Drives me nuts that you can't run a site like cohost on recurring donations+artist alley alone. In a just society the difference would be covered by my tax dollars. There should be a PBS of social media and it should be cohost.

The lesson of cohost is if you post enough people will follow. Two tags I wanted to make happen in Cohost were #ttrpg and #mecha. I was killing time rounding out the ass-end of a masters degree when I got on cohost and it was aimless. Coming out of a spire campaign I decided to post it and got some good reception and follows that I knew I could run with it. Soon people were telling me that I was a recommended follow because I just shared good posts.

Making up Mech Pilots was a creative treat before looking online for job apps, or showing up to another day at the internship. Every other post in the Mecha tag was a making up mech pilots post for 4 months.

And the secret to all of this? A few. Posting as hard as possible then finding people to be your peers. “I liked this post. Thank you for this comment. This taught me something new.” Making up mech pilots worked because I was sharing every share I could, and asking commenters to contribute as a share so I could put it on the feed as well. It’s not enough to build it, you have to engage with who comes. And then learning how to shitpost like the master: @Willow.

The last big social media thing I was in was Blaseball and it was pretty uh, messy. But I did learn how to work a crowd online, and the second lesson taking the time to engage with people so they don’t feel like they’re shouting into the void and helping them connect with others was a net good I think. Even at the end of it all we’re comfortable reaching out, planning on staying in touch, and preparing to jump off to our different icebergs as the glacier melts.

And uh, on working to keep my nose clean, I was pretty adamant on not making the first contact with an account that was bigger than me on Twitter. I am an internet rat-bastard nobody and I always will be at heart. I will not be in your comments trying to get a leg up; I will be taking to other people who have never been on so much as a podcast or submitted their game to a bundle, or received notes on their game. As far as tttrpgs go, that’s where I see the ttrpgs I love to read: Google docs with no layout, no “received wisdom” of how to design a game, and a lot of passion for hacking out a special part of the inspiration. And I want to learn how to give notes, and contribute in that capacity.

If anything, I wish I had the chance to engage some people a little more, but if I have anything to show for it it’s that people feel comfortable getting in touch via discord, 20 more people online know my name, and it’s because of some shit I wrote.

At the end of the day, at the end of 2 years, at the end of cohost, at the start of something new, that’s worth it.