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posted by janrinok on Sunday September 22 2019, @06:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-should-have-patented-it dept.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/twitter-launches-its-controversial-hide-replies-feature-in-the-u-s-and-japan/

Twitter's controversial "Hide Replies" feature, aimed at civilizing conversations on its platform, is launching today in the U.S. and Japan after earlier tests in Canada. The addition is one of the more radical changes to Twitter to date. It puts people back in control of a conversation they've started by giving them the ability to hide those contributions they think are unworthy.

These replies, which may range from the irrelevant to the outright offensive, aren't actually deleted from Twitter. They're just put behind an extra click.

That means people who come into a conversation to cause drama, make inappropriate remarks or bully and abuse others won't have their voices heard by the majority of the conversation's participants. Only those who choose to view the hidden replies will see those posts.

Other social media platforms don't give so much power to commenters to disrupt conversations. On Facebook and Instagram, for example, you can delete any replies to your own posts.

But Twitter has a different vibe. It's meant to be a public town square, where everyone has a right to speak (within reason.)

Unfortunately, Twitter's open nature also led to bullying and abuse. Before today, the only options Twitter offered were to mute, block and report users. Blocking and muting, however, only impact your own Twitter experience. You may no longer see posts from those users, but others still could. Reporting a tweet is also a complicated process that takes time. It's not an immediate solution for a conversation rapidly spinning out of control.

Community moderation - what an innovative idea!


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 22 2019, @06:27AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 22 2019, @06:27AM (#897034) Journal

    Everyone wants to be part of the WWW, and to have their voices heard.

    Nobody wants to hear any dissenting voices. It's almost like each and every person is his own little god-figure, with some important message to get out. All dissent comes from heretics, right?

    Or, we might just conclude that Twitter chooses to cater to the snowflakes.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by fustakrakich on Sunday September 22 2019, @07:34AM (1 child)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Sunday September 22 2019, @07:34AM (#897041) Journal

    It's to accommodate the prez. You see some of the responses he gets? Well deserved, but they harsh his high.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 22 2019, @07:41AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 22 2019, @07:41AM (#897042) Journal

      President Snowflake? That puts a whole new meaning on the "department of defense". You would think they might take a more active role in combating "global warming".

  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Monday September 23 2019, @02:11AM

    by edIII (791) on Monday September 23 2019, @02:11AM (#897358)

    Maybe not. Twitter is reportedly trying to emulate a public square, and often touts the Free Speech. In many other places on the Internet, civil rights just don't apply like that since they're essentially private property. We have Free Speech here, but that doesn't mean we aren't within our rights to remove something if we want. There is a difference been cannot and will not.

    My issue with the trolls and Alt-Right complaining about being banned is that they never had an explicit right to be there in the first place. It's like a very large mall on private property with a food court that can hold 100 million. The food court can still kick you out if you're assholes and upsetting the rest of the revenue generators. Nothing to do with the principles of Free Speech. In many cases Free Speech isn't the real reason for objection by the excluded either, but the fact of being removed from income streams. Either for personal gain, or fund raising for their cause, being excluded based on their content hurts them and their activities. It's like Moonies being banned from the airport. How will they ever hand out the flowers?

    Back to this hide feature, how is that different than a large group of people in the park simply walking 200ft away from the guy screaming dissent? Anyone in the group is perfectly free to break away and walk back over to hear the dissenting or unpopular speech. Yes, it's censorship from the group, and very effective, but why is it wrong? They're well within their rights to walk away, peacefully assemble, and organize as they see fit. The excluded dude has no rights that are being suppressed, and he has no right to force other people to listen, or to keep them as a captured audience.

    I think there is a big difference between dissenting voices participating in an orderly debate full of facts and interpretations....... and what we see on the Internet. Some of it just vile hate and bullshit. I can entirely understand why the vast majority of the people would walk out of hearing distance from a person talking like Ethanol, or worse. Nobody wants to, or has to, hear two psychos amping each other up to start the race war. Nor does it preclude you from the realms of civilized debate to not want to engage their dissenting voices. We get it. We know their positions, and have no desire to debate it. Sometimes the response to a dissenting argument like genocide, hate, and war, can be a simple and firm NO that requires no further explanation or debate.

    Finally, how the heck is the feature any different than our moderations and filters? They effect the same darn thing :) We don't have any snowflakes around here. We'd need different words, but not many snowflakes I think.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.