This site shows you how the quote retweet function is actually kind of destructive.
@Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast
Ah, never mind, I see the source of confusion.
The instance I'm on *does* offer a quote option. I didn't realize the rest of you don't have that button.
@LouisIngenthron @Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast 😲 I might check out other servers to see what they offer, then.
@LouisIngenthron @Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast do you mean it allows you to quote in replies? That's different.
Quote retweeting is creating a complety new post (to your followers) which quotes another post inline but not as a reply.
@mfitzp Correct, I am referring to what exists on Twitter as "quote-retweeting". My server appears to support that as custom extra functionality. I have a separate button for quoting. I just tried it. Check out my profile to see the result.
@LouisIngenthron @mfitzp hwo does that translate to instances that don't have it? If you quote tweet - on a server that doesn't have quote tweet - does it change it?
@LouisIngenthron @mfitzp ah! ok - yes, it's great that it doesn't tag or notify - again it can be used as a way to attack.
@LouisIngenthron @Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast
Same here. I didn't realize how different the instances could be. Between the quote ability and the enormous character limit, I'm increasingly grateful I landed on qoto.org.
☑️
@LouisIngenthron @Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast ew that's a terrible break from masto norms. I'm tempted to just block that instance.
@johnmark Blocking because of the availability of a tool seems silly.
Blocking because of unmoderated abuse of that tool would be far more justified.
There are lots of legitimate uses for QTs, even if there are some folks who used them for harm.
@LouisIngenthron yes that's why I stopped at tempted. I'll wait to see if it's abused.
@Extra_Special_Carbon @LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast The problem is unregulated QT's and the ability to do them privately. Not QT's overall - which can be essential for talking about misinformation, especially in the sciences.
@Extra_Special_Carbon
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
Oh, I never thought of it that way... dang.
@Extra_Special_Carbon @LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
This is one reason I didn't move to that other platform people are praising (not Tribel) - the creator QTs to invite trolling of commenters.
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast @Extra_Special_Carbon Apparently it was a particular problem that nefarious locked-down accounts could quote-RT. They would coordinate harassment campaigns where their followers would start harassing the original poster, and it was impossible to tell where it was coming from and block it.
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
Eugen goes into some details about it in this post:
@wiredfire @mollyjongfast
Ah, never mind, I see the source of confusion.
The instance I'm on *does* offer a quote option. I didn't realize the rest of you don't have that button.
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
Such is the joy of open source and admins that chose to make amendments that suit them 😁
@LouisIngenthron @wiredfire @mollyjongfast the name was a give away
@claujours @LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
Feels like the fedi version of Reddit's "username checks out" haha 😉
@wiredfire @LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
Yes, I agree that this has deep implications for the discourse.
@LouisIngenthron @Extra_Special_Carbon @mollyjongfast Adding a couple of clicks worth of friction to the Brigading Machine goes a very, very long way towards prevention and mitigation. A lot of accessibility work is about taking things that are difficult only because nobody's put the work into making them easy, and putting that work in, and we've got lots of evidence that "make quote-tweeting easy" amounts to "make participating in a harassment pile-on accessible".
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
@Gargron posted about it a while back.
To paraphrase: quote tweeting takes a response that should be delivered to an individual, and instead delivers it to your followers in a performative way that can lead to dogpiling. Even if you're trying to do something "good" like ridicule a bad take, you're just giving that bad take a wider audience.
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast @Gargron
Ironically, this would have been a great opportunity to use a "Quote Toot" to show you what Eugen said, but I think the toxicity outweighs the benefit.
Here's a link: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/99662106175542726
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast it's so interesting! People on here really don't seem tempted to dunk on each other, is that because of the community or because of the features? One clearly informs the other
@simon Give it time. The trolls go where the people go. Once it reaches critical mass, human nature will take over.
@LouisIngenthron the trolls have been here all along though - Gab and Truth Social both run on Mastodon already!
Most tasteful servers have them completely blocked though - one of the benefits of federation
@simon Oh, I understand that. But what I'm saying is, when enough people migrate from Twitter, the trolls will have incentive to come to these non-trolly servers and push the moderators to their limits. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
@LouisIngenthron @simon
Ding! Got it in one, I'm afraid.
Dunbar's number is the doom of humanity.
@LouisIngenthron because it's nearly always used to talk about people's content instead of talking to them about it. And while there are valid reasons to do that, *most* reasons people do it are toxic.
@LouisIngenthron @mollyjongfast
It’s often used as a signal flare to invite trolls. Usually, quote tweets are hostile, though I don’t think I used them that way.