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Twitter Added Zero New Users Last Quarter Despite Trump Tweets (nypost.com)

Twitter did not add any new users in Q2, a disappointing follow-up to what had been a promising start to 2017. Twitter reported earnings Thursday morning, claiming 328 million total users -- the same number it reported after Q1. Analysts had been hoping the company would add around four million new users last quarter. From a report: Despite its appeal among celebrities and public figures, Twitter has struggled to sustain its closely watched user growth even as it invests in features and live content to help draw viewers and boost user engagement. It is in stiff competition for advertising dollars with other platforms like larger rival Facebook and Snap's messaging app Snapchat. The company also reported a wider quarterly net loss and lower revenue, and said it did not expect its total revenue growth to pick up in the second half of the year. [...] President Donald Trump, one of the most active politicians on Twitter, has tweeted multiple times a day on average since his inauguration in January, according to social media analytics company Zoomph.

166 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. And nothing of value was lost... by TBedsaul · · Score: 2

    Twitter is a perfect digital representation of what an empty head sounds like when it rattles.

    I'll take this opportunity to point out that this post would make a good tweet.

    1. Re:And nothing of value was lost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Too many characters.

    2. Re:And nothing of value was lost... by sexconker · · Score: 2

      .@Twitter Perfect digital rep of empty head sounds like when it rattles. Ill take this op2nity 2 point out ths post would make a good tweet.

    3. Re:And nothing of value was lost... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Sad

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:And nothing of value was lost... by randomErr · · Score: 1

      I disagree. Twitter was great for its time: Text out comments in 140 character or less from my candy bar phone. As times changed Twitter really didn't. Then instead of dealing with spammers and bullies they shut down their API's and made things harder for long time users.

      --
      You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
    5. Re:And nothing of value was lost... by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      I might use Twitter if there was a client that was pleasant to use. I find it difficult to navigate using the stock app, and every time a good third party app comes out they seem to shut it down to avoid competition. If I want to read the president's tweets I just google "donald trump twitter" and most of the time someone has already summarized that day's outbursts along with relevant responses from the groups he had targeted that day -- no need to dig in and read the raw data.
       
      I have a twitter account but there's no incentive to login to read the tweet and someone (x1000) has already responded with what I was already thinking so why bother.
       
      Twitter is an interesting take on PRWire but not super interesting.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
  2. I'm five of them by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    I have five Twitter accounts. I post to one or another about once a week. I read Twitter...really only if I'm at a con and there's a bunch of feeds related to that (since that's the best way to find out where some action might be).

    1. Re:I'm five of them by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      >> Why five?

      1) My real name
      2) One of my interests
      3) My LLC
      4) Another one of my interests
      5) Test account for API stuff

  3. Sounds like a symptom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sounds like people don't want to be on a platform with that idiot taking center stage.

  4. It's almost as if Twitter's brand is tainted. by cunina · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Tainted by the awful people who most frequently and publicly post to it, e.g. Kanye, the Kardashians, Trump, and Wesley Crusher.

    1. Re:It's almost as if Twitter's brand is tainted. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Doesn't really make sense because you only see stuff from people you follow on your Twitter feed. Okay, they might re-tweet stuff from others, but presumably you follow them because they have similar taste or post interesting stuff.

      I find Twitter has a lot less random bullshit than Facebook, for example. And the people I follow post interesting stuff.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:It's almost as if Twitter's brand is tainted. by cunina · · Score: 1

      Yes it does make sense, because the mainstream news media love to report on who tweeted what, and "who" is usually come celebrity cretin or venal politician. I don't have an account and yet I am sick of Twitter.

  5. What's the *need* for Twitter? by Nutria · · Score: 4, Insightful

    None of my family or friends tweet anything that I care about, and celebrities, "journalists" and partisan zealots hold no interest for me...

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      For 99.9% of it is just noise. However in an emergency situation it's an easy way to disperse information.

    2. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by jetkust · · Score: 3

      Twitter isn't about tweets from family or friends. It's a news feed/live event forum.

    3. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Indeed, in "happening right now" news, there is no better source. Anything else... meh.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    4. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 2

      There is something to be said about Twitter and news when old school news media run entire segments based on tweets. The more I think about it the more it sounds like the plot of a bad middle school dystopian story.

    5. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      SMS has 20 more characters, and works even on flip phones.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    6. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Right but 20 chars were reserved for the user name so you could send tweets over SMS and know where they came from.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    7. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      So is a phone call or a text if it's to/from someone you know. And if it's about an emergency, there's always 911.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    8. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      There is something to be said about Twitter and news when old school news media run entire segments based on tweets. The more I think about it the more it sounds like the plot of a bad middle school dystopian story.

      They do that because it's cheap. A lot cheaper to post items about tweets and youtube videos than to do some actual reporting.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    9. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Bloody optimist. You forgot inflation. It's now +99% of everything is crap.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    10. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by mea2214 · · Score: 1

      The only thing keeping me logged into Twitter is Trump. I'm not a supporter but was a big fan of "The Apprentice." I wonder if he has a staff composing these tweets. Is there a firewall in case he sends something against the law? I can't wait for the first books about all of this get published.

    11. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      Why in the world do you want to repeal the 17th Amendment? (Unless you're a Poe, in which case: good job!!)

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    12. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      The problem with that is that it requires you to know the people you want to communicate with.

      Say I know a family member is at an event and I hear a tornado hits it, there's an earthquake, fire, terrorist attack or other massive event. I may not be able to get through to the people I do know there and I probably won't know the people that are trying to get information out.

    13. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Agreed and still very depressing.

    14. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Because the Senate should not be a damned popularity contest. We have the House for that. House elections are very local though. So constituents can easy get to the rep, and force them to answer real questions and maybe just maybe primary them when required. You might not like the makeup of the House or maybe you do but at least they can enact legislation, and function as a parliamentary body.

      The Senate by contrast is entirely disfunctional. Does not matter which party has the majority. Its been completely broken now for 9 years. Its was a bad before that. Senators are basically unaccountable to the electorate. You can't hardly unseat an incumbent and you certainly can't get any but the national parties hand picked crony past the post in a primary election. Because they are state wide and there are only 100 of them its very easy for lots of out of state money to be used to if not outright fix the elections, make it nearly impossible to compete.

      If Senators represented the state rather than the a general popularity contest it would be much harder for out of state money to impact them. Getting a Senator in place would mean first getting your people into a plurality of state senate or house seats in many cases. Senators would have a smaller constituency of governors and state legislators to listen to. Those people have better understanding of the issues and how they will impact the state than the general public. So the Senate would actually consider the consequences of unfunded mandates and similar crap the actively interferes with good governing at the state level. Rather than getting tied up in populist pandering.

      In short I think the system ought work as the framers intended.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    15. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 2

      Because the Senate represents the interests of the States not the people. They have longer terms and equal power regardless of the population they represent. When the constitution was drafted one of the concerns was "excessive democracy" as James Madison put it. The idea was that people were fickle and the Senate would be stable compared to the whims of popular passions dominating the House. Considering how people act today when they 'lose' it's easy to see that people let their passions get the better of them. There are always complaints that "the average voter" or "Joe six pack" is an idiot so it makes you wonder why you would give them more power in the federal government to decide on policy they have little understanding or experience with? The people already had the House and it was supposed to keep their needs in mind while the Senate was to be a bulwark and keep their States in mind (California has different needs than Montana and each their citizens have different needs and wants that may be different than the state they reside).

      However, that is all secondary to the idea that the federal government was supposed to have little impact on the daily lives of people and that it was ultimately the responsibility of the states and local governments to tend to the needs of their citizens. The people are close and better able to change the local and state government then the federal government..

    16. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I remember hearing some years back that tweet propagated faster than an earthquake. And some quick googling found a source.

    17. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by Nutria · · Score: 1

      The county where I live sends text messages as severe weather alerts.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    18. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You're not in a position to do anything about it, so who cares? As for an earthquake, if they're affected by it, they will know about it quicker than you. If you don't have valid contact information except for twitter, they aren't that important to you (or maybe you aren't that important to them) anyway, so seriously, who gives a shit?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    19. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Because the Senate represents the interests of the States not the people.

      No. States are made up of people. The Senate represents the interests of the ultra-wealthy, who write the laws and then pay for their passage.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Yea, the States are made up of people but the States and people sometimes have different needs and wants. A group need compared to a individual need. Many times there are overlap but many times there is not. Foreign relations and trade are an example. Sometimes it's good for the individual but sometimes its necessary to do an unpopular thing for the greater good. That's not justifying fascism but recognizing that one body of the government should be able to handle unpopular things without worrying about the next campaign. Congress spends far too much time campaigning as it is.

