Elon Musk Says Twitter Is Going to Get Rid of the Block Feature | Hacker News Reader

Elon Musk Says Twitter Is Going to Get Rid of the Block Feature

techdirt.com

14 pointsmindracer15 comments

Ah, yes, most blocked person in history (I mean, one assumes; he’s extremely irritating and as of late last year twitter was extremely enthusiastic about pushing his nonsense in your face) wants to get rid of blocking, quelle surprise.

Once again a privileged person fails to understand the difference between not wanting to interact with someone and wanting someone to not be able to interact with you. The former is like not answering the phone when they call, the latter is preventing them from getting your numbers and calling you over and over, at all hours of the day and night, at home, at work, at a friend's house, etc.

Jack responded back to Elon and agreed.

And on the surface it seems ok. Basically if you block me then fine I can’t reply to you r posts but if you’re posting publicly why should I not be able to see what you post?

> Basically if you block me then fine I can’t reply to you r posts but if you’re posting publicly why should I not be able to see what you post?

Yes. That's the idea of what Jack is agreeing with. You can still see the public post but you cannot interact or reply to it.

I don't see the problem here. Seems like Techdirt is trying to go back to their old ways on sensationalizing for clicks once again.

> if you’re posting publicly why should I not be able to see what you post?

That means the stalked person has to be constantly on guard about what to post publicly. Things that might seem innocuous to you and I could be giveaways to a domestic abuser looking for his victim. Essentially the abuser will continue to exercise power over the victim.

This is a nonsensical sensationalized article. I don't think the block feature is going anywhere. The main source of the article is the following vague tweet by Musk, in response to complaints about mass blocking [1]:

> Blocking public posts makes no sense. It needs to be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of mute.

TBH, the tweet doesn't quite make sense to me, but it definitely isn't an announcement that the general block feature is going away.

[1]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1666594707621773312

The block feature IS going away. Let me fill you in on the entire story so far:

1. Elon introduces Twitter Blue $8 subscriptions and announces that when enough Blue subscribers block someone, the victim will be rank demoted for the entire site.

2. Twitter Blue rightwing subscribers start organizing block mobs attacking the left and generally people they don't like, hoping to in effect force Twitter to shadowban "enemy" accounts. It's working.

3. This forces potential victims to block Blue checks on sight, immediately, because otherwise they risk being blocked back, and rank demoted.

4. Elon complaining publicly that increased blocking activity is like DDoS on the timeline service.

5. Elon saying how blocking is not nice and he has removed all his blocks on his account, trying to influence his followers.

6. Elon testing the waters in this tweet that the block feature is going away, to see if there will be a backlash.

He wants to remove it. Everyone is blocking everyone due to the climate of Twitter these days, and all these poorly thought out ranking features Elon has forced on the platform.

I've also missed part of the story where at one point there were browser extensions "block the Blue" that were mass blocking anyone with a paid check. Elon banned accounts promoting such extensions directly. He was terrified of the aftermath on the social graph.

The timeline service now has to work twice as hard implementing these giant blocking lists. So now he wants blocking GONE.

Simple solution. If twitter is not (or no longer) acceptable to you, stop using it. Otherwise, by using it your content. It’s Musk’s toy. You know that so you’re making a choice.

That sounds all reasonable and stuff. But it's like saying if you can't pee in a urinal, get out. Go somewhere else.

The fact is that women get harassed far more than men. Taking away blocking will negatively affect them disproportionately. Ignoring that isn't being "evenhanded." It's being willfully ignorant of discrimination.

I assume there are alternatives to Twitter when considering how to participate in social media? Surely pissed off Twitter users have options.

I made sendie.com - i've got like 10 users :D

Maybe that analogy isn't clear enough. I hope you don't mind if I try again: We could tell black people that it's okay that they can't trust police. They should just avoid contact with them. There are alternatives for personal security.

Each hostile environment we create for some group has little impact on society. But it adds up.

I don't think there's a first amendment right to tweet... I don't think I have to let anybody into my house to say what they want to say - there's no right to be heard. There's an obligatory xkcd if you look.

What happened to "freedom of speech, not freedom of reach"? It's like Musk is sitting there proactively trying to destroy his investment.

Sounds like GCP will soon get rid of its Twitter feature.

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