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[Leafhopper]

Gah, what the fuck. Just... why do people use Twitter? Seriously. Especially famous people. The abuse sounds like a nightmare.

Plus, fuck trying to communicate interesting/worthwhile concepts in <140 characters.

Most people on the internet spout garbage and/or doesn't like someone or something. In person they probably wouldn't be able to even say half of this stuff to anyone's face.

I think we would all be better off if Twitter shutdown.

Ah yes drastic measures must be taken.

No.

Twitter: less moderated than 4chan.

You joke (maybe not) but, this is almost true.

 

[chaobreaker]

Yes. Those two events were exactly what I was talking about.

I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or claiming that I'm exaggerating, but I found both of those events unsettling.

Also the addendum to the first event is that the guy was planning to go back, possibly with a weapon on him "for safety," and didn't back off until Randi Harper got a restraining order. That's pretty fucking serious.

Sorry, read your post wrong.

 

[Mesoian]

Yes, which is why the CEO or whoever it was saying he was "ashamed" of their efforts to stop trolls was complete hollow bullshit.

You joke (maybe not) but, this is almost true.

It is 100% true. People on 4chan just know what they're getting into.

It's way worse on twitter because they brand themselves as a family friendly method of staying connected. They are literally deceiving you.

 

[Handy Fake]

Give a man a fish and he'll be able to feed his family for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he'll be able to feed his family for a lifetime.
Give a man access to social media and he'll behave like an utter helmet.

 

[Timeaisis]

Twitter has the worse moderation ever. In that, it doesn't have any.

 

[Deleted member 13876]

I hope everyone realizes that that person who sent this tweet, is mostly a young pimpley faced white kid, with too much time on his hands.

His age doesn't really matter when his actions have real consequences. A 13 year old was recently arrested for SWATting. They tied two accounts of the practice to his person. In one he pretended to be one of his teachers, said he had multiple hostages and was going to blow up the house they were in.

This particular person here is probably harmless, but can you always tell that for sure?

 

[Leafhopper]

It is 100% true. People on 4chan just know what they're getting into.

It's way worse on twitter because they brand themselves as a family friendly method of staying connected. They are literally deceiving you.

You got a point there.

 

[Slayven]

The lack of action by twitter in cases like this is fucking sad.

 

[Deleted member 13876]

Right. What needs to happen is making new accounts more difficult to simply create out of thin air, so trolling becomes 100x more difficult. Tie an account to a phone number, have a 72 waiting period before you can post, have a ghost banned status where repeat offenders stop broadcasting out to other people but aren't told that they're banned.

There are 101 things that twitter could do TODAY to curb 75% of abuse on their service, but they simply don't want to.

Yeah those were some of the things I was talking about. Make the barrier of entry for abuse higher and I'd wager the abuse would drop. Would it be gone? No. But this is one of those perfect is the enemy of good scenarios.

 

[More_Badass]

I hope everyone realizes that that person who sent this tweet, is mostly a young pimpley faced white kid, with too much time on his hands.

Considering that there have been numerous grown-ass men spearheading the #GG harassment, and other articles and interviews with adults who take part in internet trolling and harassment, I think it's pretty hard to make that generalization nowadays

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

Like facebook, twitter is useless. No idea why its so popular, but it does tend to attract weirdos and crazy people, not to mention people saying dumb stuff only to get fired from their job. Its pretty sad.

Lol, do you have friends? Do they not all live in your immediate proximity? Do they have lives and like to take pictures to document them? Do they have opinions they like to share? Then facebook is useful

 

[RPGCrazied]

Alright guys, sorry. I should have said useless to me. If you find value in it, then use it. Didn't mean to rustle anyone's feathers.

 

[PtM]

Then there was that one guy who attempt to drive cross country to challenge vocal GG critic and game developer Brianna Wu to a street race but crashes his car on the way.

That's been a fake.

 

[Opto]

You think people would learn by now to stop using twitter to avoid these kinds of things

This kinda shit is basically saying that people shouldn't have a social media presence

 

[roknin]

They absolutely need to moderate it better, handle threats more seriously and work harder to stomp out harassment.

