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[Camper Van Beethoven]

Yeah keep missing the point and act all intelligent and stuff. We all know twitter allows nasty shit all around without doing anything, and when they do take action it's against victims. They should've banned trump, a lot of alt-righters and a lot of nasty fuckers long time ago but they won't, they just nurture them because they are positive income for the company.

Fuck twitter, really.

The platform shouldn’t be responsible for the content of its users. The users should be. It’s the equivalent of getting mad at the postal service for delivering a postcard with “you’re a prick” on it. Moderation on twitter is near impossible with its scale. If people don’t want the ability for millions of people to message them instantaneously; don’t use twitter.

Twitter suspends and bans people all the time. That’s why mcgowan got suspended in the first place. There’s tons of automated moderation going on. Issue is it’s impossible for it to be perfect and people are more concerned about playing the victim when it doesn’t suit them.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

Ok, here’s an argument. Calling other people stupid because they’ve chosen to voice their disapproval with how Twitter management selectively enforces their terms of service and does little to nothing to make women using their service feel safe unless sufficient eyes are put on their failure, while offering no viable alternative of your own, doesn’t help.

I’m not participating (mainly because I’m not a woman) but I understand and respect the sentiment behind it. A lot of women use Twitter for many things, not the least of which is supporting each other, so they don’t want to quit the service altogether. They want Twitter to at the very least do what they pretend to do now and take care of harassment.

One, always good to check the user history of a poster who you suspect is arguing or posting in bad faith (check theirs and see why direct responding is probably not worth it, as the thread will be twisted to being about them; sea lion comic).

Two, you can participate or not if you are a woman. Same as the march in January of this year. It's inclusive.

I just think there are better ways to show how women are silenced. Here in Brazil there was a movement a while ago called "my secret friend" (basically the secret santa in US), and they basically talked about things that they had to endure without outing the person directly, offering them a little more safety.

Getting out of twitter for a day doesn't say anything to me, and i bet the assholes will be all celebrating how it's "women free" on twitter.

As I said before, you're welcome to stop using Twitter in its entirety if that is something that means more to you, or donate your time and money to women cause, or do nothing.

 

[BlackDoomShadow]

It’s the equivalent of getting mad at the postal service for delivering a postcard with “you’re a prick” on it.

No, it's the equivalent of someone sending me a postcard saying "Burn in a gas chamber bitch, I'm going to track you down and murder your family," which I would then report to the police and FBI who would take immediate action to find out information about who sent the letter containing an illegal death threat.

 

[Professor Beef]

How about people stop thinking a service is defined by its worse users.

I only follow accounts that don’t irritate me. Hoorah; Twitter is good. People who go out their way to expose themselves to things to upset them doesn’t not justify acting like an entire platform is bad. I could exclusively follow the Donald and cat meme subs on Reddit and say Reddit is shit. Alternatively I could use my brain.

Ignoring problems doesn't make them go away.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Whether or not you agree it's effective, the point is that it shouldn't be just one day. It may put a small dent in the Twitter mechanism. Or it may completely miss the mark. The point is that if you're going to do something like stop using Twitter, then you better pull through with it. This isn't just some New Year's Day resolution that you can attempt for a week and never go back to it again. This is a real issue and I applaud the people who have the best intentions in their hearts.

I also believe that there are more ways of being effective than just quitting a for a day. Keep at it if you really are serious about it.

Expecting a long term protest on this short of a notice is naive. This movement largely came together over the past 24 hours, and it's appropriately simple. Asking people to quit Twitter is a big ask, and less than a percentage of the userbase would even bother supporting it. Very few of those would follow through. It would be nothing.

But a day? A day is nothing. Plenty of people take a day off Twitter just because they're more busy with other stuff. Organize enough people to make that reasonable sacrifice, and suddenly the flow of content stops. For a service as focused on immediate reaction as Twitter, one that snowballs into more people stepping off the service for the day as well. Suddenly, Twitter has very clear numbers on exactly what happens if they don't clean up their platform.

With more time to organize, a longer term boycott with actual stated demands could be more effective. But for now, this cause has momentum. There's no reason to oppose it, other than standing on some imagined intellectual high ground for the sake of shooting down other people's ideas.

 

[cameron]

How about people stop thinking a service is defined by its worse users.

I only follow accounts that don’t irritate me. Hoorah; Twitter is good. People who go out their way to expose themselves to things to upset them doesn’t not justify acting like an entire platform is bad. I could exclusively follow the Donald and cat meme subs on Reddit and say Reddit is shit. Alternatively I could use my brain.

