Chad LoderNov 27, 2022
Twitter was never a healthy "public square" for most of us. Let's not rewrite history while eulogizing the hellsite.
Twitter was a frightening battleground where we managed barely to claw out an uneasy existence amidst the worst violent neo-Nazi extremists who constantly published our home addresses, threatened our kids' lives, and sent hordes of racist trolls into our mentions.
The same principles that allowed us to survive uneasily on Twitter will be required here in the #fediverse. Community defense, thoughtful pressure on moderation policies, and eternal vigilance.
There are no safe spaces but those we make safe through constant effort. We keep us safe.
Show threadNick Selby Nov 27, 2022
@chadloder maybe I am misremembering through rose colored glasses, but I remember that Twitter from 2007 until about 2014 did not have a lot of the toxic qualities that seemed to get amplified at the end of the Obama administration era. It is currently intolerable for any purpose. [Note: Chad and Stephanie provided great examples of toxicity during that period that have reminded me that indeed I was misremembering through rose colored glasses]
Show threadStephanie ZvanNov 27, 2022
@chadloder @fuzztech If you were a woman in game development or the atheist and skeptic movements, you’d remember differently. Other groups as well, I’m sure. It’s merely that the discussions on how to deal with it were still stuck in “Don’t feed the trolls”, so the prevailing attitude was that the targets were to blame.
Show threadNick Selby 
@StephanieZvan @chadloder totally great and valid point and yea, see, I did misremember. Thanks for setting me straight.
Nov 27, 2022 at 5:43pmWeb