James Poniewozik

So I posted a bit on Twitter about going dark there for the foreseeable future. I said that it's not all about Musk's changes, and that's true.

But it's also not NOT about them.

The decision to bring Trump back was a big motivator for me to get off the train. But not for the reasons you might think. 1/

Nov 22, 2022 at 2:53pmWeb
Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022

Whatever I think about Trump, his politics, Jan 6 — I have opinions, everybody has opinions, I wrote a book if you want to read it — is not really the point here. It’s what the decision to me says about what the business model of Twitter is.

Twitter works as a business, if it does, by engaging you. And often, it engages you by inciting emotion. Largely negative emotions. Anxiety, anger, FOMO, outrage, contempt, glee. 2/

Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022
Inviting Trump back is an effort to get in business with the site’s main inciter. It will make people mad, and other people gleeful, even if he never tweets again, and that gets them engaged. And if he does start tweeting again, well, the old engagement machine is back in business. 3/
Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022

People will tweet about the tweets, and reply to them, and QT to dunk on them or to crow over them. Because Twitter has gotten them to decide that they are soldiers in a daily war over the discourse, lobbing little word grenades of righteousness. They are OBLIGATED, in their minds, not to cede the field, or else the wrong people win.

But every word grenade, every reply and dunk and crow, will make a little cash register ring. 4/

Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022

Even before getting Trump back, Elon himself has taken on the role of the site’s main character, creating chaos, inciting the crowd, fueling a battle between the fanboys and haters.

I mean, he may also mean all his shit about free speech and the public square. I’m not a mind reader. 5/

Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022

But sincere or trolling, the effect is the same. It’s the working of a system that generates money by getting you to feel bad, a lot of the time—to lash out at whoever made you feel bad, to look for something to feel good about, to find a community of people to feel bad together with.

Why do I want to give anyone that power over me? Why does anyone? What happens if, maybe we just don’t go along with it? I would like to find out. /end /sorry

Show threadmcnaterNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik Happy to follow you here sir!
Show threadTom SNov 23, 2022
@poniewozik This is a great thread that puts into words what i’ve been. feeling for a long time.
Show threadClive ThompsonNov 23, 2022

@poniewozik

Yeah, I am really not looking forward to watching endless reporters chase stories that are reactions to [whatever trump tweeted today]

Good lord, what a massive waste that was of oxygen, electrons, carbon, and the human spirit

Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 23, 2022
@clive Yeah, I mean, to be clear, I don't know if he will even come back to Twitter. (If he has, I'm not there to notice.) But it just underscores how much the whole setup thrives on conflict.
Show threadDOWNov 23, 2022
@poniewozik an agreement with the truthsocial is that he has to post there and wait 6 hours before posting the same thing on other sites. trump may say his site is fantastic but its a lie. its failing cause trump hasn't paid his dues to the co-owners. Truth(lie)social will crash if he tweets on twitter. crashing anyway cause he already breached the contract by not paying those people.
Show threadmcneelyNov 23, 2022
@poniewozik this is exactly what prompted me to delete the app from my phone. I imagine I will still log on for free agency news in sports (that was my gateway drug) but I don't expect to go back now that they've made clear how they expect the dynamic to be. It's just not healthy.
Show threadHesperionNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik I just saw on twitter quickly an account I have reported and was banned. This account is not banned anymore. The report was made related to hate speech.
Show threadDanielle Solzman 🎥✡️🎬Nov 22, 2022
@Hesperion @poniewozik It doesn't even surprise me. Elon's idea of free speech doesn't include the part about freedom from consequences. I can't deal with the hate speech over there anymore.
Show threadJohn MalyonNov 22, 2022
@Hesperion @poniewozik I reported an account on Twitter for the first time ever yesterday.. Never saw a case where I felt I needed to before, but this was a brazen epithet. They haven't replied yet.
Show threadHesperionNov 22, 2022
@johnmalyonsciencejokes @poniewozik I don't know if they have still any moderators to check that, many employees where fired.
Show threadHesperionNov 23, 2022
@johnmalyonsciencejokes @poniewozik I don't know if there is Still moderation, it seems the team was fired.  I hope the team will fond quickly another job 
Show threadJohn MalyonNov 24, 2022
@Hesperion @poniewozik Just got a reply from Twitter. Of course the post did not violate Twitter's rules. The other day Musk said he won't be censoring posts that are accurate, so I guess you can dehumanize someone with a slur as long as it is the correct slur. 🙄
Show threadHesperionNov 25, 2022
@johnmalyonsciencejokes @poniewozik Really ? Musk is like unlashing crazy tweets about unban accounts who where previously moderated and ban. Totalitarism start to denumanize people to be able to private people from liberty. Elon pretend to work for democratie and free speech, he is promoting a system of misinformation, hate and propaganda. We have to remain carefull.
Show threadHesperionNov 25, 2022
@johnmalyonsciencejokes @poniewozik https://t.co/aZ0NyUP7Fp
Musk says granting 'amnesty' to suspended Twitter accounts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — New Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he is granting "amnesty” for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will spur a rise in harassment, hate speech and misinformation.