      Right now because the Senate is elected by half the state, it's a problem that outside money can swing the election making your premise somewhat true for the current set up. The original intent to keep the Senate out of political elections (or at least one step away) so that they could try to keep some level of autonomy and independence without worrying about campaigning or the next election cycle. We already have the House that is like that.

      Also, the people are not experts in everything. Right now fake news is a problem because it's so easy to convince enough people that wrong/bad idea is right or that a lie is truth or that narratives are not biased. When everyone can't find the truth or even understand all the aspects to the truth because laymen we get more partisan talking points and further divide.

      Honestly, it is nearly the same reason why I don't like elected judges. Seeing a judge campaign on how they would judge is nauseating.

    21. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      How has the 17th amendment solved the issues it was originally set up to fix? Few elections were challenged with allegations of impropriety despite the perception of corruption. That perception still exists today and extends to the House. Deadlock was a minor issue that forced state legislatures to have some experience in agreement and compromise.

      All it's done is ensure that Congress campaigns more than it legislates, Senators can't be the anchor to passion dominated by the House, Senators can't take a detached view of issues, the state legislatures don't have representation in the federal government, the federal government now is more partisan and divided because of the fast changing popular opinions that are more fickle than the wind, and the Senate favors the federal government over the states and delegates more power to the federal government.

      There have been some good things to come out of it but for the last century bicameral has become meaningless.

    22. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      For 99.9% of it is just noise. However in an emergency situation it's an easy way to disperse information.

      It's also the fastest way to disperse misinformation. I don't know about teh Twit, but in an emergency, 90+% of what's on the regular news is unreliable. They just don't have the information yet. In a day or two, it's settled down and more real info becomes known, but if we have to wait for correct news anyway, what use is Twitter?

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    23. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I applaud Utah for bringing proposals to repeal the 17th and will support those kind of initiatives and politicians. It's a slow process to get a super majority to amend the constitution and it starts by an idea and arguing the idea. How long did it take for the 17th to become ratified? From the initial ratification of the Constitution popularly elected Senate was discussed, gained traction in the mid to late 1800's and finally passed in 1914. Now that we have had time to allow that change to solve the problems it was set out to solve we can assess its efficacy. I think it has caused more problems than it solved and so do others. Amendments start by voicing that opinion and convincing others and supporting/electing politicians that are like minded on the topic such as Utah. If state legislatures selecting the senate doesn't work and popularly elected senators doesn't work, then it's time to come up with a different mechanism for electing the Senate because popular election of the Senate is causing problems by incentivizing a dysfunctional congress.

    24. Re:What's the *need* for Twitter? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      The way I see it, you're really focused myopically on the Senate

      Initially the question was about repealing the 17th amendment. Additionally because what we have isn't that bad and we only need a few tweaks here and there and in some cases revert back to what we had changed. I do not want to consider anything more broadly until those tweaks have been made. Looking at the senate alone and how it has changed because of the 17th amendment is enough for me to know that we don't need broad changes. I also can understand that the change the 17th amendment brought was an issue the founding fathers tried to protect the government from or as James Madison put it "excessive democracy". Adding in popular vote to government functions is not an ideal fix for many functions.

      even aside from your misguided focus on an already failed method.

      Again, how was it failed before and how did the 17th amendment fix it? Is you issue a bicameral congress? Is your issue that you want direct democracy? I'm sorry but I would rather listen to the experts that crafted the constitution than the opinion of an A.C. And yes, they were experts that spent a lot of time researching different forms of government to see what worked and implemented a successful version that enshrined the philosophies of the Enlightenment into its very core that survives to this day.

  6. The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    If you ever read "Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal" by Nick Bilton, you would know how appalling that the founding of Twitter was. Mark Zuckerburg has a great quote in the book: "[Twitter founders] drove a clown car into a gold mine and fell in." It's not really surprising that Twitter had zero growth from riding Trump's pants legs.

    1. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Let me guess: you'll frame your 30 clicks a day on your shitty blog as being more successful than Twitter, right?

      That's 30+ clicks to my blog and another 30+ clicks to my author website from Slashdot per day. Thank you for your support.

      Jack Dorsey is worth two billion dollars.

      You mean the founder who kicked out the founder who thought up the idea for Twitter, who later got kicked out as CEO, and came back to Twitter as CEO with a Steve Jobs complex? Yeah, a total douche bag.

    2. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Not sure what that book has to do with recent stagnate growth.

      Twitter was an accident. The founders were more interested in being CEO for their own benefit. They burned through years of investors' money before they got around to figuring out a revenue model. And they can't even take advantage of a tweet-prone POTUS who makes headline daily. Unbelievable.

    3. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      Let me guess: you'll frame your 30 clicks a day on your shitty blog as being more successful than Twitter, right?

      That's 30+ clicks to my blog and another 30+ clicks to my author website from Slashdot per day. Thank you for your support.

      By my estimates, at 60 clicks/day with two advertisements total (1 per site) you're averaging 1.8USD/year in revenue? Maybe you are making more from the affiliate link.

      Anyway, because /. is mostly regulars, you can expect that 60/day to taper off to 5/day in two months, to maybe 1 a day a year from now. /. is dying, because new blood that comes here doesn't stay, and the existing regulars are dwindling in number.

      Lately I've been reading newsletters from some other site, as they are filled with technical stuff and not highly politicised stuff. I'm tired of sore losers going on about 'drumpf', 'orange', etc.

      I called the result of the US election six months before it happened (also correctly called the brexit vote), and was labelled a trump supporter, even though I never supported one candidate over another. Simply observing reality is enough to get you attacked on /.

      I've been here since the 90s, since it was chips and dips, before it was fashionable to have low IDs. For the first time, another site has headlines that appeals more to me.

      Whipslash, if you're listening, get your act together. I remember posting that we'd give you a chance. I'm tired of the politics, and tired of getting attacked whenever I refuse to join the mob - "You're not a Hillary supporter? KILL HIM!"

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    4. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's ironic to cite Zuckerfuck when you're talking about the founding of web companies being accompanied by betrayal.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      It's ironic to cite Zuckerfuck when you're talking about the founding of web companies being accompanied by betrayal.

      The Zuckerberg quote came from the book. He tried several times to buy Twitter. Even Al Gore tried to buy Twitter. For a company that had no revenue model for years, a lot of people wanted to buy it.

    6. Re: The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      No one is buying shit using your affiliate code. You might make 10 cents a day.

      I'm making coffee money. A skinny vanilla latte in my area isn't 10 cents.

    7. Re:The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Anyway, because /. is mostly regulars, you can expect that 60/day to taper off to 5/day in two months, to maybe 1 a day a year from now. /. is dying, because new blood that comes here doesn't stay, and the existing regulars are dwindling in number.

      The Slashdot clicks to my websites has increased for the last four months. The Amazon clicks has averaged 85 per day for the last two months. I think there are more lurkers than commentators on Slashdot.

    8. Re: The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The reason you're getting clicks is because people are ragging on you.

      Some of these people bought $6,500 in merchandise from Amazon over the last four months.

    9. Re: The Appaling Founding of Twitter... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Since most of your trash links are for books, let's assume you make the standard 4.5% rate for physical books, that means that over 4 months, you took in 65 dollars a month, on average.

      Out of 289 items shipped, only 20 items were books and the total commissions for those came to $10.59.

      Stop telling us how you're making such great money when it's trivially easy to fact-check your bullshit.

      You accounted for two cups of coffee. What about the rest?

  7. twooter! by nnet · · Score: 1

    twooter!

  8. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by king+neckbeard · · Score: 2

    You now the rules. Not until Netcraft confirms it.

    --
    This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  9. I just don't get Twitter by enjar · · Score: 1

    I didn't "get" it, but "everyone" said it was a big thing, so I signed up, found people, followed people relevant to my interests, tried to keep up. Gave it a month, checking in regularly on my account. At the end of the month I walked away, deleted the app and walked away, and never logged in again. At least I tried it but I honestly have no idea why it's so popular, what purpose it serves or how it can create a sustainable business. I can get how Facebook works, I can get how Google works, I can even understand how people make money off free software. But I just don't get Twitter. Are there that many people in the world who can and want to keep up with an endless diarrhea of fairly useless and low value information?

    1. Re:I just don't get Twitter by jetkust · · Score: 1

      I'm shocked so many slashdotters don't understand twitter. It's not that complicated. You didn't like twitter because your feed sucks. For other people, it's the fastest source of news and current information. For anyone in the public eye, it's the fastest most efficient way to communicate a message. It's perceived and used differently than other social media networks which is why it still has 328 million subscribers.

