Have you had a bad Twitter experience?

Had a barrelful of slurry chucked over me on Twitter

Didn't find your answer?

Is it just me?

This week I was quite shaken by being in the middle of a Twitterstorm of my own creation. I made two mistakes. Firstly, I made a comment back to an institution mildly rebuking them for the style of a specific tweet. Cue an avalanche of crap and filth from people supporting said institution for their policies which I hadn't commented on. Actually, they were more anti-me than pro-institution. Dozens of total strangers calling me a c**t, total t**t, knuckle-dragging, racist scum, blah blah. A common side sneer was to label me an accountant which gave the braying blood-lust mob more ammunition. That one I couldn't duck.

Mistake number two was to try to politely deal with each person individually and reasonably. It took a lot of time. It only made the situation worse. I was, additionally, a boring c**t, total boring t**t etc. If anyone thinks communication is too robust here, you really have no idea.

Anyway, folks. How do you use Twitter, how do you avoid a bad experience and if you have one how do you deal with it?

 

Replies (40)

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Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 16:25

I try and avoid Twitter, Facebook and the likes.

These places are breeding grounds for unbelievable angry and gullible people.

There is no grey with them, only black or white, you are either with them or against them. If they are for said institution, then any rebuke against it means you are against it, and therefore against them, and are henceforth fair game for whatever vitriol they decide to spew at you.

I often wonder if these people are the same in real life. Are they sitting with their work colleagues, and if one of them has the audacity to have a differing opinion, do they launch a hail of abuse towards them? It would certainly make for a live;y workplace, but somehow I doubt it.

So, ya big knuckle dragging, racist (unt, what was the nature of this rebuke which they saw as deserving of such a response?

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Replying to Lone_Wolf:
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By Justin Bryant
04th Jul 2018 16:57

Oh the irony (and hypocrisy) of your comment (given your trolling response to one of my comments on another thread just now - that I naturally ignored)!

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Replying to Justin Bryant:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 17:05

Hypocrite?

I don't post anything online that I wouldn't say to someones face.

If we worked in the same office, and 2 months after a discussion, you out of the blue came back with proof that your point was correct, I'd say the exact same thing to you.

In fact, having to pause and type what I say online gives me the time to phrase what I say more eloquently.

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Replying to Lone_Wolf:
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By andy.partridge
04th Jul 2018 17:06

They had suddenly gone with a 'down with the kids' style of tweeting added with a bit of modern virtue signalling. I asked if they knew their Twitter account had been hacked by a teenager.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 17:18

Ah, so the "racist" element of your rebuke was totally fabricated in the mind of the accuser, as is often the case.

Those types of respondents in particular don't seem to appreciate that by making the assumption that a comment is made with racist intent, when it clearly hasn't been, that it is their own prejudice that they are projecting on to you, and they should perhaps re-evaluate their own views.

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Replying to Lone_Wolf:
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By andy.partridge
04th Jul 2018 17:23

Well, the virtue-signalling was about refugees and respondents very quickly came to the conclusion, and with no help from me, that my tweet was driven by racism.

Of course, the mob that piled in later hadn't even seen my tweet, but their mates had found a racist and so it was important that I was exposed.

I learned that protesting against unfair treatment merely confirms your guilt in their eyes.

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By JoandToby
04th Jul 2018 16:31

That's awful. I don't use Twitter, mainly because I'm not sure how to use it and I read a lot of reports about trolling on Twitter. I only really use facebook so I can choose who I share information with and have control over my privacy settings.

However, I do sometimes participate in FB public forums and find that a lot of people become keyboard warriors and if they don't agree with something you say, feel fit to launch a torrent of abuse. Whatever happened to a healthy debate? People have different views and that's not a bad thing, but it seems if you oppose someone's view these days, that you put yourself open to horrible comments as you said happened to you.

I always try and stick to the rules and think "Would I be prepared to say this if I was face to face with the person" before I type something. I think sometimes anonymity can be a licence for some people to say exactly what they think, no holds barred. It's easy when you're hiding behind a keyboard.

I admire your decision to try and reason politely with each individual, but some people just can't be reasoned with. Best to try and ignore and report any particularly offensive posts to Twitter, if they have that facility.

