4 ms·

As one of the first 10k beta users, who was fairly active, then moved back to twitter, I agree with this. The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go-

As one of the first 10k beta users, who was fairly active, then moved back to twitter, I agree with this. The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go- it's not the fault of Graber or anyone else- but they should allow people to turn off the turbo redditor type people with a few settings.

SecretDreams 7mo ago
All social media roads lead back to the same place, imo. The only thing keeping HN for getting there sooner is its lack of popularity.
SmirkingRevenge 7mo ago
You basically can, can't you, with it's robust blocking features and feeds? Personally, I've found bsky has a far healthier culture than Twitter, even before Musk turned it into his own personal megaphone/therapist and neo-nazi safe-space (and I follow a lot of political accounts) The lack of payouts for engaging posts and the robust blocking really does change the incentive structure over there. That twitter-style toxic engagement-bait type posting doesn't get rewarded as much. There are some far-left groups there who are very toxic and will harass some people, but they are easy to block. Most of them seem to block people at the drop of a hat anyways, and so end up in their own isolated bubbles.
pcthrowaway 7mo ago
> As one of the first 10k beta users, who was fairly active, then moved back to twitter, I agree with this. The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go Very surprised to hear this... the few times I've visited Twitter in the last year I've been met with a deluge of racist, homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic comments. Like there's practically no moderation on there. People saying "Hitler was right the whole time" and shit like that. I don't use Bluesky much either but I definitely wouldn't have considered it worse than Twitter
- animal_spirits 7mo ago
  Its not worse than twitter. It's not close in compared to toxicity; though i've personally noticed a high-minded snobbishness toxicity that shuts down discussion on it.
- acjohnson55 7mo ago
  Twitter still attracts top quality initial posts from prominent people, even though the replies are garbage, or worse. Honestly, it doesn't compute to me how people can justify continuing to contribute there.
- tinfoilhatter 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - pcthrowaway 7mo ago
    The response was to someone commenting the discourse on Bluesky was "off putting" so they went back to Twitter. I wasn't touching on freedom of speech, just the relative quality of speech in both platforms. As a centralized service operating in Canada and the EU though, I do believe Twitter is legally required to remove certain kinds of hate speech. The qualification for removal might be debatable (e.g. "the Austrian painter was right" is another thing people say which is a dogwhistle, but probably not explicit enough for companies to be compelled to remove it) but the requirement is there. > but I'm sure you hold dear the right to say whatever you want, whether others agree with it or not You know, reflecting back on my youth, I wish certain things I said (and might have posted on social media had it been so present) were immediately stricken from the record. Banning hate speech which incites violence against a minority group is a slippery slope, but I think it's for the better. At the same time, of course it can be abused, such as with the IHRA definition of antisemitism used in many jurisdictions, under which many valid criticisms of Israel would be deemed "antisemitic"
    - tinfoilhatter 7mo ago
      [flagged]
deaux 7mo ago
> The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go Fair enough > moved back to twitter "The summer heat in Phoenix is extremely off putting, so I moved to Riyadh"

SecretDreams 7mo ago

All social media roads lead back to the same place, imo. The only thing keeping HN for getting there sooner is its lack of popularity.

SmirkingRevenge 7mo ago

You basically can, can't you, with it's robust blocking features and feeds? Personally, I've found bsky has a far healthier culture than Twitter, even before Musk turned it into his own personal megaphone/therapist and neo-nazi safe-space (and I follow a lot of political accounts) The lack of payouts for engaging posts and the robust blocking really does change the incentive structure over there. That twitter-style toxic engagement-bait type posting doesn't get rewarded as much. There are some far-left groups there who are very toxic and will harass some people, but they are easy to block. Most of them seem to block people at the drop of a hat anyways, and so end up in their own isolated bubbles.

pcthrowaway 7mo ago

> As one of the first 10k beta users, who was fairly active, then moved back to twitter, I agree with this. The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go Very surprised to hear this... the few times I've visited Twitter in the last year I've been met with a deluge of racist, homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic comments. Like there's practically no moderation on there. People saying "Hitler was right the whole time" and shit like that. I don't use Bluesky much either but I definitely wouldn't have considered it worse than Twitter

animal_spirits 7mo ago
Its not worse than twitter. It's not close in compared to toxicity; though i've personally noticed a high-minded snobbishness toxicity that shuts down discussion on it.
acjohnson55 7mo ago
Twitter still attracts top quality initial posts from prominent people, even though the replies are garbage, or worse. Honestly, it doesn't compute to me how people can justify continuing to contribute there.
tinfoilhatter 7mo ago
[flagged]
- pcthrowaway 7mo ago
  The response was to someone commenting the discourse on Bluesky was "off putting" so they went back to Twitter. I wasn't touching on freedom of speech, just the relative quality of speech in both platforms. As a centralized service operating in Canada and the EU though, I do believe Twitter is legally required to remove certain kinds of hate speech. The qualification for removal might be debatable (e.g. "the Austrian painter was right" is another thing people say which is a dogwhistle, but probably not explicit enough for companies to be compelled to remove it) but the requirement is there. > but I'm sure you hold dear the right to say whatever you want, whether others agree with it or not You know, reflecting back on my youth, I wish certain things I said (and might have posted on social media had it been so present) were immediately stricken from the record. Banning hate speech which incites violence against a minority group is a slippery slope, but I think it's for the better. At the same time, of course it can be abused, such as with the IHRA definition of antisemitism used in many jurisdictions, under which many valid criticisms of Israel would be deemed "antisemitic"
  - tinfoilhatter 7mo ago
    [flagged]

deaux 7mo ago

> The userbase is extremely off putting from the get go Fair enough > moved back to twitter "The summer heat in Phoenix is extremely off putting, so I moved to Riyadh"