    2. Re:I just don't get Twitter by enjar · · Score: 1

      FWIW, I'm still a "subscriber" since I didn't delete the account. Why did my feed suck, though? I searched on my interests and found relevant people to follow -- I didn't subscribe to any celebrity feeds. I cut useless feeds when they proved useless or when the the tweets were too numerous (e.g. celebrities that are too self-absorbed). Like I said, I gave it a solid month to try and figure it out. As for "fastest source of news" ... I guess that's the case if you want news sources that just wildly agree with you and put together an echo chamber, news is one of the easiest things to get from many sources and methods, I don't need Twitter for that. As for "anyone in the public eye", it seems to largely be drivel, or there are other means I can use to keep up where I can look at my leisure, where the tweet I might care about wasn't washed away. I don't think that it's Slashdot users not understanding, perhaps they evaluate the signal/noise ratio and find that other methods of reading news or getting information are more concise and useful?

    3. Re:I just don't get Twitter by citylivin · · Score: 2

      I briefly contemplated signing up just so i could berate companies publicly for poor customer service. Companies REALLY respond to twitter complaints, often sending free stuff to make up for slights or percieved slights. I know my company does. Like people bending over backwards to make an issue go away. If its on social media, the marketing department is on everyones ass to fix the problem with a level of urgency that phone-in customer complaints never get.

      From that point, i'd say it does serve as a useful tool. However I am pretty opposed to any sort of social networking so i never actually signed up.

      --
      As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
    4. Re:I just don't get Twitter by enjar · · Score: 1

      Thank you! This is a rational reason for keeping my account around!

    5. Re:I just don't get Twitter by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      if you want news sources that just wildly agree with you and put together an echo chamber, news is one of the easiest things to get from many sources and methods, I don't need Twitter for that.
      Your parent is right.
      You don't grasp the difference between your way of 'reading news' and twitter.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re:I just don't get Twitter by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      I rarely use the app or web site, I get the tweets delivered to me by text message.

      Yes, it's "fluff", and the other subthread doesn't care about celebrities (which doesn't ONLY mean TV/movie people).. But I do think it's interesting to read bits of info (whether it's their opinion about something, factoids, or just links to other articles I may have missed) from people as varied as pro poker players to scientists (Neil Degrasse Tyson) to breaking news (CNN), etc..

      I have text message noises/notifications turned off, so even though they're delivered to me, for me, it's in effect a 'pull' model where I go look at the accumulated texts when I want, but it's still easier IMHO than using the app.

    7. Re:I just don't get Twitter by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      It's not that complicated.

      True.

      You didn't like twitter because your feed sucks.

      No, you asshole, I don't like twitter because it's a shit-shotgun to the brain, and it hinders meaningful communication. It does nothing I'm interested in that isn't done better elsewhere.
       
      FFS, my master's thesis title is more than 140 characters, and my adviser and I went back and forth on it for WEEKS trying to get it as short as possible while retaining enough essential information that it was meaningful. If I can't even type out the title of something I worked on for a few years, how the hell can I have a meaningful discussion on that topic?
       
      On a semi-regular basis I see some blog or news article somewhere regurgitating someone's "important" tweets formatted:
      (1/16) [130+ characters]
      (2/16)[130+ characters]
      etc, etc.
       
      If you have to split your idea into 16 different tweets, at what point do you realize that you've picked the wrong medium to communicate in? For a lot of people, that answer is never.
       
      Your post here is 3 tweets of information. My reply is 13. This is communication. And it was done largely grammatically correctly, without abbreviation, emojis, reaction gifs, and hashtags. Twitter absolutely sucks for communication.
       
      If I want a news feed, I'll use the rather reliable RSS feeds that I've been using for decades now. I don't flit from topic to topic like a hummingbird on crack, so I subscribe to pretty thoughtful, deep feeds. Does Twitter have these? Yes. But I don't want them firehosed at me with asinine commentary and hashtags, mixed with retweets of random shit. I want well organized topics of interest resting in folders waiting for me to have the time to check in on them.
       
      If Twitter can do neither of these things well, what's the point? I'm shocked that you don't understand why we don't understand Twitter.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  10. Possibly Useful by puddingebola · · Score: 1

    Heard it was useful in making spring arrive early. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  11. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Twitter died when it appointed a "trust and safety council".

  12. Re:Not ME by supremebob · · Score: 1

    I think that the Trumpster is a good example of what's wrong with Twitter. It's a mish mosh of bad jokes, stupid Internet memes, shameless self promotion, and political ranting. Every time he posts, you get a new pile of retweets and replies that meet all of the criteria that I just stated.

  13. There's also the banning by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's also Gab.ai, which has sprung up in response to complaints about one-sided censorship by the company.

    Gab has a much more elegant solution to censorship: if you don't like something, put it on your personal list of "things I don't want to see", and you'll never see those. You can specify users or specific words you don't like.

    Compare with Twitter, where you can complain about something being in violation of their rules of conduct for partisan reasons... and most likely it'll get banned.

    Lots and lots of people are moving over to gab once they've been banned at twitter.

    Usually with a screenshot of their *completely reasonable* post that got them banned.

    (Even Scott Adams gets banned and shadow-banned - for nothing more than questioning the science behind global warming. It's almost as if the science behind global warming can't stand up to scrutiny!)

    (Several of the recent bannings are for supporting the military trans' ban decision. Almost as if no one is allowed to debate that issue!)

    1. Re:There's also the banning by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Even Scott Adams gets banned and shadow-banned

      So he claimed, but it seems pretty doubtful. So some small, random selection of his posts didn't show up. It's not like Twitter is using ACID storage and he's a know nutbag.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:There's also the banning by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The problem with Gab is that it's filtering doesn't deal with most important use cases.

      You can block users and keywords. How does that help you when a mob is coming at you, or a troll keeps making new accounts? How does it help when someone doxxes you?

      Some people like 4chan, but at least on there most posts are anonymous. On Gab your account gives the trolls a target.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:There's also the banning by hyades1 · · Score: 1

      This probably isn't the right venue to discuss your sexual fantasies, especially with respect to the particular kind of marital aid you prefer.

      --
      I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    4. Re:There's also the banning by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Of the most recent good presidents with good ratings it is reagan (9), obama (12), and clinton (15).

      Reagan was a piece of shit on every level. He did more harm to the nation than any ten presidents before him.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  14. Re:Of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, and as the President has demonstrated, it is an open platform to make yourself look like an ASS

    It is not surprise to me that NOBODY wants to make themselves into a public spectacle like the Jack-ass in Chief does

  15. Bots went home by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

    Election season is over. US, UK and France have all held their elections. Maybe there isn't anything for the bots to retweet and talk about any more.

  16. Re:Not ME by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i am still considering leaving the nation.

    No you fucking aren't. Either shit or get off the pot.
    What, are you holding out for "change" (your preferred party winning) in the midterm elections? I mean, that's just a little over a year away!
    And if that doesn't pan out, well, it'll've been been 2 years. Surely the investigators are about to open the flood gates on info that will get the President impeached, and if not, you're about half way through their reign. Might as well stick it out and "make a difference" in the following Presidential election, right?

    Quit kidding yourself. You're not leaving. And the President, however much of a buffoon and ass they may be, has very little impact on your day to day life. It's congress that you need to flush down the drain, yet none of you give a shit about midterm elections. You just want to whine and bitch and moan and blame someone for something, as long as you're not blaming yourself or your preferred party.

    The above applies to all politards of all parties.

  17. no more elections by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Election season is over. US, UK and France have all held their elections.

    no more elections now that we have emperor trump

  18. Re:Of course by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Yes, and as the President has demonstrated, it is an open platform to make yourself look like an ASS

    It is not surprise to me that NOBODY wants to make themselves into a public spectacle like the Jack-ass in Chief does

    NOBODY but the few million Twitter users.
    (I believe they may have 100 million real accounts, but the number of active users is definitely far less.)

  19. Solution is at the beginning of TFA by Solandri · · Score: 1

    Despite its appeal among celebrities and public figures,, Twitter has struggled to sustain its closely watched user growth

    So modify the product so it appeals to people other than celebrities and public figures. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple didn't become rich by tailoring their products to 1/10th of the 1%. The companies which make lots of money off tiny markets like celebrities and public figures sell very specialized and expensive products. e.g. Limousines. So Twitter needs to decide if they want to be a tool for the few and extremely wealthy, or for the masses, and redesign their product appropriately.

  20. Re:Of course by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    I don't need an account to see or hear about his tweets, so why would I sign up? That's the fundamental problem with Twitter, though.

    That's not a problem if you ask me. Pinterest, on the other hand, requires one to see stuff and it annoys me to no end to see pinterest results in my google image searches. And sometimes the only four results are all from pinterest, as if there's no other source for the image. I'm confused.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  21. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    Twitter isn't sustainable in its current form, but it's too popular with media outlets and customer service departments to be a financial dead-end.

