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Just... don't. use. Twitter. I mean, dear god, it's a cesspool of incivility. It's very structure discourages civil discourse because everyone is trying to be

Just... don't. use. Twitter. I mean, dear god, it's a cesspool of incivility. It's very structure discourages civil discourse because everyone is trying to be the most pithy. And clicking on the links that are supposed to be the 'context' around this shit show.... how on earth is anyone supposed to navigate that mess? No, just stay far, far away.

zelly 7y ago
Every day someone somewhere gets fired for something they posted on Twitter. I've never heard of anyone getting hired for a tweet.
- httpsterio 7y ago
  I got, sent out a tweet looking for work and got an interview the next day in my city. ended up working there for a while.
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  I hired someone from something I initially saw them Tweet about.
- joshmanders 7y ago
  I've been hired because of Twitter twice.
- naniwaduni 7y ago
  ... until you say that, and they spring out of the woodwork. It's just a thing that never comes up.
kylek 7y ago
I haven't had a twitter account for years (and in fact block all twitter domains on my home network). I fail to see any upside of it especially when something like this happens. There seems to be potential backlash for posting anything these days; are there any downsides for not posting or having an account to show off who I "follow"? Is my e-cred lacking because of it?
- eximius 7y ago
  My WireGuard server hosts my DNS server which NXDOMAINs all social media and ads for my machines. If I really want to see what's up with some mess like this, I at least need to spend the 15 seconds it takes to turn WireGuard off.
mirimir 7y ago
I entirely agree. I tried Twitter years ago, but had no patience for it. It's like Usenet, but with "threads" that are much harder to follow. But if you must use Twitter, you gotta play safe. If you work for a living, your real name account must be 100% work focused. No religion or politics. Nothing at all controversial. And it it amuses you to join the fray, use a pseudonym. Seriously, with solid OPSEC. Because your career may well depend on it.
- anon9001 7y ago
  You're right, but you missed the biggest part of the problem. The "nothing at all controversial" part changes, often without warning. Your history, however, is immutable. I think the only way to fix it is for everyone to be cancelled. If you exile enough people, pretty soon that itself becomes a problem. We're currently in this dangerous middle point where people think it can't happen to them, or that the accused probably did something wrong. There's a chance we might be creating a permanent underclass of people who have said or done unacceptable things in public. If that's 10% of the population, that's a big problem. But if it's 50% of the population, that's actually a smaller problem. Is it possible that the ethical thing to do here is to join the cancellation brigades?
  - mirimir 7y ago
    That is a good point. I did lots of wild and crazy stuff back in the 60s through the early 80s. And then I did est/Landmark. And learned how to be rigorously professional. But I'm lucky. There are very few public records about my dissolute youth. Maybe a couple news reports, that don't mention me by name. Maybe a few photographs. And lots of memories that could still come back to bite me. But nothing like it is today. Today, it's necessary to start the "nothing at all controversial" act very young. So that's something parents need to be teaching their kids. Along with "don't play in the street" and "don't accept rides from strangers". Plus using pseudonyms, with VPNs and Tor. And never trusting that "friends" won't sell them out. > I think the only way to fix it is for everyone to be cancelled. That doesn't work. Because there are multiple factions that cancel each other. So what you'll get is not just a permanent underclass, but permanent castes. Which will hate each other. And given the demographics, it seems like what you're calling the underclass will be the majority, and will elect governments that pretend to cater to them. And the woke will end up working for social media etc, who will pretend to cater to them. > Is it possible that the ethical thing to do here is to join the cancellation brigades? One aspect of saying nothing at all controversial is being ambiguous. You want all factions to think that you're one of them. It's like playing a double, triple, etc agent.
abnry 7y ago
I joined twitter in 2013 or 2014 for the math community. It was great. We were all posing little problems to each other. Then 2016 came, and it was never the same. Now you can't the politics seeping in. The way twitter shapes you and almost makes you respond is terrifying. I quit earlier this year and am glad I did.

zelly 7y ago

Every day someone somewhere gets fired for something they posted on Twitter. I've never heard of anyone getting hired for a tweet.

httpsterio 7y ago
I got, sent out a tweet looking for work and got an interview the next day in my city. ended up working there for a while.
chrisseaton 7y ago
I hired someone from something I initially saw them Tweet about.
joshmanders 7y ago
I've been hired because of Twitter twice.
naniwaduni 7y ago
... until you say that, and they spring out of the woodwork. It's just a thing that never comes up.

kylek 7y ago

I haven't had a twitter account for years (and in fact block all twitter domains on my home network). I fail to see any upside of it especially when something like this happens. There seems to be potential backlash for posting anything these days; are there any downsides for not posting or having an account to show off who I "follow"? Is my e-cred lacking because of it?

eximius 7y ago
My WireGuard server hosts my DNS server which NXDOMAINs all social media and ads for my machines. If I really want to see what's up with some mess like this, I at least need to spend the 15 seconds it takes to turn WireGuard off.

mirimir 7y ago

I entirely agree. I tried Twitter years ago, but had no patience for it. It's like Usenet, but with "threads" that are much harder to follow. But if you must use Twitter, you gotta play safe. If you work for a living, your real name account must be 100% work focused. No religion or politics. Nothing at all controversial. And it it amuses you to join the fray, use a pseudonym. Seriously, with solid OPSEC. Because your career may well depend on it.

anon9001 7y ago
You're right, but you missed the biggest part of the problem. The "nothing at all controversial" part changes, often without warning. Your history, however, is immutable. I think the only way to fix it is for everyone to be cancelled. If you exile enough people, pretty soon that itself becomes a problem. We're currently in this dangerous middle point where people think it can't happen to them, or that the accused probably did something wrong. There's a chance we might be creating a permanent underclass of people who have said or done unacceptable things in public. If that's 10% of the population, that's a big problem. But if it's 50% of the population, that's actually a smaller problem. Is it possible that the ethical thing to do here is to join the cancellation brigades?
- mirimir 7y ago
  That is a good point. I did lots of wild and crazy stuff back in the 60s through the early 80s. And then I did est/Landmark. And learned how to be rigorously professional. But I'm lucky. There are very few public records about my dissolute youth. Maybe a couple news reports, that don't mention me by name. Maybe a few photographs. And lots of memories that could still come back to bite me. But nothing like it is today. Today, it's necessary to start the "nothing at all controversial" act very young. So that's something parents need to be teaching their kids. Along with "don't play in the street" and "don't accept rides from strangers". Plus using pseudonyms, with VPNs and Tor. And never trusting that "friends" won't sell them out. > I think the only way to fix it is for everyone to be cancelled. That doesn't work. Because there are multiple factions that cancel each other. So what you'll get is not just a permanent underclass, but permanent castes. Which will hate each other. And given the demographics, it seems like what you're calling the underclass will be the majority, and will elect governments that pretend to cater to them. And the woke will end up working for social media etc, who will pretend to cater to them. > Is it possible that the ethical thing to do here is to join the cancellation brigades? One aspect of saying nothing at all controversial is being ambiguous. You want all factions to think that you're one of them. It's like playing a double, triple, etc agent.

abnry 7y ago

I joined twitter in 2013 or 2014 for the math community. It was great. We were all posing little problems to each other. Then 2016 came, and it was never the same. Now you can't the politics seeping in. The way twitter shapes you and almost makes you respond is terrifying. I quit earlier this year and am glad I did.