They're protesting the way Twitter handles abuse and the lack of consistency when they enforce violation of rules.

The move comes after the actress’ Twitter account was suspended Wednesday night, after she had been tweeting about sexual assault in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. When she learned her account was turned off, she took to Instagram and shared an image that said she had violated Twitter’s rules.

It also stated that McGowan's account would be reinstated after 12 hours, which could be hastened by deleting the offending tweets.

Though the tweets that resulted in her suspension weren't initially identified, Twitter clarified the issue to The Times.

"We have been in touch with Ms. McGowan's team," Twitter's chief spokesperson told The Times in an email Thursday. "We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates of our Terms of Service. The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked. We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.

"Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power," the spokesperson added. "We stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories, and will work hard every day to improve our processes to protect those voices."

Many immediately criticized Twitter, which has been inconsistent in how it enforces its rules. Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs, for example, once tweeted the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, a woman who came forward last year to accuse Trump of groping her — but his account was not suspended.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-boycott-twitter-20171012-story.html

They want the platform to be better. How awful of them.


I don't know why you're offended. Your schtick seems to be constant whining and with very little self awareness.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

One, always good to check the user history of a poster who you suspect is arguing or posting in bad faith (check theirs and see why direct responding is probably not worth it, as the thread will be twisted to being about them; sea lion comic).

Two, you can participate or not if you are a woman. Same as the march in January of this year. It's inclusive.

True on both counts.

 

[Dice//]

The platform shouldn’t be responsible for the content of its users. The users should be. It’s the equivalent of getting mad at the postal service for delivering a postcard with “you’re a prick” on it. Moderation on twitter is near impossible with its scale. If people don’t want the ability for millions of people to message them instantaneously; don’t use twitter.

Twitter suspends and bans people all the time. That’s why mcgowan got suspended in the first place. There’s tons of automated moderation going on. Issue is it’s impossible for it to be perfect and people are more concerned about playing the victim when it doesn’t suit them.

I wonder about 'policing the internet'. It's huge, it's got "rooms in room" to hide in and it's mostly done under the veil of anonymity. What CAN be done??

 

[LyleLanley]

I see a pattern in people shitting on this idea...

What's the pattern?

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

No, it's the equivalent of someone sending me a postcard saying "Burn in a gas chamber bitch, I'm going to track you down and murder your family," which I would then report to the police and FBI who would take immediate action to find out information about who sent the letter containing an illegal death threat.

Yep. And who’d hold the post office responsible? Nobody. Because you don’t blame the medium, you blame the user.

Ok, here’s an argument. Calling other people stupid because they’ve chosen to voice their disapproval with how Twitter management selectively enforces their terms of service and does little to nothing to make women using their service feel safe unless sufficient eyes are put on their failure, while offering no viable alternative of your own, doesn’t help.

I’m not participating (mainly because I’m not a woman) but I understand and respect the sentiment behind it. A lot of women use Twitter for many things, not the least of which is supporting each other, so they don’t want to quit the service altogether. They want Twitter to at the very least do what they pretend to do now and take care of harassment.

The reason McGowan got suspended is specifically because twitter has systems in place to try and prevent abuse. The implication they don’t have systems in place to try and prevent abuse is disingenuous. She got suspended for posting a phone number not because she said she was raped. Her wack job “there’s evil forces trying to silence me” angle is bullshit.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

What's the pattern?

General ignorance of Twitter’s TOS and the way they’re selectively enforced, lack of empathy, internet numbness

 

[AlexFlame116]

Expecting a long term protest on this short of a notice is naive. This movement largely came together over the past 24 hours, and it's appropriately simple. Asking people to quit Twitter is a big ask, and less than a percentage of the userbase would even bother supporting it. Very few of those would follow through. It would be nothing.

But a day? A day is nothing. Plenty of people take a day off Twitter just because they're more busy with other stuff. Organize enough people to make that reasonable sacrifice, and suddenly the flow of content stops. For a service as focused on immediate reaction as Twitter, one that snowballs into more people stepping off the service for the day as well. Suddenly, Twitter has very clear numbers on exactly what happens if they don't clean up their platform.

With more time to organize, a longer term boycott with actual stated demands could be more effective. But for now, this cause has momentum. There's no reason to oppose it, other than standing on some imagined intellectual high ground for the sake of shooting down other people's ideas.

