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I agree that this is not a problem that only affects Twitter. Most of the current discussion platforms are way behind what was standard in Usenet or in your av

by bhaak 12y ago

I agree that this is not a problem that only affects Twitter. Most of the current discussion platforms are way behind what was standard in Usenet or in your average Usenet client. No threaded discussions, no filtering (not for the one who comments and doesn't want to read those +1 post and most often also not for the OP), not even blocking of people you don't want to read.

comboy 12y ago
Hell yes. I don't know how we got there. Mailing lists can be ok with proper client but it's a step back. I found some subreddits useful (with RES) but even then it's hard to track new replies in threads that you are interested in. HN has quality discussions but these are just about some links and it's hard to get back to some thread to see new replies (and preferably prioritize those from people who I value). I too miss Usenet.
- bhaak 12y ago
  Every reddit thread has a separate RSS feed so you can drop it into your favorite RSS reader. I'm using a IRC bot with an RSS plugin to not spam my normal RSS feed aggregator. But this doesn't solve the issue of being notified of replies to subthreads. Reddit threads up to 100 messages tops are manageable that way but anything larger isn't. Compare that to usenet threads were you could easily handle thousands of messages in one threads, this is really a shame.
ams6110 12y ago
Oh I don't know, I remember plenty of people on usenet who would quote a fragment--deliberately eliminating relevant context--to create a straw man that they could tear into. Some people just like to argue, and the only way to deal with them in an unmoderated forum is to ignore them. Kill files were useful for persistent offenders.
- bhaak 12y ago
  Of course this did also happen on usenet. Call me old but a good flamewar beats a good shitstorm any time (and the names might even be an indicator why). But one design element of twitter might make it easier to stumble into the realm of people who will wildly disagree with a poster's opinion. Just replying to some tweet you can not know what kind of domain you are entering. With usenet groups the name has always been a strong indicator what people you will encounter. If you post "Ruby sucks and is dead slow, Perl rulez!!1eleven" into comp.lang.ruby, you shouldn't be surprised if you get flamed. With twitter accounts, this is not that obvious. Of course, this is a core design element of twitter that it is concerned with accounts and not thematical groups and both have their advantages and disadvantages but I think this is one of the reason that you can much more easily and unintentionally anger the wrong people on twitter.
krapp 12y ago
Although there's nothing stopping anyone from implementing those on a web forum, almost almost no one seems to.

by bhaak 12y ago

comboy 12y ago

Hell yes. I don't know how we got there. Mailing lists can be ok with proper client but it's a step back. I found some subreddits useful (with RES) but even then it's hard to track new replies in threads that you are interested in. HN has quality discussions but these are just about some links and it's hard to get back to some thread to see new replies (and preferably prioritize those from people who I value). I too miss Usenet.

bhaak 12y ago
Every reddit thread has a separate RSS feed so you can drop it into your favorite RSS reader. I'm using a IRC bot with an RSS plugin to not spam my normal RSS feed aggregator. But this doesn't solve the issue of being notified of replies to subthreads. Reddit threads up to 100 messages tops are manageable that way but anything larger isn't. Compare that to usenet threads were you could easily handle thousands of messages in one threads, this is really a shame.

ams6110 12y ago

Oh I don't know, I remember plenty of people on usenet who would quote a fragment--deliberately eliminating relevant context--to create a straw man that they could tear into. Some people just like to argue, and the only way to deal with them in an unmoderated forum is to ignore them. Kill files were useful for persistent offenders.

bhaak 12y ago
Of course this did also happen on usenet. Call me old but a good flamewar beats a good shitstorm any time (and the names might even be an indicator why). But one design element of twitter might make it easier to stumble into the realm of people who will wildly disagree with a poster's opinion. Just replying to some tweet you can not know what kind of domain you are entering. With usenet groups the name has always been a strong indicator what people you will encounter. If you post "Ruby sucks and is dead slow, Perl rulez!!1eleven" into comp.lang.ruby, you shouldn't be surprised if you get flamed. With twitter accounts, this is not that obvious. Of course, this is a core design element of twitter that it is concerned with accounts and not thematical groups and both have their advantages and disadvantages but I think this is one of the reason that you can much more easily and unintentionally anger the wrong people on twitter.

krapp 12y ago

Although there's nothing stopping anyone from implementing those on a web forum, almost almost no one seems to.