4 ms·

I wonder if there are technical issues here? It wouldn't be too surprising if "tweets are immutable" (and therefore safe to aggressively cache) is an assumption

by Gaelan 5y ago

I wonder if there are technical issues here? It wouldn't be too surprising if "tweets are immutable" (and therefore safe to aggressively cache) is an assumption baked into a lot of their code.

staticassertion 5y ago
I could imagine that, though I think there are likely many efficient ways to implement immutable edits, especially if: a) You're constraining the time-to-edit b) You're constrained to a single edit But it could be a lot of work to ensure that it's a consistent experience since you'd have to untangle the "cache this thing for-literally-ever" expectations that may exist.
dfabulich 5y ago
It's not just technical. Jack doesn't want it. https://www.wired.com/story/jack-dorsey-wont-get-edit-tweet-button/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20reason%20there's%20no%20edit,feeling%20in%20the%20early%20days.%E2%80%9D https://www.wired.com/story/jack-dorsey-wont-get-edit-tweet-... > Dorsey was unusually direct: “The answer is no,” he says. > “The reason there's no edit button [and] there hasn't been an edit button traditionally is we started as an SMS text messaging service," explains Dorsey. "So as you all know, when you send a text, you can’t really take it back. We wanted to preserve that vibe and that feeling in the early days.”
- user-the-name 5y ago
  Jack really is just a blithering idiot. There are plenty of reasons you could give for not adding this feature, but that one, that's probably the worst.
  - pantalaimon 5y ago
    Why though? It's bad enough when online news sites edit their articles and a later version carries some different information with no or little hint that it was edited.
    - user-the-name 5y ago
      I mean, yes, that is one good argument for not having an edit button. But it is not the reason Jack gave.
      - kyle-rb 5y ago
        If you read the next paragraph in the article, he does say basically that. > Though Twitter has evolved since its SMS days, Dorsey says the static, uneditable nature of posts remains an integral aspect of the platform, as it allows users to retweet and quote tweet others freely without fear that the message they amplified or critiqued could later be altered.
        mathw 5y ago
        And that is vital. Retweets and quote tweets and replies just fall apart if the parent tweet can be freely edited. Time-limited typo fixing capability is one thing, arbitrary editing is quite another.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  But there is a delete button for tweets...
  - twoknee 5y ago
    He did expressly state "vibe and feeling."
    - ALittleLight 5y ago
      Edit hurts the vibe but delete doesn't?
  - Wowfunhappy 5y ago
    And tweets can be 280 characters. I respect the decision itself if he's trying to uphold a certain feel—but "preserving the vibe of SMS" is pretty weak as far as justifications go.
riffic 5y ago
> It wouldn't be too surprising if "tweets are immutable" (and therefore safe to aggressively cache) is an assumption baked into a lot of their code Bingo, that's exactly what Twitter Engineers have stated in the past. Example: https://www.quora.com/When-will-Twitter-offer-the-option-of-editing-a-tweet-after-being-posted-to-the-timeline/answer/Raffi-Krikorian?srid=uMEx https://www.quora.com/When-will-Twitter-offer-the-option-of-...

by Gaelan 5y ago

I wonder if there are technical issues here? It wouldn't be too surprising if "tweets are immutable" (and therefore safe to aggressively cache) is an assumption baked into a lot of their code.

staticassertion 5y ago

I could imagine that, though I think there are likely many efficient ways to implement immutable edits, especially if: a) You're constraining the time-to-edit b) You're constrained to a single edit But it could be a lot of work to ensure that it's a consistent experience since you'd have to untangle the "cache this thing for-literally-ever" expectations that may exist.

dfabulich 5y ago

It's not just technical. Jack doesn't want it. https://www.wired.com/story/jack-dorsey-wont-get-edit-tweet-button/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20reason%20there's%20no%20edit,feeling%20in%20the%20early%20days.%E2%80%9D https://www.wired.com/story/jack-dorsey-wont-get-edit-tweet-... > Dorsey was unusually direct: “The answer is no,” he says. > “The reason there's no edit button [and] there hasn't been an edit button traditionally is we started as an SMS text messaging service," explains Dorsey. "So as you all know, when you send a text, you can’t really take it back. We wanted to preserve that vibe and that feeling in the early days.”

user-the-name 5y ago
Jack really is just a blithering idiot. There are plenty of reasons you could give for not adding this feature, but that one, that's probably the worst.
- pantalaimon 5y ago
  Why though? It's bad enough when online news sites edit their articles and a later version carries some different information with no or little hint that it was edited.
  - user-the-name 5y ago
    I mean, yes, that is one good argument for not having an edit button. But it is not the reason Jack gave.
    - kyle-rb 5y ago
      If you read the next paragraph in the article, he does say basically that. > Though Twitter has evolved since its SMS days, Dorsey says the static, uneditable nature of posts remains an integral aspect of the platform, as it allows users to retweet and quote tweet others freely without fear that the message they amplified or critiqued could later be altered.
      - mathw 5y ago
        And that is vital. Retweets and quote tweets and replies just fall apart if the parent tweet can be freely edited. Time-limited typo fixing capability is one thing, arbitrary editing is quite another.
ALittleLight 5y ago
But there is a delete button for tweets...
- twoknee 5y ago
  He did expressly state "vibe and feeling."
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    Edit hurts the vibe but delete doesn't?
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  And tweets can be 280 characters. I respect the decision itself if he's trying to uphold a certain feel—but "preserving the vibe of SMS" is pretty weak as far as justifications go.

riffic 5y ago

> It wouldn't be too surprising if "tweets are immutable" (and therefore safe to aggressively cache) is an assumption baked into a lot of their code Bingo, that's exactly what Twitter Engineers have stated in the past. Example: https://www.quora.com/When-will-Twitter-offer-the-option-of-editing-a-tweet-after-being-posted-to-the-timeline/answer/Raffi-Krikorian?srid=uMEx https://www.quora.com/When-will-Twitter-offer-the-option-of-...