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It does feel like the author has somewhat missed the fact that Twitter has become a space in which, while you can technically say whatever you want, is driven o

It does feel like the author has somewhat missed the fact that Twitter has become a space in which, while you can technically say whatever you want, is driven overwhelmingly by opinions on topic-du-jour social issues. Further, the communities on Twitter that aren't part of this are largely segregated from the hive by virtue of consisting of users that are explicitly trying to avoid it. And there's a perpetual risk that the forerunners of those communites are eventually sucked in by the Borg Cube of banal political debate regardless - we've all seen this happen in our feeds, and there's a good chance you've unfollowed or muted at least one person for abruptly and loudly picking up on some political or social topic. This is pretty much exactly what Mastodon is trying to avoid. Having over-subscribed political debate forums hang a sign over their door is definitely fine by me.

holler 4y ago
Twitter wasn't built as a community platform. It's always had the user-centric model, which works well for the types of people who helped it gain popularity to begin with, namely journalists, celebrities, politicians, brands, gov agencies etc.
- hosh 4y ago
  No wonder I never really got the point of Twitter. This makes a lot more sense, or why there is a concern for making sure identity -- or brand -- is cohesive. I prefer visiting among different communities and affinity groups.
  - hnews_account_1 4y ago
    In a lot of cases, twitter’s model is better. In topic oriented websites (reddit is a good example), it becomes a shithole if you happen to share any interest that hits closer to 100k people. So a math or programming oriented topic is effectively able to moderate by pushing the memes and shitposts to mathmemes or programminghumor, but science gets overrun with shitty bots because of how wide the topic is. In many other cases, reddit’s model works better too. It just isn’t definitively one or the other.
kitsunesoba 4y ago
> sucked in by the Borg Cube of banal political debate That's an apt description of the phenomenon.

holler 4y ago

Twitter wasn't built as a community platform. It's always had the user-centric model, which works well for the types of people who helped it gain popularity to begin with, namely journalists, celebrities, politicians, brands, gov agencies etc.

hosh 4y ago
No wonder I never really got the point of Twitter. This makes a lot more sense, or why there is a concern for making sure identity -- or brand -- is cohesive. I prefer visiting among different communities and affinity groups.
- hnews_account_1 4y ago
  In a lot of cases, twitter’s model is better. In topic oriented websites (reddit is a good example), it becomes a shithole if you happen to share any interest that hits closer to 100k people. So a math or programming oriented topic is effectively able to moderate by pushing the memes and shitposts to mathmemes or programminghumor, but science gets overrun with shitty bots because of how wide the topic is. In many other cases, reddit’s model works better too. It just isn’t definitively one or the other.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

> sucked in by the Borg Cube of banal political debate That's an apt description of the phenomenon.