I'm definitely not opposing this cause. I'm for it. I just hope that it can eventually bloom into something more. If it gets the support it needs then it's incredibly possible.

To me the end goal is to make a difference. Big or small.

 

[Heretic]

I'll give it a go. What outcome are we hoping for?

 

[supermarioworldE]

Never have used it, and never will. With all these sexual assault stories coming out and women being silenced while the assholes stay unmoderated is inexcusable. I have to start doing the same for FB.

 

[FloweryMarston]

One, always good to check the user history of a poster who you suspect is arguing or posting in bad faith (check theirs and see why direct responding is probably not worth it, as the thread will be twisted to being about them; sea lion comic).

Two, you can participate or not if you are a woman. Same as the march in January of this year. It's inclusive.



As I said before, you're welcome to stop using Twitter in its entirety if that is something that means more to you, or donate your time and money to women cause, or do nothing.

The movement i talked about also lasted weeks/months and got more and more supports as it went. This movement in particular doesn't feel good for just being a day, being warned a day eariler.

But it's okay, i hope at least something comes out of it

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

They're protesting the way Twitter handles abuse and the lack of consistency when they enforce violation of rules.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-boycott-twitter-20171012-story.html

They want the platform to be better. How awful of them.


I don't know why you're offended. Your schtick seems to be constant whining and with very little self awareness.

I’m not offended, I’m laughing at the absurdity of twitter addicts who define themselves by their internet presence thinking not using the service for a day before returning to it is achieving anything. If you want twitter to somehow become an omnipotent super service that can effective moderate millions of tweets a day before you use it you best not use it any time soon.

 

[hEist]

Why do i have the feeling that we will see a dumb joke by Colin?

 

[Dice//]

I’m not offended, I’m laughing at the absurdity of twitter addicts who define themselves by their internet presence thinking not using the service for a day before returning to it is achieving anything. If you want twitter to somehow become an omnipotent super service that can effective moderate millions of tweets a day before you use it you best not use it any time soon.

I guess the hope is that Twitter (and others) will vow to do better?
:/

 

[SolarPowered]

A twitter termination spree is what should really be in order and not just by women either. It's a garbage company and a garbage social media tool. Unfortunately I get why some (especially celebrities who have millions of followers) people would be reluctant. Someone like Obama doing it would be one hell of a bellwether for serious criticism of these social media platforms, though.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I guess the hope is that Twitter (and others) will vow to do better?
:/

They have vowed so many times already before.

 

[Alx]

Well #WomenBoycottTwitter is trending indeed. Is it a sign of success, or that nobody is boycotting ?

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

I’m not offended, I’m laughing at the absurdity of twitter addicts who define themselves by their internet presence thinking not using the service for a day before returning to it is achieving anything. If you want twitter to somehow become an omnipotent super service that can effective moderate millions of tweets a day before you use it you best not use it any time soon.

You sound bitter.

 

[nitronite]

So we boycott Twitter by getting a hashtag trending, or is there an actual boycott involved?

 

[brianmcdoogle]

So we boycott Twitter by getting a hashtag trending, or is there an actual boycott involved?

If you're signed in, you say "I'm logging off today for #WomenBoycottTwitter because..." and whatever your reason is, and then you sign out and don't go to the website or use it for the rest of the day. That's it.

You're welcome to stop using Twitter altogether if that's what you believe. You're welcome to donate money and time to women organizations if that pleases you. You're welcome to just do this simple boycott for the day if that's all you want to do as well. You may do what you like to help this issue if you care about it. That's all.

.

 

[shink]

While a day protest might seem small, it has already been reported on some big websites so at the very least it's bringing more awareness to the issue.

 

[Not]

No Twitter for a day

Gonna be like a cool blast of wind in the face after playing basketball in a gym with no AC

 

[serenewarfare]

To those saying "why don't they just quit Twitter!", Twitter is an invaluable tool if you are in the business of making content on the internet. And there's no real equal replacement for it right now.

 

[Not]

Yep. And who'd hold the post office responsible? Nobody. Because you don't blame the medium, you blame the user.

Twitter isn't blaming the users, jack. Even the post office would cooperate with the police or some shit.

 

[Drkirby]

I don't feel this is going to be very effective, but maybe it will get some positive conversation going.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Hey it’s another shit post on GAF that doesn’t present an argument.

Next time maybe just post a really really funny gif.

Dude your first post was bitching about echo chambers and your second post was about only following accounts you like as a "solution". You get responses in the same quality as you put out.

