3 ms·

Just because something is bad doesn't mean it can't get any worse.

shadowgovt 4y ago
It'll only get that bad if we're lucky. Something has to be done to convince the average user that Twitter is not their friend, is not a reliable source of information, and is not a good place to share your intimate thoughts because they're sitting out on a public forum for everyone to see. Maybe Musk turning it into his private hell playground will do the trick finally.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Bakary 4y ago
  Twitter users don't want reliable information but attention
  - cainxinth 4y ago
    We all want things. I, for example, want the U.S. government to regulate all these social networks much more aggressively given the provable and significant impact they have on elections. I know the free speech absolutists like Elon find that idea unpalatable, but I think the Wild West era of social media needs to come to a close.
- snarf21 4y ago
  serious question: so where is a better place for users to get news? or share their thoughts? Also, Twitter is more than just politics .. Lots of hobbies share information with others in their group
  - shadowgovt 4y ago
    I find a well-curated Reddit to be more reliable these days, but honestly: I try to get most of my news from local sources, with subscriptions to a handful of major papers to get analysis on national or international topics. National or international topics are, I think, best approached via analysis. Most people aren't expert enough to take advantage of primary-source data there, and things at that scale rarely impact one's day-to-day life (national / international things that impact one's day-to-day come in via the emergency broadcast system or, in the case of something like COVID, local and state health ordnances). Far more impactful is who is getting elected to your school board or who is responsible for the condition of your local streets. If I want to understand, say, the war in Afghanistan better, I'm going to try and grab some analysis from some journalists and authors with a track record of being right. Twitter is the opposite of all of that. One-shot, short-snippet bursts of mostly secondary-source information (and the occasional primary). Shallow analysis. Amateur discourse. No track records. And thanks to what has been discovered during this Musk purchase plan, we have come to learn: probably way more bots than Twitter estimates anyway. It's a hole where discourse and rational thought goes to die.

It'll only get that bad if we're lucky. Something has to be done to convince the average user that Twitter is not their friend, is not a reliable source of information, and is not a good place to share your intimate thoughts because they're sitting out on a public forum for everyone to see. Maybe Musk turning it into his private hell playground will do the trick finally.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Bakary 4y ago
Twitter users don't want reliable information but attention
- cainxinth 4y ago
  We all want things. I, for example, want the U.S. government to regulate all these social networks much more aggressively given the provable and significant impact they have on elections. I know the free speech absolutists like Elon find that idea unpalatable, but I think the Wild West era of social media needs to come to a close.
snarf21 4y ago
serious question: so where is a better place for users to get news? or share their thoughts? Also, Twitter is more than just politics .. Lots of hobbies share information with others in their group
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  I find a well-curated Reddit to be more reliable these days, but honestly: I try to get most of my news from local sources, with subscriptions to a handful of major papers to get analysis on national or international topics. National or international topics are, I think, best approached via analysis. Most people aren't expert enough to take advantage of primary-source data there, and things at that scale rarely impact one's day-to-day life (national / international things that impact one's day-to-day come in via the emergency broadcast system or, in the case of something like COVID, local and state health ordnances). Far more impactful is who is getting elected to your school board or who is responsible for the condition of your local streets. If I want to understand, say, the war in Afghanistan better, I'm going to try and grab some analysis from some journalists and authors with a track record of being right. Twitter is the opposite of all of that. One-shot, short-snippet bursts of mostly secondary-source information (and the occasional primary). Shallow analysis. Amateur discourse. No track records. And thanks to what has been discovered during this Musk purchase plan, we have come to learn: probably way more bots than Twitter estimates anyway. It's a hole where discourse and rational thought goes to die.