Carl T. BergstromIt's never been about freedom of speech.
All along it's been about toxic assholes feeling entitled to an audience for their bullshit.
It's the same logic that led various asshats to claim that I was attacking free speech when I left twitter for mastodon.
So I didn't have it quite right, as @sterlingericsson noted.
The reason for allowing mutes but eliminating blocks is not to force me to read other people's bullshit, but rather to allow them to attack me for my views, beliefs, and — probably most importantly to Musk — for my very identity.
Jason Petersen (he)@ct_bergstrom i mean in the sense if a user is public you can just pop over to an incognito window to see their posts, he’s not wrong? (This is only to say an aspect of what he said is right, not why he said it, or his view)
I often mute rather than block so the person I’m muting won’t know. If I block, they can figure it out and use alts or their followers to wage war.
flere-imsaho 🇺🇦@jason it's about what others see when they interact with your messages. block removes the arsehole's ability to further reply and leave shit in your feed.
these are different statements. mute is ’i can't be arsed to interact with you’, while block is ‘get out of my space’.
@mawhrin @ct_bergstrom actually from that angle, it’s very clear what Elon wants: as the OP says here, Elon wants people to be able to reply to your views with theirs and show up in the detail pane to others and for you to have no recourse. I hadn’t thought about that, but it’s exactly the “I can say something and everyone has to see it” “speech” they mean.
In a way, having to host others’ opinions under YOUR posts is a kind of forced speech in itself, but Elon won’t give a shit about that.
Outeast@jason @mawhrin @ct_bergstrom I think it's even simpler: the blue ticks are paying to have their voices privileged, and blocking defeats that. It's all about entitlement. Everything else is rationalisation.
Prediction: If this happens, then not long after, blocking will be reinstated as a blue-tick benefit. There are tons of high-profile blue-tickers who are very heavy with the block, and they'll riot if it goes away.
ajf@mawhrin @jason @ct_bergstrom "Nextdoor" is a social network that already follows the model only mute, no block. In addition to location based, rather than follow based interaction. Which means you have no way at all to stop interacting with your local conspiracy theorist. It is extremely hostile.
Chop@ct_bergstrom @sterlingericsson yes and no. While people being attacked—but not seeing the attacks—will be a consequence of this, I’d imagine this is purely about the user experience of a blue checkmark user. They are being blocked in bulk by many very popular accounts.
Example: imagine buying a verified account only to not be able to see Dril because he’s blocking all blue checkmarks en masse.
Phil Rees@ct_bergstrom @sterlingericsson I think part of the motivation is to increase impression and engagement counts as assholes pour over the tweets of people they hate prior to spitting their own venomous bile.
Spaghetti
Richard@ct_bergstrom I haven't been on twitter for quite some time now, but I have read here and there just how radical it has changed, from bad to worse. That is evident with just how many likes that post has. I am continuously so disappointed so many #classicalmusic artists I love and #StarTrek actors I love are still on that platform.
Pamela Barroway – Biz Editor
Jonathan Kamens 86 47@PamelaBarroway @self @ct_bergstrom @georgetakei @JeriLRyan Takei is here but alas he is also still posting on Twitter.
IverCoder@ct_bergstrom somebody did THAT? Such irony, you don't have the same opinion or stay in the same platform as them and now they're criticizing you because they think you're "attacking free speech". Lol
Chuck Taggart, Private Eye@ct_bergstrom I’m still there for some friends I’d miss who aren’t here, but I’d he gets rid of blocking I’m out.
Accept purpose.@SazeracLA @ct_bergstrom
staying with the birdsite at this point is to risk becoming a "good netizen".
staying with the birdsite at this point is to risk becoming a "good netizen".
rastilinI think it's already happened. People on the /twitter Reddit forum have mentioned that people they've blocked are showing up in their feed.
@rastilin @ct_bergstrom This has actually been happening for a while on a smaller scale -- people I've blocked show up in trending topics, but not in my actual feed (nor can they see me or harass me). But if he eliminates blocking for good, he might as well just set fire to the building.
MxhradTell your friends to leave also. No excuse to keep supporting a bigoted far right extremist.
@Mxhrad @ct_bergstrom I'm trying to get them over here, but there's a weird Fediverse-phobia because they have to choose a server (EGAD!). I have and will continue to offer to personally help anyone get set up over here.
I've been there since 2008, and I'd prefer to just keep telling him to fuck himself until he throws me off.
The more you tell him to fuck himself, the more he gets paid. The only way to beat him is to leave. "I've been there a long time" is no excuse to keep funding him.
Sterling Ericsson@ct_bergstrom It's not even that. Muting would still result in you not seeing the person's posts anymore.
But the difference between blocking and muting is that the latter doesn't prevent the person you're trying to get away from from harassing you directly still.
Musk doesn't like that blocking (and block lists) is a way to stop chuds from stalking and harassing you.
I'm sure one of his fascist friends complained about blocks preventing "discourse" or some crap.
tאmáš@sterlingericsson @ct_bergstrom You are, sadly, entirely correct.
Jürgen Hubert (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Meanwhile, over on #Twitter , #ElonMusk contemplates removing the block function because fascist commentator Andy Ngo complained about getting blocked by Antifascists.
Darren@sterlingericsson @ct_bergstrom just wait till he learns about defederation.. I guess he’s probably upset at the number of users blocking him as well. If you can’t take the heat, don’t buy the platform ..
si_irini@dplattsf @sterlingericsson @ct_bergstrom
Sometimes I think...
