I'm feeling gutted right now. Cohost is just, nice.

The rest of the post-Gamergate internet has had me in a defensive crouch, with few exceptions. Everywhere else I go, I feel like I'm walking down a street with a hornet's nest in every tree, and talking to people who are like "lol, lmao" as they kick it, or point and laugh as someone else bumps into it by accident.

Twitter is a site that destroyed my mental health, that became a place I couldn't even type the word 'cis.' Bluesky is Earth-2 Twitter and will inevitably have the same problems. Tumblr has heavy levels of Fandom to the point I feel it loves things more than people, which as any Pratchett fan knows is the cardinal sin of our time. Mastodon is fine, right up until a moderator's ex-girlfriend's girlfriend's ex-girlfriend posts a bad opinion and within twelve hours everyone is defederating from everyone else, including people who had nothing to do with it.

I didn't feel any of that here. I called my time on this site, the Cohost Exhale; being able to stretch a little and relax. ¹

I admire what ASSC set out to do, and for a time, did. They really did try to create a space where your data was not sold and you were more than a target market, a place for posting first and foremost. A place to be, as the Internet used to be. And it was so, nice.

And it didn't work out, and damned if that ain't a sad indictment of the internet in 2024.

I'll really, really miss this place.

But I'm gonna try to smile because it happened. Nothing lasts forever, but I'll always have fond memories of Cohost. And I did so much healing on this site that I'll cherish the good it did me.

Anyways! Other places to find me.

https://charlottearielfinn.com/ - my blog!

https://arielfinn.social/@Charlotte - Mastodon!

https://bsky.app/profile/bycharlottefinn.bsky.social - Bluesky!

https://charlottefinn.tumblr.com/ - Tumblr!

1. _{(I know this wasn't everyone's experience, and I'm sorry for those that didn't find a home here.)}

NO NUMBERS

NO NUMBERS

Without numbers there's no engagement chasing, and it turns out, that fuels a lot of the worst examples of poster's brain!

WEALTHY FURRIES!!!

GRANT THE COHOST DEVS A LARGE SUM OF WEALTH AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!!!

Where do people go to find cool small indie video games. I follow a bunch of people on itchio, but is there anywhere else to see what people are playing? (Besides discord, I can't use that)

As I’m assessing my exit options, I keep remembering things on other sites that remind me of the little things here.

no notifs from shared posts

I’ve talked about this before but still it’s wild how much it makes me value the few numbers there are here. Like, the likelihood of a notification being something relevant to me and meaningful is really high on this site.

bots are opt-in

It’s probably due to both the relative smallness of cohost to other sites, and a concerted effort by staff to keep potentially malicious bot accounts off the site.

Instead, every bot account here has a face. There’s a person behind every one and it shows. They’re not intrusive and don’t try to get you to DM them to buy boner pills. It’s the small things

Feel free to add your own