4 ms·

Her blocking tool is idiotic. It blocks people whose only offense it to follow more than one account on Twitter from a small list of accounts that she considers

Her blocking tool is idiotic. It blocks people whose only offense it to follow more than one account on Twitter from a small list of accounts that she considers to be GG leaders. It ends up blocking many anti-GG people who are following those accounts because they want to know what their opponents are up to.

engi_nerd 11y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2no4me/im_a_developer_on_the_blocklist_what_do_i_do_now/ https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2no4me/im_a... There's no good mechanism for this case, either.
- engi_nerd 11y ago
  https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz550bB_EtoUjNYIdPCpk/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz... There is an appeals process, it turns out.
scholia 11y ago
> It ends up blocking many anti-GG people who are following those accounts because they want to know what their opponents are up to. Sad to hear that some Twitter users are not making the best use of its features. It's very easy to create a list of Nero and his flying monkeys, and you can add people to a list without following them. You can keep the list private so nobody knows you're even doing it. It's also much more efficient. In the normal use of Twitter (dipping into a stream), you are highly unlikely to see most of any account's tweets. With a list, you can see all the tweets you want whenever you want. (Sorry this is off-topic, but it might help someone who hasn't used the Lists feature, which Twitter hides away.)
makomk 11y ago
Her blocking tool is more than just idiotic, it was a toxic, polarising firebomb tossed into an already vicious war, one that forced everyone involved to pick a side and stop even listening to what the other side was actually saying and doing by blocking them from seeing one side unless they did. It forced everyone to base their views of the other side on the most vitrolic descriptions their own site could come up with. (For example, those of a certain Ms. Butts on the anti-GG side who started out by taking a thread where GG supporters unanimously told a transphobe to fuck off, edited out the replies, and spun it as proof GG was transphobic to rapturous applause and retweets, and continued on in that vein.) It's a perfect example of how technical solutions can make social problems worse.
- engi_nerd 11y ago
  Yes, I really don't understand the simplistic view of "she wrote a tool to protect herself from harassment". What she created goes far beyond that. It does not seem to be congruent with inclusiveness and reasoned conversation.
- tptacek 11y ago
  You people sure take Twitter block lists seriously. There are people I like who I have blocked on Twitter, just to keep me from getting engaged in vituperative bullshit in the middle of my workdays. I should apologize to them for poisoning them with fire (is I think the metaphor you're using, right?).
  - engi_nerd 11y ago
    But you curate your block list. What you do with your blocking is your own business. That is a little different than using blocking software that you do not create/maintain. Her software, according to the readme [0]: > Good Game Auto Blocker compares the follower lists for a given set of Twitter accounts. If anyone is found to be following more than one of these accounts, they are added to a list and blocked. Most discussions of ggautoblocker are referencing the GamerGate-specific block list. The GamerGate block list filters the majority of Twitter interactions by GamerGate supporters. This list is maintained and shared by the author, Randi Harper, as well as a number of volunteers. Are you curious about this whole (debacle? flamewar? never-ending argumet?) and want to follow notable people on both sides of the argument? Well, her software just blocked you. Gamergate is perceived by some people to be a hate group [1]. So now, by association, this software has categorized a potentially innocent use of twitter as being representative of membership in a potential hate group. There is an appeals process [2] for being removed from the list, I should note. I would love to hear from anyone who has experience with the appeals process. How would you (not just you, tptacek, but the general you) feel if you were on the blocked list? I wouldn't want to be associated with this whole mess at all. As always, if I'm misunderstanding how this software works, please let me know. [0]: https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker [1]: http://jezebel.com/gamergate-trolls-arent-ethics-crusaders-theyre-a-hate-1644984010 http://jezebel.com/gamergate-trolls-arent-ethics-crusaders-t... [2]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz550bB_EtoUjNYIdPCpk/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz...

engi_nerd 11y ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2no4me/im_a_developer_on_the_blocklist_what_do_i_do_now/ https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2no4me/im_a... There's no good mechanism for this case, either.

engi_nerd 11y ago
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz550bB_EtoUjNYIdPCpk/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz... There is an appeals process, it turns out.

scholia 11y ago

> It ends up blocking many anti-GG people who are following those accounts because they want to know what their opponents are up to. Sad to hear that some Twitter users are not making the best use of its features. It's very easy to create a list of Nero and his flying monkeys, and you can add people to a list without following them. You can keep the list private so nobody knows you're even doing it. It's also much more efficient. In the normal use of Twitter (dipping into a stream), you are highly unlikely to see most of any account's tweets. With a list, you can see all the tweets you want whenever you want. (Sorry this is off-topic, but it might help someone who hasn't used the Lists feature, which Twitter hides away.)

makomk 11y ago

Her blocking tool is more than just idiotic, it was a toxic, polarising firebomb tossed into an already vicious war, one that forced everyone involved to pick a side and stop even listening to what the other side was actually saying and doing by blocking them from seeing one side unless they did. It forced everyone to base their views of the other side on the most vitrolic descriptions their own site could come up with. (For example, those of a certain Ms. Butts on the anti-GG side who started out by taking a thread where GG supporters unanimously told a transphobe to fuck off, edited out the replies, and spun it as proof GG was transphobic to rapturous applause and retweets, and continued on in that vein.) It's a perfect example of how technical solutions can make social problems worse.

engi_nerd 11y ago
Yes, I really don't understand the simplistic view of "she wrote a tool to protect herself from harassment". What she created goes far beyond that. It does not seem to be congruent with inclusiveness and reasoned conversation.
tptacek 11y ago
You people sure take Twitter block lists seriously. There are people I like who I have blocked on Twitter, just to keep me from getting engaged in vituperative bullshit in the middle of my workdays. I should apologize to them for poisoning them with fire (is I think the metaphor you're using, right?).
- engi_nerd 11y ago
  But you curate your block list. What you do with your blocking is your own business. That is a little different than using blocking software that you do not create/maintain. Her software, according to the readme [0]: > Good Game Auto Blocker compares the follower lists for a given set of Twitter accounts. If anyone is found to be following more than one of these accounts, they are added to a list and blocked. Most discussions of ggautoblocker are referencing the GamerGate-specific block list. The GamerGate block list filters the majority of Twitter interactions by GamerGate supporters. This list is maintained and shared by the author, Randi Harper, as well as a number of volunteers. Are you curious about this whole (debacle? flamewar? never-ending argumet?) and want to follow notable people on both sides of the argument? Well, her software just blocked you. Gamergate is perceived by some people to be a hate group [1]. So now, by association, this software has categorized a potentially innocent use of twitter as being representative of membership in a potential hate group. There is an appeals process [2] for being removed from the list, I should note. I would love to hear from anyone who has experience with the appeals process. How would you (not just you, tptacek, but the general you) feel if you were on the blocked list? I wouldn't want to be associated with this whole mess at all. As always, if I'm misunderstanding how this software works, please let me know. [0]: https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker [1]: http://jezebel.com/gamergate-trolls-arent-ethics-crusaders-theyre-a-hate-1644984010 http://jezebel.com/gamergate-trolls-arent-ethics-crusaders-t... [2]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz550bB_EtoUjNYIdPCpk/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/14iu4XVTKw2tSAlv3x8ktxQfz...