It's about influencing the whole world....
Or trying to, let's see if we can do that..
I just hope that only I think so...
Tell me I see horrors where there are none, please.
John [He, Him, His] 🌈👨🏼🔬🧬🧫🧪💻@sterlingericsson @ct_bergstrom it’s the online version of what he did to the diver
edgeoforever 🍎@sterlingericsson @ct_bergstrom yup. That screenshot thread was initiated by Andy Ngo
don Elías (como los buses) 🥨@ct_bergstrom it was clear also when he obeyed Erdogan
Matthias Rex 🦣@ct_bergstrom Deleting your Twitter account is better than both blocking AND muting.
BandersnatchI deactivated mine the day after he bought Twitter. So he'd know.
sneedy maccreedy@ct_bergstrom also, that's not what blocking is?
Ben Aveling@crumbleneedy @ct_bergstrom blocking is two way. Mute is only one directional.
Grassroots Joe@ct_bergstrom
For folks people know who will want to run screaming from Twitter when Musk takes away blocking & are not already set up here, I've done my best to make it easy for them to do so with this Mastodon: Step-by-Step guide - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1czntx6cRqDzqBGa6fDhLvZZaQaQvDHXN9YxHsuLasyI/present?usp=sharing
For folks people know who will want to run screaming from Twitter when Musk takes away blocking & are not already set up here, I've done my best to make it easy for them to do so with this Mastodon: Step-by-Step guide - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1czntx6cRqDzqBGa6fDhLvZZaQaQvDHXN9YxHsuLasyI/present?usp=sharing
Jim Vernon@ct_bergstrom Of course it was. Deplatforming doesn't stop someone from saying whatever they want. They simply don't get to use someone else's megaphone anymore, and that's what really bothers them.
Karl Morant 🇨🇦 
🖖
ElootsLeft Twitter for good in November last year. Never regretted it.
Felt so good to be rid of the constant negativity.
It must be an order of magnitude worse since this idiot took over.
I think those who stay do it mostly out of vanity (“yes, I should leave, but I can't let my large group of followers down isn’t it?”). Pure BS.
Skyler 
@ct_bergstrom "stronger mute" but not a block?
apophis@ct_bergstrom the freedom to oppress and coerce others is also a freedom
it is the single freedom that must necessarily be curtailed if any other freedom is going to have any meaning at all
it is the single freedom that these sorts believe in when they say they're in favour of freedom
it is the single freedom that must necessarily be curtailed if any other freedom is going to have any meaning at all
it is the single freedom that these sorts believe in when they say they're in favour of freedom
@apophis Well said.
Steve Paulson@ct_bergstrom Guessing he has just found out how many people have blocked him…
stoicmike@ct_bergstrom The man makes no sense. If he did he wouldn't have paid 40+billion for twitter. And that sink stunt showed what a fool he is.
@ct_bergstrom "Nextdoor" is following this model, no block only mute. I makes that social network extremely hostile.
Frank Bennett 🇯🇵@ct_bergstrom What, Musk is removing the block option on Twitter? Apart from targeted harassment, that would amplify the reach of spammers. I guess if Twitter isn't earning revenue from mainstream advertising, at least it's in tune with the needs of the crypto circle and other grifters. Seems like a place where I wouldn't want to hang out.
@ct_bergstrom and yet he still shadow bans everyone that supports Ukraine and reposts Tucker Carlson
Rant_ifa 🖤❤️ hope
Rant_ifa@ct_bergstrom
Look for #TuckerCarlson...😑 His speech. 10 minuts " the voice of far right" - Video on #Twitter
And the reaction from #Musk.
Only one reaction possible:
#leavetwitternow
Look for #TuckerCarlson...😑 His speech. 10 minuts " the voice of far right" - Video on #Twitter
And the reaction from #Musk.
Only one reaction possible:
#leavetwitternow
i_give_u_worms@ct_bergstrom
What about the way word gets around how someone misspent 44B, people generally don't listen to that person, right?
What about the way word gets around how someone misspent 44B, people generally don't listen to that person, right?
Glenn@ct_bergstrom This is why I left twitter. It was hard to truly block some people. When I blocked Trump's account, I really wanted to block Trump's account even from people I followed that quote tweeted him so they could show all their "outrage" - and get some views.
@ct_bergstrom everything that's excess is bad. That's why absolute freedom is speech is just as worse as an authoritarian regime—limitations on freedom of speech are important to make sure it doesn't get abused to spread hate.
MikeZilla Minus Onehe's a fuckwad who doesn't clock posts but has reinstated shadowbanning
Wendy Lady@ct_bergstrom the ultimate block is leaving the platform all together.
Alerta! Alerta!It's about anyone else having to listen to their bullshit!
OTOH: There is an ultimate block option!
Richard R Lee
Mike J👹🐀 🤘🏻@ct_bergstrom $8 a month is sort of a rip off if everyone you want to harass has you blocked.
Edelruth, PBS Passport HolderAm I reading this right? Musk is mulling eliminating the 'block's button?
Zero regrets that #Ideletedmytwitteraccount
Ferles 
@ct_bergstrom if you block someone then they can't read your posts and you don't see theirs, right? If you can only mute then they can see and interact with your posts you just don't know it?