WDust00Dec 24, 2022
Ken White

Freethinker Elon Musk defies woke mind virus, refuses to tell people how to think about suicide

https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-orders-removal-twitter-suicide-prevention-feature-sources-say-2022-12-23/

Exclusive: Twitter removes suicide prevention feature, says it's under revamp

Twitter Inc removed a feature in the past few days that promoted suicide prevention hotlines and other safety resources to users looking up certain content, according to two people familiar with the matter who said it was ordered by new owner Elon Musk.

Reuters
Dec 24, 2022 at 3:49amMastodon for iOS
Show threadAnathema DeviceDec 24, 2022
@Popehat miserable, selfish bastard :(
Show threadBroken TrolandDec 24, 2022

@Popehat They’re revamping it to prevent it from being used to anonymously harass people, right?

* Anakin stare *

Right?

Show threadWarren TerraDec 24, 2022
@brandonlivesin @Popehat
So far as I can tell, this isn't about reporting tweets as being encouragement of self harm. There have been issues in the past with incorrect flagging of tweets (leading to suspensions), whether because of AI or human stupidity or because organized trolls falsely report tweets, but firstly the answer to that is more and better moderators, and secondly this isn't about that. This is just a tool that tries to signal to people in possible pain that help is available.
Show threadJames EndicottDec 24, 2022

@brandonlivesin @Popehat no, it's because they're working on a new system that they plan to roll out next week.

Unfortunately for them, they don't have enough engineers remaining to set up A|B testing or prevent the two from conflicting with each other.

Show threadpodkaynelivesDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Like they couldn't keep the existing system in place on production while they worked on the new system in their dev environment 🙄
Show threadGeorge BuddDec 24, 2022
@podkaynelives @Popehat Does Twitter even have a dev environment? Regardless, this is completely disgusting
Show threadKevin SoursDec 24, 2022
@Gbudd @podkaynelives @Popehat Everybody has a dev environment. Some organizations have a separate environment for production. I don’t believe Twitter is one of them.
Show threadGeorge BuddDec 24, 2022
@kevinrsours @podkaynelives @Popehat You’re right, I wish I had said it that way (I am very happy not to work in a “move fast and break things” development shop (I personally just break things at a more leisurely pace 🙄))
Show threadhalonineDec 24, 2022
@Gbudd @podkaynelives @Popehat It doesn't anymore! Elon is the best coder, everyone's saying it, and, Chuck Norris-like, all his code goes straight to production. (This is grotesque)
Show threadCompuguy 🐱Dec 24, 2022
@podkaynelives @Popehat @bbennettesq As I recall, Twitter does everything in prod. No test environment….😬
Show threadPrasad Jallepalli, MD, PhDDec 24, 2022

@Popehat The comments from Twitter's head of Trust and Safety are appalling.

No one in medicine stops practicing the standard of care because we're also researching ways to do better. It's not either/or. It never has been!

You don't stop lifesaving interventions on a whim.

Show threadGriff Ferrell calckeyDec 24, 2022
@Popehat fxcking Elmo
Show threadlex MariaDec 24, 2022
@Popehat And during the holidays… The cruelty has always been the point. It is heartbreaking to see the consciences, or lack thereof, from people with power. What has society become if we canned even care to try to help the vulnerable?
Show threadlex MariaDec 24, 2022
@Popehat *cannot. (Haven’t figured out the edit function yet)
Show threadKanaMaunaDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Killing one’s users to own the libs.
Show threadAngieDec 24, 2022
@Popehat "Temporarily" removed it AT CHRISTMAS??? This is intentionally cruel.
Show threadjigbeanDec 24, 2022
@angiea @Popehat Exactly! It's unconscionable to do it at any time but just at one of the most difficult times for some people is really troubling.
Show threadRobert StribleyDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Of course, as anyone who works on the web at all could tell, this doesn’t explain why the feature needed to be removed until it was updated.
Show threadi_.o._iDec 24, 2022

@Popehat I’ve already deactivated my account and canceled my cybertruck, but this makes me want to do it all over again. I can’t believe I ever admired this guy.

I’m so tired of the maga crowd. It really is like they only care about being cruel to others. No other agenda. It’s only about doing evil.