    There is a way to make it profitable, just not doing what they're currently doing. Perhaps making corporations and verified people pay a small fee to stay verified? I don't know, but as much as it is a media darling, there is a value there, it just needs to be unlocked.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  22. Na na na na say'eh goodbye by DarkOx · · Score: 2

    Kinda want to see Twitter go down because as rule social media is kinda dumb. If Twitter falls it will shake investors faith in other platforms. Might be a nice domino effect. Really hopeful something like this could take the wind out of facebooks sails some before Mark succeeds in politically weaponizing. Which will be somewhat hard for him to do thanks to all the hard working cleaver trolls out there but its not impossible.

    If the investors could all get spooked and run off first, that would be great.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  23. Attribution by arth1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From a report:

    [...]

    "A report" is not a good enough source. The quote is not attributed. Where was it copied/pasted from? I'm not talking about the link inside the quote, but the quote itself. Who wrote it?

    1. Re:Attribution by arth1 · · Score: 1

      TFA: "Analysts were expecting 328.8 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet."

      You failed to see that I specifically said I wasn't talking about the linked article, but the quoted text on Slashdot. Who wrote it, where?

    2. Re:Attribution by elgatozorbas · · Score: 1

      If you Google it, you will find it was made by Reuters and copied by newspapers, e.g. nypost.

  24. Twitter is not modernizing fast enough by randomErr · · Score: 1

    * The 140 character limit is just plain silly anymore
    * They don't have a solid version of more modern apps like SnapChat or WhatsApp.
    * Better flow control / Better lists - If you subscribe more then 3-4 big feeds forget seeing anything substantial. Some news site pride themselves on putting out a store or comment every minute. You can use lists but they've become so clunky. Give me something like Facebook that lets me switch between more viewed and the whole steam
    * Open the API up again - You killed off hundreds of legitimate website but made it easier for spammers

    BTW: What is with the swipe at Trump? Does Trump own Twitter or does Twitter support Trump? Neither is true so this was an unneeded political swipe and click bait. Can we step away from this tripe and stick to the facts.

    --
    You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
    1. Re:Twitter is not modernizing fast enough by Arzaboa · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure it was a swipe at all. It speaks to me as the only reason I use it is to see his tweets. I still write letters if I want to complain to companies.

      I do agree with your sentiment though. Its annoying and trying to me, when so much of what we read mentions the name in the form of click bait.

  25. As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Politically, I'm a moderate or a centrist. I prefer to take the best ideas of the political right and the best ideas of the political left, rather than sticking myself at one extreme or the other. I'm open to immigration. I want all people to succeed, regardless of their skin color or origin or other attributes. I think healthcare should be affordable and accessible to all. I don't want to see prejudice and hatred.

    As a moderate, I used to follow a huge variety of Twitterers. Some were political, some were quite apolitical. I was seeing a huge range of viewpoints, which I really liked. All was good for several years, but then I found things were getting more and more polarized.

    It started off relatively mildly, with occasional tweets about Black Lives Matter or sexism or something like that. What started as a trickle soon became a deluge. It got to the point where tweet after tweet was about some kind of -ism or -phobia.

    Like I said earlier, I'm open minded, so I started looking into some of the cases that were mentioned in these tweets. Time and time again the incidents mentioned in the tweets relating to BLM ended up involving somebody who actually did violently attack the police, and the police responded with deadly force in self defense. The same would happen when I looked into the cases allegedly involving some sort of -ism or -phobia. The situation would either turn out to be totally overblown, or in some cases it was later revealed that the "incident" being described was nothing but a total fabrication!

    Interestingly, I didn't see this happening so much from the Twitterers I'd subscribed to who I'd place on the political right. Their tweets were much more relevant, and when I investigated them further it turned out that what they were saying actually matched reality. They weren't blowing minor incidents out of proportion, for example.

    Then the 2016 US election really started heating up. Things got really bad after President Trump won the election. Soon I was deluged with endless tweets droning on about "Drumpf", or cartoons making fun of him for allegedly having orange skin, or snide comments mocking his hairdo. I found it all kind of strange, since leftists are the ones who typically say that bullying and ridiculing people is wrong, especially if it involves their skin color or some other physical attribute they can't control.

    The tweets from people who I'd consider to be "right wing" ended up being far more reasonable most of the time. They'd be focusing on real issues, like the economy, border security, and international relations. They wouldn't just be slinging insults. They'd be trying to engage in real discussion, yet most of the replies to their tweets would be petty insults from leftists.

    It was getting to the point where for every useful tweet I saw, I'd have to put up with 30 or more pointless tweets filled with petty insults or complaints about non-issues from leftists. Recently it got to the point where I just couldn't put up with it any more. The signal to noise ratio became terrible.

    All I wanted was to read were reasonable and intelligent comments questioning the policies and actions of the new US administration. But all I was getting were tweets from leftists about "Drumpf" and "orange skin" and "bad hair" and "intolerance" and "racism" and "transphobia".

    So I've quit using Twitter. It stopped providing me with useful content, so I stopped using it. I regret having to do this, as the tweets I was getting from so-called "right wing" Twitterers were typically quite reasonable. It was all of the increasingly nonsensical, negative, and detached-from-reality tweets from leftists that ruined the Twitter experience for me.

    1. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by gnick · · Score: 1

      I've quit using Twitter. It stopped providing me with useful content, so I stopped using it. I regret having to do this, as the tweets I was getting from so-called "right wing" Twitterers were typically quite reasonable. It was all of the increasingly nonsensical, negative, and detached-from-reality tweets from leftists that ruined the Twitter experience for me.

      You know you can tune what you see, right? If you follow loonies, you see loony tweets. I follow 2 accounts, both DJT. These often do not qualify as "quite reasonable right wing" tweets. In fact, they're often loony. I still follow them because they sometimes become national policy. The quality of the posts you were seeing almost certainly trends with the individuals you picked to follow regardless of their political inclinations.

      Or, maybe the only "reasonable" tweets were the ones you agreed with. In which case, political persuasion means everything.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And as far as the 'Drumpf' insult I really don't get it. So what if he is descendant from immigrants that changed their name.

      You don't get the hypocrisy? The descendant of immigrants with the immigrant wife who wants to ban immigrants? It has nothing to do with the name change, just his xenophobia ... his racism (just ask the blacks who twice won judgments against Trump businesses for violating andti-discrimination law when trying to rent housing) ... his transmisogyny (btw - the joint chiefs of staff were not consulted for his latest brain fart. The head has said that policy will remain the same for the time being because they have not been consulted or even notified, and all those joint chiefs are the same ones who approved the change of policy to allow transfolks to serve openly in the first place).

      The guy just can't keep his lies straight, because you have to have a modicum of intelligence to not get trapped in a web of your own lies. Intelligent people generally don't lie because they are smart enough to not get stuck in situations where they have to lie in the first place. That Trump lies every day - and gets caught every day - tells you all you need to know about how stupid he really is.

      It's pretty bad when the head of the Boy Scouts has to issue an apology for Trump's address to them. Some choice quotes

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by chipschap · · Score: 2

      ... I prefer to take the best ideas of the political right and the best ideas of the political left ...

      Altogether too reasonable. I predict you will be viciously attacked.

      Seriously, reason seems to have dropped out of politics and political discussion. Notice how votes in Congress now are on pretty strict party lines? (A few Republicans bail sometimes, but virtually no Dems.)

      What happened to civil discourse? What happened to working together for the common good?

    4. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The recent tweets from President Trump about transsexuals in the military are a great example. Let's take this one in particular. It very reasonably explains the rationale for his decision. Cost and disruption are important factors to consider with any decision. In terms of its presentation, it is well-written, legible, and presidential.

      Now look at the replies to that tweet. The ones I'm seeing include comments like:

      you are a fucking idiot.

      U r a disgrace.

      You're a fucking moron.

      you fat orange clown.

      you are a disgusting excuse for a human being

      What about men with small hands?

      You are a really shitty person

      You're such a fucking scumbag.

      You really are scum

      you're a hateful turd of a man.

      You are despicable.

      I didn't see one reply that presented a reasonable, considerate, intelligent rebuttal of what the President said.

      One reply after another was from outraged leftists using insults and attacks like those above. They aren't even particularly creative or insightful or witty insults. They're just the most basic bottom-of-the-barrel insults, devoid of any substance.

      It's even stranger when you consider that leftists are the ones who are always saying how bad it is to bully people. Yet here we have multiple examples of them acting in a very hypocritical and childish manner, launching one personal attack after another filled with extreme hatred and vitriol.

      Those replies are prefect examples of why normal, reasonable people are starting to want nothing to do with Twitter. Normal, reasonable, intelligent people don't want to be subjected to comments like those.

