the evil of Twitter

[ericbarbour]

Might as well start a thread here. Partly because of a recent item, about a guy being doxed and abused by thousands of Twitter users. All of social media brings out the worst of human nature, but there's something about Twitter that makes it worst of the worst.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06 ... -ride.html

For crissakes, FIVE YEARS AGO author Jon Ronson gave a TED talk warning that "Twitter shaming" does not help society. No one paid attention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAIP6fI0NAI

[ericbarbour]

And before you assume Twitter-shaming is most popular with the left....watch Lindsay Ellis's video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Alen-p6_ak

[ericbarbour]

Hippie bus! Antifa weapons! Marco Rubio!!

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/ru ... a-invaders

[ericbarbour]

I swear I don't go looking for shit like this. It finds me.

Whilst examining someone's Twitter feed after a Reddit link, this appeared in the feed.

depthsofwiki.png (191.47 KiB) Viewed 1477 times

The Twitter account "Depths of Wikipedia", a stream of stupid WP trivia started in 2020, currently has 390,000 followers. There are also Instagram and Tiktok feeds. Never heard of it before--it looks like one of those "social-media-popular" things that have no traction elsewhere online. It has "why is this stupid shit popular?" written all over it.

Free advice: DO NOT look at the Tiktok. It is full of videos of Rauwerda doing stupid things with WP trivia as captions. When she's not waving her fucking cat around.

And their supporters do things like this.

deptslive.png (146.43 KiB) Viewed 1477 times

And just as usual with something Wikipedians like, it already has a Wikipedia article. Looks like yet another hunk of WMF-approved shit propaganda to me.

[Strelnikov]

It also comes with a Members Only-level jacket:

https://twitter.com/bridespanker/status ... 8195014658

[ericbarbour]

Just for the yuks I created an account on WT.social. And today got the following email. So much Metafilter-style stupid--complete with Jimbo's stamp of approval right at the top.

Part 1:

Latest updates from WT.Social

-----

WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEW TWITTER REFUGEES

A big welcome to all of our new users coming from Twitter. Below are some l=
inks to help you get started.

Welcome Twitter refugees! - from Jimmy Wales
https://wt.social/post/from-wt-social/3 ... 3212415766

Hello to all new members. I would like to start off by saying thank you for=
joining WT.Social. To the 'newbies' you may be asking yourselves, well, wh=
at exactly do I get from WT.Social? This is an extremely educational social=
media platform.
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/g ... 3249295099

Getting Started: A VISUAL TUTORIAL FOR WT.SOCIAL
https://wt.social/post/cha1fkm5249256383

EXPLORE TOP SUBWIKIS
https://wt.social/wt/

-----

NEWBIE CORNER

Every week people step away from Twitter to try WTS. Say hello to these new=
est arrivals! If you're a new member, press the "SAY HELLO" button to make =
a post and share something interesting about yourself in the Newbie Corner =
subwiki.

Anyone still here? Interested in sharing lock down experiences?
https://wt.social/post/coronavirus-aler ... 3851532062

Just joined wt.social - I thought I would investigate after hearing Jimmy W=
ales talk about it on Radio 4 this morning, so as yet I have no idea what t=
o expect.
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/c ... 3663032718

Part of my reason for joining is that Twitter seems to be an echo chamber
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/i ... 3544716469

In a hospital in X=C3=A1tiva (Spain) - day 5 - waiting for my Dad to be ope=
rated on. Time moves slowly in these places. Interested to see what this WT=
.Social is all about. Time to post..
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/e ... 0352883499

Twitter, but run like Wikipedia? This seems like a worthwhile project!
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/1 ... 3485975642

Twitter refugee here checking out WT.Social
https://wt.social/post/-newbie-corner/l ... 3480467868

What's the verb for posting here? Weeting?
https://wt.social/post/casual-chit-chat ... 3522318485

SAY HELLO
https://wt.social/wt/-newbie-corner/

-----

WTS2.0 Development Diary

Thank you to everyone who has suggested improvements to the current WT.Soci=
al platform. We are currently working on the next iteration of the site. H=
ere's what we've been up to this week. Part of planning for WTS2 is reckon=
ing with the load times and speed in general. We can solve this firstly by =
properly separating frontend from backend, and secondly by moving away from=
relational databases and into a NoQSL world. The separation will grant us =
an API, which will be reusable for apps and any more creative ideas the com=
munity might have. - Simon Little (Lead Dev) One of the most commonly requ=
ested features has been multilingual support. We have made sure that it is =
baked into the foundations of WTS2.0. English and Spanish are currently sup=
ported, with German coming soon. If you=E2=80=99d like to add your language=
, send me an email and I=E2=80=99ll send you the relevant documents to tran=
slate - Fiona (Community Manager)

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SUBWIKI
https://wt.social/wt/wts20-dev-diary

[ericbarbour]

Part 2 (it's got bad formatting embedded and this forum sw is choking on it)

-----

=F0=9F=87=BA=F0=9F=87=A6 UKRAINE =F0=9F=87=BA=F0=9F=87=A6

Here are the latest updates about Russia and the war in Ukraine.

