TL;DR
• Avoid LinkedIn & Discord: noise, trolls, fake personas.
• Focus on building skills + projects, not likes or followers.
• Hiring = proof through code, portfolios, systems, not social presence (for software developer / engineer).
• Discourse = controlled feedback, redundancy, thoughtful iteration.
• Goal = mastery over marketing, public presence only when needed.
• Platforms are tools, not homes; I deprecate when they stop being useful.
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Music:
Why You Won’t Find Me on LinkedIn, Discord Hubs, or the Usual Platforms
So, in light of the new transition for Teams to Pro and what I lovingly call the Discord tunnel of death, I figured I’d explain why you won’t see me migrating over there, or LinkedIn, despite it supposedly being “all the rage,” which, let’s be honest, it’s not.
Short version: I’m choosing signal over noise.
I’ll also explain why I use Discourse for my nonsense and redundancy, and when you’ll see me disappear again (yay! Ikr?) lol. Like deprecated features, I phase myself out on schedule. Yes, I’ve been waiting all day to use that joke.
Here I go again, waxing through vague poetry and indulging in pseudo-intellectual posturing…
Take it for… That’s right… A grain of salt.
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1. The Platform Thing
There’s plenty of commentary out there from people who made their own blogs and, like me, became self-proclaimed experts in whatever they talk about after obsessing over it long enough.
You’ll notice that about us self-proclaimed zero-likes, zero-subscribers authors.
We. LOVE. To wax. Wax that vague, useless poetry.
In hopes of keeping that tradition alive and thriving, here are a few others like me who feel the same way. Hint: it’s why we build our own “toys.” Followed, of course, by more nonsense:
• Linkedin is destroying America
• https://seanjkernan.medium.com/why-is-linkedin-such-a-perpetual-cringefest-e60d5dcada69
• https://www.quora.com/Why-is-LinkedIn-becoming-the-worst-of-social-media
This guy even asked his LLM why LinkedIn sucks and then posted the answer on LinkedIn:
• Why LinkedIn is a corporate trap | Matthew McGrath posted on the topic | LinkedIn
The list of opinions goes on and on. I’m just echoing the sentiment.
Things that people with documented disabilities (including but not limited by mental health, and intellectual disabilities) should not need to concern themselves with.
List Going On and On
I’d provide scholarly articles, but access is gated behind paywalls unless you’re an alumnus or current student.
The argument is far above my (and this communities) pay grade. I’m just using evidence based research to add context, and back up my beliefs.
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2. Why I’m Not Interested (Right Now)
I’m not at a point where I need:
• marketing
• advertising
• a fake sales persona
• trolls
• algorithm approval
• moderator vigilantism (content moderation is a “hot topic”)
I’m selling lemonade outside my house right now. I know I ain’t shooting even bench-warmer shots. You want it? Cool, buck fifty. If not, sidewalk’s that way, ya hear?
Time is my limiting resource, not exposure. I work full time, juggle multiple responsibilities, study, and still try to contribute to communities. Rabbit holes cost more than they look like they cost.
So instead, I spend that time building things that prove I can do what I’m asking to be paid to do.
Owning, running, and operating as a freelancer in a highly over-regulated policy state (like the one I live in) requires starting capital, proper formalization, making a profit, and being able to show the IRS it’s not a hobby. It requires time. I’m not saying I have the authority and know-how of all the logistics. I’m admitting that I am humble enough to realize that this is what it requires.
Without it, you need time, exposure, first-hand experience, and to be financially secure and mature. You don’t get years of experience that counts unless you do it. This means getting a job at an already established company. Not dumping money into trying to be the next Mark Elon Muskburger.
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3. Hiring Should Be Simple (We Know Otherwise)
If what prevents me from getting hired as a developer is lack of social media presence, then realistically something already went wrong upstream.
Hiring should answer (emphasis on should):
• Can this candidate do it?
• How hard do I need to look for proof?
Portfolios, code, systems, and documentation answer that faster than curated feeds ever will.
If I were pursuing marketing, product, sales, or communications roles, then yes, a social presence would make sense. But I’m not applying for those. I’m applying for technical roles. So I focus on technical proof.
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4. Why I Use Discourse for My Nonsense and Redundancy
Instead of building a persona, I’m building infrastructure:
• writing technical articles
• hosting my own platforms
• testing systems I create
• sharing selectively with trusted devs
Slow feedback beats loud feedback.
I post things in controlled environments first: my own spaces, gated spaces, dev spaces. Places where feedback is thoughtful, not performative.
I’ll mirror content across platforms for redundancy, compare versions because I’m a nerd like that, and iterate until it’s sharp.
I’m actively reproducing elements of Discourse that I admire, using it as a proven, scaled system to study and build upon, while always giving proper credit and citation where it is due.
I’ll build my own blog, my own publication system, maybe even my own social platform. Not to compete with big tech, but to understand them by building smaller versions myself. Actively showcasing, or demonstrating technical competency . proficiency.
Posting says things. Building proves things. Both equally important. Both different parts of the brain / developing process.