Show threadToxteth O'GradyDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Can he get back to thinking about electric cars? Or has that bird flown the coop?
Show threadDj Ir0ngruveDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Oh, the weird nerds are going to tie themselves up in mental suicide knots to justify this.
Show threadkillwrathyDec 24, 2022
@Popehat I'm guessing this is a 'We need to cut costs so let's take it out to work on it instead of getting a separate version developed and deployed' rather than a 'i explicitly don't want hurting people to see help is available'. But pretty bad.
Show threadDavid BinkowskiDec 24, 2022
@Popehat why does everyone keep talking about his goal of building WeChat? The more we try to study a trainwreck in slow motion the more we feed his narrative.
Show threadGojira1000Dec 24, 2022
@Popehat He really is a cumb dunt. The timing could not be worse.
Show threadshield_assetDec 24, 2022
@Popehat He's clearly decided the best way to cut costs is reducing the need for server infrastructure due to a rapidly shrinking userbase.
Show threadJTDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Annnnnnd of COURSE he picked the worst imaginable time of year. 🙄
Show threadJeff BishopDec 24, 2022

@Popehat And yet, inviting a Putin stooge to slap himself got me banned the next day for promoting suicide or self-harm (maybe, I guess, if he slaps himself hard enough?). And yeah, I'm still banned. Just checked.

https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1605659340102328335

Josh Hammer on Twitter

“Raise your hand if you are personally DONE with the Ukraine gravy train. 🙋‍♂️”

Twitter
Show threadstoicmikeDec 24, 2022
@Popehat The bankers who lent him thirteen billion are contemplating ending it all...
Show thread@mweston has movedDec 24, 2022

@Popehat Wow. I own a Tesla, and have already changed to not recommending others follow that lead. Now this makes me wonder how long I can stand to even drive it. My opinion of Space Karen is falling off a cliff.

What a horrible (human?) being.

Show threadsbiDec 24, 2022

@mweston I never cease to wonder why it took the Twitter debacle to open some people's eyes.

https://twitter.com/tweetsbi/status/1603337671308300288

sbi on Twitter

“@SurpriseSparrow @shafikyaghmour @pati_gallardo Short story: In my last job, we got a new CTO around 2015/16, who in his intro mail cited Musk dictating people in his company's departments to communicate directly, rather than going the long way. We were told to communicate more like Musk, in order to be more efficient.”

Twitter
Show threadAlexander RutholDec 24, 2022

@Popehat
It's probably a good thing, reporting opponents for "considering or encouraging self-harm" was constantly abused by rightwing and russian trolls.

E.g. one of my innumerable twitter bans was for dismissing an antivaxxer by telling him to eat his ivermectin and gargle his bleach.

Show threadNickyBrickdustDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Given that suicide is an apt description for the effect his choices are having on his current reputation, there's a certain irony here.
Show threadJack MottDec 24, 2022
@Popehat reddit has such a feature, I had it deployed on me twice, both times because a troll was just weaponizing it.
Show threadBrian Ragle (he/him/his) 🇺🇸🖖🏼Dec 24, 2022
@Popehat Related to the story of the Musk super fan investor, and parent of a trans gender child, who read Musk for filth over the matter recently? To the tune of selling their Model 3 Tesla and pissing him off in the process?
Show threadjartDec 24, 2022
@Popehat f*cking shameful
Show threadhusbandpanda 🐼Dec 24, 2022
@Popehat Ah Elmo, pushing for his perfect world colonialism theory by finding yet another vulnerable group to push off the existential cliff.
Show threadMichael BauserDec 24, 2022
@Popehat "Suicide is free speech, actually."
Show threadMysophobe Dec 24, 2022
@Popehat
Anti-woke is the basically the freedom to bully “undesirable” children and adults into attempting suicide, so this is actually pretty on-brand. The revamping will simply be providing them with suicide instructions instead of prevention resources.
Show threadJessieDec 24, 2022
@Popehat just in time for the holidays.
Show threadJon TullettDec 24, 2022

@Popehat This is going to kill people. Anything that triggers a pause for breath, even just by a few minutes, can reduce suicide by a measurable amount.

And the "we're trying to improve it" schtick is bs. Improve it in parallel, don't take away the guardrails and *then* think about new ones.

He will have blood on his hands for this.

Show threadbiffbobfredDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Elon strikes a blow against … Big Air and…… big… breathing …. Yeah I got nothing
Show threadNathanDec 24, 2022
@Popehat Sounds exactly like what a heartless eugenicist or social darwinist would do.
Show threadandysmart1948Dec 24, 2022
@Popehat I heard he was worried about the Tesla self-driving mode falling foul of suicide prevention measures