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Tech Thread

LeafGm said:
If that’s what Zuck wants Threads to be…what exactly is the distinction between Threads and Instagram?

Seems like both are serving the exact same audience and purpose.
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Instagram but with text and not forcing pictures
 
LeafGm said:
If that’s what Zuck wants Threads to be…what exactly is the distinction between Threads and Instagram?

Seems like both are serving the exact same audience and purpose.
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1694471850448.png

They simply see it as a negative to attach what made Twitter, Twitter, to their brand.
 
manny said:
Hmmm I think their vision is a bit more complex than that.

Like, what would you do if you wanted Twitter but without 90% of the nonsense? A place where people can make lifestyle posts (you’re free to care or not) without being overrun by nazis, and other people can discuss serous events, including the war in Ukraine, without being overrun by nazis.

Whether the algorithm and moderation policies will ever lead to that promised land is a fair question.
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Except they’ve just abandoned moderation in lieu of mass censorship.
 
Wayward DP said:
Except they’ve just abandoned moderation in lieu of mass censorship.
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The idea is that they do both. For certain terms, the misinfo probably outweighs facts by such a large margin that it makes sense to exclude those terms from search.

And also, IMO, not showing certain words in the search function, is not “censorship.” You can start a threads account today and post all the vaccine (mis)information you want. It will stay up. But if some bot wants to pile on, they might have trouble finding your post.

But hey, if you’re looking for a platform to screech at antivaxxers, quote studies at them, and hope you change some imaginary minds in the process, you’ve got plenty of options already.
 
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You know, on further reflection, it probably wouldn't be the worst thing for the world if every single Zuckerberg-owned media platform had a blanket policy of not allowing any political discussion. Considering Facebook's track record in the Trump era.
 
manny said:
The idea is that they do both. For certain terms, the misinfo probably outweighs facts by such a large margin that it makes sense to exclude those terms from search.

And also, IMO, not showing certain words in the search function, is not “censorship.” You can start a threads account today and post all the vaccine (mis)information you want. It will stay up. But if some bot wants to pile on, they might have trouble finding your post.

But hey, if you’re looking for a platform to screech at antivaxxers, quote studies at them, and hope you change some imaginary minds in the process, you’ve got plenty of options already.
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if not censorship, it is at least suppression.

the platform is literally suppressing discussion and conversation on some of the most interesting and controversial topics. and suppressing relevant health information from reaching folks who could benefit from it. all because they're too chickenshit to bother with any serious attempts at moderation.

and you seem to want to defend this?
 
MindzEye said:
How is literally throwing certain words or terms down the fucking memory hole not censorship?
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sounds like if you post about covid, it doesn't get deleted. it just gets hidden from the search.

whether that amounts to censorship or not I'm willing to conceded is a live (if semantic) debate.

but it is definitely suppression.

and there is certainly an argument to be made that removing relevant results from a search (on, among other things, topics such as health matters that can have very real impacts on people's lives) on its own can be considered censorship.

but either way, whether we call it censorship or suppression, all the other points/objections still stand IMO
 
I’m not saying it’s good. I do think it’s probably the lesser evil though, and for now at least, a way to prevent threads from turning into a cesspool like Twitter.

But anyway, above all it’s a business decision. If people want a place to “valuable medical information” about whether vaccines are good or bad, or if they want to yell into the void at pro-Russian bots, they can go elsewhere.
 
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The algorithm and it's monetization is what drives social media, it's what drives all the bullshit "news" sites, it's what drives all the "influencers", it's why every thumbnail for a reel/story has a provocative image to be clicked on.

The algo is the problem because it's not designed to make informative choices for you, it's designed to steal your attention and hopefully drive ad revenues.

Content providers are slaves to the algo, and know that if they can tap into it even once on a large scale, that all the rest of their content will start showing up in peoples feeds. The more outrageous, the better.

I'd much rather watch curated news from a trusted source (is that censorship?), than bombarded with similar stories because the algo saw that I read a story about a Covid denier.

...and no, FB/Meta should not be a trusted source for anything.. ever.
 
Yeah… seriously.. at what point are people responsible to seek out trusted news source.

When media was scarce (3 networks in the USA) trusted news and common sense was thrust upon the population.

Now, it’s your duty as a citizen to make informed choices about your media diet
 
manny said:
I’m not saying it’s good. I do think it’s probably the lesser evil though, and for now at least, a way to prevent threads from turning into a cesspool like Twitter.

But anyway, above all it’s a business decision. If people want a place to “valuable medical information” about whether vaccines are good or bad, or if they want to yell into the void at pro-Russian bots, they can go elsewhere.
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Twitter wasn't really a cesspool until Elon start putting his thumb on the scale of public conversation. Twitter was a pretty necessary and reasonable well moderated gathering place to get information on controversial subjects from actual experts. Go back to year 1 of the covid thread here on FI for proof of that. When public health departments all over the world were fucking up their messaging to appease lunatics, it was easy and fast to get access to the most recent peer reviewed information on how to protect yourself.

The argument at the time was that right wing conspiracies were being censored on Twitter and we've since learned that to largely be bullshit. If you just moderate honestly (which Twitter, based on their internal discussions, seemed to put a serious effort into pre Elon), you arrived somewhere within the bounds of our shared reality on outcomes. The nutters were mad that their entirely unsupported fever dreams weren't being promoted enough though because conspiracy, bots, etc. All turned out to be bullshit, shockingly enough.
 
But twitter turned Elon’s daughter/son against him.

He was otherwise a great parent lavishing his upmost attention to all his 11 children
 
CH1 said:
But twitter turned Elon’s daughter/son against him.

He was otherwise a great parent lavishing his upmost attention to all his 11 children
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From 3 different baby mothers.

I wonder how many times we would hear about this lifestyle choice if he was black NBA player instead of a white billionaire....
 
MindzEye said:
Twitter wasn't really a cesspool until Elon start putting his thumb on the scale of public conversation. Twitter was a pretty necessary and reasonable well moderated gathering place to get information on controversial subjects from actual experts. Go back to year 1 of the covid thread here on FI for proof of that. When public health departments all over the world were fucking up their messaging to appease lunatics, it was easy and fast to get access to the most recent peer reviewed information on how to protect yourself.

The argument at the time was that right wing conspiracies were being censored on Twitter and we've since learned that to largely be bullshit. If you just moderate honestly (which Twitter, based on their internal discussions, seemed to put a serious effort into pre Elon), you arrived somewhere within the bounds of our shared reality on outcomes. The nutters were mad that their entirely unsupported fever dreams weren't being promoted enough though because conspiracy, bots, etc. All turned out to be bullshit, shockingly enough.
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It was pretty terrible then too, but yes it was a very valuable tool for disseminating information. Now that Elon has made sure that misinformation and naziism are on equal footing with facts, it’s basically useless as a platform.

Not to say there aren’t still individual accounts that are useful and willing to put up with the nonsense, but those accounts are increasingly finding new homes.
 
manny said:
It was pretty terrible then too, but yes it was a very valuable tool for disseminating information. Now that Elon has made sure that misinformation and naziism are on equal footing with facts, it’s basically useless as a platform.

Not to say there aren’t still individual accounts that are useful and willing to put up with the nonsense, but those accounts are increasingly finding new homes.
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I mean this is no different than threads now though either. Unless you need to know what T-Swift was wearing last Wednesday?
 
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