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Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 16:32

On this, does anyone watch Dave Gorman? He sometimes does a piece on "the bottom half of the internet", i.e. the comments section.

This actually prompted me to pay closer attention to the comments that are left in various news stories and articles. It's astounding how just about every trivial matter will cause people to react completely irrationally (so called journalists only exacerbate the situation with the amount of faux offended articles that appear to stoke such reactions - I guess it all comes down to clicks these days).

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By Pygmy
04th Jul 2018 16:36

We are dealing with a society that sees no irony in the simultaneous existence of Facebook and GDPR -reminds me of a Guardian cartoon from years ago featuring Robin Hood shaking his head in dismay at the queue forming for the Sheriff of Nottingham's Lottery.

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By JoandToby
04th Jul 2018 16:42

Years ago I was posting on a public forum and there's nothing more likely to cause aggravation than a discussion regarding dog breeders.

Anyhow, one member kept posting on there how she was a responsible dog breeder and she didn't care about rescue centres overflowing with unwanted dogs when she could make so much money from a litter of pedigree puppies.

Cue, a response from a pro-rescue member, saying how dare she breed more dogs when they are dogs languishing in rescue centres and she is just adding to the problem of them struggling to find homes.

The debate became heated and everyone seemed to slating one another and then suddenly "the breeder" member posted how "breeders were the scum of the earth making money from puppies with no regard for their welfare"

Yes, you guessed it, the member actually had two online accounts, posting in support of breeders under one account and then posting how she hated breeders on the other account. Trouble is, as she got carried away posting, she forgot to switch accounts so she ended up trolling herself!

Do people really have that much time on their hands? You couldn't make it up!

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
04th Jul 2018 16:44

I have never been on Twitter.

I do really wish my father was alive today, he could manage the most politically incorrect comments in the world without even really trying, if I had ever unleashed him on social media he would have become infamous.
He could also do a good hatchet job on organised religions (with an interesting take on the loaves and fishes) but on the positive side there was no prejudice in his comments, everything was fair game.

There is however hope for me yet, at still sub sixty (though not by that much these days) I have noticed a slight change in my own demeanour and a growing ability to be intentionally insulting, so if you hang around on A Web for another say 7-8 years I may by then have developed a s*d it attitude with resultant serial banning by the team on here:

So, my future topics for derision, no particular order:

Those who work in schools and think themselves hard done by with only 6 -7 weeks summer holidays. (May have to delete this if my other half ever reads it)

All EDC / university/civil service employees-work, you do not know the meaning of work. ( and that does include my sisters- until they read this)

Parents with noisy kids- I never let mine behave like that. (Age is really good at impairing memory)

Glasgow Rangers-no explanation necessary.

All singers cloned from Ed Sheeran, why on earth do they all sound the ******* same and what the **** happened to bands?

Charities- how do their employees get newer cars than I ever manage?

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Replying to DJKL:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 17:12

DJKL wrote:
Glasgow Rangers-no explanation necessary.

I was with you til this point.

Who are "Glasgow Rangers"?

I am aware of Rangers Football Club, the worlds most successful football club, but not this "Glasgow Rangers".

Time for me to hide now before the inevitable Sevco comments come hurtling my way. :)

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Replying to Lone_Wolf:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
04th Jul 2018 17:27

And we were getting on so well.

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Replying to DJKL:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
04th Jul 2018 17:33

I know. I'm afraid your card is marked now.

Tell me you're not a follower of the green and grey - I had a higher impression of you than that.

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Replying to Lone_Wolf:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
04th Jul 2018 20:50

These days I tend to see mainly Hibs games, I am not really a Hibs supporter but as I have now lived in Leith for 21 years and have a son,daughter and wife who are all season ticket holders there, I have a certain affection for Hibs, notwithstanding when I was much younger I tended towards the other Edinburgh side.

It is a bit like coffee, before I married I was solely a tea drinker now I consume both tea and coffee.

Frankly I consider all Scottish football somewhat depressing, when only one team appears to have a chance on day one of the season it is not much of a contest, however it was not much better when your friends were also in the mix.

Instead these days I watch far more English football on tv with occasional forays to The Stadium of Light when I want to be really depressed.

