What Can Be Done About Twitface?

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-under-fresh-pressure-to-remove-racist-content-sooner-after-labour-frontbencher-david-lammy-reveals-abuse-12042261
I think the Home sec has done the right thing in condemning this awful abuse and supporting Mr Lammy but surely this cesspit needs a rocket up it's April.

[ichkeria]

On the subject of AB it is right that it should be moderated. Otherwise abuse could get out of hand and quickly drown out anything constructive.
Twitter etc is only as good or as bad as the people who use it. It is hard to moderate as it is so huge.
It would be lovely if a recipient of an abusive post could just delete it and optionally block or ban the sender. But I don't see how that could work properly. Twitter in particular was made for sounding off. I have never really seen the point of it, other than for news updates.

[Peter Pedant]

// people spouting their opinions and abuse, and it not getting immediately removed.//

er I remember my innocent little frou frou about Prince Harry being removed pronto like ( prontissimo - sozza all, Italian today)
and a little Brownie or Girl Guide roughly kicking sand into my face ( get over it were the exact words)

so in conclusion - AB is different - what someone says one day with hand on heart - - - doesnt matter ! they will say the opposite the next day.

[oh and please add in ex tempore screams supporting freedom of speech]

[AuntPollyGrey]

Ellipsis //Sounds like Twitter would suit you ...//

Would you care to explain why? Because I am capable of standing up for myself and realising the difference between real and empty threats?

[jim360]

Sounds like classic victim-shaming but ok.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Ummmm //So would I say that but I'm not in the public eye.//

I was referring to moderation on anonymous sites like AB. Threats on public platforms where people post as themselves should always be acted on in the appropriate manner -from giving back as good as you got, to bringing in the Police, depending on the gravity of the threat.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Jim "victim shaming" -please do me a favour! Right on brother.....

[dannyk13]

PP//[oh and please add in ex tempore screams supporting freedom of speech]//
Free speech is not an excuse to abuse and villify.It must ,on occasion, be moderated.

[youngmafbog]

AB is not comparable with TwitFace et al in the slightest. Delusions of grandeur maybe?

Anyhow on the subject of TwitFace I'm not sure how you could ever get 100% 'pure' site without starting to infringe deeply into freedom of speech. It's also not reasonable to expect them to respond immediately since they undoubtedly get bombarded with complaints from the perpetually offended.

So I guess its down to what you prefer. A site where people can post rubbish that can/will be taken down at some point or a Chinese/North Korea type system.

[youngmafbog]

//Free speech is not an excuse to abuse and villify.It must ,on occasion, be moderated.//

Couldn't agree more. The problem with these large sites with literally millions of posts something has to be written, read, reported, investigated and then actioned and with so many posts that takes time.

[AuntPollyGrey]

//Free speech is not an excuse to abuse and villify.It must ,on occasion, be moderated.//

Well thats your point of view and that of the AB administration. I do not agree that it "must" be moderated across all social media platforms.
'Abuse' is a moving feast, depending on the abuser and the abused (especially on AB)

[dannyk13]

APG, okay then, substitute should for must.

[ichkeria]

The problem with "abuse" as I said earlier is that apart from anything else it can take on a momentum of its own. You can see it here, albeit on a small scale, and it can derail discussions very quickly.

[anneasquith]

I smiled at this post from ttt of all people . I did not know David Lammy was a known racist,is there any proof ?

[Peter Pedant]

// I did not know David Lammy was a known racist,is there any proof ?//
oh pul-leez this is AB ! yeah ?

[LadyCG]

Yes, plenty on Twitter.

Never leave this site, Anne. You contribute far too much.

[anneasquith]

Go on peter, explain your reply . :-)

[jim360]

The reason I'd regard APG's attitude as victim-shaming is that it's turning absence of a virtue into a vice. All credit to people who can bat away criticism, no matter how strong it is, but that shouldn't be equated with "if you are shocked by [the abuse on] a forum don't go on!", or "it's [your] fault for being too open on a forum", or whatever.

In the first place, the correct attitude really ought to be to tone down the abuse, ie for the would-be abusers to take a long, hard look at themselves and accept responsibility for what they post. In the second place, it can be difficult to realise just how open you've been. Even logging into a website (assuming no use of VPN, and possibly even that isn't 100% secure) reveals information about you to those willing to track it down; and, besides, this takes credit away from those desperate to use the tiniest snippets in order to track someone down, or ignores the problem that public figures in particular are more or less obliged to be open.

Finally, the nature of abuse is that how it's perceived is often personal, and it's not clear how such feelings can ever be regarded as wrong. Maybe there has been a recent personal tragedy in that individual's life, maybe the person is ill. Or maybe the threat is actually, to an extent, followed through. Ignoring or invalidating those feelings is, at the very least, lacking in empathy.

[Ellipsis]

> Would you care to explain why? Because I am capable of standing up for myself and realising the difference between real and empty threats?

Yep, that's it.

[jim360]

// AB is nothing like twitface et al, it's a small site with anonymous users posting questions and answers under specific headings. Not remotely comparable to Twitfacetigram etc. //

It's important to point out that it's possible to be anonymous on Twitter (and Instagram, and a few other social media sites) too, and that people can have discussions related to specific headings -- especially so on Facebook, where there are also "groups" dedicated to discussing particular issues.

AB is clearly not identical to Facebook or Twitter; the closest major equivalent is probably Reddit, albeit at a vastly smaller scale.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Jim . People have to take responsibility for themselves, not expect other people to change their attitudes or modus operandum . If you don't like the way people conduct themselves on certain platforms then don't go on them -is that too simple? I would not dream of going into a church then complaining everyone was singing hymns and praying and it 'offended me'. This ridiculous 'victim shaming' is used far too often and does anyone actually know what it means in this context? Telling a rape victim they 'asked for it' because they were dressed provocatively is serious victim shaming. Telling someone that if they are offended by a Forum or Social Media platform they should perhaps avoid those places is not blinking well victim shaming.