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Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

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Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#31

Post by jacquesm »

brokensegue wrote: post #22
tdxgx wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone cant handle a verbal insult over the internet, I don't think they are fit for office

Does that justify toxic behavior?

Absolutely not, but raising yourself above the line of visibility for public office (or in fact, any kind of fame) more or less automatically comes with its share of negatives.

That doesn't justify the toxic behavior at all, it is just a statement about reality. And the rude tweets are the lowest form of that, at the higher levels it turns into physical assault and sometimes even murder attempts and the occasional actual murder.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#32

Post by mosselman »

gurkendoktor wrote: post #27

I am mostly amazed that Twitter's rule is not simply, "don't harass people". I guess this tweet is an offense specifically because it uses gendered harassment? Is there a list of gender-neutral insults that we can refer to for compliance reasons?

The thing is that this was 9 years ago. The landscape of what was acceptable back then is completely different from what it is now. Going back in time and banning people for this sort of thing is essentially the same as banning movies from the 60's because they don't show enough women driving cars or men helping out in the kitchen.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#33

Post by dragonwriter »

protomyth wrote: post #2

I started using Twitter back in 2008. Before the age of smart phones Talk about erasing the past. I dearly hope knowledge of what came before iPhone and Android isn't washed over like all the non-Apple 8-bit computers.

2008 wasn't even before the iPhone, so even if that (wrong) cutoff for “smartphone” is used, the claim doesn't make sense.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#34

Post by iamthirsty »

brokensegue wrote: post #22
tdxgx wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone cant handle a verbal insult over the internet, I don't think they are fit for office

Does that justify toxic behavior?

Toxic behavior happens on every level of society and to every occupation. Being a politician doesn’t automatically make toxic behavior towards you—it was always okay towards you! That’s how the world works.

However, when you become a public figure and especially a political one people may feel more entitled to lash out against you, as you literally hold power over their lives, even if they themselves may disagree with you (as in, voted for someone else or the like.)

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#35

Post by pluma »

nailer wrote: post #10
ejefz wrote: post #6

Getting banned for calling someone (a high rank politician!!!) a whore is the state of the internet in 2019. Thing is, he's suggesting Mastodon as an alternative... there you would not only get banned for calling a woman a whore, you'd probably get doxxed and then swatted too.

> Getting banned for calling someone (a high rank politician!!!) a whore Also calling them a 'cunt'. Attitudes like the above are why ordinary men and women don't want to become politicians - it's assumed to be OK to insult them in any way. Why not just call Palin a hypocrite? You should be able to criticise politicians. However if you want better politicians, screaming that they're cunts and whores instead of commun…

I don't think what's keeping "ordinary men and women" from becoming politicians is the toxicity public figures are exposed to, considering a lot of "ordinary men and women" (but particularly women, gender-non-conforming men and PoC, especially if they're trans) get the same or worse on a daily basis on social media.

If you look at the careers and upbringing of most high-ranking politicians, I doubt the most obvious distinction to common folk would be particular thick skin -- heck, the sitting POTUS isn't exactly thick skinned and that's arguably the most publicly exposed office in the world.

Hint: it's wealth. The distinction is coming from wealth and having connections with wealthy people who supply you with funding and influence.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#36

Post by wsc981 »

I am still puzzled why my Twitter account was locked a few years ago. I tried to ask the people at Twitter to show me the problematic Tweet for 2 times, but never got a response. I did post some kind-of right wing stuff regarding immigration and such, but none of it offensive. And certainly not using rude language as the person in the link did in his nine year old Tweet.

In the end I just gave up on Twitter. Sad, cause I liked to use it mainly for myself, to follow some people that interest me and to keep a kind of "bookmarks on my thoughts".

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#37

Post by pjc50 »

onion2k wrote: post #4
protomyth wrote: post #2

I started using Twitter back in 2008. Before the age of smart phones Talk about erasing the past. I dearly hope knowledge of what came before iPhone and Android isn't washed over like all the non-Apple 8-bit computers.

Exactly. That should really read "I started using Twitter back in 2008. A decade after Windows CE phones became quite common, and 5 years after the launch of Windows Mobile."

Windows CE phones were significantly worse than simply trying to use a Nokia 3210. They were very much a false start.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#38

Post by ryanmercer »

facepalm I have blog posts from 2001 that make me cringe that I keep up purely to show that I've changed considerably in 18 years.

When James Gunn was fired from Guardians for something he said in a tweet years before I was dumbfounded. Now Twitter is actively policing old posts?!

People change, nations change. Violent criminals can become bastions of peace and philanthropy. Why is society, or a company, persecuting people for tweets that are years old. If someone says something awful today, deal with it, but 9 years ago?! If there's an offensive 9 year old tweet, delete it and send the user an email saying their tweet was deleted for violating such and such policy but locking an account 9 years after the fact?!

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#39

Post by Ensorceled »

protomyth wrote: post #2

I started using Twitter back in 2008. Before the age of smart phones Talk about erasing the past. I dearly hope knowledge of what came before iPhone and Android isn't washed over like all the non-Apple 8-bit computers.

This is silly. The age of the internet started when my uncle asked me if I had "electronic mail" yet, not when it was invented and not several years later when my high tech company went from modems and Usenet to fully connected. Similarly, the "age of the smartphone" started when they became ubiquitous, not when people figured out how to get email on their Blackberry.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#40

Post by hoistbypetard »

I think Twitter should delete everything older than XX days old, where XX is a number on the order of 15 or 30. The kind of heavily context-dependent short form throwaway expression the site is built for and actively encourages does not age well, and an auto-delete policy that emphasizes that would make the site better and cheaper to operate.
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