Twitter boss vows to crack down on trolls and abuse, page 1

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 06:56 AM

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Yes, we could use with a few less trolls on the interwebz. But given their traffic and diversity and operating model, Twitter certainly does have a challenge ahead of them.

By its own CEO’s admission, Twitter “suck at dealing with abuse and trolls”. Now Dick Costolo has shed a little more light on how the company plans to change that.

Twitter is planning to shift “the cost of dealing with harassment” on to the people accused of that harassment, not on the people who endure it, said Costolo in an interview with the New York Times.

“Some people believe that Twitter hasn’t taken the issue seriously because harassment isn’t a form of physical harm – they’re just tweets. No, that’s not true at all. We’ve always taken it seriously,” he said.

“We’ve drawn a line on what constitutes harassment and abuse. I believe that we haven’t yet drawn that line to put the cost of dealing with harassment on those doing the harassing. It shouldn’t be the person who’s being harassed who has to do a lot of work.”

The firm has not yet given any details of how it plans to accomplish this. [Source]

Maybe some new jobs could come out of this. More Twitter Police? And maybe ATS could give them a few tips

edit on 2/26/2015 by ~Lucidity because: (no reason given)

intrptr

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:00 AM

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a reply to: ~Lucidity

Yes, we could use with a few less trolls on the interwebz.

Maybe we could require their username to have little yellow stars attached to them.

Kind of like jews during WWII.

Then we will know who they are. That will go on to create stigma and less than remarks which will result in a whole new troll fest…

edit on 26-2-2015 by intrptr because: spelling

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:06 AM

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a reply to: intrptr

Nah. They'll probably just disappear them

PsychoEmperor

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:06 AM

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originally posted by: ~Lucidity

Twitter is planning to shift “the cost of dealing with harassment” on to the people accused of that harassment, not on the people who endure it, said Costolo in an interview with the New York Times.

That's a bit worrying, no? The person accused not the person proven. I may be wrong but isn't that the CURRENT issue with Twitter?

I'm very interested in whom Twitter determines are "Trolls." Based on their past performance, I'd venture a guess it differs from our definition.

Krazysh0t

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:08 AM

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a reply to: intrptr

Or they just make a new Twitter account...

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:10 AM

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a reply to: PsychoEmperor

They are making the distinction between harasser and harassee, not between accused and convicted.

Probably not the best choice of phrasing on the writer's part.

I wouldn't think they would accuse or take action without careful consideration and investigation, but who knows.

IShotMyLastMuse

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:14 AM

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i have a big fetish for the slippery slope argument.
What's to stop someone form categorizing a disagreement as an attempt at harassment?
hell, me just saying "you're idea is stupid" can be twisted to sound like harassment.
And the grammatical made your eye twitch and serves as an example of light trolling. Double whammy!

DrChinstrap

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:17 AM

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He is just talking obviously.

There is no way for them to enforce this and no legal basis.

edit on 26-2-2015 by DrChinstrap because: (no reason given)

intrptr

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:26 AM

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a reply to: Krazysh0t

Or they just make a new Twitter account…

I was wondering about that. ISIS in the desert on WIFI making new accounts and hangin on the interwebz…

isn't that a mark for a JDAM?

How do they accomplish that?

SlapMonkey

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:40 AM

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a reply to: ~Lucidity

Ah yes...censorship. Hooray!

I know a way to avoid Twitter trolls--society should quit relying on a digital app as a medium through which they live their life.

And now, back to trolling through a digital web forum...

Snarl

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:43 AM

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a reply to: ~Lucidity

Sounds like they've converted another mainstream communications tool into another voice 'for sheople only'. That'll simply bring more folks over to the conspiracy fold. Muwhahaha!!

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:56 AM

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a reply to: SlapMonkey

Do you think it would be any more or less censorship than there is almost everywhere else? I suppose that it depends on how they both define trolls

“I may have a right to say something, but I don’t have a right to stand in your living room and scream it into your ear five times in a row,” he said, while warning that some reports of harassment turn out to be “fairly rational political discourse”, which Twitter is keen to protect.

