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Twitter adds label to Trump's misleading tweets about mail-in ballots:
Twitter said Tuesday that it added a label to President Donald Trump's tweets for containing "potentially misleading information about voting processes," a rare move that shows the social media company is taking a tougher stance against misinformation.
It's the first time that Twitter has displayed a label on Trump's tweets.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-in-Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent," a claim that has been debunked by fact-checkers and news organizations. He continues his remarks in another tweet, stating that it will be a "Rigged election."
A label appears under both tweets that states "Get the facts about mail-in ballots." Clicking on the warning notice directs users to a page that states that fact-checkers say there isn't any evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud. Trump also falsely states in the tweets that California will send mail-in ballots to "anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there" when only registered voters will receive ballots. States such as Oregon, Utah and Washington have long conducted elections by mail only, while states such as Nebraska allow any voter to request a ballot and vote by mail without having to provide a reason.
A Twitter spokeswoman said in a statement that the decision is in line with how the company approaches misinformation on its site, which includes adding warning notices and labels depending on the likelihood and severity of harm a tweet could cause.
Twitter's actions against Trump's tweets will also likely increase tensions between the company and conservative users, who allege that the social network suppresses their speech. Twitter has repeatedly denied those allegations. Earlier this month, Trump tweeted that the "Radical Left" is in control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google and said his administration is working on a solution.
In two tweets, Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 US presidential election.
"Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!," he tweeted.
Also at BBC News, Ars Technica, MIT Technology Review
(Score: 2, Insightful) by RS3 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @04:24PM (28 children)
I got modded "troll", twice at least, for making a completely non-political statement. I'm starting to hate this site for its very broken mod system. Mod system abuse was discussed at length many times and yet it's unchanged. If one person can drop my post out of visibility to most who come here, then at the very least the system should 1) tell me who did it, and 2) force them to give a legitimate justification for the mod, or they themselves should lose karma, mod points, etc. No point in wasting my time here, trying to engage in some kind of intelligent discussion. Ironically (really) green site has been great, for quite a while now.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @05:13PM
Whiner
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @05:27PM (3 children)
That is hardly a post worth defending, and rather trollish.
The only other post than the one I'm replying to has no negative mods. So you posted AC apparently. The mod system is what you get to deal with instead of users getting banned. It has many problems, but so far no one has come up with an effective solution.
#1 is a good way to generate animosity and user wars
#2 people will not bother modding if they have to provide justifications for their opinions, and besides who judges if the mod is appropriate? Right now the admins/editors supposedly only correct baltant mod bombing or misused mods, but encourage more of that and you get a new set of problems where admins/editors dictate acceptable speech.
Maybe just don't get worked up about mod points, anyone can click on your post to see what it is. If you usually have decent posts that do not get modded troll/flamebait then a lot of people will click your post so they can read it.
PS: you have no right to have your ideas pushed on to other people, and other people are allowed to criticize you. There is a certain irony about you complaining about mods in this story ;~)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @05:51PM (2 children)
Oh, you own SN? We're supposed to be grateful that people who disagree with you don't get banned?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:37PM (1 child)
There is so much illogic in previous AC's post that it's not worth the time and effort to refute each point.
And to him, I did not post AC anywhere in this discussion, and very rarely do.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @06:06PM
Your brain, it no worky good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @06:19PM (19 children)
Realize, Democrat (*) propagandists are everywhere, they are unwilling to engage in dialogue, they wish to advance their views by force, and they have no compunction about lying or fabricating agenda driven narratives.
To combat:
Step one: don't post with a karma bonus on because doing so allows up to -3 karma, not doing so only -2.
Step two: Keep coming back for days and look for abuse and correct it. This is how I spend most of my mod points these days -- looking for comments marked troll etc., and then upmodding. I'll come back when my points recycle and get yours if I agree with it.
(*) Let's detangle liberal and open minded, from the word Democrat. Democrats are as rational and open as 80s Evangelicals.