 

[Dr. Malik]

Was going to partake but then I read some tweets by WOC and how this isn't the time to be silent and as much as Twitter is toxic it's still a platform to speak up

 

[Aiii]

I've been doing this for years, it's easy.

Just boycot and never come back, social media was a mistake, nobody should have their voices heard, most people's voice utterly sucks.

 

[PR_rambo]

Nobody is expecting to take Twitter down with this one move, but i can tell you that there are women who are appreciating the gesture and thats good enough a reason for me to do it.

Also people are talking about it so..

 

[ClosingADoor]

Twitter, and basically all social media, need to do better. If they can't, maybe they should think about limiting their service so they can handle it.

 

[roknin]

Your choice in protesting doesn't meet my standards, therefore it's stupid and useless

okay dudes

Was going to partake but then I read some tweets by WOC and how this isn't the time to be silent and as much as Twitter is toxic it's still a platform to speak up

...That said, this is actually a very good point.

 

[Orca]

Yep. And who’d hold the post office responsible? Nobody. Because you don’t blame the medium, you blame the user.



The reason McGowan got suspended is specifically because twitter has systems in place to try and prevent abuse. The implication they don’t have systems in place to try and prevent abuse is disingenuous. She got suspended for posting a phone number not because she said she was raped. Her wack job “there’s evil forces trying to silence me” angle is bullshit.

Trump posted a phone number - he didn't get banned or the tweet deleted.

 

[SteveO409]

Sad to say that even if i boycott twitter for the cause, I would still see tweets from new threads on GAF about Donald Trump/etc. Can't escape social media unless you're off the internet

 

[GuessMyUserName]

I mean I'm all for criticizing Twitter and getting them to do something about its toxic base and plethora of bots spamming any highly viewed tweet thread.......... but it's just really hard to take a "don't use Twitter for a day" campaign seriously pretty sure most users go through days without Twitter all the time so it doesn't seem like a big deal.

And yeah being silent for the day is a bit of an odd way to spread a message / draw attention to something.

 

[nekkid]

Not a woman, but happy to support this. It’ll probably be longer than a day, to be honest.

 

[perfectchaos007]

I average 1 tweet per year. I'll do my part by not making that tweet day today

 

[Chmpocalypse]

Just shared the hashtag (off Twitter, fuck them), thanks for posting about this.

 

[Catvoca]

I'll log off twitter for the day then. Seeing a lot of WOC criticising this in my feed though, makes me feel a bit conflicted.

 

[IrishNinja]

I hope anyone participating in this are not doing it for just a day.

Just leave the platform for good.

i'm 100% supporting it for today, but it's a hard platform to leave - between this, FB & IG, twitter's the only one where i can follow a number of great racial/social justice folks and actually learn things. like FB, the support is clearly shithouse but there's no other alternative on the market for me at the time, sadly.

Was going to partake but then I read some tweets by WOC and how this isn't the time to be silent and as much as Twitter is toxic it's still a platform to speak up

see, this is an excellent point too, and it's a perfect example of a perspective i'd not have considered without certain feeds

 

[brianmcdoogle]

Was going to partake but then I read some tweets by WOC and how this isn't the time to be silent and as much as Twitter is toxic it's still a platform to speak up

I'll log off twitter for the day then. Seeing a lot of WOC criticising this in my feed though, makes me feel a bit conflicted.

If you're not comfortable posting info from them, can you PM me? I'll edit the OP if there are WoC who are concerned about the boycott. I'll be as discrete as possible.

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

Trump posted a phone number - he didn't get banned or the tweet deleted.

Who’s number?

Also he’s the president.

Twitter isn't blaming the users, jack. Even the post office would cooperate with the police or some shit.

Twitter cooperates with the police when laws are broken.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Who’s number?

Senator Lindsey Graham.

 

[Not]

Who's number?

Also he's the president.

Pretty shitty that we give Trump any special treatment at all no matter what his title is. He deserves absolutely none of it. If Twitter really cared about the people who were being harassed, they would enforce their terms of service among the powerful as well.

But the lion's share of companies don't actually care even a little about people without money or power. How do we change that?

 

[totoro'd]

Thanks for bringing this to my attentions, just signed off

 

[hodgy100]

the alt-right would love it if women would permanently be off of twitter :/ I hope it achieves the desired outcome(forcing twitters hand to deal with shit).

 

[The Real Abed]

I'm participating. It's going to be hard though. I'm on Twitter more than I'm on GAF these days.