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I resigned from Twitter

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Re: I resigned from Twitter

#751

Post by vimda »

rexreed wrote: post #740
milesward wrote: post #739

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh yet another person who sees the user facing systems as "the product", or worse "the hard part". Sigh.

Which systems are the "hard" parts? Given zero functionality change, how much larger can and should Twitter grow? Is the complication a function of ad revenue, volume of content, user traffic?

Just because you don't see functionality changing doesn't mean it isn't. Lots of new features, just not for the normal users. Not to mention all the backend work to make all this data flow around, be accurate, and be reliable.

And also, there's not just engineering. HR, Accounting, Lawyers, Trust and Safety, it's all there

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#752

Post by Karrot_Kream »

whyrusleeping wrote: post #725
smoldesu wrote: post #684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Jack Dorsey wanted to encourage decentralization, he could have trivially supported the open-source ActivityPub standard instead of introducing his own competing standard. It's nice to see him stand up for it, but I kinda roll my eyes when I hear people say that he's a champion of decentralization. He's had years to make it work, but we've seen nothing come from it. All we got was a more locked down Twitter site t…

Activitypub is a pretty dated standard thats really not super easy to work with or adapt to a more open network. Its an XML based protocol that bakes in really difficult to use notions of identity and doesn't address the problem of data ownership in a meaningful way. From what I've been seeing, the bluesky team has been working closely with the activitypub developers on figuring out 'what comes next'.

It (well its predecessor) was an XML based protocol a long time ago, but hasn't been in practice in years. Mastodon, which really popularized ActivityPub, uses JSON-LD. But yes, the ideas of data ownership and identity are just not well specified in ActivityPub. There's work in trying to incorporate capability-based security into ActivityPub but it is a large pain point right now. The protocol also has very varying amounts of uptake. Mastodon and Pleroma mostly implement the ActivityPub server-to-server API and only a handful of ActivityPub implementations support the client-to-server API. I would love to see further work between the Bluesky and AP teams on coming up with a new standard which addresses the flaws in the current protocol.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#753

Post by mgfist »

mike_d wrote: post #703
thaumasiotes wrote: post #690

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uncharitable explanation: he's being forced out over his pro-free-speech views. He's been pretty vocal about disagreeing with Twitter's recent actions.

That makes no sense. He is the CEO and on the board, he _is_ the decision maker and could reverse any action he disagreed with. Any disagreement was purely theatre.

A CEO isn't a dictator. They still need board support. If everyone on the board decided that Jack wasn't the guy anymore, Jack can't wave a magic wand and make them disappear. CEOs have been ousted many times.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#754

Post by rexreed »

vimda wrote: post #751
rexreed wrote: post #740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which systems are the "hard" parts? Given zero functionality change, how much larger can and should Twitter grow? Is the complication a function of ad revenue, volume of content, user traffic?

Just because you don't see functionality changing doesn't mean it isn't. Lots of new features, just not for the normal users. Not to mention all the backend work to make all this data flow around, be accurate, and be reliable. And also, there's not just engineering. HR, Accounting, Lawyers, Trust and Safety, it's all there

The point I'm trying to make is assume that user-side functionality stays exactly the same - frozen - for say 10 years. Given what you say above, it would be reasonable to expect the company to continue to grow in any case on its current 10-20% compounded annual rate with no end in sight. Is that truly sustainable?

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#755

Post by ryan93 »

busterarm wrote: post #290
jcadam wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it can be fixed. Social media in general is a cancer.

Social media can be fixed by legislating it out of existence. It doesn't even need a watchdog agency like the environment does.

Care to explain why your hackernews profile says "Censors have never been on the right side of history" ?

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#757

Post by milesward »

tqi wrote: post #641
nend wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to hold true for many social media sites: facebook, reddit, twitter. It takes effort on behalf of the user to make their experience on the site "better". And by better I mean, less divisive, and less mindless scrolling of memes/low effort content. Thinking about it from the business's perspective, it probably ultimately also lowers their user engagement metrics. Users get a higher quality experience using…

I don't think it's necessarily a business incentives/metrics thing. Rather I think a social media experience can be at most 2 of 3: - Uncensored/unmoderated - Encompasses all viewpoints - Civil

I do not think you can get a site to be uncensored and remain civil, assuming anonymity.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#758

Post by spion »

syshum wrote: post #244
afavour wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it differently than "shaping public opinion". The reality is that social media (and Twitter especially) is toxic. That underlying toxicity comes from humans of course, but recommendation algorithms accelerate and highlight it because it leads to high "engagement", and thus more money. These sites already "guide" conversation, just using metrics that can end up being harmful. A social media CEO that's intereste…

The problem here is that "toxic" is subjective, what I find toxic and disagreeable may not be the same thing you find toxic and disagreeable. Take for example hot button issue of Gun ownership, I believe it an essential right and extension of self defense, others view any talk about guns as toxic that should be banned. Who's worldview should win? Mine, your's, Twitters? IMO platforms like twitter should not be making…

Twitter will amplify the most extreme positions on both ends, the ones to cause most outrage

- Ban all guns, completely!

- No restrictions on gun ownership should be allowed whatsoever, not even age limits!

These cause the most outrage / emotion => therefore they get the most retweeted => create a distorded mental picture of even deeper division. We're never going to solve anything that way.

The problem isn't one of free speach and censorship. Its a problem of amplification of emotionally manipulative content. The amplification is exponential (because the retweet process is exponential). This is a disaster.

Re: I resigned from Twitter

#760

Post by hartator »

koheripbal wrote: post #743
snarkypixel wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replying to my own comment, but if I had to guess (on absolutely zero context and evidence :p), I would say he wants to focus on crypto/Square, and Twitter is more of a time sink. Twitter is in a good enough state at the moment that the team can move without him so it's a good moment to leave.

The 10% appreciation of the shares as a result of him leaving is reason enough. He's still a big shareholder.

Except now the stock is DOWN 2.7%.
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