Twittiquette -- The Rules I (Try To) Follow

Twitter isn't a wild west of conversation. The wild west had codes of honour people were expected to follow. We have to make our own.

So here's the one I think I try to follow. Still trying to get clear what I exactly feel about these things.

 

Quote Tweeting

If used to add something useful to the discussion, QT away. If you're not adding anything though, just quoting from the persons own thread or article... don't, this is just an attempt to steal likes from them (of course if you're trying to quote tweet in a thread, where you don't have an alternative way of adding it, feel free). Possibly allowable if you need to make it clear it's a thread so that people will click through.

If you're doing it to dunk, check their follower count. Dunk upwards. It is bad form if you have tens of thousands of followers to direct a pile on to someone with fifty four who never expected to be seen by so many. I try to keep within an order of magnitude, so at present anyone with less than eighty followers is safe from me. This may be too large a difference.


Pile Ons

Don't. Unless they're a big account (thousands of followers?) or a bluecheck. Especially bluechecks; anyone who gets verified is explicitly putting themselves out there in public and should have no expectation of being treated otherwise. If you're just using Twitter for vibing or talking to people you already know, rather than building a brand, you wouldn't get the checkmark by your name.

 

Mute Content, Block Conduct

Archdruid Greer has a very good post on moderating discussions. I think the conduct/content distinction is a very important one to bear in mind. If you don't want to talk to someone anymore because you don't like their content, you have the option of just walking away. If you don't want to see their stuff showing up, you can use the mute button on their account, they won't know. Even if you really don't like their content, blocking suggests they got to you. Muting leaves them screaming into the void.

However, if they have bad conduct -- if they are harassing you or others, for example -- hit that block button. Obviously everyone has a different activation threshold for this. Whatever your threshold is, do not then turn around and start harassing those who haven't blocked the person, just lay out your case about why you considered them worthy of the block button.

 

Blocking Randos, Followers, And Mutuals

You owe randos nothing. If someone starts harassing you out of the blue, feel free to hit the button without telling them why.

If they've been following you for a while, it is courteous to give them some warning before hitting it, though I don't think it should be an obligation. If it's a softblock however, you really do need to tell them, simply because Twitter is so glitchy it can unfollow people for you by accident. If you don't want someone refollowing you, they need to know that it was deliberate, and that a refollow after this will earn a hard block.

If they're a mutual, then they deserve to know why. You made the choice to follow them back, or follow them in the first place, you owe them for a reason why this acquaintanceship has broken down.


Slack (Grace) Is Essential

Everyone on Twitter -- okay not everyone, but most accounts, and you should assume there is a person behind the keyboard unless you have reason to believe otherwise -- is a human. Humans make mistakes. Humans are flawed creatures in need of grace, it's the only way we manage to build anything and maintain any relationships at all. Love covers a multitude of sins. In any case, if you block people at the slightest provocation you will only succeed in building yourself a thick walled bubble -- and I hope the last decade have given us all some understanding of how bad those can get.

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