free to use. Yes there are many added features that paid users enjoy. Yet that is only $5.00 a month.
So why use this place? As one user said;
"One of the things you might have to get used to here, is there is almost no bullshit. We have a huge base of expertise, on a very wide subject fields. From science, tech, art, music, philosophy, poetry, humor, and lots more.
You will find Folks here like to share, and discuss, without being pedantic nor obnoxious."
The "Value add" of being a paid user is extremely high, All sorts of features, and tools. That make being an internet citizen better, and more productive.
So Now, away to the punchline. The place I am talking about is Counter Social.
About those "limitations and restraints", I will quote from the FAQ.
"The nations blocked by our network are well known to be origin points of an overwhelming majority of bots and trolls that are used to engage in influence operations against not only the West but their own neighbors, as well as attempts to disenfranchise and divide social media users worldwide. Blocking these nations is the most effective way to keep our community safe and secure for our users. ... Currently banned countries include: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria."
1. No location information gathered or published ― uploaded photos are stripped of metadata. 2. A lot of music shared. It's a good place to discover new music or old favorites.