Russia Is Losing a War Against Hackers Stealing Huge Amounts of Data
https://wt.social/post/technology/ye37daw550281404455

With Us or With Them? In a New Cold War, How About Neither.
https://wt.social/post/understanding-ou ... 028150081=
39

And Now For The Rest Of The Story....
https://wt.social/post/2ud13vh5502728357265

Finland prepared to join Nato without Sweden, says minister
https://wt.social/post/russian-invasion ... 3822710919

Russia threatens to attack Kyiv should Ukraine launch strikes on facilities=
in Russia
https://wt.social/post/russian-invasion ... 3534815683

MORE POSTS
https://wt.social/wt/russian-invasion-of-ukraine

-----

TOP POSTS FROM WT.SOCIAL

Check out some of the most interesting and popular posts from this week.

Influencers Are Complicit In the Creation of the Corporate Outrage, Hate an=
d Profit Machine
https://wt.social/post/nsf2ha75503527235770

Toyota Keeps Donating to GOP Republicans Who Spread the =E2=80=98Big Lie=E2=
=80=99
https://wt.social/post/450icms5503554255566

Is this a hate symbol?
https://wt.social/post/debateclub/ltukym85503570331293

A question on approaching climate change
https://wt.social/post/climate-change-s ... d-policy/=
qm8zhws5503635061112

EU is close to forcing every manufacturer to use USB-C chargers for everyth=
ing
https://wt.social/post/technology/0r3kp9a5502763590606

Congresswoman Greene to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: 'I don't know on those=
things.' Is that the same as saying she knows nothing about anything?
https://wt.social/post/fighting-misinfo ... 3039941863

READ MORE
https://wt.social/wt/technology/

-----

THE LIGHT STUFF

Need a palate cleanser after all the serious posts? This week's Light Stuff=
is here to help. If you've found something fun in your life this week, tak=
e a moment to share in the Casual Chit Chat subwiki using the button below.

I had to share some pictures of the love of my life, smoking/grilling/barbe=
que
https://wt.social/post/just-being-frank ... 3091864960

The surprising afterlife of used hotel soap
https://wt.social/post/interesting-fact ... 3408468086

anyone else like podcast's?
https://wt.social/post/casual-chit-chat ... 3169959608

The Decade of the 50th Anniversary Remix/Remaster
https://wt.social/post/open-questions/l ... 3306456777

Smart Toilets: Next Tool Against Diseases (Including COVID)
https://wt.social/post/weird-news/lfuvam25503637281334

CASUAL CHIT CHAT
https://wt.social/wt/casual-chit-chat/

-----

Like what you read? Forward this email to a friend!

WikiTribune Ltd
Company Number 10713170
38 Berkeley Square, London,
United Kingdom, W1J

[ericbarbour]

I have to unsubscribe from the WT.social list. Not that I don't agree with some of the political talk in their threads. I just find their constant handwringing about the GOP trying to destroy the Constitution (and institute a fascist dictatorship!!! HITLERHITLERHITLER!!) overwrought and pathetic. This country has had an authoritarian tendency since it was founded. Still one of the most successful democratic republics ever made, and still copied by other countries worldwide. Quite far from perfect but try comparing it to, say, Putin's Russia. Or the current regime in Brazil. Or China.

If they REALLY cared they would get personally involved in politics and set up public demonstrations, instead of whining at each other on the WT.social echo chamber (a website VERY few people have ever heard of--other than Wiki nerds).

https://wt.social/post/7atwm2r5505624521773

https://wt.social/post/8u1dxhr5504250554996

[oranges33]

Twitter is truly awful.

Just left it permanently a few weeks ago

Cannot see any personal benefit to being on it been on it. After years and thousands of tweets have only ended up meeting super shady characters and the best thing that occurred was I got a job offer from a super shady guy, which I declined.

[oranges33]

The "Fediverse" wants to be a popular alternative to Twitter.

It's basically a Twitter ripoff, but decentralized. So, inherit all the fault of Twitter by-design, and give randos an opportunity to fragment it, and make it harder to use.

Gab recently tried using it, but abandoned it's underlying protocol as ActivityPub is apparently terribly designed from security and bandwidth perspectives.

The solution to all of the faults of the fediverse, is the fediverse telling users to 'run their own instance' of the Fediverse, instead of complaining about other instances. This seems to be not worth it. The Fediverse is apparently overrun with child pornography, and hosting a portal to the Fediverse means anyone can route child porn through your server. And as any server owner knows, that is a nightmare scenario.

Prefer conversation-based-platforms, to person-based platforms like Twitter and Fediverse.