That said, everyone saying "lol don't use social media" is missing the point entirely, and also ignoring those very numerous times social media has been beneficial.

Don't blame the tech, blame the idiots that abuse and ruin it.

 

[cormack12]

Hmm, what about a reputation modelled system?


User (A) sets up new (verified) account. Sets it up to only accept tweets from users with courtesy rank of 2 and above. In this model, verified users can be celebrities or normal users who verify with ISP account.

New user (B) sets up account, starts with account courtesy level of 4.

New user (B) earns reputation via hashtag and general tweeting. Loses reputation for offensive comments etc. Reputation is added/removed by users browsing hashtags. Users can only give five feedbacks per day (max of 1 per account - ever), unless status is 'verified'.


I think there needs to be a way to control who can contact you perhaps, before the pitchforks come out. Let's face it, the public general crap is just a vitriolic quagmire, it's the direct abuse/bullying that needs fixing.......

 

[Teknoman]

Everybody should quit using something because 0.00001% of its users are bad.

How progressive!

Personally I don't think I'd quit twitter, I'd just pull a kamiya and block everyone. These are just empty annoying threats like what you'd hear in an online shooter IMO.

 

[CoffeeKillquest]

Wow Twitter is toxic as hell. They really need to regulate it somehow.

 

[studyguy]

Twitter once again proving it's a shitshow.
There's no defending twitter here guys, even the CEO admitted it's shit at making sure its users aren't blasted with negativity. Stories like this aren't isolated or new in the slightest.

 

[Aeana]

Personally I don't think I'd quit twitter, I'd just pull a kamiya and block everyone. These are just empty annoying threats like what you'd hear in an online shooter IMO.

That's why sites like Blocktogether are great. Curated block lists you can subscribe to.

 

[Leafhopper]

Personally I don't think I'd quit twitter, I'd just pull a kamiya and block everyone. These are just empty annoying threats like what you'd hear in an online shooter IMO.

I think people forget a block button exists.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Not sure why people in high places even bother with it. Connect with fans at public events. Host a blog without comments, etc.

It's legitimately dangerous to your health having a large social media presence these days.

 

[Mesoian]

I think people forget a block button exists.

The block button does nothing when people create 30 dummy accounts in under 10 minutes for the sole reason of fucking with people.

THAT'S the real issue. The block feature would be far more effective it wasn't so blitheringly easy to get around it. A daily visit to Zoe Quinn or Brianna Wu's twitter is a pretty obvious example on how ineffective the current block feature is.

 

[_machine]

Disgusting and this isn't the first story I've heard (some developers have chosen not to come to the public about the matter) and won't be the last. Tough as hell too; the family of the developer already has stand the long hours, the problems and you can be sure that they don't take too kind when that job then has consequences like these. Since gamers some of the most vocal and tech savvy people it so often feels like developers get a lot more shit like this than most people, but it is a general problem with the internet.

 

[Netherscourge]

I hope everyone realizes that that person who sent this tweet, is mostly a young pimpley faced white kid, with too much time on his hands.

And that kid should be in JAIL.

 

[Mooreberg]

Twitter should hire Curt Schilling to handle these people. What he did to the idiots who abused his daughter on Twitter was a thing of beauty.

That was amazing, but it only really worked because Adam Nagel & co. have public personas. To the extent that a campus radio DJ can have one.

A lot of Twitter is like a web forum without the moderation - a user name, an avatar, and not much else to go on. At this point they should be IP banning the worst abusers. At least the one not sophisticated enough to use a VPN would have to go elsewhere.

 

[Van Owen]

Between this, Schilling, and the Ashley Judd thing, it just kinda proves that assholes on twitter will say shit regardless of whether or not you're a woman or related to video games in general. It's just a far reaching problem with assholes saying things on the internet because they're anonymous, not just a gamergate woman hating thing.

 

[EviLore]

Just another day on Twitter.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Twitter really needs to have mandatory need of a telephone # or SSN in order to sign up. It'd clean up the idiots quite nicely.

 

[Kodaman]

this is why I prefer dogs.

