Agreed, I don't like participating in social media not controlled by my preferred political party. /s
The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
81–90 of 90 posts
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#82Other than a bunch of people complaining about how Twitter is changing, I haven't seen any change at all.
Quoted post unavailable.
Could you please stop posting to HN in the flamewar style, and stop using HN for ideological battle? We ban accounts that do these things, regardless of which direction the flames point, because it's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.
It looks like your account is already over the line at which we'd ban it, because it's primarily using HN for these purposes, but you've also posted good things, so I'd rather persuade you (if possible) to use the site as intended.
If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#83What I find interesting about Twitter hatred is that it is all related to the platform slowly shifting towards not engaging in politically one-sided censorship and cancellation. That's it. Nothing else. Call it freedom of speech if you must. This continues to expose the holes in an ideology that purports to be for A and it is nearly always for B in almost everything they say. Pick any area A, listen to what they clai…
> What I find interesting about Twitter hatred is that it is all related to the platform slowly shifting towards not engaging in politically one-sided censorship and cancellation. That's it. Nothing else. Call it freedom of speech if you must. Are you stating that Elon’s behaviors since owning the platform has been neutral and not one sided? I feel like the Paul pelosi tweet, unbanning nazis, and hunter Biden hype ha…
> Are you stating that Elon’s behaviors since owning the platform has been neutral and not one sided?
I suggest a review of control system theory.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#84I think more people are realizing, finally, that social media has been completely hollowed out by corporate interests. Actually seeing organic content and conversations in one's timeline seems accidental these days. What point is there in continuing to post when it's clear Twitter will give preferential treatment to paid accounts? FB/IG are no better, they'd prefer you not post text+images at all, but pivot to video…
Right. I think people lost sight of the fact that they joined these sites back when they were fun. They stopped being fun a long time ago, and get more out of you using them than you do. The one positive out of all this is how many people have decided not to look for an alternative. Nobody asked for mindless scrolling any more than anyone asked to sit in traffic.
This is partially why I think the crop of 'new' sites like Post.news, Hive Social, Gas App etc are all flash-in-the-pan stuff that will die off like Clubhouse did.
For one thing, there are too many apps already, no one wants to create another login. And secondly, as you said, people do not want "Twitter, but better". They want Twitter to go back to what it was pre-2016, and that's not possible, that bell cannot be un-rung.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#85I think more people are realizing, finally, that social media has been completely hollowed out by corporate interests. Actually seeing organic content and conversations in one's timeline seems accidental these days. What point is there in continuing to post when it's clear Twitter will give preferential treatment to paid accounts? FB/IG are no better, they'd prefer you not post text+images at all, but pivot to video…
> insist on a Discord for tech support and discussion Communities moving to discord or slack is really dumb. You lose so much discoverability in favour of real time conversation about a subject that almost always prefers asynchronous communication. Is it just hipster influence run amok? ( shakes fist )
Unfortunately, it's because they can 'engage' their audience better with Discord's features, than they can on an old-school message board system like Discourse.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#86I think more people are realizing, finally, that social media has been completely hollowed out by corporate interests. Actually seeing organic content and conversations in one's timeline seems accidental these days. What point is there in continuing to post when it's clear Twitter will give preferential treatment to paid accounts? FB/IG are no better, they'd prefer you not post text+images at all, but pivot to video…
> I think more people are realizing, finally, that social media has been completely hollowed out by corporate interests... What point is there in continuing to post when it's clear Twitter will give preferential treatment to paid accounts? Aren't the paid accounts targeted to individuals? Corporations were always able to promote their posts and brand online. But it was not really possible for individuals, or at least…
> So wouldn't this change to lead to less corporate influence?
It's the adverse selection issue. The people willing to pay for Twitter Blue are the people that were already using Twitter as a "lead-gen" source; so their content was mostly spam disguised as engagement-bait ("Here are the top 10 writing tips from Harvard professors [thread emoji]").
As for bots, I don't frequent the topics that attract them, so the visible bot activity I've seen is limited to the replies section of high-traffic topics (crypto, covid, musk, politics).
Corporate bots tweet messages, while spambots mostly retweet someone else's post.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#87What I find interesting about Twitter hatred is that it is all related to the platform slowly shifting towards not engaging in politically one-sided censorship and cancellation. That's it. Nothing else. Call it freedom of speech if you must. This continues to expose the holes in an ideology that purports to be for A and it is nearly always for B in almost everything they say. Pick any area A, listen to what they clai…
Personally, I’m hating on Twitter because a) Musk is a narcissistic asshole and my tolerance for those types has plummeted since 2016, and b) the American right loves to whine about being censored while breaking all sorts of rules and norms, and generally acting like complete sociopaths. There is no “balance” to be had with an ideology that spews hate and lies, and gleefully supports taking power by whatever means ne…
> American conservatism has morphed into something completely decrepit over the last decade, and there is nothing unfair about platforms disproportionately moderating it into the ground
Your comment is the best evidence of the problem we are having. The messaging is so one-sided that you and others actually believe this and don't have a clear view of what is actually going on.