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By Cloudcounter
04th Jul 2018 16:55

I read Twitter regularly, but rarely post any comments. It seems to be a common viewpoint that Twitter is all about vacuous celebrities who make brainless posts about their breakfast and other non-events. They are certainly on there but there are a lot of good accounts posting interesting and valuable material on a number of topics, including Brexit (of course) but plenty of other matters.

Some of the comments are aggressive (not to mention brain dead) but there is much of interest if you are prepared to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I've never had a bad experience, and keeping my thoughts to myself probably helps with that. You just can't argue with a lot of internet idiots and it's just not worth trying.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
04th Jul 2018 17:02

What did you actually say Andy?

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
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By andy.partridge
04th Jul 2018 17:06

Please see above in response to Lone Wolf.

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Portia profile image
By Portia Nina Levin
04th Jul 2018 17:24

In the words of a certain university, Andy. Tough. Jog on! :)

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Replying to Portia Nina Levin:
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By andy.partridge
04th Jul 2018 17:29

At last, something to smile about.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By Portia Nina Levin
04th Jul 2018 17:32

Yes. And sarcasm goes down so badly with complete strangers, doesn't it?

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RLI
By lionofludesch
04th Jul 2018 17:38

I have a Farcebook account. I rarely post on it. I use it to contact specific people to tell them of events. And, in turn, they contact me about events.

I also have a Twitter account which I haven't bothered with in years.

What I can't do with is pointless commentaries on people's lives. ("Ooooh, late for school/work/dole office again..." - well get off Farcebook, then), or posting a picture of your breakfast.

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Red Leader
By Red Leader
04th Jul 2018 17:46

My sympathies.

Several years ago I made a comment in the comments section of a newspaper article which was about "tax-dodging limited companies" or similar. I tried to bring a bit of technical knowledge to the discussion but was accused of trolling!

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Sarah Douglas - HouseTree Business Ltd
By sarah douglas
05th Jul 2018 13:24

Well I like twitter and get quite a bit of business from it. I have never had abuse from anyone on it. It is short and sweet.

It is all about your behaviour on it. Quite a few from accounting web are on twitter. My Institute ICB Uk use their twitter well to keep in touch with the members.

If I see an informative business tweet I will retweet and tagged a client in, or private tweet them.

It is a great source of business information it is about who you follow. It allows you to read a few words and decide if you want to read an article attached. It forces people to be precise. I not there to read a book.

The papers and media are so bad now with their agenda sometimes you see stories covered on twitter that our cover better then the news.

However, I have the policy to read all the papers online as you may pick up what the truth of the story actually is.

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Tornado
By Tornado
04th Jul 2018 18:20

I do not have a Twitter Account (and never will).

This is a sure way to avoid experiences like yours.

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By mrme89
04th Jul 2018 20:21

First rule of Twitter is don’t talk about Twittter.

The second rule is that no matter what you tweet, there will be someone wanting to be controversial or just be a bit of a c**t.

The art to responding to crappy posts is to reply when you can remain professional but be witty and shut them down quickly. If you can’t, just ignore them - there’s absolutely nothing to be gained by responding for the sake of responding.

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Universe
By SteveOH
04th Jul 2018 23:25

I don't really understand Twitter :(

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Tom Herbert
By Tom Herbert
05th Jul 2018 08:43

Sorry to hear that Andy. A similar thing happened to me on a different platform, and I found being caught up in one of these social media storms a singularly unpleasant experience.

If used in the right way Twitter and other social media channels can be fantastic, and I've found some great stories and contacts over the years through them. However, when it goes bad it goes really bad: I recommend 'So you've been publicly shamed' by Jon Ronson as a primer.

Kudos to you for trying to reply to people, but in my experience unless there's a specific wrong to be righted it's just not worth arguing with the mob. Everyone brings their own agenda and you'll never convince them otherwise.

Funnily enough, if you were ever to meet your trolls face to face (as I've once done), they'd most likely be meek little lambs.

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By SteveHa
05th Jul 2018 08:47

I don't. Simples.

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By neiltonks
05th Jul 2018 09:02

Twitter is full of trolls who put a racist angle on everything just to get reactions from fellow-trolls. They're beyond reasoning with, just ignore them. Anything you add will only feed them.

