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Social Networks Twitter

Twitter's Reply-Limiting Feature is Now Available To Everyone (engadget.com) 48

Twitter is making one of its boldest experiments official. After months of testing, the company is bringing its reply-limiting feature, which allows users to control who can reply to their tweets, to all users. From a report: With the update, which is rolling out now to Twitter's apps and website, users can choose who can reply to tweets before they send them. The options are everyone, people you follow, and people you mention. If you choose people you mention, but don't mention anyone in the tweet, it effectively means no one can reply. The settings don't affect the ability to retweet or quote tweet. The change is one of many experiments Twitter's run in recent years in order to improve "conversational health," on its platform. Though limits on replies has been controversial among some users, Twitter has said it's meant to improve some of the less-than desirable dynamics on Twitter, such as ratios and, of course, the infamous reply guys.
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Twitter's Reply-Limiting Feature is Now Available To Everyone

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  • by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:09PM (#60390701) Journal

    Some famous people will have very interesting pages with this turned on.

    Eh, to restrict user input, you do what you gotta do...

    • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      Here let me fix that for you "Some famous people pay PR=B$ agencies to manage very interesting pages and of course to silence critics". The fame purely a exercise in saturation advertising, famous for being drunken drugged up mistrals or sock puppets on screen, their words and actions defined by others, they are NOT the heroes they portray.

      This will hurt Twitter a lot, do what it does to reddit, turn it into little vile pools of circle jerk thought, no other thoughts allowed and everyone blocks everyone an

  • by ruddk ( 5153113 ) on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:14PM (#60390737)

    Is not to play
    People’s true colors shines through their blue check marks.
    I’m happier without twitter.

    • People without a social media account obviously have something to hide and should be reported to the authorities. To exit out the prison door, you must login or signup

    • I found that twitter was cutting into my ever increasing YouTube rabbit hole surfing time.

    • That is happiness in ignorance. The world isn't a better place simply because you ignore those who actively make it horrible. Twitter's ability to reply to anything has made it a truly karma controlled platform. When a gaming CEO tweets how they've recorded record sales the tweets flood in reminding the world that the developers had their pays cut.

      Now Twitter will be nothing more than an unmoderated self promotion platform.

      • Twitter represents at best 22 percent of the population. And even then, its demographics skew heavily.

        The bad that is in the world does not originate from Twitter. Replying to it on Twitter will not resolve it either. Twitter is merely the expression.
        Engaging in activism via social media is no different from jacking off in a tube sock. Same motivations. Same left over byproduct. Both have no larger meaning or impact.

        • And even then, its demographics skew heavily.

          Do you have a source pointing to a scientific study of this? Because I will bet you it's a load of crap. Twitter however does skew heavily to demographics I agree with because echochambers are built by following people who you like to hear from and who agree with you.

          • And even then, its demographics skew heavily.

            Do you have a source pointing to a scientific study of this? Because I will bet you it's a load of crap. Twitter however does skew heavily to demographics I agree with because echochambers are built by following people who you like to hear from and who agree with you.

            Pew research did a study on this earlier this year. Their conclusion was that Twitter demographics are not at all representative of the population at large.

            https://www.pewresearch.org/in... [pewresearch.org]

  • the infamous reply guys.

    That's sexist. Allies support all genders and races replying.

  • Never used Twitter, but I certainly assumed it worked this way. Isn't there a problem with spam being replied to every tweet?

    • by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
      Not really, I've very rarely seen spam. This is mostly for fragile egos of which there are no shortage of on Twitter.
      • What are you saying exactly ?

        I know it could be argued that there is no such thing as the right not to be offended.

        But are you saying that you have the right to piss me off ?

      • Not wanting to listen to your shit isn't the same as having a fragile ego.

        • by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
          I never said moderation should be outlawed like you guys are pretending I did. I merely think good old fashioned block buttons are sufficient for adults instead of whole command center of safe space tools that are in vogue and personally I don't even need to use that. You have the right to block me I have the right to still laugh at you as you stew behind your block knowing my opinion still exists.
          • I never said moderation should be outlawed like you guys are pretending I did.

            Seriously WTF is up with you just making shit up? It's almost like the reality of the situation doesn't support your stance so in order to main consistency you try to alter reality not your stance. I made no such claim.

            I merely think good old fashioned block buttons are sufficient for adults

            Virtual whac-a-mole is a game best played by kids not adults. You're not grown up because you have to mash the block button over and over and

    • by doconnor ( 134648 ) on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @04:13PM (#60391037) Homepage

      It was one of the unique features of Twitter is that you could reply to anything, even ads.

    • by allo ( 1728082 )

      Yes there is, but the worst form comes from the OP.
      Twitter priorizes self-replies from the OP and now spam companies started to offer someone with a viral tweet money in exchange for them praising the product under their viral tweet.

      The other spam is spam accounts using all currently trending hashtags in tweets that has nothing to do with the hashtag. Other reply spam itself is rare.

  • by LenKagetsu ( 6196102 ) on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:42PM (#60390895)

    Give me your bitcoins and I'll double them! Proceeds to hide all replies that call him out

    • Slashdot has the function to set someone as a foe where you won't see their reply, but I don't think that blocks others from seeing it unless they also have you on their foe list.

      It seems like a useful feature for those that strive for that echo chamber safe space experience they prefer.

  • I view this as another strange way for people to insulate themselves from fair criticism. Similar to how Twitter handles blocks.

    It is currently possible to have your tweets be publicly visible. This is the default setting, and logged out users are able to see your tweets. If you block a specific person, that person cannot see your tweets. Yet, they're able to see them just fine if they log out.

    Logging out should never IMPROVE access. Yet another moronic decision by Twitter.

    • Agreed, this feature is either a desperate move on Twitter's part, a huge favor to Trump, or both. Public officials should not have the luxury of hiding or prohibiting replies to their official communications, regardless of medium.

      Gotta assume there are reasons for this change that aren't immediately obvious. Why now, right before an election?!

  • Now people can have that "honest conversation about X" without anyone questioning them. Progress!
    • When most people talk about an "exchange of opinions", what they mean is to exchange your opinion for theirs.

  • I thought that it is just normal? Before this, if you have a private account, people cant reply to yours. Isn't it the same? And if you have a public account, you can block the reply-er. Isn't it like that?
  • Twitter didn't have much accountability for saying stupid shit, but one of the primary methods was for the author to get dogpiled in the comments. This would often lead to the person rethinking their position, either out of reflection or out of embarrassment, and after reconsideration the tweet is pulled.

    That mechanism will be severely limited now as once again people seek only self affirming commentary.

    Being that Twitter as a platform has been an open sewer for years now, it would that regardless, nothing

  • Twitter and Weibo are becoming more and more similar. Maybe we are witnessing the fall of American freedom The question is, how did this happen? and when? I think that maybe all this is related to the newest independent director of Twitter, Li Feifei, who is very supportive of the Chinese Communist Party

I THINK THEY SHOULD CONTINUE the policy of not giving a Nobel Prize for paneling. -- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.

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