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People aren't as stupid as HN wants to think they are. Twitter will be judged based on how it actually evolves, not Musk's brand. Time will tell. Let's not p

People aren't as stupid as HN wants to think they are. Twitter will be judged based on how it actually evolves, not Musk's brand. Time will tell. Let's not pretend the site wasn't an absolute disaster before the acquisition though. If I clicked on even a single trending topic about a game or news item I'd often be presented with unfiltered hardcore porn. Then there would be topics of innocent things like landscapes that get filtered. It was a complete joke and harmful place to visit.

krapp 4y ago
> If I clicked on even a single trending topic about a game or news item I'd often be presented with unfiltered hardcore porn. No, you wouldn't. Either you don't know what hardcore porn actually is, or you're exaggerating.
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  I've also had this happen to me. It doesn't happen every time, but I've had Twitter show me graphic penetration on topics that are just, like, a city name. (I've never seen it on the homepage or in someone's replies, only topics from the trending bar.)
  - Yoric 4y ago
    Apparently, there was a spam/reader DoS attack during the last few days associating porn to Chinese cities, in an effort by PRC's government to disorganize demonstrations against the government and the Zero Covid policy. Could be related?
    - SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
      The last time I saw it was a couple months ago. (I can't say whether or not it continued, I stopped clicking into the trending bar around that time as a matter of unrelated principle that I didn't want my attention to be controlled by Twitter's idea of what's trending.)
      - Yoric 4y ago
        So... probably not related.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  Disagree. I've come across numerous examples of people getting themselves or others off, usually spamming local area hashtags or trending topics. Seemed like exhibitionists/trolls as opposed to sex workers (who usually just tweet store-window erotica to promote their onlyfans and don't want to get banned).
shrimpx 4y ago
> unfiltered hardcore porn Another data point: Been using Twitter daily within the past two years and I’ve never encountered anything remotely close to the filtering blunder you describe.
- zimpenfish 4y ago
  Adding a tiny Gladwell: I've been using Twitter since 2007 and pretty much daily for probably 10 years and same, never accidentally encountered "unfiltered hardcore porn" clicking on trends or pretty much anything.
  - sidibe 4y ago
    As time goes on, it turns out that pre-Elon Twitter is becoming more and more of a disaster. Now it turns out it was full of porn, and especially child porn which previous leaders didn't care about. Also instead of a company struggling to be consistently profitable it was actually a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail in the near future if not for the timely intervention
    - MomoXenosaga 4y ago
      I think we'll find out it certainly wasn't worth 40 billion. No idea if Musk even cares but I doubt he'll recoup his investment.
    - zimpenfish 4y ago
      > Now it turns out it was full of porn, Well, it never had a ban on porn as such, did it? Although I'd venture "full of porn" is an exaggeration. Do you have numbers? > and especially child porn which previous leaders didn't care about. Got a source for that? As best I know, they weren't considered a problem by the authorities. Unlike now where they have one (1) moderator (thanks to Musk's firings) for the entirety of Asia (tens of millions of users.) > it was actually a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail in the near future Their 2020 figures show that, apart from an unfortunately timed $800Mi settlement, they'd have made $580Mi profit. Now that's not a great profit on $5Bi revenue but it's definitely not "a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail", is it? > if not for the timely intervention Which has added $1Bi a year debt payments. Now that is "a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail"...
cma 4y ago
> Let's not pretend the site wasn't an absolute disaster before the acquisition though. If I clicked on even a single trending topic about a game or news item I'd often be presented with unfiltered hardcore porn. Settings | Privacy and Safety | Display media that may contain sensitive content Did you enable that maybe?
- guiambros 4y ago
  Anecdata: mine has always been enabled, and I've been a user since 2007, yet I never encountered any kind of porn (except from some random replies or follow-spams from obvious bikini girls).
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
anigbrowl 4y ago
I don't object to porn in principle but you are right about it being an inconsistent mess, plus most/all of the porn I've unwillingly encountered there was from people who should stick to radio.
threeseed 4y ago
> Let's not pretend the site wasn't an absolute disaster before the acquisition though But it was a managed absolute disaster that was trying to be better. And so regulators such as EU, FTC were okay to let it continue to operate. That is clearly changing since Musk took over.

