back to article What took you so long, Twitter? Micro blogging site takes on the trolls

Twitter is seeking to stamp out the anonymous bullies and trolls who blight the social media site. Today the company announced the Twitter Trust & Safety Council, comprising more than 40 organisations and outside experts. In a statement today, Twitter’s policy boss Patricia Cartes said the council was a "new and foundational …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Twitter is seeking to stamp out the anonymous bullies and trolls

    So their entire userbase is at risk then?

  2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

    It's not the anonymous ones they have to worry about.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wonder if it will take on the "feminists" that attacked Dr Taylor...

  4. Cari

    #RIPTwitter

    I always recommend The Register to people looking for decent tech news, but I see even you guys aren't about gamedropping and perpetuating the lies about GamerGate. Disappointing to say the least.

    Incidentally, twitter have been removing the gg tag and any others related to it from the tag auto-complete suggestions for months, they've also redirected searches on the tag to diferent search terms entirely ('beach' and 'wine'...), and are more than happy to have mass blocklists enabled based on guilt by association.

    And if they're doing that to a group of people that just want to talk about shitty games journalism, who else are they dicking around at the behest of their chums?

    It's no wonder Topsy has gone, with Twitter making any analytics unreliable and pointless with their behaviour.

    1. Bradley
      Joke

      Re: #RIPTwitter

      So it really is about ethics in video games journalism. Thanks for clearing that up.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: #RIPTwitter

        What did you think it was about? If it's a movement of misogynists, why are there so many women involved via #notyourshield? If it's not actually about journos accepting bribes and favors, what suddenly prompted the FCC to update its disclosure guidelines?

        There are two sides to pretty much everything, but when you add in the media bias from the gawker/polygon clique, the politics involved, and the dozens of smaller factions with their own agendas (SA's Goons, for example, or 8ch), it's nearly impossible to decipher what's happening. Why on earth would you only accept a single narrative?

        As a sidenote, why IS El Reg namedropping gamergate so much lately? It gets obnoxious.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: #RIPTwitter

          It's the man covered in shit routine, you can have the best intention and arguement in the world, but when the man covered in shit stands up and goes "I'm with this person" you're stuffed.

          And it's just so easy for people to be part of an "internet thing" almost all of them have plenty of people covered in shit involved.

          As to gamergate dropping - I assume it's to prove they're progressive. I mean, just wait until El Reg does a line of article on how "IT Professionals are Dead" and how they should all just stop being in IT because they're scum and are useless sad people who should live in bins. That tends to be the next stage in proving you're progressive for a web rag.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Re: #RIPTwitter

            Some weird logic leaps going on there.

            1. ukgnome

              IT Professionals are Dead

              Thank fuck I am an amateur then - seriously can someone get that guys IP address and send him some meds.

              hashtag winkyface

            2. Vic

              Re: #RIPTwitter

              Some weird logic leaps going on there.

              You new here? :-)

              Vic.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re: #RIPTwitter

          Re the side note. What are you on about? We have mentioned Gamergate in 9 articles in total- two this year.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Re: Re: #RIPTwitter

            Two of which were within 5 days of each other. But my bad, I thought the most recent behind that was more recent - I probably saw it somewhere else.

  5. AndyS

    Surely this should be pretty easy, through giving feedback system to users. Allow users to tag tweets as trolling / spam etc. Apply random audits, particularly of contentious feedback. Use the feedback, and the results of the random audits, to give a weighting to tweeters.

    By default, only tweets from users with a >0 rating would be shown, but users (particularly for example high profile users) could set their feeds to only receive/display tweets from users with a higher rating.

    On top of ratings, if your tweet is reported by enough people, it would get flagged, you would be notified, and it wouldn't be shown any more. You could appeal this, which would send it into some sort of audit system (presumably this could largely be automated).

    Obviously there would be false troll reports, but a combination of clever algorithms and a small percentage of manual auditing should be able to sort that out, and false reporting could either lower the reporter's own rating, or remove their future ability to report.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This will fail!!!

      What you are describing is simply a popularity contest. That's not what should be expected. There will always be timid twerps who can't take comment or criticism of any kind thus any "real life" conversation will always be tagged. We have already propagated far too many children with unreasonable Disneyland expectations of life. The world does not need to breed anymore pantywaists who breakdown and run to their safe space at the mere hint of derogatory language nor does it need to give them any more tools to avoid reality.

      1. AndyS

        Re: This will fail!!!

        Did you see my bit about audits, and penalties for people who abuse the system? Maybe not, as it was only about half of the words I typed.

        I'm not describing a Reddit (or even Reg) style voting system, but a "report this post as Trolling" system, where users would be under no illusion that reports are serious, and false reports will penalise them, not the person they are reporting.

    2. Shaha Alam

      what exactly are " a combination of clever algorithms "?

      sounds like a euphemism for vapourware.

    3. Kumar2012

      @AndyS if it were actually left up to the people most of these whiners crying wolf over 'abuse' would be the ones having their tweets flagged. For the most part they are the ones trying to suppress others from voicing opinions that don't agree with them by screaming 'bully' every time, while in fact being the actual bullies themselves. Since the author mentions #gamegate have a look back at who the most vicious bullies were the so called paragons of feminist gamer journalism.

    4. PleebSmasher
      Trollface

      A better class of troll will emerge from the ashes, capable of feigning respect and playing the long con, enraging Twite users little by little while remaining in plain sight.

  6. Stevie

    Bah!

