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I made my first Twitter account shortly after it launched, so there's a good chance I'm an earlier adopter than most people who complain about how it's changed.

I made my first Twitter account shortly after it launched, so there's a good chance I'm an earlier adopter than most people who complain about how it's changed. Many would, unfortunately, read any of my LGBTQ friends (for example) venting about the harassment they get for who they are as "political." What's political/ideological/junk/whatever to one person is a central and valuable function of the platform to others. This is their "current status," which they broadcast, and it's unavoidably political because certain groups have decided to politicize innocent and harmless attributes. I would not have met my best friend, who I can talk to about this stuff when Twitter seems inappropriate, without Twitter. For you, it's a place to chill and chat. For me and many like me, it's a lifeline in hostile territory.

bauerd 9y ago
Twitter was never a place "to chill and chat" to me. I was an early adopter as well and used it as a more personal RSS reader. I followed mostly software developers and tech outlets. I honestly enjoyed the mix of 140-character tech discussion and the occasional insights into other devs' work and personal life. At some point however, my personal feed was full of drama, politics, gender, bullshit, nonsense, … It was worse than my Facebook feed. and the platform gave me 0 control over what I see from whom. The best I could do was to follow, hope for the best, unfollow, rinse and repeat. I quit a long time ago, and I don't look back.
chippy 9y ago
When did Twitter turn into hostile territory? Or are you saying that the world outside of Twitter is hostile and Twitter is some way of dealing with that in the present day? I remember when people started being harassed on Twitter, and it wasn't close to the launch, rather it was when it was sometime after it became massively popular. If we can try to remember we will see that it was different back then when we were early adopters.
- rainbowmverse 9y ago
  Outside world. You should get to know your LGBTQ and other marginalized friends better if you aren't aware of how bad things are. Twitter may have been the first place they found anyone else like them. Even accepting environments (rare) can be difficult to cope with if you have no one to talk to who really understands what it's like.

bauerd 9y ago

Twitter was never a place "to chill and chat" to me. I was an early adopter as well and used it as a more personal RSS reader. I followed mostly software developers and tech outlets. I honestly enjoyed the mix of 140-character tech discussion and the occasional insights into other devs' work and personal life. At some point however, my personal feed was full of drama, politics, gender, bullshit, nonsense, … It was worse than my Facebook feed. and the platform gave me 0 control over what I see from whom. The best I could do was to follow, hope for the best, unfollow, rinse and repeat. I quit a long time ago, and I don't look back.

chippy 9y ago

When did Twitter turn into hostile territory? Or are you saying that the world outside of Twitter is hostile and Twitter is some way of dealing with that in the present day? I remember when people started being harassed on Twitter, and it wasn't close to the launch, rather it was when it was sometime after it became massively popular. If we can try to remember we will see that it was different back then when we were early adopters.

rainbowmverse 9y ago
Outside world. You should get to know your LGBTQ and other marginalized friends better if you aren't aware of how bad things are. Twitter may have been the first place they found anyone else like them. Even accepting environments (rare) can be difficult to cope with if you have no one to talk to who really understands what it's like.