4 ms·

> When twitter starts having strong opinions about what content is acceptable or not outside of abuse, then it becomes a very liberal echo chamber which drastic

> When twitter starts having strong opinions about what content is acceptable or not outside of abuse, then it becomes a very liberal echo chamber which drastically biases all the conversations that go on in it. Or very conservative echo chamber? Have you seen comments on practically any article critical of the current political administration? Frankly, people don't want bad actors, or trolls in their conversations. It provides no value except to the bad actor and other bad actors. If every time you were having a conversation at a bar someone butted in to talk to you about chemtrails you would stop visiting that bar until the person was asked to leave.

throwaway5752 8y ago
"It provides no value except to the bad actor and other bad actors. If every time you were having a conversation at a bar someone butted in to talk to you about chemtrails you would stop visiting that bar until the person was asked to leave" Thank you for saying this. It can't be said enough that the Twitter platform is not a public accomodation, and that Twitter needs to make a choice between banning troll and/or abusive accounts and convincing more valuable people to stay on their platform. We seem to be having a collective problem telling the guy with the chemtrail stories that he's the a-hole even though he strongly believes otherwise. I came across this: http://ritholtz.com/2018/07/self-inflicted-wounds-drag-facebook/ http://ritholtz.com/2018/07/self-inflicted-wounds-drag-faceb... and he also said it well: "But the bottom line is this: once you welcome holocaust deniers onto to your property, because, Hey! Its just their opinion! you have crossed a certain line. Other people — moral, rational, intelligent human beings who prefer reality to the fake ideological insanity these folks live in — they begin to say good-bye, and in increasingly larger numbers. People like Alex Jones who say Sandy Hook never happened, the birthers 9/11 truthers — thats a dinner party I won’t be attending."
- repolfx 8y ago
  In practice people don't leave, do they? Instead they pile on and try to harass chemtrails guy into leaving. Twitter is not a bar, so this is not a good analogy. Twitter has infinite space and is specifically intended for the exchange of opinions, not drinking.
manigandham 8y ago
Except on Twitter, unlike in reality, you can easily hit "block" and never see that person again.
- rhizome 8y ago
  Except on Twitter, just like in reality, their friends can come after you.
  - manigandham 8y ago
    And you can continue blocking them on Twitter, whereas in reality, assault and harassment is already a crime, so I'm not sure what your point is.
    - rhizome 8y ago
      Continue blocking, as in whack-a-mole on their brigading followers, or I can continue blocking that one account? If the latter: no shit; if the former: you underestimate the task.
      - manigandham 8y ago
        Perhaps I wasn't clear - if people come after you in the physical world (which you cannot escape), that is a crime and we have the appropriate police and judicial departments to take care of it. If people send you messages online on a public social media platform (which you can turn off at anytime), it is not a big deal. Massive difference between both. Twitter already provides several tools like blocking notifications from unknowns and making your profile private if you want to reduce the noise, but fundamentally Twitter is based on public broadcast so perhaps you would be better suited to something like Snapchat which focuses on private personal connections instead.
- taurath 8y ago
  Would you rather walk through a clean city street or have to step over trash and needles to get where you need to go? If the place is too difficult to walk through you start to think of taking a new route.

throwaway5752 8y ago

"It provides no value except to the bad actor and other bad actors. If every time you were having a conversation at a bar someone butted in to talk to you about chemtrails you would stop visiting that bar until the person was asked to leave" Thank you for saying this. It can't be said enough that the Twitter platform is not a public accomodation, and that Twitter needs to make a choice between banning troll and/or abusive accounts and convincing more valuable people to stay on their platform. We seem to be having a collective problem telling the guy with the chemtrail stories that he's the a-hole even though he strongly believes otherwise. I came across this: http://ritholtz.com/2018/07/self-inflicted-wounds-drag-facebook/ http://ritholtz.com/2018/07/self-inflicted-wounds-drag-faceb... and he also said it well: "But the bottom line is this: once you welcome holocaust deniers onto to your property, because, Hey! Its just their opinion! you have crossed a certain line. Other people — moral, rational, intelligent human beings who prefer reality to the fake ideological insanity these folks live in — they begin to say good-bye, and in increasingly larger numbers. People like Alex Jones who say Sandy Hook never happened, the birthers 9/11 truthers — thats a dinner party I won’t be attending."

repolfx 8y ago
In practice people don't leave, do they? Instead they pile on and try to harass chemtrails guy into leaving. Twitter is not a bar, so this is not a good analogy. Twitter has infinite space and is specifically intended for the exchange of opinions, not drinking.

manigandham 8y ago

Except on Twitter, unlike in reality, you can easily hit "block" and never see that person again.

rhizome 8y ago
Except on Twitter, just like in reality, their friends can come after you.
- manigandham 8y ago
  And you can continue blocking them on Twitter, whereas in reality, assault and harassment is already a crime, so I'm not sure what your point is.
  - rhizome 8y ago
    Continue blocking, as in whack-a-mole on their brigading followers, or I can continue blocking that one account? If the latter: no shit; if the former: you underestimate the task.
    - manigandham 8y ago
      Perhaps I wasn't clear - if people come after you in the physical world (which you cannot escape), that is a crime and we have the appropriate police and judicial departments to take care of it. If people send you messages online on a public social media platform (which you can turn off at anytime), it is not a big deal. Massive difference between both. Twitter already provides several tools like blocking notifications from unknowns and making your profile private if you want to reduce the noise, but fundamentally Twitter is based on public broadcast so perhaps you would be better suited to something like Snapchat which focuses on private personal connections instead.
taurath 8y ago
Would you rather walk through a clean city street or have to step over trash and needles to get where you need to go? If the place is too difficult to walk through you start to think of taking a new route.