3 ms·

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X It's just a private company running a website.

by grecy 3y ago

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X It's just a private company running a website. They come and go like myspace, tumblr and whatever else. One day nobody will use Facebook or Reddit. Why are people so caught up personally and emotionally about a single one going to crap? Use it if you like it, and stop using it if you don't. It seems extremely simple to me.

amanaplanacanal 3y ago
Politics is surely part of it. If someone is convinced that a company is spreading terrible ideology, they might try to make them fail.
worksonmine 3y ago
I think people are just disappointed that their beloved bubble is now controlled by the opposition. Musk went from god to devil in these circles in a very short time. Meanwhile I've never cared about either and am just trying to understand the mass hysteria. Twitter was a cesspool a decade ago, just that they didn't notice because they agreed with the bullshit.
- martindbp 3y ago
  It's not a cesspool. It's exactly what you make of it. If I had to pick one social network from them all (HN, Reddit, FB, IG, excluding messaging services like WhatsApp/Signal) I would pick X every day. It's the only place where I know the the information is coming from a reputable source, because I follow people at the top of their fields.
  - worksonmine 3y ago
    It's not about who you personally follow, or if they have a blue check. It's about the general culture on the site. Cancel culture was born on Twitter. The short messages make any meaningful discussion pointless and it's mostly idiots venting in their bubbles. I'm also little worried about your claim that you "know the information is coming from a reputable source". I take everything from everyone with a grain of salt, and constantly keep my own brain turned on. Many so-called "reputable sources" spread all kinds of unfounded bullshit on twitter, in media and everywhere else. I actually prefer anonymous discourse because the worst argument I know is the "reputable source" or "I have a PhD in X". The who shouldn't matter, as long as you can verify the what. I verify.
    - martindbp 3y ago
      Either someone else decides for me what's reputable, or I do. I prefer it's me, it's not something I'd like to delegate. I read books, and if I like them I follow the authors. I follow people at the forefront of AI research etc. I also have a near zero-tolerance for political and incendiary tweets, it doesn't matter how amazing the person is if half their tweets are woke or anti-woke. I wish there was a way to filter out the bad parts so I could follow some of these people, should be fairly simple to implement. > "I have a PhD in X" PhDs are a dime a dozen these days, I don't believe in credentialism. They have to show that they've done something exceptional outside of gaming academia. This may all sound elitist, but I also wouldn't follow myself because I'm not exceptional in any way. By my own logic I probably shouldn't pollute HN with my midwit comments, but it's a selfish way of practicing writing and making arguments I suppose.
- kbelder 3y ago
  Yeah, I think there's all sorts of reasons to avoid Twitter/X for emotional and psychological health, or even because you just have some standards of good taste. But the big exodus after Musk just seems like people outraged that the particular flavor of their cesspool has changed.
keernan 3y ago
I'm confused by your confusion. Your statement means that if a private company was owned by the most horrific person in human history {take your pick}, you wouldn't care one bit and would continue doing business with him; and would go so far as to question why everyone was making such a big deal about {take your pick}. To be clear, my post isn't about Musk per se. I am simply pointing out that your attempt to claim morality doesn't matter is indefensible (unless you quibble with my first paragraph).
- grecy 3y ago
  > you wouldn't care one bit and would continue doing business with him No, I wouldn't care one bit and I would stop doing business with him. Life is too short to get outraged about what a person or company or whatever is doing. Move on with your life, remove the crud and focus on the good bits.
freejazz 3y ago
>I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X Because it's a controversial debate in mainstream discourse - how disconnected from other people are you that this is something that confuses you? Does it surprise you that people have positions on abortion? On whether or not PublicFigureXYZ did something bad? Does it surprise you that people talk about the weather too??
rsynnott 3y ago
I _liked_ Twitter. I mean, like most users of what was affectionately known as the hellsite, I hated it a bit too, but I mostly liked it. I was on Twitter from 2007 to 2022. Back before they realised auto-incrementing numeric IDs were hard to scale, I was in the six digits. I feel entitled to be a _little_ irritated that it has being ruined by some idiot. I mean, been there before (grumble mutter freenode) and it’s not the end of the world, but I’m not quite at the “meh, whatever” stage.
fallingfrog 3y ago
It’s just weird, because usually a social media site becomes unpopular when something better comes along. In this case, a rich weirdo took it out behind the tool shed like old Yeller. And right at the peak of its popularity when it seemed unstoppable. And seemingly he did it just for the lulz. Bizarre.

