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Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

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Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#181

Post by anonymousab »

RicoElectrico wrote: post #160

Can somebody chime in why in the world I get so often "Something went wrong" errors when viewing hotlinked tweets? I need to refresh like 5-10 times.

I recall an HN comment a year ago that went into some detail about how Twitter botched their webworker implementation, leading to these errors.

But at this point it's safe to say that it's another intentional way of getting to drive users to create an account. It has been too horrendously broken for too long for it to be explained by incompetence.

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#182

Post by throw6746 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #152
throw6746 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I mean what do you want them to actually do instead? Nothing. Hire more moderators maybe. it also looks dishonest to frame it this way when twitter asks these pii for "spam protection" and yet still can't ban obvious Fiverr-like spam accounts > Like what other things can we ask for that actually work and aren’t more invasive? Nothing, somehow plenty of websites do fine without even asking for email, including this o…

They've already rejected doing nothing, as it doesn't work. I want Tesla to give me a free car too, but it ain't happening. At some point a company makes decisions you aren't gonna agree with and your only recourse is to not use them. If that means you can't read Twitter, then that's the price you pay. You aren't "owed" a free Twitter account solely on your own personal terms.

> You aren't "owed" a free Twitter account solely on your own personal terms.

It's funny that all those companies are trying to get so big and so central to our lives, to the point many news (including from police precincts or first responders) are only posted on twitter or fb, yet when you point out they shouldn't ask you a phone number to access them it's "they owe you nothing".

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#184

Post by kabdib »

queuebert wrote: post #81
_dujt wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, in order to help out the unfortunate website operators, people should willingly give up pii that the same companies have shown they don’t give a damn about protecting. /s

"For your protection." The most abused and dishonest phrase of the 21st century.

"For purposes of National Security . . .", a close second.

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#185

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

thebooktocome wrote: post #138
finiteseries wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I exclusively use it via VPN, with a ProtonMail address from the web (so many login notifications) while like, commenting, and subscribing on politically controversial content and soccer. Three, almost four months in and zilch. It’ll be a good test case anyways.

They flagged my phone number-less account after four months, probably because I replied to a high traffic thread.

I think the key to using a phone number less account is to use it as much as you can in read only mode.

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#187

Post by CydeWeys »

sgustard wrote: post #150
mschuster91 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I'll blame Twitter for (effectively) requiring phone numbers - they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one side, people rightfully complain about trolls, harassers, spam, CSAM, misinformation campaigns and propaganda on online services. And on the other side, people will also rightfully complain about data harvesting, and an ever growing lack of anonymity on the Internet. At the moment, phone…

But all I want to do is read the tweets? I'm not contributing to spam if I don't even have an account.

I want to be able to read the New York Times without a subscription too, yet here we are. Corporations don't have to give all their services to us for free. They can charge, require free registration, whatever.

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#188

Post by phy6 »

city41 wrote: post #126
NowhereMan wrote: post #38

Do they whitelist accounts of public officials? For instance, having the POTUS account behind an auth wall seems like a horrible practice.

The POTUS relying on a commercial entity to communicate with the public seems like a more fundamental horrible practice.

Especially when accounts could be hacked to say anything, like the incidents a couple years ago. Imagine the POTUS account pissing off an unstable dictator in some country, or posting of some sensitive information.

Re: Twitter starts to require login to view tweets

#190

Post by bastard_op »

b3morales wrote: post #166
bastard_op wrote: post #110

So can people please quit posting twitter feeds finally? Some of us still have never used or signed up with twitter, or feel the need to, and really don't want to. Bad enough they removed non-javascript access, since they are permablocked through noscript here, I simply close postings on HN that link there and curse them for bothering. Asking for a login atop that is just a 4x non-starter for "news" links. Yes, some…

I fully share your sentiment. Tip, though: threadreaderapp.com will proxy them for you if you do really want to see them for some reason. I've also heard nitter.net mentioned, but haven't tried it yet.

I mostly use theoldreader.com, which doesn't, and honestly don't mind they don't capitulate and work-around privacy walls. Watching twits tweet with twats is mostly a non-starter anyways, nor would I believe anything I see there any more than facebook or other scandal rag links anyways.
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