And it also says they're investing in more moderators. How could or bad they are will depend on the training and guidelines they receive.

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 07:57 AM

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a reply to: Snarl

ATS deals with trolls as well as other issues pertaining to their T&Cs rather well, don't you think?

I don't find it all that hard to differentiate between abuse and disagreement. Do you?

edit on 2/26/2015 by ~Lucidity because: (no reason given)

SaturnFX

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:09 AM

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Twitter cannot do anything about harassment. Reason being is that it is subjective.
The special snowflakes on twitter find any who disagree with them to be harassing them. I watched a popular blockbot block tens of thousands of people. "harassers" is what they are calling them, but it has blocked so randomly that people have found their collegues from the same company are blocked, KFC (the chicken place) got blocked, etc.

the new popular thing is to suggest any variation from your position isn't a discussion, a debate, or just a difference of opinion..its harassment.

Twitter needs to just step back and not get involved unless the authorities need help on a specific person, otherwise, let the kids call each other names in the twitsandbox

Sticks and stones

SaturnFX

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:12 AM

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originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: Snarl

ATS deals with trolls as well as other issues pertaining to their T&Cs rather well, don't you think?

Wait, what? no, hell no. shesh, I once got banned for reasons that still remain a mystery. obviously got it sorted out, but no. and ATS is a relatively small board with a ton of mods...twitter is a global phenomena with like..no mods. setting up an algorithm wouldn't do it (get all humor nuked, private convos, etc), hiring on a 10 million strong super account army? no...you can't equate the two sites.

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:13 AM

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a reply to: SaturnFX
The bots failing may be exactly why they put emphasis on this...

Avoiding this will require Twitter to continue increasing its investment in human moderation – more costs for the company, but vital for the overall health of its community.

Snarl

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:14 AM

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originally posted by: ~Lucidity
a reply to: Snarl

I don't find it all that hard to differentiate between abuse and disagreement. Do you?

Most of the time it comes down to mood. There's no way Twitter enjoys the same mods we have, nor the maturity of our regulars.

Disclaimer: This is the _only_ social media account I use. I've been out on a limb a time or two.

FlyersFan

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:28 AM

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The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

a reply to: ~Lucidity
I like that poster you put up from Twitter. Trolls attack regular members; makes self savior; uses many aliases; violates established policies - very accurate. The rude lil' buggers seem to be obsessed with the delusion that they are some kind of savior. Crossed wiring.

Twitter is going to get serious and start going after trolls legally? Financially? I look forward to seeing how that works out. No one should have to put up with cyber harassment. Harassment isn't allowed in real life, so it shouldn't be allowed online either. Maybe if trolls know they'll be held accountable for their continued breaking of site rules that they agreed to, then they'll think twice before continuing the harassment. Then again, they don't seem to actually think straight so it might not change anything.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

~Lucidity

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 08:32 AM

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a reply to: FlyersFan

Ha thanks. I kinda cobbled that together quick from the Twitter Troll bird and another poster that pretty well sums up troll behavior and added the red circle to go with the story.

I'm curious about the legal and financial as well. Law enforcement is taking threats and stalking and the like more and more seriously all the time. As for the financial, i can't see them doing more than recouping costs?

CharlieSpeirs

posted on Feb, 26 2015 @ 09:06 AM

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Twitter is the most racist, xenophobic & sexist medium in existence right now.

There is no debate to be had about that, whatsoever.

It is a cesspit of scumbags.

It cannot be moderated either.

There is the odd gem...

& describing those as a needle in a haystack is an absolute understatement...

I've found some decent music through Twitter...
& that's its shining light...

The only other thing Twitter has shown me is that the "1st World" is inherently more gullible, fascist & disgusting than we are led to believe is the case...

Overall it is a Troll haven...

Poverty will end & Peace will arise before Twitter is purged of Trolls.