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5. The Long Game
I’m not trying to be the next tech celebrity founder. I’m trying to become extremely good at my craft. That means years of practice, mistakes, iteration, and improvement.
One day I might build something that requires a public presence. When that time comes, I’ll adapt.
Right now the goal is mastery, not marketing.
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6. Honest Self-Assessment
I think we can all see my issue isn’t always with skills. It’s with:
• thought distillation and lack of filter / social awareness
• moving to fast (ADHD) not slowing the ball down yet
• masking uncertainty with verbosity
• forgetting to remove em dashes
• attitude sometimes / knee jerk reactions
• a big mouth about big tech and crypto
• vision that occasionally locks too hard onto one path / tunnel vision
• being overbearing instead of empowering
Those are experience problems, not follower-count problems.
Joining these communities and adding the new layer of social interaction isn’t always the answer. Especially for a developer with documented impairments, which are negatively impacted by said communities and platforms. It’s proven to be counterproductive and will end poorly in a majority of situations.
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7. When I’m Leaving
I treat platforms like tools, not homes.
When something stops being useful, healthy, or aligned with what I’m building, I deprecate it. Same rule applies to my presence.
So if I disappear one day, don’t read it as drama. Read it as version control. I’m assuming once the Pro version is fully rolled out that I’ll go radio silent and just use tickets. Just know those of us with documented mental health conditions / disabilities will feel marginalized and discriminated against over time as you deploy elitist-like methodologies.
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8. Bottom Line
If a future employer values demonstrated capability over digital theatrical performance, we’ll get along great.
If they require the theatrical sales performance too, that’s fair. It just means we’re optimizing for different metrics.
They want Adam Sandler. I’m giving them Bo Bo the sad clown / happy clown from a NYC subway station using his mother’s makeup as face paint. I get it.
Of course, you can now develop your own working prototypes and niche community projects. Although anyone who has ever taken one of these and run it all the way through will be able to tell you that eventually you’ll need to hire engineers with formal degrees and/or proven skill sets.
Even if they rely on AI, you’ll still need to wrap your head around this. Building the Titanic just to get funding rolling and boost a user base won’t help you if the captain drives it straight into an iceberg killing almost everyone on board.
Those who claim it really is as easy to just go ask these wealthy players with an extra few thousand to play around and tinker for them should eat their own dogfood and see how easy that is in reality.
No, it is not as easy as “Oh I’m going to start charging people and become a freelancer!” That’s a sales pitch. Not reflective of the wider audience and user base. Not everyone is a young individual with loads of rich friends and family lol.
Replit does not provide the same onramp to financial access like universities and formal entities provide either. This is the basis of how student loans work. I wonder if the Replit staff went to college or university.
This is akin to asking people to front-load effort using AI and front-load cash on a project that is not guaranteed to be successful. A degree in engineering could feed the person for life, not give them a quick meal.
I understand staff is not going to be able to address this reality directly. NDAs, MOUs, and basic legalese in contracts signed during onboarding and HR jargon prevent them from opening up in an authentic way, and using their identities. None of this is a belittlement to staff, or their grind and hustle.
Rather, just be me, a Pro account holder and possibly one day enterprise-level user, letting you know why I’ll just stay over here in my sandbox.
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I want to end by acknowledging and showing appreciation for the Discourse space included in my subscription.
I’ll continue to use it for showcasing and redundant copies / sandboxed discourse until I’ve completed enough to safely remove the posts and migrate to my own self-created chambers of echos.
Thank you, Replit, for providing this space and the opportunity to use the product, learn, and take my journey to a new level.
I’m not a monster.
Just a self-proclaimed Bo Bo the clown guru who knows what they want and refuses to settle for anything that does not meet their needs.
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PS:
Discord is for gamers and instant time feedback. It’s where these mundane technical questions and customers seeking automatic feedback should be herded too, while letting serious developers stay on a technical forum like Discourse.
I’m uninterested in reading 11,100,000 Gms, followed by getting a drop-in from staff a few times a week that never address any of my actual problems. Problems the paid professors will spend the time on though. Not trying to “hate”, or even say that’s what it is.
I’m at a point in my life where I do not have time for 12,000 community servers, channels, and groups. This is not the only place I spend my working time. I just can’t commit to engaging with yet another high-entry-barrier community.
If I pay $100 plus a month / move into enterprise level over time I’m going to cherry-pick my spaces that meet my needs. Not beg like a lap dog for the next few years in hopes you notice me on tweeter… Yeah, uh, no. I learned quickly, to be who I am and not try and upsell myself/ play “yes man”.
Which is the reason why 10k in higher education is worth 100k in poorly crafted underperforming drain projects that extract value rather than input value. 10k of student loans can pay for themselves over time. Failing at being the next Mark Xuckerburger and spending thousands on Sloppy Joes does not help.
This is just people doing their job. Not an actual reflection of the industry and market for those of us doing this seriously and not as freelancer hobbyists or YouTubers.
Ending Song: