• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

#WomenBoycottTwitter Planned for October 13th, 2017

xk0sm0sx

Member
This is so stupid, by signing off on twitter you will basically be reducing the visibility of your movement since you wouldn't even be trending unless you are constantly tweeting the hashtag whole day.
What will happen is that your enemies will just swarm over the platform and make the platform even worse.
This is like fighting a battle by retreating your troops and giving over the land to your enemies.
I bet the alt-right is laughing at this rather than feeling hurt.

I bet what will really happen is that people will still be tweeting the hashtag anyway.

Also, what happened to Twitter recently that there was a need to do this?
 

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
This is so stupid, by signing off on twitter you will basically be reducing the visibility of your movement since you wouldn't even be trending unless you are constantly tweeting the hashtag whole day.
What will happen is that your enemies will just swarm over the platform and make the platform even worse.
This is like fighting a battle by retreating your troops and giving over the land to your enemies.
I bet the alt-right is laughing at this rather than feeling hurt.

I bet what will really happen is that people will still be tweeting the hashtag anyway.

Also, what happened to Twitter recently that there was a need to do this?

The “enemy” in this case is Twitter itself. A day off would certainly make a difference - although it needed far more warning than it got here.
 
I'm a bit confused. Twitter's abuse management is inadequate to put it mildly but it doesn't sound like an issue of gender. Just poorly written automated processes that flag accounts for generic infractions and fail to act against real abuse whether sexist or racist.

Specifically why is the angle here about bringing attention to women being silenced? Is it more of a general demonstration against abuse against women and Twitter is the platform being used to bring that message across? Are Twitter moderation practices anti-women or just generally kind of terrible?

If this is about the Weinstein abuses then it just seems a very passive way to register anger. Anyway I've never had a twitter so I'm not really in the loop when it comes to this stuff.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
This is so stupid, by signing off on twitter you will basically be reducing the visibility of your movement since you wouldn't even be trending unless you are constantly tweeting the hashtag whole day.
cFlJpZP.png


Not sure that's gonna be an issue.
 
I'm a bit confused. Twitter's abuse management is inadequate to put it mildly but it doesn't sound like an issue of gender. Just poorly written automated processes that flag accounts for generic infractions and fail to act against real abuse whether sexist or racist.

Specifically why is the angle here about bringing attention to women being silenced? Is it more of a general demonstration against abuse against women and Twitter is the platform being used to bring that message across? Are Twitter moderation practices anti-women or just generally kind of terrible?

If this is about the Weinstein abuses then it just seems a very passive way to register anger. Anyway I've never had a twitter so I'm not really in the loop when it comes to this stuff.

Someone reported an account to twitter with the username "JewKiller" and twitter responded that it doesn't violate the TOS.

People get doxxed and harrased all the time and the perpetrators face no consequences.

I reported a user on FB once for posting highly disturbing and violent content and FB responded that it's fine and I should just block him.

Whatever automation process twitter uses, right now, it looks extremely biased, and the automation process didn't write it's procedures by itself...

Why is it so hard to imagine for people that maybe the guys writing the automation processes and algorithms are white supremacists? People seem to forget the alt right guy who got fired by google for his alt right agenda, only after that shit went viral. Who knows what kind of biased things he already did at Google before and how many still do (at google, fb, twitter) hidden in plain sight.
 

Pepboy

Member
This is so stupid, by signing off on twitter you will basically be reducing the visibility of your movement since you wouldn't even be trending unless you are constantly tweeting the hashtag whole day. (...)

Also, what happened to Twitter recently that there was a need to do this?

I think it alerted both of us at least. Because I was curious why they felt the need to boycott Twitter as well, it seems like their goal is getting accomplished. We are both wondering what happened to Twitter that would make this necessary, and now hopefully someone can provide some info.

I've seen this going around on Twitter from various outlets and people that there is a planned boycott tomorrow (today, depending on timezone) to boycott twitter as a result of their selective ToS against women and sexual abuse victims, and not against white supremacists and other assholes.

I'm looking for more information regarding the selective ToS against women and sexual abuse victims. My sense was that a lot of the recent hollywood stuff about Ben Affleck (for example) was being generated on Twitter. Or if you go back to the game journalist a few months ago, Twitter seemed to be a primary source of news for this stuff.

Is it because Twitter is afraid of libel suits somehow? (Why would they be more open to that than other platforms like facebook or blogs?) Or in what sense are they selectively employing the ToS?

Last I heard, after gamergate, Twitter had handed over some moderation reigns to women empowerment groups that could ban users, etc. So I'm really surprised to see that there's a recent issue with Twitter on topics of sexual abuse.
 
Someone reported an account to twitter with the username "JewKiller" and twitter responded that it doesn't violate the TOS.

People get doxxed and harrased all the time and the perpetrators face no consequences.

Whatever automation process twitter uses, right now, it looks extremely biased, and the automation process didn't write it's procedures by itself...

Why is it so hard to imagine for people that maybe the guys writing the automation processes and algorithms are white supremacists? People seem to forget the alt right guy who got fired by google for his alt right agenda, only after that shit went viral. Who knows what kind of biased things he already did at Google before.

I think the Weinstein story does demonstrate that there's likely a lot of people who do 'virtue-signalling' in public but are horrible people in private. But as far as alt-right goes I find it hard to believe that it's as pervasive a thing in Silicon Valley as people are saying. Racist algorithms? Why not just very very dumb algorithms which aren't really equipped to deal with how horrible people are to each other on social media?

I feel like it's only a short time since we used to say that social media brought everyone together. Now we recognise that that isn't the fact at all, but there's bound to be some catch-up before the processes for dealing with this problem are defined. Not that that excuses Twitter or anything. They deserve to be excoriated for their shit handling of abuse on their platform but I don't think their engineers are cackling to themselves about 'liberal cucks' or 'crybaby snowflakes' or whatever.

Again though is this more generally about Weinstein and Rose McGowan getting suspended yesterday? Wasn't it because she posted a phone number? Was it Ben Affleck's number or something else?
 

Pepboy

Member
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'm not the person you replied to and think this type of protest is great. But I'm not sure it's inconsistent application of the ToS.

One person tweeted a phone number and was temporarily suspended.

The other person linked to an article that had a phone number on it somewhere, as well as retweeted a tweet that had a phone number. The actual account who originally tweeted the phone number got banned / had the post deleted / deleted their own account (not sure which).

It certainly seems inconsistent in the intention, sure. I think the intention is we should not go around doxxing people. But I think the rule of "Don't tweet phone numbers directly" combined with "retweeting violations of ToS are not by themselves violations" could explain the apparent inconsistency above. Of course, this sort of strict interpretation it opens the door for all sorts of loopholes like burner accounts, but the real question for consistency is : "Did the people who retweeted McGovern's tweet also get banned?" If not, that seems consistent with Lou Dobbs not getting banned.

Anyways I'm glad to see this sort of user governance is getting more attention -- I think platforms, especially those important to modern free speech, are important to be looked at thoroughly. This feels more like Twitter following the letter of their ToS rather than the spirit, but that might mean the rules of the ToS should be readdressed to match the spirit more closely. Its also possible as a result of Lou Dobbs case that Twitter has started cracking down -- perhaps Twitter could share more information on how the policy has also been used to shut down a lot of racist accounts trying to doxx people.
 

KahooTs

Member
A substantial portion of the Weinstein developments have come through twitter. I don't know that without it many of the things that have been said - that the world is better off for having been said and heard, would have either been said or heard.

I don't know that the reason they gave was their genuine reason for banning Rose, but I think it was a fair enough punishment for the offence.
 
If you go to Ava DuVernay's page (13th Director), you will see a discussion germinating concerning how this is a white women's protest, raising questions as to whether or not women of color should participate since white women don't come to their aid for similar issues.

And, of course, the national anthem demonstrations concerning police violence.

Very interesting way of thinking about how feminism is for everyone, but then it doesn't apply to everyone.
 

Vuci

Member
This is so stupid, by signing off on twitter you will basically be reducing the visibility of your movement since you wouldn't even be trending unless you are constantly tweeting the hashtag whole day.
What will happen is that your enemies will just swarm over the platform and make the platform even worse.
This is like fighting a battle by retreating your troops and giving over the land to your enemies.
I bet the alt-right is laughing at this rather than feeling hurt.

I bet what will really happen is that people will still be tweeting the hashtag anyway.

Also, what happened to Twitter recently that there was a need to do this?

Sorry, is this a joke post? This whole thing is about Twitter.
 
i feel like i dont understand, at all, the thought processes of left-wing social media activism these days. I sure hope good somehow inexplicably comes out of this i guess
 

CHC

Member
People need to just get off the platform permanently, really. More than just their disgusting and arbitrary policies, the website has really helped to erode public discourse and popularize people like Trump, who concoct short little catchphrases with no substance. It's a terrible, terrible way for people to communicate with each other and it basically makes any kind of argument that can't be summarized in one or two lines worthless.

The whole thing was designed for people to exchange stupid little "public texts," but it has basically become ground zero for ideological wars, which is terrifying.
 
This last year (right around the election cycle) was shitty to be on Twitter. They haven't done themselves or any of their users other than the lowliest trolls any favors since.
 
Capitalism is the only thing that's going to hurt em, tbh.

The pendulum will swing the other way eventually, as what goes up must come down when you're as shit at brand maintenance as Twitter.
 

hirokazu

Member
I'm all for boycotting Twitter permanently, but there just isn't any replacement services that do essentially the same thing decently.

Maybe this movement should evolve to boycott Twitter permanently in favour of an alternative platform that all decent Twitter users can then jump over to.
 

gaugebozo

Member
Twitter isn't blaming the users, jack. Even the post office would cooperate with the police or some shit.
The post office actually has their own police force that goes after people who commit crimes through the mail.

Almost like a well trained team of moderators... hmm.
 

Tigress

Member
DL_HzD-UIAANQjT.jpg

#WomenBoycottTwitter

I've seen this going around on Twitter from various outlets and people that there is a planned boycott tomorrow (today, depending on timezone) to boycott twitter as a result of their selective ToS against women and sexual abuse victims, and not against white supremacists and other assholes. I know some of you won't participate in it for whatever reasons, but I thought some of you would want to know if its existence in case you already didn't.

A small gesture is still a gesture, and perfect is still the enemy of the good; take whatever vague pragmatic stance you want.

It's hard to boycott when I hardly use it anyways. They'll never notice me not using it.

Also if you really want ant a boycott to work, you don't boycott it for a day and come back. You keep boycotting until they change what you wanted changed.

Boycotting for a day is just to make you feel good. It won't do jack shit.
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
I do think this is giving in to exactly what the harassers want. They want women to be silenced, and they’re protesting by being silent....
 

Gattsu25

Banned
I do think this is giving in to exactly what the harassers want. They want women to be silenced, and they’re protesting by being silent....
This isn't a protest action against the harassers. This is a protest action against twitter itself.

If they saw a visible reduction in site activity due to this they would definitely take notice.
 

Boke1879

Member
i feel like i dont understand, at all, the thought processes of left-wing social media activism these days. I sure hope good somehow inexplicably comes out of this i guess

What's hard to understand? It's a boycott of Twitter for a day. The hashtag alone has garnered attention. If this forces Twitter to have better moderation then it's a success.
 
I'm all for boycotting Twitter permanently, but there just isn't any replacement services that do essentially the same thing decently.

Maybe this movement should evolve to boycott Twitter permanently in favour of an alternative platform that all decent Twitter users can then jump over to.
There's Mastodon, which is basically Twitter without all the shitty aspects. I'm hoping that service grows its userbase, because its functionality is way better than Twitter.
 

Boke1879

Member
I'm all for boycotting Twitter permanently, but there just isn't any replacement services that do essentially the same thing decently.

Maybe this movement should evolve to boycott Twitter permanently in favour of an alternative platform that all decent Twitter users can then jump over to.

This is why you see so many WOC no participating in this. They need twitter for work.

Also many WOC are wondering where this level of protest and outrage is when many prominent WOC are constantly harassed daily, doxxed etc. and when they go to report Twitter says it doesn't violate terms of service.
 
This is why you see so many WOC no participating in this. They need twitter for work.

Also many WOC are wondering where this level of protest and outrage is when many prominent WOC are constantly harassed daily, doxxed etc. and when they go to report Twitter says it doesn't violate terms of service.
I would've dropped twitter a long time ago, but I need it to promote my website.
 

Somnid

Member
This is why you see so many WOC no participating in this. They need twitter for work.

Also many WOC are wondering where this level of protest and outrage is when many prominent WOC are constantly harassed daily, doxxed etc. and when they go to report Twitter says it doesn't violate terms of service.

Could you elaborate on this? I don't understand why women of color would be more likely to need Twitter for a job.
 

jrush64

Banned
This is why you see so many WOC no participating in this. They need twitter for work.

Also many WOC are wondering where this level of protest and outrage is when many prominent WOC are constantly harassed daily, doxxed etc. and when they go to report Twitter says it doesn't violate terms of service.


I saw tweets about about why stuff like this didn't happen for Jemele Hill who's being bullied by the President and Leslie Jones.
 

Ouroboros

Member
I do think this is giving in to exactly what the harassers want. They want women to be silenced, and they’re protesting by being silent....

I see it as being silent for one day, you will see how many less tweets daily will occur. Showing how strong the woman demographic on Twitter really is, and is not to be trifled with.

I dunno, that’s my take on this protest.
 
This is why you see so many WOC no participating in this. They need twitter for work.

Also many WOC are wondering where this level of protest and outrage is when many prominent WOC are constantly harassed daily, doxxed etc. and when they go to report Twitter says it doesn't violate terms of service.

I agree with their sentiment.

What I'm not cool with is men of color using it as an excuse to not participate. Just like using the "Black men are the white men of black people" article as an excuse to not support Jemele.

Frankly, men have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to supporting women. WoC can definitely make a choice whether or not to participate.

But men in general? Should do waaay more
 
I don't see the same support for women of color, and I think criticism for this towards white women, for mobilizing when mostly white women are affected, is valid.

Second, most of the people using the hashtag are talking trash on the hashtag. It's how you out an idiot. "Lol #BoycottTwitter but you are using the hashtag and are on Twitter. Stupid libtards."

There are probably 50 of those tweets to 1 tweet explaining the hashtag.
 
Top Bottom