    5. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That sounds. Dumb. Disparaging someone's descendant name because they want strong immigration enforcement. Did his descendants immigrate illegally? When is it okay to want strong immigration laws and enforcement while expecting immigrants to follow those laws?

      I don't understand modern "liberals". His immigrant name is an insult because he wants to enforce immigration law. Sounds like "liberals" are filled with too much hate when they do crap like that because it's no longer about policy or position or any thing relevant. It's about some evil caricature and any policy that caricature has is obviously evil.

      I don't care about the rest of your comment because I just asking about the damn Drumpf insult and don't want to read your 5 minutes of hate.

    6. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You do understand that there is a difference between legitimate immigrants, who go through the proper process, and illegal aliens who intentionally bypass that process, right? Can you comprehend that? And you do understand the idea of keeping out people who are known criminals or who wish to harm the country they're going to, right?

      It's like you're intentionally misunderstanding and/or misrepresenting very sane policies just so you can have something to get upset about.

    7. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Arzaboa · · Score: 2

      I suppose it could be that idiots tweets draw idiot tweeted responses. When the president of the US is tweeting nasty, derogatory flamebait, he's going to get nasty, derogatory tweets right back at him.

      This is exactly why we expect a leader to lead with dignity. If he tweets crap, he's got a whole audience that is right at that level that otherwise wouldn't respond. He is getting exactly what he is asking for, he enjoys it apparently. The feeling across the world, right or wrong, is that by sending him anything more than 140 characters, he wouldn't understand or want to dig into it anyhow.

      I personally don't like any of it on either side and unfortunately feel like I'm sitting in the bleachers watching a shit show between folks I really don't get on every side of this. North, south, east and west, top and bottom of the barrel.

    8. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ILLEGAL immigrants. No one is arguing about LEGAL immigrants.

    9. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by gnick · · Score: 1

      Again, you can tune what you see. When I use Twitter, I see none of these comments. Apparently they interest you. DJT inspires trolls - You're surprised? It's not a reflection on all things left any more than racists trolling minorities reflect all things right. It's a reflection on people who bother to comment on DJT's tweets, nothing more. You're using Twitter wrong. I see DJT tweets and ads. Nothing more. If you go hunting for garbage, it's not hard to find in any medium.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    10. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Like I said earlier, I'm open minded, so I started looking into some of the cases that were mentioned in these tweets. Time and time again the incidents mentioned in the tweets relating to BLM ended up involving somebody who actually did violently attack the police, and the police responded with deadly force in self defense.

      Really? How often? And what about the ones which had no such attack?

      Trayvon Martin didn't violent attack the police. Even whether or not he attacked George Zimmerman is unconfirmed by substantial corroboration. And the police there certainly mishandled the whole business.

      Tamir Rice. No violent attack. And not even a real gun. And rather quick shooting, don't you think?

      Eric Garner? Nope, no violent attack. Except by the NYPD.

      Andy Lopez? Was carrying an airsoft gun that merely looked real. Committed no crime.

      Jeremy McDole? Police claimed he had a gun, but relatives claim he was unarmed. And no threat to the officers was documented.

      Alton Sterling? Carrying a gun, but did not threaten officers, and they shot him while they had him pinned down.

      Philando Castile, merely warned the police officer that he had a gun in the glove compartment.

      Anthony Hill? Was Mentally ill, and naked when shot.

      Dontre Hamilton? Was Schizophrenic, but committed no offense until the police officer started frisking him.

      John Crawford III? Was carrying a BB gun in a store, committed no crime.

      Ezell Ford? Mental illness, but no actual crime committed, until the LAPD (an organization RIFE with problems), decided to confront him.

      Freddie Gray? Died in the back of a police van. How did that happen?

      Samuel DuBose? Sure, the police officer claimed he was being dragged off, but the prosecutor didn't believe it.

      Akai Gurley? Shot in a dark stairwell, committed no crime.

      Jerame Reid? Didn't attack police officers, merely tried to get out of his car and get on the ground.

      Renisha McBride? Crashed her car, knocked on a door.

      Laquan McDonald? That's might be a good example, but then you see the documentation of the ChicagoPD's misteps, and well...

      Charley Leundeu Keunang? Another case of mental illness botched by the LAPD.

      Tony Robinson? Yeah, a whacked-out druggie shot by the police. But poorly handled, don't you think?

      Charles Kinsey? Wait, wait, you shoot the caretaker of the austistic person? Was this the same Florida Police Department that got caught shooting at pictures of black men?

      Sandra Bland? Who died in a jail cell?

      Jordan Edwards? Police already got caught lying on that one.

      And of course, even Michael Brown perhaps did not warrant being shot, but even if you forgive that, can you forgive the abuses that the DOJ's investigation of Ferguson uncovered? Or can you forgive the right-wing tweets of an X-ray that they claimed was from the officer who was injured? Hmm.

      The same would happen when I looked into the cases allegedly involving some sort of -ism or -phobia. The situation would either turn out to be totally overblown, or in some cases it was later revealed that the "incident" being described was nothing but a total fabrication!

      Oh? Can you give examples?

      I could give examples of right-wing overblown hysteria. James O'Keefe's videos manage to do it.

      Interestingly, I didn't see this happening so much from the Twitterers I'd subscribed to who I'd place on the political right.

      Did this include their tweets about Jade Helm? The Bundy Ranch? FEMA Camps? Birtherism? Sharia Law, the Ground Zero Mosque? You failed to see them? Is that it?

      Their tweets were much more relevant, and when I investigated them further it turned out that what they were saying actually matched reality. They weren't blowing minor incidents out of proportion, for example.

      So you didn't read The_Donald, eh? Perhaps you

    11. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      Oh no, you're saying that the assault was second-hand smoke?

      You're an idiot. Pot is illegal in Minnesota. Drugs makes people act irrationally.

      . Philando said he wasn't reaching for a gun, the cop kept shouting, and ended up firing his gun seven times.

      Oh, ok. I'm reaching but say I not reaching for it. That makes it ok? Sorry that is a stupid thing to do. He wasn't listening to the cop and with his irrational behavior put the cop in a situation that was threatening. How was the cop supposed to know what he was reaching for? You are assuming Philando was acting rational and it is known that he was high on drugs. People on drugs don't act rationally.

      I watched the video multiple times and the cop gave plenty of time for Philando to stop reaching but he kept reaching and disobeyed the cop.

      assertion made was that the police were attacked.

      No. The assertion was that Philando was disobeying the orders of the cop to STOP REACHING FOR THE DAMN GUN. The gun was in the glove box where he was reaching. How was the cop supposed to know? Philando was high on drugs, acting irrationally, and disobeying the orders of an officer while armed. That is a recipe for disaster no matter who you are or what color of skin you have.

      we have a fearful police officer who fired his weapon after merely being informed by the man itself that he had a weapon.

      No you are a liar. The cop was calm up until Philando disobeyed the orders to STOP REACHING multiple times.
      Philando said i'm armed.
      Coped said "Ok, don't reach for it." Cop was calm.
      "Don't pull it out." Calm but louder and faster.
      "Don't pull it out." Louder almost shouting and then the shots were fired.
      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/0...

      You are a lying sack of shit with your "merely".

    12. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      You know you can tune what you see, right?

      I have been reducing who I follow for 6 months now and the one constant truth with twitter now is, everybody is going to post or retweet something about Trump. Most of them will do it daily or more frequently than that. Maybe I need to learn better ways to search for alternative topics or more interesting people, but I'm ready to stop using it any day now because of the obsession with Trump.

      And as for their advertising, I get the same ads over and over and over. Like 2 or 3 of them, not really aligned with any of my interests or related to things I typically do on the internet. They just seem poorly targeted, and repeated so many times that they engender hatred for the product and company they represent. Over-saturation should be avoided by anybody wanting their advertisements to draw people towards them.

      I would tweet about that, if only I could find a way to relate it to Trump...

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    13. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by gnick · · Score: 1

      You have an amazingly skewed view on marijuana. It's not like the guy was drinking.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    14. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I don't have a problem with marijuana but I do recognize that it is a drug and people act irrationally on drugs. There is nothing amazing about it.

      It's not like the guy was drinking.

      Let's not pretend that just because pot isn't as intoxicating as alcohol that it doesn't affect motor skills or cognitive function. Driving while stoned isn't a good idea.

    15. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by gnick · · Score: 1

      I can't say I abandoned Twitter because I never adopted it. For me it's sole purpose is to provide me raw, unbiased, unfiltered communications from my President. I see no other interesting use. I don't hold it against people who do; I just don't get it. I've never paid any attention to the ads, but now that I'm realizing that they're probably targeted for a person who has never tweeted and only follows the President, I'm curious to take a look. If they're targeted in any way towards me, I'll be concerned.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    16. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by gnick · · Score: 1

      I don't have a problem with marijuana but I do recognize that it is a drug and people act irrationally on drugs.