krapp 4y ago

> If I clicked on even a single trending topic about a game or news item I'd often be presented with unfiltered hardcore porn. No, you wouldn't. Either you don't know what hardcore porn actually is, or you're exaggerating.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
I've also had this happen to me. It doesn't happen every time, but I've had Twitter show me graphic penetration on topics that are just, like, a city name. (I've never seen it on the homepage or in someone's replies, only topics from the trending bar.)
- Yoric 4y ago
  Apparently, there was a spam/reader DoS attack during the last few days associating porn to Chinese cities, in an effort by PRC's government to disorganize demonstrations against the government and the Zero Covid policy. Could be related?
  - SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
    The last time I saw it was a couple months ago. (I can't say whether or not it continued, I stopped clicking into the trending bar around that time as a matter of unrelated principle that I didn't want my attention to be controlled by Twitter's idea of what's trending.)
    - Yoric 4y ago
      So... probably not related.
anigbrowl 4y ago
Disagree. I've come across numerous examples of people getting themselves or others off, usually spamming local area hashtags or trending topics. Seemed like exhibitionists/trolls as opposed to sex workers (who usually just tweet store-window erotica to promote their onlyfans and don't want to get banned).

shrimpx 4y ago

> unfiltered hardcore porn Another data point: Been using Twitter daily within the past two years and I’ve never encountered anything remotely close to the filtering blunder you describe.

zimpenfish 4y ago
Adding a tiny Gladwell: I've been using Twitter since 2007 and pretty much daily for probably 10 years and same, never accidentally encountered "unfiltered hardcore porn" clicking on trends or pretty much anything.
- sidibe 4y ago
  As time goes on, it turns out that pre-Elon Twitter is becoming more and more of a disaster. Now it turns out it was full of porn, and especially child porn which previous leaders didn't care about. Also instead of a company struggling to be consistently profitable it was actually a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail in the near future if not for the timely intervention
  - MomoXenosaga 4y ago
    I think we'll find out it certainly wasn't worth 40 billion. No idea if Musk even cares but I doubt he'll recoup his investment.
  - zimpenfish 4y ago
    > Now it turns out it was full of porn, Well, it never had a ban on porn as such, did it? Although I'd venture "full of porn" is an exaggeration. Do you have numbers? > and especially child porn which previous leaders didn't care about. Got a source for that? As best I know, they weren't considered a problem by the authorities. Unlike now where they have one (1) moderator (thanks to Musk's firings) for the entirety of Asia (tens of millions of users.) > it was actually a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail in the near future Their 2020 figures show that, apart from an unfortunately timed $800Mi settlement, they'd have made $580Mi profit. Now that's not a great profit on $5Bi revenue but it's definitely not "a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail", is it? > if not for the timely intervention Which has added $1Bi a year debt payments. Now that is "a complete dumpster fire that was doomed to fail"...

cma 4y ago

> Let's not pretend the site wasn't an absolute disaster before the acquisition though. If I clicked on even a single trending topic about a game or news item I'd often be presented with unfiltered hardcore porn. Settings | Privacy and Safety | Display media that may contain sensitive content Did you enable that maybe?

guiambros 4y ago
Anecdata: mine has always been enabled, and I've been a user since 2007, yet I never encountered any kind of porn (except from some random replies or follow-spams from obvious bikini girls).
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

anigbrowl 4y ago

I don't object to porn in principle but you are right about it being an inconsistent mess, plus most/all of the porn I've unwillingly encountered there was from people who should stick to radio.

threeseed 4y ago

> Let's not pretend the site wasn't an absolute disaster before the acquisition though But it was a managed absolute disaster that was trying to be better. And so regulators such as EU, FTC were okay to let it continue to operate. That is clearly changing since Musk took over.