(Score: 2, Troll) by RS3 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:09PM (18 children)
Thanks for the insight and great tips. Frankly, unless the admins fix the mod system (and some great ideas have been set forth), I just won't waste my time here. There are many much better sites. I mean, other than the mod system, this site is great.
I occasionally do fix mod abuse, but it's so bad here, I'd need 200 points a day, and 4 extra hours.
I foolishly thought SN was a place for open-minded thinkers. I usually stay out of discussions like this due to the illogic. I'd have more luck going to a Jim Jones-type event and trying to convince the people to not drink the kool-aid. I still can't believe my original post here is downmodded. All I tried to say is that it's foolish to 100% believe anyone else. Go talk to the Jim Jones people. Oh wait.
Thanks again. As always, I wish I knew who you were, among the crowd of ACs. You know, there are some great ones, maybe they're all you? And there are some true idiots- probably a few known people who are too afraid to post in their accounts.
Time for another breakaway system...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:23PM (5 children)
That's hyperbolic. You have nearly 50 karma at all times but a couple of downmods got your feelings hurt. Also:
Not true. The karma bonus is virtual. It doesn't allow a comment to be downmodded an additional time. AC deserves a wedgie.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:55PM (1 child)
Is it virtual? When I post at +2 I can see a post go to 1, then 0, then -1 after three mods. Are you saying only two count against Karma.
Here's one way the karma system can be made better -- let's say you have 50 points, make a post, you first get +1 insightful and -1 troll -- at the end of that you have 49 points because at 50 you've ceilinged, however, if the mod order is reversed, you stay at 50. Same post, same mods, different score. It seems it would make sense to apply the sum of a posts mods to Karma, rather than just blindly adding or subtracting as they come in.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 27 2020, @09:15PM
The clear way to test it is to go here:
https://soylentnews.org/my/comments [soylentnews.org]
Change the karma bonus to 0. And note that you can change it from -6 to +6.
With the karma bonus set to 1, you will sometimes see a logged-in comment at Score: 0, you try to mod them down, but the mod point is not spent because they are already at -1, you just have the karma bonus modifier at +1. Likewise, comments may appear to be at Score: 5 but can either be at Score: 5 or just Score: 4.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:24AM (2 children)
> That's hyperbolic.
Which thing, my whole post?
> downmods got your feelings hurt.
Sorry Dr. Phil, your mind-reader is broken. Feelings are not the issue. How does that make you feel? :)
I, wrongly I guess, thought this place was founded by intelligent people who wanted a much better atmosphere than that of dank biker-bar sh%*fest, I mean slashdot.
Mod-system abuse has been discussed many times, and top admins have stated clearly that modding someone "troll", just because you disagree, is mod abuse. Stating it, and doing something about it, are 2 different things. It's okay, I'm learning. Too slowly I guess. I'm more of a naive nerd than street-wise wit-slinger, but I usually eventually get it and make adjustments.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday May 28 2020, @07:54PM (1 child)
Testify, brother!
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday May 29 2020, @03:15AM
Uh-oh, a kudo from Ari? I'm officially on the dark side? :) Look out idiots.
I started out with what I thought was a simple comment saying we can't be too sure of anything we hear or read. Simple, right? And it reflects most poorly on Trump, whose haters are 99.999% likely the idiots who downmodded me. I can be as, if not more, beastly than some of the best on here, but it's not who I want to be, and I resent the assholes here who push me to that. Didn't come here for that. Maybe that is the solution- increase the dark side numbers and destroy the idiots. Naaa, got better things to do, and much better people to spend my time with. But thanks for the kudo, and for staying strong and stimulating whatever the hell this place is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @10:17PM (3 children)
It's what the green site had, but without the meta-moderation. Now, some sort of mod review could be helpful. As would be a check whether some are farming accounts to gain daily mod points.
But why get so frustrated? This site doesn't have an overwhelming amount of traffic, so I always (manually) set to -1. It's repetitive to have to do that, but it slightly frustrates the political downmodders' intentions and leaves the decision up to me what is troll and what isn't.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @02:52AM (2 children)
I'm not "so frustrated", Dr. Phil. No need to exaggerate. I'll admit I'm annoyed, or something. It's a matter of where I spend my time and effort. And, frankly, some (and it may only be a few) of the crowd here are people I'd be ashamed to be considered part of their group. [better explained further down]
This site has a lot of great people, including some ACs like yourself. I have many ideas for a great mod system that would encourage friendly, healthy, useful, spirited- all positive discussions, and would quickly shut down the ad hominem.