      So are the psycho-actives my shrink insists on. I'm literally never off them. I act irrationally off drugs.

      Driving while stoned isn't a good idea.

      Didn't mean to say that it was. But I'm more comfortable with a habitual THC user on a "two-drink" equivalent than a driver blowing a 0.07 BAC.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    17. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      So are the psycho-actives my shrink insists on. I'm literally never off them. I act irrationally off drugs.

      Yes, some people are like that. Drugs change the chemistry of the brain. When you have a chemical imbalance in the brain the treatment are drugs to correct that imbalance. All your saying is that drugs affecting the brain can be good in controlled situations. However, taking alcohol or marijuana for recreation isn't to account for an imbalance but rather to feel the effects it has on our body and brain. Those effects do influence behavior and sometimes the result is bad and irrational behavior.

      Didn't mean to say that it was. But I'm more comfortable with a habitual THC user on a "two-drink" equivalent than a driver blowing a 0.07 BAC.

      To each their own. I would rather not drive anywhere with any intoxicant. I like the comfort of my home and knowing I don't have to be on the road. That's just me.

    18. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      I did not refer to the name change in my argument. Obviously you have no valid arguments against what I posted, and had to resort to the same tactics Trump uses. So fuck off with my blessings.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    19. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Define a "legitimate immigrant." You'll find that there are many different opinions on that, both between countries and within each country. And what the fuck does any of what you wrote have to do with Trump's hypocrisy and racism? Also, his wife worked illegally, so kick her out.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    20. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      I think you need to learn what the various visas are for. Most are not a "travel certificate." Obviously you've been to Trump University for your education.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    21. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I can agree that marijuana has been wrongly stigmatized but that doesn't change the fact that it is a drug and drugs make people act in irrational ways.

    22. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      And that's terrible, as the long history of marijuana criminalization has caused a great deal of harm, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't warrant being shot dead.

      Nothing happens in a vacuum and while there have been abuses it's only one factor for this case.

      how is it irrational to tell a cop you're NOT reaching... The cop is the one who didn't listen

      when you are still reaching when he says to stop is irrational. Actions speak louder than words.

      How was the cop supposed to know what he was reaching for?

      How am I supposed to know the cop didn't just claim he was reaching for a gun, even though he wasn't, in order to justify the shooting? ...his girlfriend says he's not

      How am I supposed to know his girlfriend didn't lie because she is grieving and it is common for memory to be faulty during intense moments?

      You are assuming that Philando was acting irrational and that his state of intoxication was impairing his judgment.
      No evidence of that has been presented.

      No, I linked to it. He was driving with THC in his system and pot in the car in a state that outlawed it while armed. Do you think that stress could affect his judgment? That he could be arrested when pulled over? How was the cop supposed to predict his behavior when it was likely during the stop that Philando already broke the law? The initial reason for the stop could be bad but that doesn't change the fact that the stop occured and there was enough evidence to suggest philando was breaking the law with pot. Then when he found out he was armed disobeyed orders. You can argue about whether pot should be legal or not but as it stands it's illegal so my sympathy is limited.

      The reason why the cop wasn't convicted because it's understandable that his judgment and action was normal considering the circumstance. Yes, it's sad and I have sympathy for the family but I also recognize that the cop acted in a sad but justifiable way.

      but it's right there, in this thread. That's the assertion

      I don't care what the original assertion was. I quoted your lie and I corrected your lie. I don't care what the gp said. I care that you lied. You keep lying and seem smug about it. BLM is a joke because of lying pieces of shit like you.

    23. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      It's even stranger when you consider that leftists are the ones who are always saying how bad it is to bully people. Yet here we have multiple examples of them acting in a very hypocritical and childish manner, launching one personal attack after another filled with extreme hatred and vitriol.

      I believe the term is SJB - Social "Justice" Bully.

    24. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      tl;dr

    25. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by Neuronwelder · · Score: 1

      You said you are tired of leftists. Why didn't you include the right in the same sentence?? Doesn't sound like a moderate to me.

    26. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You claimed a visa is a travel certificate. That's full of shit. There are student visas, work visas unrelated to the H1B program, family reunification visas, non-immigrant visas, temporary resident visas, even permanent resident visas (aka green cards).

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    27. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      First off, learn english. You wrote "Did his descendants immigrate illegally?" Descendants != ancestors. Just how would descendants of a citizen who are born in the country going to illegally immigrate? Even descendants born outside the country have a limited right to claim citizenship if the paperwork is filed in a timely fashion.

      Also, learn to read. I didn't argue in favour of illegal immigration. I pointed out that Trump is a hypocrite on the issue; his wife was working illegally when she first came into the country. Or did you not know that?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    28. Re:As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      +1 insightful

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    29. Re: As a moderate, I got tired of smug leftists. by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      You are applying rationale to someone that was carrying pot illegally and stoned. The former will land you in jail alone.

      People don't act rationally in normal circumstances much less in high stress circumstances when high.

      Pot doesn't make people crazy.

      No but it does change their behavior and rationale.

      Saying "it is a drug" is almost meaningless. So is caffeine. So is Prozac

      caffeine and prozac aren't illegal and wont' land you in jail in a traffic stop.

      drugs make people act in irrational ways," is too ignorant to address.

      Have evidence to support that ridiculous claim?

      If the cop claims he was afraid because he smelled marijuana,.

      If the cop was afraid because he saw him reaching when he smelled marijuana that could very much alter his perception of the stop.

      he is an idiot and a murderer

      the jury disagrees with you.

  26. Comparing Trump to Wesley Crusher is unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I think it's a little unfair on Trump to compare him to Wesley Crusher. :-)

  27. Trump may be slowing the slide by Salo2112 · · Score: 1

    I had a Twitter account and deleted it a month or so ago. Had nothing whatsoever to do with Trump: it's a stupid way to miscommunicate and I saw no reason to keep it. I would think more people are hanging on to their Twitter accounts to see what he is saying rather than leaving Twitter because of what he said. He may be slowing the landslide, not making it larger.

    1. Re:Trump may be slowing the slide by nnet · · Score: 1

      no kidding, and they can catch his twoots on CNN.

    2. Re:Trump may be slowing the slide by penandpaper · · Score: 1

      I think a lot of people like the drama. Same reason why reality TV was so popular but instead of watching vicariously you can directly participate in all the glorious E-drama you can handle. It's the only thing that makes sense to me why someone would stay on Twitter.

      Well, maybe there are a few good handles to follow but those seem few and far between.

    3. Re:Trump may be slowing the slide by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      I don't think it's the drama, so much as it allows Trump's supporters to believe they're plugged into him. These tweets seem pretty mad to most people, but the impression I get is that the supporters look upon them almost as personal messages, propagating the illusion that somehow Trump is fighting for the little guy and cutting all them nasty elites out of the loop. There's a sort of crude brilliance to the Twitter strategy, at least so far as keeping the base onboard. Of course, the other sixty percent of America just gazes on in disbelief and horror at some of madness that he types out on his phone.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  28. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2

    There is a way to make it profitable, just not doing what they're currently doing. Perhaps making corporations and verified people pay a small fee to stay verified? I don't know, but as much as it is a media darling, there is a value there, it just needs to be unlocked.

    On average, Twitter loses $100 million every quarter, which is completely insane. Part of the problem is having 3,000+ employees when they could easily run the business with less than 300. But still, there just simply is no "value to be unlocked".

    If there was a way for Twiiter to be profitable, they would have found it by now. This idea of "there's a magic answer out there somewhere, we just have to find it" is complete bullshit.

    Sure, it's popular among the brain-dead, but as an ongoing business, it's just a stupid, unworkable idea, and 10 years of massive losses that proven that.

  29. Re:Of course by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    I believe they may have 100 million real accounts, but the number of active users is definitely far less.

    Yeah, but how many are humans?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  30. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    As a fun aside, it seems to me that the only thing in nature that is either growing or dying (as in, not biologically successful if it ceases growing) is cancer.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  31. Market saturation by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 2

    Assuming this data is accurate, Twitter's user base seems to have hit market saturation sometime around the start of 2015. The service has remained pretty much the same since they began it, so why would anyone expect that there are suddenly more people who aren't using Twitter that have decided that they want to use it? There was a significant uptick in the first quarter of this year (possibly attributable to Twitter being Trump's medium of choice), but anyone who thought that was sustainable growth was crazy.

  32. Re:Of course by Kergan · · Score: 1

    I don't need an account to see or hear about his tweets, so why would I sign up?

    To answer him with an aviation hangar loads of insults just because you can? It's like, come on, the guy is so thin skinned that he's blocking users he doesn't like - and getting sued for it. Hopefully a gazillion more of the same will lead him to question what he's doing at some point.