 

[That1BlackGuy]

That would be a reductive plan of action. Making it difficult to say something to a developer or publisher would make it harder for the two sides to communicate. A dev/publisher moderated forum could ban a topic for discussion altogether (I know NeoGAF does this with certain games already).

I think I understand you but I am not sure, how would heavy moderation make it harder to voice your opinion to developers? If I am going to a dev/pub forum, it's likely to talk about their game(s). It's an environment where staff can comfortably interact with their community and not worry about abuse and personal attacks (in theory). In terms of banning certain topics, 80% of social platforms and forums already do this (GAF included as you mentioned) so that's not something inherent to dev/pub forums.

I'm" not saying that this method of communication is applicable to every company (that's for them to decide), but there are options out there to mitigate the presence of people who feel compelled to act like assholes online.

 

[alstein]

Hmm, what about a reputation modelled system?


User (A) sets up new (verified) account. Sets it up to only accept tweets from users with courtesy rank of 2 and above. In this model, verified users can be celebrities or normal users who verify with ISP account.

New user (B) sets up account, starts with account courtesy level of 4.

New user (B) earns reputation via hashtag and general tweeting. Loses reputation for offensive comments etc. Reputation is added/removed by users browsing hashtags. Users can only give five feedbacks per day (max of 1 per account - ever), unless status is 'verified'.


I think there needs to be a way to control who can contact you perhaps, before the pitchforks come out. Let's face it, the public general crap is just a vitriolic quagmire, it's the direct abuse/bullying that needs fixing.......

All the Gators and SJWs would be at -1000 for attacking each other. I've seen this system tried on forums, and it doesn't work. You'd also see burner accounts to bump up rep. Would end up a popularity contest.

That's why sites like Blocktogether are great. Curated block lists you can subscribe to.

Good idea except that they get weaponized as well and then you can get a "red scare" effect.

I do feel bad guys need to be dealt with, but there's no good solution that won't cause problems itself.

 

[NZOO]

So you're essentially you're laughing at the fact that people take these threats seriously?

I'm laughing at threats like his because I see it all the time with FGC people shit talk about who they want to be in the game. Like people hated MK characters in Injustice. A lot of shit talking goes on in FGC. I doubt he was serious, but if it was continuous then yea we have a problem.

 

[Shig]

Twitter's one of those things that just kind of profligates because its name gets tossed around a lot. It's a pretty shitty delivery platform for any professional use, save perhaps haiku poets.

I tend to think that many PR/devs/people in general who jump ship from it don't do so primarily because they're fearful, but because they're really only using Twitter out of obligation to begin with. It's like, "I'm hyper-abridging communication with my audience into pithy telegraph messages in fucking 2015... and here's an excuse to tell that to fuck off? Darn!"

 

[evilromero]

That fucking sucks for the producer But it's the right decision. Family always comes first.

 

[.la1n]

Seemed like a genuinely nice guys during the Kombat Kast. It might be a good time to rethink posting everyone's twitter handles during the stream since trolls tend to congregate in mass during those things. At least until Twitter starts sorting things out on their end like they should have been since the beginning.

 

[Koobion]

Can't stand people. Youtube comments sections make me want to leave the planet. This is the same sort of thing. There is good out there too...just - ugh! People..

 

[Mooreberg]

Twitter really needs to have mandatory need of a telephone # or SSN in order to sign up. It'd clean up the idiots quite nicely.

Nobody would trust them with that post-Snowden, and you can get new phone numbers from a service like Google Voice. They need to IP ban. That would put most people out after two strikes once both their home and mobile network IPs were blocked. You would have people dedicated enough to work around that, but there are far fewer of them than the sort that just randomly throw out strange threats because it can be done so quickly.

People should also just make their accounts viewable by followers that they have approved. Broadcasting everything just turns your stream into the equivalent of the comments section on a newspaper website. If you would not say it to a random person on the street, do not say it ten times as many random people online. It is a perpetual conflict machine.

 

[HueyFreeman]

Honestly I think everyone should quit using Twitter. Twitter has been unable and/or unwilling to step in and do something about the horrible users that they have.

