The new silent majority: People who don't tweet • Hacker News Board

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#91

Post by shadowgovt » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:13 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #34

typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

It's really easy to not be "canceled", just be a good person. What genuinely OK opinion are people being canceled for?

I used to think this way. Saw too many legitimately-good people get brigaded to believe it anymore.

There's enough pile-on mobs on Twitter now with enough disagreement on what's acceptable that you can trip over any of them.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#92

Post by pohl » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:13 PM UTC

999900000999 wrote: post #14

The most active social media users are usually people lacking in real life. Think about it, if you have a great job, a great partner and a great life, are you on Twitter arguing 20 to 30 hours a week. The type of person to argue with strangers all day has none of the above. It's also a matter of recognizing how insignificant we all are. No one cares what I think. Hopefully no one ever will. I do want to create games…

The lurkers have been the majority in every kind of online forum, from usenet to slashdot to HN comment threads to reddit to twitter.

Are you and I lacking in real life for engaging with each other here?

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#93

Post by vmception » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:13 PM UTC

> As polarized as America seems, Independents — who are somewhere in the middle — would be the biggest party.

Yes! I love this stat, I hope it holds in other polling.

All your friends (that you haven't blocked) are lying to you!

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#94

Post by colechristensen » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:13 PM UTC

typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

I post publicly on forums with my real name and don’t endorse everything I have said.

Just evict such absolutist moral nonsense people from your life and don’t allow them to control you. When you see them do it to others, block them.

It’s exactly the same thing as when it was a certain sort of church people controlling much of society with fear of “canceling” which was just done by different people with different means in the past, fundamentally nothing changed when people left religion because they thought religion was the source of this kind of toxicity.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#95

Post by thinkingemote » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #58

thinkingemote wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "good" and "ok" first. A good person who doesn't use Twitter (someone who might fix cars, or works on a fishing vessel for example) who is having this little discussion about what is "good" and "ok" might very easily use the wrong words and offend someone.

Really? This is easy, don't hurt other people.

Now define "hurt".

It's not easy as "hurt" is not objective, is relative to others and no longer connected to intention.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#96

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #77

blockmarker wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really easy to not be burned at the stake, just don't be a witch.

Being canceled isn't even a real thing. It's just a phrase people use because they have to have consequences when they show their true selves. Some group of people don't agree with you? Show me an example of being canceled then

[deleted]

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#97

Post by StevePerkins » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

erehweb wrote: post #36

Quoted post unavailable.

While I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020, I AM a political independent who doesn't always vote for the Democratic candidate, either. And this notion that roughly 50% of voters are quasi hate criminals is abhorrent.

It's always, "Oh, I suppose it's okay if you vote for the wrong party, as long as your candidate is no actual threat to my own ideology. But is just going too far." Except that partisans have been saying this same thing about "" for at least 50 years now.

This mindset is absurd, and only proves the author's premise about suggesting an isolated bubble.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#98

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

Is it accurate to label that fear, or simply a modicome of intelligence.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#99

Post by StopDarkPattern » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

Its almost like there is a disinformation campaign from a Russian play book. Its almost like there is a corporation that gets paid for user counts and bot clicks. Its almost like the sovereign discourse of our nation is under assault.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#100

Post by Clubber » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

>I don't engage on Twitter out of fear.

It seems in their effort to ban people for wrong think, they banned the wrong group. They should have been banning the cancellers. "I don't engage on Twitter out of fear," is not a good sign for retention or growth numbers. Twitter seems to be killing itself by allowing this cancer to grow.

Have you ever been on a pretty great message board / forum and a bunch of spittle people join and makes the board suck to converse on? Eventually that board is nothing but spittle people, then the board dies. Twitters seems like it is going this way.

FWIW, I cancelled all my social media accounts after the Snowden revelations in 2013. I'm just an outside observer, but I'm certainly glad I'm not inside.