Engagement Farming and X Suspension

I'm taking a break from posting on X, a social media site formerly known as Twitter where I have been microblogging for more than a decade due to their algorithm sporadically restricting my reach and temporarily suspending my account and related accounts such as one for my blog and another for our recording and production company for "inauthentic behavior." Apparently, any fun idea or rhetorical question I post directly harms marginalized communities by clogging up the timelines with low quality content, garbage and spam, to rig the algorithm for popularity. I'm not there to monetize my posts nor to drown out their voices on truly important matters, and Fred is rarely ever there except when we release new music or have music related news to share, but I don't want to risk permanent suspension for this behavior, especially since I hope to share our upcoming music there.

The restrictions began last year the day Ozzy Osbourne passed away when I posted YouTube videos of my Top 5 favorite songs by his band, an action that got my account temporarily suspended for rapid posting because I had the videos in drafts and all I had to do was push "send" b2b. I was penalized for manipulating the algorithm for views on a trending topic, thus "inauthentic behavior." I got as far as posting 2 out of five videos before they struck me down, and apparently, I had no right to be seen in connection to Ozzy Osbourne trying to game the algorithm for views and seem more popular than I am.

I had never gotten more than a few hundred views on a post except the time I posted that I miss the Bret Michaels show, Rock of Love, which got more than 1k views (not likes, and just one authentic comment from my follower) within a few minutes of posting. That never got me restricted, but somehow, trying to connect to other Ozzy fans that day through the mutual sharing of songs we love on what I perceived was a message board for microbloggers was apparently capitalizing on Ozzy's death for attention.

Ozzy's death was a genuine shock to me, more so than when other musicians have died so far because Ozzy's music has a personal connection to my life, and shared memories with others, fans and musicians who can play all these songs, in a deeply meaningful way. These are songs I grew up with in Forest Hills, Queens. I guess I'll always be a headbanger, and for that, I should apologize to fans of music by marginalized artists, many of whom are genuinely great. Here are my Top 5 for fans of his music, authentic heavy metal, a virtuosic genre of popular music which I hope will live forever and help new generations learn from and create the future of popular music.