
“I am quitting Twitter for a while” - ghosh
https://twitter.com/sama/status/743143168615473152
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sama
I'm quitting for awhile. This is not newsworthy.

I will be back, I just want to break the cycle of the compulsion to check it
given that I think it's healthier in much smaller doses.

I also think Twitter will make changes to the behavior the product rewards,
and it will make it a much better place to be.

Just to say it, I also think Twitter will be a very valuable company.

~~~
philippnagel
Interpreting your last sentence - Twitter isn't a valuable company yet?

~~~
exolymph
Relative to its peers in the public eye, especially Facebook, it's not.

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gloriousduke
I think this will be a growing trend for all social networks among the more
thoughtful crowd (or at least a large curtailing of usage). What value does
signing into these platforms many times per day really bring, especially
considering the negative effects of distraction?

[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/18/modern-
world...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/18/modern-world-bad-
for-brain-daniel-j-levitin-organized-mind-information-overload)

~~~
jacques_chester
There's always a steady migration to new platforms.

A new platform emerges.

The early adopters find other early adopters. They are all enthusiastic. It's
a small community so things stay informally OK.

Word gets out. There's a boom. Growing pains.

Eventually it's a mass platform. Everyone is there. It turns out that lots of
people's morality is governed by fear of punishment and not fear of guilt and
bam, there's a rising tide of nastiness.

A new platform emerges ...

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mmastrac
I enjoy Twitter myself but it does reward low-effort, high-dopamine-reward
behaviour like snark, sarcasm and trolling. I don't blame him at all.

It's a platform built on easy-mode interaction - getting to know people in
depth is more difficult.

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aresant
Twitter's base DNA was building a "broadcast" platform with a simplistic I/O
of communication between two parties. (keyword TWO)

This makes sense in the context of Twitter's underpinnings in emergency
vehicle / taxi dispatch. (1)

What it's actually becomes is a massive discussion board where information is
organized around people rather than topics.

With the genius tweak of limiting to 140 characters to drive word economy and
a low commitment tax to open the app and participate.

As such I am baffled why they don't roll some basic community and forum
management tools.

People are having discussions! In a group!

So give them some tools to solve the oldest community challenges in the book
of trolling, content discovery, relationship development, etc.

(1) [http://www.briansolis.com/2011/04/twitter-co-founder-jack-
do...](http://www.briansolis.com/2011/04/twitter-co-founder-jack-dorsey-and-
the-ideas-that-sparked-a-revolution/)

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molecule
seems like an important qualifier was dropped from the HN headline: "I’m
quitting Twitter _for awhile_."

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kenko
Why is this newsworthy? It seems like the exact same points have been made
hundreds of times.

~~~
jacques_chester
Sam Altman is more notable to the HN crowd that the hundreds of other folks.

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the_watcher
I've pretty much entirely quit using Twitter for communication outside of the
NBA Twitter micro-community. Besides that, I use it for news and to follow
Pinboard, HN Onion, and other parodies.

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simonebrunozzi
I am wondering if there's an easy way to sell a great Twitter handle (@simon).
Suggestions?

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realworldview
And I'm quitting the gym.