This is where the utter ignorance of Latin American history in the US is a great failure of our educational system.
Gloria Alvarez, a prominent Latin American Libertarian offers an excellent take on this history. This history represents a virtual time machine you can use to understand both what is going on today in the US as well as what not to do. Virtually everythign you see today in the US was tested multiple times in various ways in Latin America. The result: Utter destruction. Americans' ignorance of history has consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkYEXS16dZA
If you don't speak Spanish, turn on subtitles.
Populism, both on the right and left, has destroyed more nations than most can imagine.
What is populism? A simple example: Vote for me and I will cancel your student debt. Vote for me and I will give you free healthcare. Vote for me and I will take from them and give to you. Vote for me because you are all oppressed and I will fix it. Etc.
Populism exists both on the right and left. In the US, however, the vast majority of populist-based destruction comes from one ideological side. That's just a fact. And this, BTW, is the same side that has destroyed so many nations in Latin America.
The clue is simple: Look for favors or grants to large numbers of people in exchange for votes. Then go look at the net outcomes in those populations to see just how destructive it is.
Populism is a mechanism for psychological manipulation. This isn't new. Rome, among other things, fell to populism.
If you really want to understand the Latin American context here's an excellent intro, again, by Gloria Alvarez:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WylR8EvhnE
One of the fundamental characteristics of destructive populism is to create division.
You have to create an enemy by vilifying "the other side", whatever or whoever that might be. Once you divide a population you can apply energy and drive them like sheep in whatever direction you need them to go. If you can convince one group the the other group are "complete sociopaths", you have them precisely where you want them and the rest is easy: repeat the message, pass Go, collect $200 and votes.
Today the internet allows for a great degree of granularity in crating division and hatred around a wide range of differentiating vectors. This makes control far simpler. Each group can be brought into resonance by feeding energy into a single topic. Simple, effective and powerful. And, again, used by both the left and the right to great effect.
The only way to mitigate this is to break the cycle of hatred and division by walking people out of the cave and give them an opportunity to see reality, rather than the shadows prepared for them.
Politically one-sided social media creates massive monoculture audiences that are easy to indoctrinate, manipulate and drive into hating everyone else. Repeat the same message over and over again and you can get people to believe anything.
People actually believe that everyone who isn't "them" are evil sociopaths. Job well done. The indoctrination machine works without a flaw.
What Musk wants to do with Twitter is to stop this platform being used for for this purpose. This isn't easy, it is going to be messy and it will take time. Yet, in the end, it is the only approach that will push society forward and limit the ability of populist political scum from attempting to divide and conquer.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I’m hating on Twitter because a) Musk is a narcissistic asshole and my tolerance for those types has plummeted since 2016, and b) the American right loves to whine about being censored while breaking all sorts of rules and norms, and generally acting like complete sociopaths. There is no “balance” to be had with an ideology that spews hate and lies, and gleefully supports taking power by whatever means ne…
> American conservatism has morphed into something completely decrepit over the last decade, and there is nothing unfair about platforms disproportionately moderating it into the ground Your comment is the best evidence of the problem we are having. The messaging is so one-sided that you and others actually believe this and don't have a clear view of what is actually going on. This is where the utter ignorance of Lat…
> The messaging is so one-sided that you and others actually believe this and don't have a clear view of what is actually going on.
A lot of words, but I saw all I needed to see on January 6, the lead up to which was entirely predictable back in 2016 to those who bothered looking. There is a place for conservatism in American politics, but the Republican party has soiled its reputation forever.
American conservatism has a way forward: disavow Trumpism, affirm democracy and democratic norms, and start a new conservative party without the baggage (which has happened in the past). But discounting a handful of brave exceptions, the right is happy to do whatever it takes to hold power, even if it means disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and (soon) ignoring the vote entirely. If that’s not indicative of sociopathy, then I don’t know what is.
> Populism exists both on the right and left. In the US, however, the vast majority of populist-based destruction comes from one ideological side. That's just a fact.
An utterly bizarre assertion given the previous administration, which was almost entirely based on pandering, favors, and loyalty testing. Your “fact” is an opinion, and it is wrong.
Ironically, you appear to be a victim of the same problem you are describing.
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I browsed it recently and the major change was the checkmark. So many trolls have them now. And it seems their content is boosted higher. It’s pretty bad.
Before, the checkmark was mostly held by people who work hard against my interests and the interests of my people.
Openly admitting racism is pretty brave
Re: The Slow Goodbye to Twitter
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm referring to our fellow HN'ers in this thread.
You consider HN social media? I guess in a very liberal interpretation… but not by the mainstream definition.
Doesn't seem all that different from a subreddit. I consider Reddit social media. You don't?