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This is a part of why I'm quite selective about what I post online. The major part is that I value my privacy and don't really want random people knowing every

realusername 11y ago
Facebook is honestly not that bad on this because your "friends" circle makes it harder for a post to go completely viral. Twitter on the other hand is really dangerous because you can just make a tweet which pisses off some random celebrity and face a huge backlash, this is really scary.
- randycupertino 11y ago
  That's exactly why I'm afraid to tweet. If I tweeted every stupid thought that flit across my mind, then ever became famous or in the public eye, people could dig up every dumb thing I've ever said and broadcast it out of context. No thanks.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Agreed. Each tweet is like a 'sound byte' and we've seen how they can be used to twist anything by taking them out of context. 'Twitter context' is really an oxymoron.
- SyneRyder 11y ago
  It depends on the social groups. In some ways Facebook can be worse, because the circle it goes viral in are the people you know in real life and interact with day-to-day. I have seen people make up rumours and publish them on Facebook, with the deliberate intention of hurting and destroying the life of someone they know, just because they felt slighted. Having anonymous crazies from around the world threatening you must be scary - but I can't imagine how it would feel to have friends and the people you turn to for support stop talking to you because of an accusation they read online.
- pmiller2 11y ago
  I've seen something like this happen to someone I know. :(
stcredzero 11y ago
This is a part of why I'm quite selective about what I post online. The major part is that I value my privacy and don't really want random people knowing everything about me. I don't want to be a public figure. I avoid Facebook and Twitter, too, so that really reduces my surface area for this type of attack. From the op: So complaining about harassment isn't just whining by sheltered nerds. The more visible and outspoken you are online, the higher the chance that a whirlwind will land on the heads of you and those you love. There is no chance of this changing in the foreseeable future. This is serious business. I am scared. Everything I do online is weighed against the risk of harassment. So the nerds won against the schoolyard bullies. But as a result we created another kind of public space which has bullying mobs. Unthinking bullying mobs that are in denial of their own bullying and label their activities as something noble or socially/intellectually worthy. Just about every thoughtful person I know feels effectively censored. There are certain group-minds online you can't risk angering, for fear of the consequences. These often exist as binary pairs in opposition which feed off of one another, gaining more members by mutual creation of outrage. These phenomena need to be recognized by society. An intellectually vibrant society should shun such stultifying phenomena. However, our culturally dominant means of communication are precisely where such phenomena live, and are the places they effectively police. This ability makes them much more insidious than "hate groups" of the civil rights era. The nerds created the new bullies, and the new bullies now shape and control the new discourse.

realusername 11y ago

Facebook is honestly not that bad on this because your "friends" circle makes it harder for a post to go completely viral. Twitter on the other hand is really dangerous because you can just make a tweet which pisses off some random celebrity and face a huge backlash, this is really scary.

randycupertino 11y ago
That's exactly why I'm afraid to tweet. If I tweeted every stupid thought that flit across my mind, then ever became famous or in the public eye, people could dig up every dumb thing I've ever said and broadcast it out of context. No thanks.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Agreed. Each tweet is like a 'sound byte' and we've seen how they can be used to twist anything by taking them out of context. 'Twitter context' is really an oxymoron.
SyneRyder 11y ago
It depends on the social groups. In some ways Facebook can be worse, because the circle it goes viral in are the people you know in real life and interact with day-to-day. I have seen people make up rumours and publish them on Facebook, with the deliberate intention of hurting and destroying the life of someone they know, just because they felt slighted. Having anonymous crazies from around the world threatening you must be scary - but I can't imagine how it would feel to have friends and the people you turn to for support stop talking to you because of an accusation they read online.
pmiller2 11y ago
I've seen something like this happen to someone I know. :(

stcredzero 11y ago

This is a part of why I'm quite selective about what I post online. The major part is that I value my privacy and don't really want random people knowing everything about me. I don't want to be a public figure. I avoid Facebook and Twitter, too, so that really reduces my surface area for this type of attack. From the op: So complaining about harassment isn't just whining by sheltered nerds. The more visible and outspoken you are online, the higher the chance that a whirlwind will land on the heads of you and those you love. There is no chance of this changing in the foreseeable future. This is serious business. I am scared. Everything I do online is weighed against the risk of harassment. So the nerds won against the schoolyard bullies. But as a result we created another kind of public space which has bullying mobs. Unthinking bullying mobs that are in denial of their own bullying and label their activities as something noble or socially/intellectually worthy. Just about every thoughtful person I know feels effectively censored. There are certain group-minds online you can't risk angering, for fear of the consequences. These often exist as binary pairs in opposition which feed off of one another, gaining more members by mutual creation of outrage. These phenomena need to be recognized by society. An intellectually vibrant society should shun such stultifying phenomena. However, our culturally dominant means of communication are precisely where such phenomena live, and are the places they effectively police. This ability makes them much more insidious than "hate groups" of the civil rights era. The nerds created the new bullies, and the new bullies now shape and control the new discourse.