I might respond to Dr. Phil Takyon, but basically the sign out front says this place is a pleasant place to socialize, learn, have some snacks, and when you get inside you see it's a musty biker bar with beer, fists, and chairs flying (and occasional guns), orgies, the dankest smelliest place you've been in a long time, and the owners are happy with it. Okay, obvious exaggeration (it was my turn), but you get my point. Not sure if most here have their collective heads in the sand (see, I cleaned that up from what I maybe should have written) but a certain green site had to enact some pretty strong cleaning up and it worked. It can be done.
I will admit to being disappointed. This site was started by some great people who wanted to get away from the sh*#fest of green site. I foolishly presumed that meant this site would be populated by good people who were not going to let SN turn into yet another sh&(fest, and the admins would work to keep it a good environment. Too frequently I wonder if I'm just a rat in their maze.
Good point- this site doesn't have a lot of traffic, and I suppose they want it that way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:50AM (1 child)
No actually we came here because they moved our stapler. Fuck beta!
But then they got rid of anonymous speech, and the Slashcott was vindicated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @04:24AM
We've recently broken 1m comments!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Thursday May 28 2020, @02:37AM (7 children)
While we have two pretty distinct camps here, it's not difficult to ignore the "camp of idiots" (whichever you may feel that is). I don't worry too much about punitive mods, either, tho I spend a fair share of my mod points pulling good posts back up to visibility.
I do agree that downmods should be in some way expensive -- maybe cost two mod points instead of one, to discourage using Troll as a substitute for Disagree.
And I for one would be sorry to see you go.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:14AM (5 children)
You, sir, are a true man, gentleman, and scholar. Thank you for your kind and uplifting words. I'm genuinely honored. I think I have some great ideas for a fairly different mod system. It would be hierarchical, downmods could be appealed, 1 mod would not move your post down 1 notch, who modded who would be public, etc. Someday when I have lots of time I might just try it. :) But maybe there are better ways to spend my time than fixing slashcode.
Honestly, I don't think there are any idiots, and I respect everyone's opinions. It's the mod system abuse that's been discussed many times, including by top admins, yet it continues unabated. I wish people would behave with more self-control, politeness, etc. I was raised that way, but society in general has degraded into everyone bashing everyone. Incivility. Spread much faster than COVID-19.
Human nature being what it is, on sites like this people behave much worse than they probably (hopefully) do in real life.
I have more to say about this system, downmods, mod-bombing, etc., but I don't want to make it public. I'll say this: the admins know it's a problem, and they've had to punish (such as it is) abusers. martyb himself (I think it was him...) wrote that modding "troll" just because you disagree with someone is mod system abuse. If it was up to me, said abuser would lose mod points for 2 weeks, karma would drop way down, ...
But that said, in my possible future system the downmodder would be allowed to state his case and defend his position, and we'd go from there.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Reziac on Thursday May 28 2020, @05:45AM (2 children)
[bowing] Thank you too, kind sir.
The big reason for all mods to be anonymous is the potential for retaliatory mods. We're small enough that pretty much everyone knows everyone (it's not like Discus -- where downmods are under your own handle -- but with millions of comments, who matters?) and I think it would just be painting a target on yourself -- for downmodes OR upmods -- upmodding an unpopular position being just as likely to draw the ire of the True Believers In Contrary Things.
I think just making downmods more expensive (eg. two points each) would handle it, as best can be without unintended and perhaps even more unpleasant consequences.