Associated Press
Show threadProgGrrlNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik it took all of us 5 to 10 years to coalesce on there, it’s going to take quite a while for us to regroup again. If ever. I am grieving for that loss, but also hoping forward to new future gatherings in these internets we surf…🤞
Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022
@ProgGrrl Yes, that's the thing! I see all these people looking for instant new versions of Twitter, and being nostalgic for what Twitter was like in, like, 2013, and I have to think, do you remember how long it took for your Twitter experience to get to that point? You need months for everyone to figure out what a site is for! You can't just inflate it like a Casper mattress
Show threadProgGrrlNov 22, 2022

@poniewozik this place does seem promising, it does have that early “trying out Twitter”… “hello testing is this thing on?” vibe.

However, one of the things that made Twitter pretty hot from the start was being able to live tweet your IRL activities… I am not seeing any of that here, yet. We shall see…

Show threadDavid L SchaferNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik I quit Twitter twice. The first time was in 2016 and it had just become “too much.” The second time — I had been lurking for a bit and only participating for a couple of weeks — was when Elon tweeted that horrible nonsense article about Paul Pelosi at Hillary Clinton. It was pretty clear, at that point, where things were headed.
Show threadLauraNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik I now realize that I self-assigned a content moderation foot soldier, lurking in horrible conversations, and even going into the hidden replies (the trashcan) to report and block some terrible humans and many more bots. Somehow this was needed to keep democracy in my country…
Show threadDanielle Solzman 🎥✡️🎬Nov 22, 2022
@poniewozik That was a key factor for me, too. I'm not actively checking but still have my account "active" so that people know where to find me. Allowing previously suspended transpobes back on Twitter on top of the unmoderated antisemitism was also a last straw.
Show threadJames PoniewozikNov 22, 2022
@DanielleSATM I mean, there are plenty of potential reasons, different for everyone. And yes, I'm not deleting my account, for security reasons, to give people a place to find me and also because who knows when/if I'll want to use it again.
Show threadHardyNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik curious as to the reasons.
Show threadNicholas MamoNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik Great thread, but I have some doubts about how long the cash register will keep ringing. Twitter was already toxic before Elon took over, but since he took over, the vitriol is something else. The free-for-all nature, and knowing that Twitter could not moderate even if it wanted to (because it fired the moderators), will not attract nor keep advertisers for long.
Show threadEdward BarrowNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik Engagement-maximising algorithms are inevitable for any site reliant on advertising and they're not new under Musk. FB and YouTube are worse (not to mention TikTok). Moving to a subscription model may reduce the engagement imperative. If he doesn't break everything first. But Mastodon too needs something more sustainable than Patreon and goodwill, so I think it's inevitable that public servers (not institutional) will be subscription-based soon.
Show threadJimEtchisonNov 22, 2022
@poniewozik Well said! Following you.
Show thread***Dave Hill 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 22, 2022

@poniewozik This is a thought-provoking thread (meaning, it parallels some thoughts I've been having but haven't articulated).

Twitter works and makes money by provoking engagement. If that means getting users to doomscroll and screed and feel miserable about the world, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's not just true with Musk; Twitter has been that way for a while. But he's amplifying the effect all he can.

Show threadaresNov 22, 2022

@poniewozik

You say people feel "obligated ... not to cede the field ... or the wrong people win".

You're sounding a bit bothsidesy with this, because only one type of person is surrendering territory here, and its not the haters or the authoritarians or the violence inciters.

And nobody wants to use the F-word because it sounds hyperbolic and namecalling, but isn't fascism a real thing, and isn't fascism what people of good conscience really don't want to win?

We have a long history with this shit, much longer that electronic social media existed, and we know fascism is super popular.

We know fascism must be stopped early -- during the recruiting and organizing phase -- or many innocent people will die.

So when you advertise that you're surrendering the territory, and then ridicule the people who remain and struggle, are you saying you don't believe there's a real antidemocratic movement that needs to be fought with everything we have, including "little word grenades"?

What are you saying, exactly, about the ethics of staying or leaving when this much is at stake?

Show thread(((JaneinNJ)))Nov 22, 2022
@poniewozik Just deactivated my Bird account, was shocked to find data hoarding settings I hadn’t even known about. Also noted that I had blocked 159 accounts and muted 15 more to tailor my feed and eliminate virulent right-wing b.s., “Christian” threats, etc. Handle was in triple parens to dare people to challenge me bc I’m Jewish; maybe that was bait. Like others, I will kinda miss it, but over here it’s definitely much less exciting which is great.