No, it's a pun! As originally pointed out here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31240589
the offending tweet was likely made as a reply (the @ match). The original tweet said "Some Russian soldiers say they are given a weapon and sent straight in. Learn on the job."
The pun was that Russian soldiers are not learning on the job, they are dying on the job. It's a completely normal observation to make.
The ellipsis at the end also indicate a pun/correction. An actual death wish would more likely end with exclamation points.
But the Twitter algorithms misinterpreted the pun as a death wish, and the OP somehow didn't remember making it. This sounds like the most likely explanation.
Right now you’re making an extraordinary claim with zero evidence. Pointing this out isn’t “out of line”.
E: As it turns out, not only was I not out of line, I was also entirely correct. You wrote this tweet Jacques, you just forgot. It’s not unusual at your age.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31240589
It’s time for you to apologize.
Asserting that an elaborate full-scale Twitter hack is more probable than a single Twitter account (not protected by 2FA, from other comments), or a single machine hack, etc. is silly no matter how prolific of a HN user you are.
Statements like "There is no way that my account password was compromised without a much more elaborate hack of Twitter," are... questionable.
I'm not here to bash OP -- they may have been hacked or maybe Twitter was hacked, or something. But if this was me, or any non-prolific HN user, I'd have already been told to pound sand multiple times at this type of outrageous story with no evidence other than "my machines are secure".
I am one of the first people to always take OP statements with a gran of salt in cases like this, but imo there is nothing indicating their own fault here at all. I am simply struggling to imagine any set of circumstances here under which that could have happened other than a hack/account takeover.
Is it not even more unlikely that Twitter itself was hacked, just so someone could post this tweet as OP?
I agree it is an uncharacteristic tweet on the OPs behalf, but... If we are to believe OPs claim that there is "no possible way" their machine and/or account have been hacked... My next step isn't thinking "Well, all of Twitter must have been hacked".
Oh, if that's the point of the argument, then I totally agree with you.
I strongly doubt that Twitter itself was hacked. It makes way more sense that someone else simply got access to OP's account one way or another.
Maybe a compromised device, maybe a compromised network, maybe even just a regular account takeover. Who knows, not the first time I've seen someone being in denial about their own account not being as secure as they believed it was (which is extra ironic, given that OP admitted not having 2FA set up for that account).
OP wrote this tweet and forgot. When read in context, it’s perfectly in line with pro-Ukraine views previously expressed on his account.
Even OP himself, once questioned, didn't really deny, and was just going around the fact by saying he doesn't know why he got banned, and that he wants to figure out whether he did it as well.
On top of being "totally certain" that no one got unauthorized access to their account, all while having no 2FA set up, I just give up my attempt to bother understanding some people. I have zero idea how it is possible to tweet something and then not being able to tell whether you actually tweeted it yourself when presented with a screenshot. But, from what I am seeing OP say in the thread, it seems like a very strong possibility.
If I was paid a quarter every time I heard a similar line during an emergency incidence response, I wouldn't need to be working incidence response anymore.
No one gets hacked, until they do. Everyone claims they have the best password, the most secure machine, the most cautious of habits. Then they get hacked. Everyone gets hacked.
I absolutely despise Kyiv Independent for working to discredit real journalists by pushing completely absurd propaganda, like the “ghost of Kyiv” lie.
These things are more complicated than they might seem at first glance.
Social media accounts have been hacked before, it's nothing new.
It’s really surprising that his account would get banned for it in the first place.
> avoid the potential Streisand effect when the truth gets discovered
That’s never going to happen. Twitter would never publicly call him out even if the story was entirely fabricated, they just wouldn’t respond.
Or evidence that Twitter is extremely difficult to hack, to make theories that it was hacked non-credible?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31240589
OP wrote the tweet and forgot, then got pissed when this was pointed out to him. I think we’ve all seen this with elderly relatives.