  33. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by DarkOx · · Score: 1

    but it's too popular with media outlets and customer service departments to be a financial dead-end.

    So was myspace. Twitter isnt going to be gone tomorrow but if they start making the changes required to monetize it effectively people may slowly leave or decide not to bother.

    What Twitter needs to probably do is, a heck of a lot less. Don't police it, fire everyone but a core team of developers host everything in the could. Keep it mostly text and allow third party hosting of images, and other content to keep the bandwidth costs down. It will earn plenty of ad revenue to keep Jack and some core people in fancy suits for decades. If they let the thing just be a website rather than trying to be a whole damn media company with one real product that anyone cares about.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  34. Re:Of course by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

    Depends on how you define human. Do the brain-dead and zombies count>

    What we are seeing is the burn-out of people on social media, and the cure is to just walk away. Anything of relevance will appear elsewhere anyway.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  35. Re:Low ratings? by penandpaper · · Score: 1

    Not if there are bot followers to buy. The horror has just begun! He'll be talking to himself and mindless automatons... Ok, so no change, you're right. Carry on.

  36. Re:Of course by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    I don't need an account to see or hear about his tweets, so why would I sign up?

    To answer him with an aviation hangar loads of insults just because you can? It's like, come on, the guy is so thin skinned that he's blocking users he doesn't like - and getting sued for it. Hopefully a gazillion more of the same will lead him to question what he's doing at some point.

    If it hasn't happened yet, it will never happen. He's to self-absorbed. He thought that being president was like being king, and after 6 months of trying to rule like a king, he hasn't even figured out that he's doing it wrong.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  37. Re:Of course by penandpaper · · Score: 1

    Apparently ~300 million "users".

  38. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by DarkOx · · Score: 1

    I don't know, pretty much everything plant or animal is always growing and dying. Its just a few cells here and few cells there at a time. Pretty much when new stuff quits growing the organism as a whole dies eventually.

    Cancer is really just an unsustainable growth rate.

    In the case of Twitter, you need to add people at some rate because the older accounts might not be closed but they are as good as dead. The less their owners use them, the few page views the less the ad revenue generated. Twitter either needs new blood all the time or needs a gimmick to get existing account holders excited and coming back to state where they are heavy users again.

    There are probably a few celebrities and trolls who tweet entirely to much, and they represent twitters cancers because they squeeze out/drive off/offend the good tweets and twitter users. So the that makes the "safety panel" or whatever they call it Twitters chemotherapy. Its kills the cancers but also a lot of interesting content many people want as well, and that also causes a loss of users, or damage to the surrounding tissue.

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  39. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    As a fun aside, it seems to me that the only thing in nature that is either growing or dying (as in, not biologically successful if it ceases growing) is cancer.

    How is cancer not biologically successful per your definition? Especially the 15% of human cancers that are caused by viruses. So what if it kills a host, it just moves on to another ...

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  40. Re:Not ME by coastwalker · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It works the other way round too Twitter is a good example of what is wrong with the Trumpster. The Trumpster being on Twitter more or less proves that his head is full of a mish mosh of bad jokes, stupid internet memes, shameless self promotion, and political ranting. No wonder he tweets in his lunch break to ban LBGT from the military without a single thought about what to do with the 2500 who are already in it. The man sadly is a moronic cretin who barely has the intellect to function as the president. I would not be surprised if the Republican party engineer his departure once they have achieved whatever they find necessary to blame on him once they have buried him. The guy is certainly more of an inept entertainer than a Machiavellian plotter.

    --
    Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
  41. Re:Of course by penandpaper · · Score: 2

    He thought that being president was like being king,

    You must be a mind reader. Do you have a crystal ball too?

  42. Zero *net* new users by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    I really doubt no one signed up for Twitter in the past three months. They just had as many users quit as joined.

  43. No thanks. by EnsilZah · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wanted to open an account to follow some people whose work I'm interested in.
    An hour after creating the account, having done nothing with it, It's been locked and I've been told that it looks like I'm a bot registering multiple accounts and the only way to unlock it is to authenticate though my phone number.
    So I wrote to support that it seems like a pretty scammy way to get my phone number, and I'd be happy to talk to them, but I'm not interested in handing out that sort of information.
    Never heard back from them.

    1. Re:No thanks. by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Twitter and Facebook are both very, very interested in your real identity. Probably their Gestapo commissars require it.

  44. TFA trolling by s.petry · · Score: 1

    Trump has little to do with Twitter's growth or decline, or lack of either. Twitter as you state is tainted, but not just by celebrity types. Censorship has probably as much to do with the lack of growth, and the surge of competing products vowing not to censor.

    Twitter seems to be a big deal with media agencies who watch each others tweets, celebrities that follow each other, bots who don't care who they spam, and bot makers who think people are still actively joining in. Yeah yeah, some people follow that stuff too, but not enough for all the hype it gets.

    Trump is only mentioned for the Trump vs anti-Trump posts that seem to come with anything these days.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  45. "Despite"? by Thad+Boyd · · Score: 1

    I don't think "despite" is the correct word.

  46. Re:No surprise... by Arzaboa · · Score: 1

    It matters because at this point he is the president of the United States. His tweets are official statements. For those that follow the US Government and policy, this actually does matter, even though it is junk on so many levels.

  47. I signed up last quarter... by Zurkeyon3733 · · Score: 1

    So did about 20 other people I know... That is more than Zero. This appears to be fake news.

  48. Twitter, what is it good for? by bruce_the_moose · · Score: 1

    Twitter, huh, good god
    What is it good for
    Absolutely nothing, listen to me

    Oh, twitter, I despise
    'Cause it means destruction of innocent minds

    Twitter means tears to thousands of American eyes
    Where the president* goes and lies
    And despised, truth dies

    I said Twitter, huh good god, why'all
    What is it good for
    Absolutely nothing, say it again

    *president, so called

    --
    To reduce crime, make fewer things against the law.
  49. I am over Twitter by Stomper_Stoddard · · Score: 1

    Twitter is the new MySpace, only people who are hopelessly uncool and out of touch continue to use it.

    1. Re:I am over Twitter by LightningBolt! · · Score: 1

      > only people who are hopelessly uncool and out of touch continue to use it

      People have been saying this about slashdot for a decade.

      --
      Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
    2. Re: I am over Twitter by bruce_the_moose · · Score: 1

      And they're probably right, at least as far as comments go. I'm

      --
      To reduce crime, make fewer things against the law.
    3. Re:I am over Twitter by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      I am hopelessly uncool, you insensitive clod!

  50. And Minds.com is crowing by Dusanyu · · Score: 1

    people who want to read the tweets of the President don't need a twitter account to read them. and twitter has instituted policies as of late that turns may people off from joining for example the "Trust and Safety console" https://about.twitter.com/safe... which has on its board a very loaded selection for example the perpetrator of the famous vid-con "Garbage Human" incident On the other hand the platform Minds.com is growing based on its policies based of free speech.

  51. Re:Of course by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, apparently he makes major policy announcements now via twitter, and doesn't even bother to inform departments via normal channels. I'm not even sure why he has a communications staff, or heck, even a cabinet. This is government by one man and his phone.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  52. Re:No surprise... by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    It matters because the President seems to have little idea how to actually run a government, which seems odd, because at least so far as official executive instructions go, you can't tell me the way he ran Trump Enterprises was to send grammatically and spelling-challenged missives over the company email system informing departments of new policy.

    Maybe the real problem here is that Trump never in fact has run a damned fucking thing in his life, that he has had lawyers and accountants who translated his garbled directives into something human beings with normal cognitive function could interpret. Why exactly he has now decided to send out his directives via Twitter. The mere fact that nobody at the Pentagon seemed to have any idea, for instance, that he was instituting a transgender enlistment ban (whatever you may think of the policy) suggests to me that this is a man who knows virtually nothing about management and organizational communications.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  53. I asked my sister by buss_error · · Score: 1

    I asked my neighbor lady if she loaded up twitter to follow President Trump.
    Her answer: "If I wanted to listen to a fat, arrogant, crazy old man, I wouldn't have gotten a divorce."

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
  54. Censorship, sjw witch hunts by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

    Stopped using it due to these things. Reached a point where my opinion was likely going to cause people to start screeching if I was honest, so between Twitter censoring what I saw and self censoring myself to keep the peace, I'm very very glad I left.

    It's just a total political whine great now and a circle jerk off let's feel good for whatever reason today stuff.

    Shame, the breaking news was quite useful.

    1. Re:Censorship, sjw witch hunts by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

      Whine fest, even.

  55. Re: Of course by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

    its going to be a long 4-8 years people. twitter knows this and this is why they have not shut down The President of the United States. Its called marketing.

