5 ms·

The "context" note is based on a program named birdwatch. According to rumor, virtually the entire team responsible for birdwatch just got laid off. I'm curio

by btilly 4y ago

The "context" note is based on a program named birdwatch. According to rumor, virtually the entire team responsible for birdwatch just got laid off. I'm curious what the future of this kind of context will be.

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
I'm way more in favor a of a system that employs the userbase to "fact check" than whatever busybody connected to a partisan "fact checker" at twitter doing it manually and adding their own particular bias.
- nicce 4y ago
  The problem is that special knowledge is also prone to bias. Some correct, but unpopular expert opinion can be also voted to be wrong, when the level of required knowledge is substantially high.
  - dsfyu404ed 4y ago
    I think the point at which "popular but wrong" starts winning out is way lower than you think are implying it is when you're talking about internet cesspools that have a cross section of the general public (Twitter, Reddit, 4Chan, etc). If you're talking about a forum or somewhere that the casually interested internet riff raff won't dominate the bar moves higher. That said, I'd rather have internet idiots do group fact checking than have established institutions be in charge of it.
- Forgeties79 4y ago
  Why do you think the userbase would be superior? Twitter, like most social media platforms, prioritizes controversy. Pot-stirrers are the ones who get amplified. Why should we trust an incredibly polarized userbase to somehow lack bias?
  - nomel 4y ago
    If you're trying to find faults with a claim, then using one of those extremes seems completely appropriate. They will be the only ones motivated to do so.
    - krapp 4y ago
      But they aren't going to tell the truth. Republicans don't respond to Biden's policies with sober recitations of well-sourced factual criticism, but the kind of paranoid partisan hyperbole you'd find on Fox News, because their goal isn't truth but keeping and maintaining power in an age where voters primarily react on emotion, not logic and reason, within bubbles of manufactured hyper-reality. Misinformation from one side doesn't just cancel out misinformation from the other.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - ravel-bar-foo 4y ago
        Birdwatch is designed to add context with which both extremes agree. The quoted watches are reasoned, and cite sources. Actually more informative than 99% of Twitter. The change seems to be that it has now rolled out on all accounts rather than just Red accounts, and now there is drama.
        nomel 4y ago
        More details about Birdwatch: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33474196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33474196
        Forgeties79 4y ago
        > The change seems to be that it has now rolled out on all accounts rather than just Red accounts, and now there is drama. What do you mean by this? There was one high profile incident with the white house, but I am struggling to believe that’s when the controversy started.
- yed 4y ago
  That is exactly what birdwatch is: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introduci...
faeriechangling 4y ago
I mean the team being laid off doesn't mean birdwatch won't be used unless it literally just breaks down. Birdwatch is user sourced. If Elon Musk gets rid of birdwatch I will scream bloody murder because that's probably the best approach I've seen to fact checking since the invention of wikipedia summaries on google search results.
- kyle_martin1 4y ago
ccorda 4y ago
From Keith Coleman today, who authored the original post announcing birdwatch [1] > The team is on a mission that has had the support of 3 CEOs. We're cranking. > to all team members, contributors and advisors past and present — an amazing, mission-driven set of people. https://twitter.com/kcoleman/status/1588611638655320064 https://twitter.com/kcoleman/status/1588611638655320064 Also, Elon has endorsed it: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587798343622737925 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587798343622737925 Hoping it stays, I love the bottom up nature of it. [1] https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introduci...
- btilly 4y ago
  That is the best news I've heard.
2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
You can apply it arbitrarily to technically correct tweets that you do not like.
- bitshiftfaced 4y ago
  After reading about the Birdwatch technical details, I'm strangely optimistic. I wasn't expected that. It's pretty clever.

by btilly 4y ago

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago

I'm way more in favor a of a system that employs the userbase to "fact check" than whatever busybody connected to a partisan "fact checker" at twitter doing it manually and adding their own particular bias.

nicce 4y ago
The problem is that special knowledge is also prone to bias. Some correct, but unpopular expert opinion can be also voted to be wrong, when the level of required knowledge is substantially high.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  I think the point at which "popular but wrong" starts winning out is way lower than you think are implying it is when you're talking about internet cesspools that have a cross section of the general public (Twitter, Reddit, 4Chan, etc). If you're talking about a forum or somewhere that the casually interested internet riff raff won't dominate the bar moves higher. That said, I'd rather have internet idiots do group fact checking than have established institutions be in charge of it.
Forgeties79 4y ago
Why do you think the userbase would be superior? Twitter, like most social media platforms, prioritizes controversy. Pot-stirrers are the ones who get amplified. Why should we trust an incredibly polarized userbase to somehow lack bias?
- nomel 4y ago
  If you're trying to find faults with a claim, then using one of those extremes seems completely appropriate. They will be the only ones motivated to do so.
  - krapp 4y ago
    But they aren't going to tell the truth. Republicans don't respond to Biden's policies with sober recitations of well-sourced factual criticism, but the kind of paranoid partisan hyperbole you'd find on Fox News, because their goal isn't truth but keeping and maintaining power in an age where voters primarily react on emotion, not logic and reason, within bubbles of manufactured hyper-reality. Misinformation from one side doesn't just cancel out misinformation from the other.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - ravel-bar-foo 4y ago
      Birdwatch is designed to add context with which both extremes agree. The quoted watches are reasoned, and cite sources. Actually more informative than 99% of Twitter. The change seems to be that it has now rolled out on all accounts rather than just Red accounts, and now there is drama.
      - nomel 4y ago
        More details about Birdwatch: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33474196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33474196
      - Forgeties79 4y ago
        > The change seems to be that it has now rolled out on all accounts rather than just Red accounts, and now there is drama. What do you mean by this? There was one high profile incident with the white house, but I am struggling to believe that’s when the controversy started.
yed 4y ago
That is exactly what birdwatch is: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introduci...

faeriechangling 4y ago

I mean the team being laid off doesn't mean birdwatch won't be used unless it literally just breaks down. Birdwatch is user sourced. If Elon Musk gets rid of birdwatch I will scream bloody murder because that's probably the best approach I've seen to fact checking since the invention of wikipedia summaries on google search results.

kyle_martin1 4y ago

ccorda 4y ago

From Keith Coleman today, who authored the original post announcing birdwatch [1] > The team is on a mission that has had the support of 3 CEOs. We're cranking. > to all team members, contributors and advisors past and present — an amazing, mission-driven set of people. https://twitter.com/kcoleman/status/1588611638655320064 https://twitter.com/kcoleman/status/1588611638655320064 Also, Elon has endorsed it: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587798343622737925 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1587798343622737925 Hoping it stays, I love the bottom up nature of it. [1] https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-birdwatch-a-community-based-approach-to-misinformation https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introduci...

btilly 4y ago
That is the best news I've heard.

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago

You can apply it arbitrarily to technically correct tweets that you do not like.

bitshiftfaced 4y ago
After reading about the Birdwatch technical details, I'm strangely optimistic. I wasn't expected that. It's pretty clever.