I avoid Twitter these days.

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By bernard michael
05th Jul 2018 09:38

Answer
Come off Twitter and move on with your life.

It is beyond me why anyone would want to be on it anyway

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By Maslins
05th Jul 2018 09:48

I'm on Twitter, very occasionally had a spat, but try to avoid them (won't surprise you to hear).

There are some subjects that I have an opinion on but keep to myself as I know it would only lead to a flame war.

People behave extremely differently to "internet randoms" than to people they know (even if by "know" it's just in an "I've exchanged a couple of online tweets/msgs with this person").

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
06th Jul 2018 11:36

It's taken years but I now get a lot out of Twitter and am on it every day, mainly to pick up info, events etc from organisations and individuals I follow and to retweet stuff I believe in and want to share/applaud.

Until 6 months ago I only tweeted or commented when I had something I thought was genuinely of interest to those who follow me but then I discovered the NRA.

I now follow it and make suitable and unsuitable comments about the organisation and those rabid gunslingers that follow it and, sure enough, I have received suitable, but mainly unsuitable, responses and, as I was advised ages ago by my Mum, I completely ignore them and never respond. It works and each flare and storm soon dies a death.

My only slight worry is that, one day, this "bad guy" will be properly taken care of by a "good guy" ie a NRA member.

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Replying to Paul Scholes:
Portia profile image
By Portia Nina Levin
06th Jul 2018 11:46

They probably already know where you live Paul!

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Glenn Martin
By Glenn Martin
06th Jul 2018 13:07

I find some really weird people who feel it is their responsibility to police Linkedin very weird.

Someone had a go at me as I was sent some cupcakes on a Friday by a supplier which I posted as a light hearted thing finish the week on.

I had some weirdo on stating how he didn't log onto linkedin to see cupcakes.

He was not even a connection of mine.

He then want on to claim they were a culinary disaster and insult to his taste buds.

The thing with twitter spats are, that about 99% of it is total crap and forgotten about very quickly.

There is some people who just have too much time on their hands.

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Replying to Glennzy:
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By Paul Hawes
06th Jul 2018 15:12

How dare you, I don't log into accounting web to see pictures of bridges.

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Replying to Glennzy:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
08th Jul 2018 10:52

“He then want on to claim they were a culinary disaster and insult to his taste buds.”

Did he taste them? Bet he works for you and wanted an anger release...

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Replying to Portia Nina Levin:
Lone Wolf
By Lone_Wolf
06th Jul 2018 17:06

Down with the flies!

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By Tax Dragon
08th Jul 2018 08:50

Venomous tirades against the person, rather than the proposition, are encouraged by the soundbite culture we live in. Twitter is soundbite central, so of course is also a magnet for vitriol.

But it's mainstream too (albeit the language is toned down). Jack Maidment was labelled a dinosaur by colleagues, and far worse by the interviewee on primetime BBC news. No-one seemed to object; no-one actually discussed the issue. No matter what the rights and wrongs of an argument, personalised attacks are easier, quicker and apparently more newsworthy.

I guess all differences are welcome in our modern PC society; all differences that is except differences of opinion.

Political correctness gone mad? It's gone psycho.

Makes me wonder... do you think that a consequence of that is that people - even professional people here on Aweb - treat a disagreement on a technical matter as if it was an attack on them personally? Has the hyperaggression in media (particularly social media) debates led to a presumption that any alternate view must be tantamount to a personalised attack? Or has ir always been like that - is it just the other side of the same coin?

I'm not talking about your experience, Andy. Clearly the trolls' behaviour is inexcusable. But more, for example, that various people have accused me of seeking to belittle or mock them etc. Whilst I may sometimes resort to mockery (maybe lazy, but.... hey), as far as I know I have only ever mocked what they were saying. And only when that was fair game.

Similarly, if you politely suggest that someone should step back from giving advice beyond their knowledge (bookkeepers giving tax advice; tax advisors giving legal advice... loads of examples of these), the recipients of the suggestion seem to take the wise counsel (that you yourself follow) as an assault on their abilities.

Any thoughts?

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