  56. I think it's a screem they haven't caught on. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    ... the mainstream news media love to report on who tweeted what, and "who" is usually come celebrity cretin or venal politician.

    I think it's a scream that they haven't YET caught on to one of the things Trump is doing with it.

    His tweets aren't JUST about getting to his supporters unfiltered by the lamestream media. (Most of his supporters don't follow them. There are other ways for him to get the word out that doesn't have the same set of gatekeepers.)

    Every time he wants to get something done without the newsies jumping on it or anyone organize real opposition to it, he posts some outrageous tweet about something else. "Here: Look at THIS shiny thing!" Then they all go off and flame him for a news cycle or two while he gets what he wants done.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  57. Twitter is ruined by aliquis · · Score: 1

    By the same way Facebook is ruined.

    Political correctness and filtering.

    I used to post on twitter before with loooots of coverage / month and when they decided to become "responsible" all that was dead.

    Why should I post if only my followers see my posts? Hard to get much of a following then.

    What we need is a free world or a free country willing to host peoples opinions freely.

    Wish my country did it and in a separate time-line without mass-immigration it likely could have and worked for political refugees / people who had trouble speaking their minds instead, but with mass-immigration / political genocide of my own people it has become much more important to control speech than letting people raise their opinions.

  58. Re:Of course by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Don't need to be a mind reader - it should be obvious by now to everyone who isn't willfully blind.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  59. Re:Of course by penandpaper · · Score: 1

    I guess I am confused when "trying to rule like a king" hasn't tried to perform the functions of the other branches of government. You know, because that is what "ruling like a king" is. Why would allow the courts to stop his E.O.s if tried to rule like a king? Why would he allow congress to write the wanna-be health care law he if tried to rule like a king?

    I guess my real question, how has he tried to rule like a king?

  60. Re:Of course by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    He has tried to pass rules without respect for the law, actively called for the removal of a member of the judiciary who ruled against him, is actively doing everything to force is attorney general to quit because the guy (Sessions) properly recused himself from the Russian investigation, interfered in the FBI investigation first by trying to get the director to go easy, then firing him (reminiscent of Nixon).

    He thought that being president would be easy. Now he's found out that it's hard. He can't just order that things be done because there are laws putting limits on his powers that the president of a company would not have. He's also said that he could pardon himself. Only someone who has lost touch with reality and thinks his power is limitless would believe that the country would accept that (plus it's of dubious legality).

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  61. Re:Of course by penandpaper · · Score: 2

    He has tried to pass rules without respect for the law

    I must have missed all those rules that he forced by ignoring the courts. Or were those the rules that the courts upheld that did indeed "respect" the law.

    , actively called for the removal of a member of the judiciary who ruled against him

    You mean the Mexican judge debacle? Understandable considering the point of a judge is impartiality and unbiased. Or do you mean the 9th circuit? Understandable considering they have been overstepping their judiciary role.

    is actively doing everything to force is attorney general to quit because the guy (Sessions) properly recused himself from the Russian investigation

    So what? Russian investigation is a nothingburger and he is the boss of the A.G. He has the right to fire him.

    interfered in the FBI investigation first by trying to get the director to go easy, then firing him (reminiscent of Nixon).

    You say interfered but that is a fine line that I am not sure was crossed. He can fire the director of the FBI for any reason and it was suggested by other members of the DoJ.

    president would be easy. Now he's found out that it's hard

    It's also his first political office he held. So what?

    He's also said that he could pardon himself. Only someone who has lost touch with reality and thinks his power is limitless would believe that the country would accept that

    This is the closest thing you have said to "act like a king" but nothing has come of it besides asking legal advice and some tweets. I am not sure if that really constitutes acting like a king.

    I think you have let your emotion get the better of you. Your hatred is palpable with every post or thread that mentions Trump. I think it's very hard to honest look and conversation about politics when someone lets emotion get the better of them.

  62. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

    Twitter had censorship long before they dreamed up the Orwellian "Trust and Safety" star chamber.

  63. Re:Not ME by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

    i am still considering leaving the nation.

    Fun fact: President Trump is quite popular among the American expat community in Communist Vietnam.

  64. Re:Not ME by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

    Among the wide variety of international travelers I meet every week, political positions are quite predictable. Smug rich folks support the Democrat party, working people support Trump (but not necessarily the Republican party). In my observation this simple formula covers >95% of people.

  65. It's a bold strategy, Dorsey. Let's see if it pays by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 1

    There's obviously a need for standards to cover things like harassment, threats, and illegal content. But Dorsey's Twitter doesn't stop there. Look at the 'Trust & Safety Council' they formed, which includes the Anti-Defamation League and Feminist Frequency - two groups well known for being as politicised as they are censorious.

    Look at how their bans, de-verification, and shadow bans are applied far more often when the politics of the user aren't aligned with leftist progressive points. It's fine to have a political bias so long as you declare it, but they don't. They simply apply their rules based on political views, and that creates an uncertain environment. Why would I invest time in a platform that may arbitrarily cripple me account for upsetting the the social justice hive mind? As a business, why would I use this platform for customer outreach if I know Twitter to be hell-bent on alienating anyone to the left of Jeremy Corbyn?

    Dorsey's strategy for growth is to apply ideological censorship and to permit the regressive left to harass people for having the wrong political views? Let's see if it pays off.

    --
    -- Using the preview button since 2005
  66. Re:Is it time to start calling the death of Twitte by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    So was myspace.

    The big difference between Myspace and Twitter (and incidentally, Myspace is still open and running) is that MySpace was popular with a bunch of spotty teens with no money but not really the general population or corporations. Twitter is popular with media outlets and service departments. There is money in the pockets of people using Twitter- Twitter just need to learn how to extract it without scaring people off.

    I definitely think you're right, they need to cut staff, but I think they could perhaps take payment from the media outlets and service departments that use them. I small fee to all the Walmarts, Wendy's, and BBCs of the world (and every other "Verified account" could make them a lot of money. Keep the general population happy by not charging them.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  67. Why? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

    Why do I need Twitter? If I want to see Trump tweets, I just have to wait until the MSM reports on them later in the day, and talks about how stupid they are ad-nauseum.

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    1. Re:Why? by vandamme · · Score: 1

      If I want to hear from an asshole I'll just fart.

  68. Re:Of course by trg83 · · Score: 1

    All my friends are intelligent enough to know that a forum where people post their ideas to each other IS social media.

  69. Re:Of course by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    I said he tried, not that he succeeded. Big difference to most people, but not to trolls, I guess. And the russian investigations (plural) are far from a nothingburger, especially considering how he's still refusing to release his tax returns because they will nail him but good. Also, he didn't just ask for legal advice - he declared he could pardon himself. Big diff.

    As for partiality, I treated Hillary Clinton the same way - she too is a liar and not worthy of the office of president. So quit your trolling - you're the one who is letting emotions and partiality interfere with a clear analysis of the situation, not me. Both parties need a good hosing down.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  70. Re:Of course by slavdude · · Score: 1

    The tweets about transgendered people serving in the military were too well-written and coherent to be Trump. Probably it was Pence or Bannon who used the account to issue the policy.

  71. Re:Of course by penandpaper · · Score: 1

    Again the closest thing to "trying to rule like a king" is the "declared he could pardon himself". If that is all there is that isn't even close to "trying". It's just rhetoric or stupid comments that have no action behind them (yet at least). Obama's "I have a pen and a phone" to bypass congress is action that he did use! Did you complain that Obama was actually acting like a king instead of trying with stupid statements?

    I honestly do not see how that statement, stupid or otherwise, is "trying to act like a king" considering what our past presidents have done. You have an odd definition of "trying to act like a king".

  72. Re: Of course by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    He completely bypasses the media which only acts as a de-dumbing filter.

    FTFY.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  73. Why Twitter when the news does it for me? by PlaynBass · · Score: 1

    I deleted my Twitter account because it devolved into a litany of ad hominem attacks and I was inundated with a constant barrage of banal and repetitive tweets about useless crap.

    The major news always aggregates more than I will ever want to know about celebrities and political clap-trap, all of it amounting to a #swamp of misspellings and misinformation and uninformed opinions.

    If I want entertainment, I watch Netflix, because our public airwaves have been coopted by advertisements aimed mostly at the affluent and the easily frightened souls who are sickly results of our industrialized food system and the consumerization of our economy.

    Oh, and we have allowed lawyers to make taking personal responsibility and the use of common sense a rarity, while anyone with enough money can literally get away with mass murder.

    Even our postal system has been perverted to subsidize the worthless junk mail that inundates us all with unwanted advertisements that businesses can use to reduce their tax burdens at the expense of the legitimate uses of first class mail that are still required for certain legal transactions and (mostly) secure communications.

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    PlaynBass