
Why I Quit Twitter and Left Behind 35,000 Followers - avolcano
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/insider/why-i-quit-twitter-and-left-behind-35000-followers.html?smid=nytnow-share&smprod=nytnow&referer=https:/t.co/uAsHTgffeV
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CM30
Seems like an awful lot of the 'internet hate speech' cliches in one long
article here. Talk about Bernie Bros, about right wing extremism, about
Twitter not enforcing its rules, etc. All it needed were some calls to
'censor' the internet, and it'd have been perfect.

Not saying there aren't horrible people on Twitter and other social networks,
and that personal attacks don't happen, but it's been a somewhat tired subject
for articles recently and pushed like its the end of the world by the press.

~~~
__derek__
I don't think we read the same piece. This one focused on the rampant anti-
Semitism and racism that Twitter's been loath/unable to limit, contrary to its
own TOS.

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vonklaus
I said this below but I'll say it again, race & ethnicity don't matter. This
was anti-semetic because the author is jewish, just like it would be anti-
muslim, pro feminism, anti-feminism ect. It's like the scene in fight club
where they screen recruits. So declaring you are mad because people said mean
things to you on the internet on a platform that is going through very public
growing pains is stupid, boring and old. Godwin's law was frim bbs i think.

The point is that you dont feed trolls because thats what they want.

~~~
__derek__
No, this was anti-Semitic regardless of the target, just as misogynistic
insults hurled at me remain misogynistic (I identify as male). For that
matter, there are plenty of people who consider accepting abuse on the
internet to be passé. Maybe trolls do want people to get mad, and this counts
as "feeding them," but trying to shine a light on the problem at least has the
potential to make it clear those who have been bullied into submission that
somebody cares. Being silent and ceding ground in the name of Don't Feed the
Trolls normalizes these people's destructive behavior.

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CM30
On another note, I found a more interesting comment about quitting Twitter
from someone with a similar amount of followers that I used to follow on the
site. They said they quit because it became an addition that took up more and
more of their time and drove them to become a more and more negative person in
general.

I'd say that would make a somewhat more interesting article to read about
Twitter and why people might quit.

~~~
CM30
Note that if you're wondering, it was this video that had the comment about
quitting Twitter (it's the first subject):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUBsueDMEAU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUBsueDMEAU)

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Cyph0n
I understand his frustrations, but that's simply the way the internet is. A
similar effect can be seen on Reddit - visit /r/worldnews and scroll through
the comments on any article to see what I mean.

What I don't see is why this is worthy of an article on the NY Times. You left
Twitter for various reasons, none of which are newsworthy.

Also, I don't understand how Bernie supporters are misogynists for criticizing
Hillary.

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majewsky
I guess that he's talking about a particular type of Sanders follower who
suffers from cognitive dissonance because many people choose Hillary over
Bernie, and thusly reverts into misogyny.

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vonklaus
Look, I don't want go victim blame and it is pretty difficult for me to
conclude the fault was with the author. He didn't deserve to be treated that
way because of his beliefs, cultural heritage, ect. However, this article is
meta-example of how not to deal with this. First, it's the internet, so
private anonymous people can effortlessly target you and repeatedly avoid
bans. Intellectually though, I can't conclude there were real threats. This is
why we don't feed trolls or negotiate with terrorists.

Sure twitter could curb free speech (even hate speech) but probably millions
of tweets a day prove Godwin's law. You really should not take out a massive
article in the times to tell them they won. You shouldn't leave a platform and
stand aside for shit like this.

This article hurts twitter, and free speech while telling trolls that they
won, in the _The New York Times_. So I am mad and blaming him for his
_reaction_ because now they have more incentive and everyone else is worse
off. Some of these trolls are probably Jewish. They care about fucking with
people in a low effort way. What the author has done here is garuntee they
continue to say annoying shit on the internet. I love the internet, and it is
filled with utter garbage, so it would be nice that after I wade through spam
wordpress sites I didn't have to read an article praising them(that is how
they see it).

Don't feed trolls. Put on the settings that only let certain people tweet at
you, ect, and actually stand up for free speech because the press needs it
more than ever. Twitter has shadowbanning functionality (or I remember Walt
Mossberg mentioning something about that) on air.

The real reason this was shitty, is because there is a teenager, fellow
journalist, ect. who is now dealing with these trolls because the root cause
didn't go away.

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Cyph0n
I also don't see how NYT allowed him to post this. I'd assume there is a
review process before something like this goes live. I mean, did nobody think
that it might actually help trolls see that what they're doing is working?

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justaaron
"Bernie Bros"? seriously? stick with the solid story of racist twitter users
threatening you with violence and you might get some sympathy...

I was hoping to read something more considered than "I can't take the harsh
verbal repartee" perhaps along the lines of "hey Twitter is using my content
to make money, I'd rather write a column for the NY Times and get paid for it-
same negative comments but no character limit and plus I get paid!"

~~~
__derek__
Anti-Semitism, racism, and other hate speech are not "harsh verbal repartée."

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superobserver
TL;DR. NYTimes failing in its task to provide real, valuable journalistic
information like that provided by The Intercept, TYT, Democracy Now, etc.

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emmet
The kind of things he talks about here are the same kind of things that made
me leave reddit, never to return. I haven't found issue with twitter really,
but I guess when you get to that kind of renown things must get harder to
avoid.

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iofj
With articles like this one can see why all the social media companies and
even Google put people in a "bubble". Twitter for the most part doesn't, and
this sort of thing happens. Expect more bubbles, and to be isolated further
from reality on the internet as time goes on.

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imaginenore
People need to grow thicker skin. By quitting you basically demonstrated that
hate speech works. You need to do the opposite, just ignore the haters and
keep your followers happy.