Myself, I rarely downmod as it doesn't discourage idiots (shorthand for "people who believe things that are patently untrue, or who act like cunts") and I rarely find it useful; I have better things to do with my points, and I'm adept at skimming past garbage. Last time Buzzy (?) compiled mod stats, I was one of the least likely to downmod. I do sometimes upmod stuff I disagree with or even find wrongheaded, because it includes some point that deserves to be seen, or to avoid having a confusing gap in a discussion. I read here with default threshold at 0, and find a fair number of comments in the 0 rank that deserve a boost. I really like having the daily points and the ability to post and mod in the same discussion, as it produces a leveling effect (and if you think we're polarized, you should see how things are on the Green Site!! we're downright civil by comparison.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:36PM (1 child)
Thank you, all great points and insight. I also rarely downmod- only if it's true troll or flamebait.
That said, I could vote in favor of some new downmod types, but before I go on with that, I'd rather have NO downmods, except troll and spam. And anyone who misuses either gets punished. As I started to write in reply to janrinock, but just don't have the heart to spend time or thought on it, societies have had to form governments, laws, courts, punishments, to keep peace and civility. Much of my life I dreamt of a fairly free, open, mostly libertarian society, but there are too many very bad people so we need prisons. I'm writing today but I'll withhold future comments here until I see some changes to mod system abuse fixes.
Btw, I have no problem with people who believe things that are patently untrue. It's all about time and a timeline- we all just write the best of our ability and knowledge, right? Like my original post that got at least 7 downmods, well, it all dovetails into a lengthy philosophical discussion about what is fact or truth.
Hate to write it, but I've had a green site login since '98 or so. Rarely used it over the years (because it was so so bad), but green site is so cleaned up now that it's invigorating. I find brilliant comments and information there. And like you, I find it easy to skim past the garbage. Frankly, it's now the civil site, and SN is frequently a trainwreck / street riot. And you can always tell by the number of comments in a story. Green got tough and it worked.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday May 28 2020, @04:27PM
I must be looking at different Green articles... (I too go back to the Olden Times, being a middle-5-digiter from 1998) ...most comment chains that I peruse are loaded with vitriol of a caliber I've *never* seen here, not even from our habitually acrimonious types... and those I know from both sites are rather more bristly Over There. But I do like it better here and am rather more likely to click on and read down random articles here, as everything isn't so politically slanted here. And here I usually spend all my mod points; there I seldom do (tho there I seem to often have infinite mod points -- refills instantly after I use 'em up. Maybe it's a function of upmodding, or something.)
Had another thought relevant to the nominal topic:
Here, downmods are only done by Users. We might vehemently disagree, but downmods still reflect a broad spectrum of the community.
On the Dirty Bird, downmods (and tagging a post as Badthink or Wrong IS a downmod) are only done by the Site Authorities. Downmods are a decree from on high. (To be fair, I'd say the Bird has mobs, not communities.)
[I've had a Twatter account for about 12 years, but rarely use it, and I never just cruise new posts.]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @08:32AM (1 child)
Hey don't neglect us idiots! Asshole.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Thursday May 28 2020, @04:31PM
LOL, okay, idiot AND asshole. Happy? :)
Back when Gab had downmods, there was a friendly competition to see who could achieve the worst negative score. (I think it got down into the mid-minus-50,000 range.) I had one follower who was in on that and made him very happy with a downvote every time I saw him. :P
You just gotta know your audience.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:35AM
I'm not going to go, but I have limited time to spend, which is partly why I came here- smaller, more easily read discussions. But this site has become very heavily political. I can't help but notice the huge comment counts for anything remotely political, or that stirs political "discussion", and sadly sometimes zero comments for some great science (my strong interest / preference). So I'll check in here, try to up-mod anything that looks unfairly downmodded, as I've done all along, but I'll spend more of the available time in greener pastures. :)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @07:13PM
Troll!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by janrinok on Thursday May 28 2020, @02:21PM (1 child)
To an extent I agree with you - but it is pointless expecting an intelligent discussion on US politics on this site. Both sides have become polarised, entrenched and unwilling to take part in a reasoned discussion. I'll wait for the next story.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday May 28 2020, @03:48PM
> but it is pointless expecting
an intelligenta civil discussion on...FTFY
I had many thoughts and had started writing them but what's the use. Thank you janrinok!