Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit? • Hacker News Board

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#161

Post by orthoganol » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:19 PM UTC

sverige wrote: post #126

I've never been able to understand Twitter's popularity. To me, it's like a website's comment section without the attached content. And most of the stuff I've seen on Twitter is only slightly better than YouTube comments, and often worse. I know there are lots of Twitter users here -- seriously, I'm not trying to be funny or sarcastic, I just don't get the appeal. What am I missing?

IMO it's the appeal of having an audience. Get followers, get recognition for your thoughts - get recognition for yourself.

I really think the reason Facebook first exploded in popularity (I was just entering college when it rolled out so have some first-hand experience) was because a whole lot of college age people love to show off pictures of themselves doing cool things, they want the audience. I won't comment on how Facebook has changed, but the original appeal was close to why Instagram is so popular today.

It feels good to have an audience, whether it's for your thoughts or pictures of your life. Not here to judge that as good or bad.

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#162

Post by eveningcoffee » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:20 PM UTC

bunderbunder wrote: post #78

kharms wrote: post #2

This would be fantastic. Twitter's utility is in its open (inherently less profitable) nature. As a data source for academic study it's unparalleled.

It's unparalleled in that there is very little that's even similar out there. I'm less convinced of its actual value. The Twitter-based papers I've read seem to all have two things in common: First, they all use Twitter data. Second, they all seem to desperately want to present observations about how people interact on Twitter as being universal, even though nobody seems to be able to come up with a theoretical or em…

I heard one of the "big data social scientists" to claim that they can now replace the population with the sample (as this is what the Twitter really is) because of, you know, big data.

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#163

Post by eropple » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:20 PM UTC

stale2002 wrote: post #103

eropple wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great freedoms come with great responsibilities. I tend to think that free speech works only when the consequences of using that free speech...y'know...exist. In a universe of pseudonymity and anonymity, those consequences don't exist. Even when you are literally committing the crime of assault (friendly reminder: assault is the threat of violence, battery is the violence) against somebody because they have the temer…

But there WOULD be consequences. The consequences is that you would end up on a lot of people's ban lists. That way you don't have to interact with people you don't want to.

The consequence for these crimes when they do not occur on the Internet is jail time. What, exactly, does a ban list mean by comparison?

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#164

Post by TenOhms » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:21 PM UTC

CoryG89 wrote: post #37

eropple wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they should unban people who threaten to rape and kill people because they disagree about video games? If so, why?

I don't necessarily hold this view, but I can see the merit in it. I tend to lean toward purist as far as free speech goes. Slippery slope arguments and what not. Personally, I like the concept of outsourcing the policing/moderation of a community to the community itself. I think what online forums do by promoting moderators from the long time, trusted user base is a step in the right direction. The upvote/downvote s…

Raw community policing doesn't work either. That's what Reddit does and looking at /r/politics, that hasn't worked very well because it's being kept 99.99999% pro-Hillary and/or anti-Trump by whoever is willing to put in the time to keep it astro-turfed, most likely CTR.

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#165

Post by sambobeckingham » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:24 PM UTC

slackoverflower wrote: post #157

Twitter's best bet is cut costs by bring employee count down to 100, 50 sales related, 50 engineering and move their infrastructure to AWS/Google Cloud which take the company to profitability. I think once they become profitable, it opens a lot more opportunities to explore new markets. Right now they are in a scramble to get users. Being profitable and focusing on one thing at a time will do them wonders. Should sta…

50 people to maintain a site the size of Twitter?

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#166

Post by debaserab2 » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:24 PM UTC

slackoverflower wrote: post #157

Twitter's best bet is cut costs by bring employee count down to 100, 50 sales related, 50 engineering and move their infrastructure to AWS/Google Cloud which take the company to profitability. I think once they become profitable, it opens a lot more opportunities to explore new markets. Right now they are in a scramble to get users. Being profitable and focusing on one thing at a time will do them wonders. Should sta…

> move their infrastructure to AWS/Google Cloud which take the company to profitability

How exactly does that work?

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#167

Post by eropple » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:25 PM UTC

h4nkoslo wrote: post #76

eropple wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they should unban people who threaten to rape and kill people because they disagree about video games? If so, why?

What about completely anodyne conservatives like Robert Stacy McCain or Glenn Reynolds, or journalists like Chuck Johnson or Milo Yiannopoulos that at worst pick on celebrities National Enquirer-style?

I can't speak to McCain or Reynolds. But Johnson isn't a journalist; he is a bog-standard harasser in his own right. Yiannopoulos got a lot of cover for a long time because he is, under a technical and squinty definition, a journalist--and one who has a history of using their base of followers to threaten people. Where his eye settles, where he encourages actions, shitfloods of death and rape threats follows. I'm OK with both being shown the door.

EDIT: OK, I've done some quick reading, and "anodyne"? Are you serious? I have no opinion on whether McCain should be shown the door from Twitter, but dude, if you think a neo-Confederate and active white supremacist is "anodyne", either I am vastly underestimating the rot in the right wing of American politics or you do not live in anything within fridge-tossing distance of the real world. (But, then again, Trump.)

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#168

Post by eropple » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:28 PM UTC

collyw wrote: post #91

eropple wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they should unban people who threaten to rape and kill people because they disagree about video games? If so, why?

While I agree that its not good to make these threats, does anyone take a bunch or gamers sitting in their mothers basements seriously when they make these threats?

A friend of mine had her address publicized and pictures taken in front of her home--no, not Google Street View shots, new pictures--by anonymous Twitter eggs who told her they would behead her and rape her. Should that not be taken seriously?

(She, of course, did take it seriously; she crashed on friends' couches for a few weeks while she found a new place to live. And she is not the only one by a long shot; this is totally a just and equitable punishment for being a woman on the Internet, though, I guess.)

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#169

Post by luhn » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:29 PM UTC

The article sites Mozilla as a "precedent in tech for a nonprofit spin out," but that's really not relevant at all. The Mozilla Foundation took over the Navigator codebase that Netscape open-sourced, the Mozilla Foundation having been created for that sole purpose. What happens with Twitter's software is moot because Twitter's value comes from its community.

Re: Could Twitter Be Better Off as a Nonprofit?

#170

Post by eropple » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 8:29 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #124

eropple wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they should unban people who threaten to rape and kill people because they disagree about video games? If so, why?

>If so, why? Because they are arbitrarily applied based on ideological lines and what your caste is in progressive caste system. I see tons of accounts asking for Donald Trump to be anally raped but none of them are suspended. Why do you support this gross and repulsive censorship?

If an account threatens to rape Donald Trump, I am 100% in favor of seeing that account shown the door (and, where possible, the person behind it be barred from the service and prosecuted if feasible). Why would I not be?