Unfortunately the discussion around Gamergate is refusing to die. I say unfortunately because there actually isn't a discussion; instead one side talks about harassment while the other side talks about corruption. There is no pro-harassment and anti-harassment side debating each other, there is no pro-corruption side debating an anti-corruption side. There are two groups talking about two very different and mostly unrelated things into a vacuum, and the only interactions is each side saying "your subject of discussion is irrelevant, let's talk about my subject of discussion instead".
In that context it is surprising that two people on different sides of the discussion at least found one point they agreed upon: The problem with Gamergate is Twitter. Even before Gamergate I already considered Twitter to be the worst place on the internet, a breeding ground for internet hate, the place on the internet where all the torches and pitchforks are stored for regular outbreaks of manufactured outrage.
There is a social media enterprise petitioning the US president to censor 4Chan. Not only is that stupid and not going to happen, but it also wouldn't help to make the internet a nicer or safer place. What *would* make the internet a better place would be Twitter changing its policy and demanding proof of identity for every account, with only one account allowed per verified identity. And that might be something that actually has a chance to happen, and there might even be government intervention to make it happen. Some of the things on Twitter right now are illegal under current law. It would just take one person with a good case to sue Twitter for damages because they enable cyber-bullying and internet harassment, and Twitter would be forced to change their policies pretty quickly.
Twitter survives for the same reason 4chan does; it provides something people want. If they switched over to requiring a verified identity then some other site would pop up and the traffic would shift over to there. I mean, blog sites like the very one you are using provide similar tools that could be used for ill.
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with illegal things going on using Twitter, they usually do shut down anything that is actually illegal.
And I have seen a form of "pro v anti" corruption, it's just that it's not pro/anti but a disagreement over where the corruption is, what can/should be done about it, and it's overall scope.
The pro/anti harassment is there too, just is also extremely toxic.
How many tweets are made per day.
ReplyDeleteHow many involve "hate"?
Let's have some context.
That being said I post on Twitter under my real name and with my real photo and have no problem with proof of ID.
The problem with Gamergate isn't Twitter, it's people.
ReplyDeletePeople without a filter.
It's weird. I come to this blog and I read about how there's all this controversy that refuses to die, and how there's such and such unpleasantness making the rounds in the blogging community, and it's all news to me. If not for this blog, I would have absolutely no idea any of this stuff was going on. o.O
ReplyDeleteDon't use twitter. Don't read 4chan. Go play games and do more fun things. Nod.
@Michael
ReplyDeleteHuh, to avoid it you also have had to avoid all the popular gaming sites since every one of them talked about it somewhat.
Oh, I'd heard about the whole gamergate thing, but it was only for like a couple days a few weeks ago or something.
ReplyDelete