    I don't belive "empathetic" is a real word, especially as "empathic" would seem to be the one you are looking for.

    Your use of English leaves me feeling disorientated.

    1. BurnT'offering

      Re: Bah!

      Belief not required: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/empathetic

  7. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Joke

    Enter the Piecemaker

    I persnally tink it is discrimnation against us Trolls!

    Sgt. Detritus

  8. Cosmo

    Good luck with that...

    The big problem that Twitter has, is that the definition of trolling has changed over the years and it now means "that person said something that I don't like/agree with". Is calling someone an idiot bullying or trolling? It's a very blurred line.

    I'm concerned that Twitter will become (even more of) a hard left-wing platform where anything that doesn't reflect a certain point of view will be flagged as trolling / bullying and the whole thing will turn into a massive echo chamber of little benefit...

    1. Kumar2012

      Re: Good luck with that...

      @Cosmo, and that is why their stock is tanking and desperation is setting in, when they alienate half their user base with heavy handed tactics (like unverifying Milo Yiannopoulos with no reason at all - well we all know the reason he annoyed some feminists with the truth of their hypocrisy) its not going to go well. This thing will be another exercise in 'protecting' the actual bullies, the loud abusive feminists and such, from people they don't agree with. GG twitter.

      1. Cari

        Re: Good luck with that... @Kumar2012

        I wouldn't be surprised if their stock tanking was at least partly due to them making the platform (and information within) utterly useless to all the people and companies out there that make money analysing trends and the data produced by the users of twitter.

        Why would Apple buy up Topsy and leave it going for a couple of years and then axe it coincidentally around the time Twitter starts messing around with tweet and hashtag visibility (and apparently making api changes that affect such services)? Did they not have a use for the staff behind the site at the time they bought up the company?

      2. Day

        Re: Good luck with that...

        Their stock is not tanking because they are cracking down on trolls etc. Their stock is tanking because they cannot make money while maggots like #gamergate and their fellow-travellers infest the site. No major company in the twentieth century will risk any sort of association with GG's approach to "debate". Like it or not, Twitter has become known for (putting it politely) tolerating unsavoury people and they are only just realising that this can have a major effect on the business.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "like unverifying Milo Yiannopoulos with no reason at all - well we all know the reason he annoyed some feminists with the truth of their hypocrisy" everyone is by being a provocative burke

    Fixed that for you.

    Milo likes to pretend he's a iconoclast and a seeker of truth but a rampant egotist using the concept of freedom of speech as both a mechanism for his attention-seeking and a figleaf for his output is closer to the mark. That Breitbart employs him is a measure of his actual standing in the world.

    I don't like his haircut either.

    1. Cari

      Re. FTFY

      That probably was the real reason, but that doesn't mean it makes sense for twitter to unverify him. "verified" is supposed to mean "this is the official account for [person|business]"...

      1. graeme leggett Silver badge

        Re: Re. FTFY

        Twittter's faqs say

        " establish authenticity of identities of key individuals and brands on Twitter"

        So possibly they downgraded him from a key individual/brand

        Also "Changing certain profile information (such as the @ username or protecting Tweets) "

        So it can be a result of changing things

        And finally

        "An account may also lose its verified status if it violates the Twitter Rules or Terms of Service"

        "Previously verified accounts may not be eligible to have their badges restored"

        Which is what I heard. A sort of non-badge of shame. The last sentence can be read two ways- either once you've lost it you can't get it back, or just because you once had it - it doesn't mean you'll get it again.

  10. Old Handle
    Big Brother

    "our strategy to ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter"

    Yes of course, that's exactly what censorship does. Why didn't I see it before?

    1. Day

      They are a business and they operate all over the world. Their strategy HAS to be to ensure that people feel safe expressing their views on Twitter.

      If you stand in my house insulting me and/or my family, it's not "censorship" if I throw you out. If you stand on the street and shout abuse at me and/or my family, it's not "censorship" if I ignore you or cross the road to get away from you. If you do that enough, it's not "censorship" if you get arrested and tried for disturbing the peace (or whatever).

  11. Starace

    Great idea

    But oh, wait, have you seen who they appointed?

    Feminism is one thing, SJWs another, but the crowd they've brought in are genuine nasty pieces of work.

    Suprised this article didn't include a little more detail on who is involved and their qualifications for the role. Any comment from the author?

    (Beyond the snark we've had so far...)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Great idea

      I take it you're not referring to Samaritans or the anti domestic violence hotline in your description of "the crowd".

      1. Cosmo

        Re: Great idea

        I generally support the Samaritans, but they royally shot themselves in the foot by attempting to push out an app that scanned posts on Twitter and would automatically alert you about their services if it "triggered" on certain words

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
    Trollface

    What could go wrong?

    Possibly this.

  13. Tommy Pock

    Trolling isn't abuse, trolling is funny. Abuse isn't funny.

  14. x 7

    I don't give a shit about the trolls on Farcebook. However I DO worry about the number of trolls on El Reg. There aren't enough, and those that are here need to try harder.

    What we need are lessons - or a training forum on "how to troll successfully and impress your fellow man". (Forget the women - they're no good at it due to genetic predisposition, too much adipose tissue rots the troll skills)

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The real question is what will happen the first time they shut down a twitstorm attacking something genuinely offensive.

    I mean, hopefully they'd have deleted that tweet about "Hope I don't get AIDS, only kidding I'm white" from a few years ago, but to make it stick they'd also have had to delete all the tweets tracking her flight and complaining about what a racist she was, because they perpetuated the offense.

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