You know to some extent, I agree with you. Twitter just seems completely incapable of making any meaningful progress with this.

 

[Feltrol]

That fucking sucks for the producer But it's the right decision. Family always comes first.

Indeed.

What's wrong with people nowadays?

 

[Shengar]

Indeed.

What's wrong with people nowadays?

Too many times on their hand and too many junk information go in and out of their heads, deluding their sanity.

 

[roknin]

Twitter once again proving it's a shitshow.
There's no defending twitter here guys

I don't think a single person is really defending Twitter; it can be really, really shitty and it absolutely needs better policies in place. I don't begrudge anyone who leaves it, especially if they get death threats like NR's Producer got.

What is being said, or at least what I'm saying since I can't speak for everyone, is that condemning the entire service and ignoring the positives of it, or just saying "don't use it ever lol" rather than pushing for the change, doesn't address the core problems: people being douches because they don't have to say this stuff to people's face, and Twitter saying "oh, well that douche isn't violating Twitter's policies."

And let's be real, its not just Twitter. Most social media sites are loose about who they allow on their services, and what it takes to get them kicked off or further action to be taken.

That said...

Twitter really needs to have mandatory need of a telephone # or SSN in order to sign up. It'd clean up the idiots quite nicely.

...god no, this not the answer. Consider that you're then required to put that information out there, they'd have to store it somewhere.

They get hacked, you're super-****ed.

But they can't use that sort of info without some way to verify it, otherwise people could just make false accounts (like what happens now anyways), and it would defeat the purpose. And of course, well-meaning, on-technically inclined people, not realizing there is no verification, would probably still put in their proper details and now would be at even more of a risk from anonymous scumbags.

At the end of the day, there needs to be a more active policy dealing with ANY sort of threats / abuse online on these kinds of services. Until more arrests and further prosecutions occur, it'll still be looked at as a joke.

Shit like this needs to be taken seriously and not hand-waived. There needs to be more mounting pressure media-wise, as an example, to really force Twitter's hand. The more bad press their lackluster tools get, the better.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

Twitter: less moderated than 4chan.

There's (sometimes) repercussions for constantly shit posting there at least. On Twitter it's just a different way to advertise yourself.

Also Facebook to me proves forcing more IRL information to be tied to your twitter account isn't going to change the mindset of someone who's going to hide behind the internet to throw shit. I think the shadow banning and limiting new accounts is a better solution in comparison.

 

[injurai]

Can't stand people. Youtube comments sections make me want to leave the planet. This is the same sort of thing. There is good out there too...just - ugh! People..

Good to see someone has gotten above it all.

 

[RS4-]

I wish Twitter would do something about all the abusers. I'd love to see a story where someone gets arrested for threat on Twitter.

I think that happens in the UK?

 

[Mesoian]

I think that happens in the UK?

1 person was arrested for making a credible threat over twitter.

But that's all that's happened, and I believe that guy got off in the end.

 

[blu]

Anonymity, assholery and lack of basic moderation at your fingertips. I mean, what could go wrong?

 

[Deft Beck]

Not sure why people in high places even bother with it. Connect with fans at public events. Host a blog without comments, etc.

It's legitimately dangerous to your health having a large social media presence these days.

That could work in, say, 2006.

I think I understand you but I am not sure, how would heavy moderation make it harder to voice your opinion to developers? If I am going to a dev/pub forum, it's likely to talk about their game(s). It's an environment where staff can comfortably interact with their community and not worry about abuse and personal attacks (in theory). In terms of banning certain topics, 80% of social platforms and forums already do this (GAF included as you mentioned) so that's not something inherent to dev/pub forums.

I'm" not saying that this method of communication is applicable to every company (that's for them to decide), but there are options out there to mitigate the presence of people who feel compelled to act like assholes online.

Those who bother to join official forums are likely to have markedly different opinions than those who use other channels.

There ought to be better ways of communicating that reduce abuse, I agree.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Not surprised. This is the gaming community after all.

It's the worst among the rest.

My thoughts exactly. It is even hard to expect good things coming from the 'gaming' community.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

Twitter reflects real-life, and some people are pieces of shit in real-life.