by grecy 3y ago

amanaplanacanal 3y ago

Politics is surely part of it. If someone is convinced that a company is spreading terrible ideology, they might try to make them fail.

worksonmine 3y ago

I think people are just disappointed that their beloved bubble is now controlled by the opposition. Musk went from god to devil in these circles in a very short time. Meanwhile I've never cared about either and am just trying to understand the mass hysteria. Twitter was a cesspool a decade ago, just that they didn't notice because they agreed with the bullshit.

martindbp 3y ago
It's not a cesspool. It's exactly what you make of it. If I had to pick one social network from them all (HN, Reddit, FB, IG, excluding messaging services like WhatsApp/Signal) I would pick X every day. It's the only place where I know the the information is coming from a reputable source, because I follow people at the top of their fields.
- worksonmine 3y ago
  It's not about who you personally follow, or if they have a blue check. It's about the general culture on the site. Cancel culture was born on Twitter. The short messages make any meaningful discussion pointless and it's mostly idiots venting in their bubbles. I'm also little worried about your claim that you "know the information is coming from a reputable source". I take everything from everyone with a grain of salt, and constantly keep my own brain turned on. Many so-called "reputable sources" spread all kinds of unfounded bullshit on twitter, in media and everywhere else. I actually prefer anonymous discourse because the worst argument I know is the "reputable source" or "I have a PhD in X". The who shouldn't matter, as long as you can verify the what. I verify.
  - martindbp 3y ago
    Either someone else decides for me what's reputable, or I do. I prefer it's me, it's not something I'd like to delegate. I read books, and if I like them I follow the authors. I follow people at the forefront of AI research etc. I also have a near zero-tolerance for political and incendiary tweets, it doesn't matter how amazing the person is if half their tweets are woke or anti-woke. I wish there was a way to filter out the bad parts so I could follow some of these people, should be fairly simple to implement. > "I have a PhD in X" PhDs are a dime a dozen these days, I don't believe in credentialism. They have to show that they've done something exceptional outside of gaming academia. This may all sound elitist, but I also wouldn't follow myself because I'm not exceptional in any way. By my own logic I probably shouldn't pollute HN with my midwit comments, but it's a selfish way of practicing writing and making arguments I suppose.
kbelder 3y ago
Yeah, I think there's all sorts of reasons to avoid Twitter/X for emotional and psychological health, or even because you just have some standards of good taste. But the big exodus after Musk just seems like people outraged that the particular flavor of their cesspool has changed.

keernan 3y ago

I'm confused by your confusion. Your statement means that if a private company was owned by the most horrific person in human history {take your pick}, you wouldn't care one bit and would continue doing business with him; and would go so far as to question why everyone was making such a big deal about {take your pick}. To be clear, my post isn't about Musk per se. I am simply pointing out that your attempt to claim morality doesn't matter is indefensible (unless you quibble with my first paragraph).

grecy 3y ago
> you wouldn't care one bit and would continue doing business with him No, I wouldn't care one bit and I would stop doing business with him. Life is too short to get outraged about what a person or company or whatever is doing. Move on with your life, remove the crud and focus on the good bits.

freejazz 3y ago

>I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X Because it's a controversial debate in mainstream discourse - how disconnected from other people are you that this is something that confuses you? Does it surprise you that people have positions on abortion? On whether or not PublicFigureXYZ did something bad? Does it surprise you that people talk about the weather too??

rsynnott 3y ago

I _liked_ Twitter. I mean, like most users of what was affectionately known as the hellsite, I hated it a bit too, but I mostly liked it. I was on Twitter from 2007 to 2022. Back before they realised auto-incrementing numeric IDs were hard to scale, I was in the six digits. I feel entitled to be a _little_ irritated that it has being ruined by some idiot. I mean, been there before (grumble mutter freenode) and it’s not the end of the world, but I’m not quite at the “meh, whatever” stage.

fallingfrog 3y ago

It’s just weird, because usually a social media site becomes unpopular when something better comes along. In this case, a rich weirdo took it out behind the tool shed like old Yeller. And right at the peak of its popularity when it seemed unstoppable. And seemingly he did it just for the lulz. Bizarre.