[braythwayt]

> Society has the problem. Twitter just makes it public.

Every tool, every medium, has some effect on its content. It makes something things easy, others difficult. It amplifies some channels, squelches others. It speeds some things up, slows others down.

Society has all sorts of wonderful things and terrible things. But we humans choose which tools to build and which media to promote. We can observe this and criticize choices accordingly.

[askafriend]

So you would prefer to build tools to mask society's problems instead of uncovering them so that we can stare them in the face and have some type of discussion about them?

(Just playing devil's advocate here)

[braythwayt]

That's not playing devil's advocate, it's constructing a false dichotomy.

As a counter-example, are you saying that the best way to have a discussion about Young Earthers is to give them equal space in every geology textbook?

I don't think you're saying that, and I don't think I'm saying that we as a society should mask our problems.

[askafriend]

Twitter isn't a textbook though. It's goals as a communications platform are completely different.

It's like saying, would you rather design SMS around masking Young Earther's ideas?

In the 20s, you would have had these services designed around not conversating about alcohol. Is that right? Is it wrong? I don't know if it's for the communications platform to decide.

However the communications platform can provide the user tools to control what/who they hear from so that they can make those decisions themselves.

[braythwayt]

> Twitter isn't a textbook though. It's goals as a communications platform are completely different

Twitter is a company. Its goals and the way it tries to achieve the are as subject to discussion and criticism as any other company.

As for the rest of your comment, you keep talking about “masking” when I never used that word. I conclude that you have a preconceived idea of what I am saying, and are arguing with that. Since it isn’t what I’m saying, I have no obligation to defend it, or even explain why when you put words in my mouth, the difference between your words and my words are.

When you begin an argument with “So what you’re saying, is...” I need go no further than to say “No."

> However the communications platform can provide the user tools to...

And now you are talking about how Twitter could change its offering to improve the lives of its users. Which is what I was talking about. Seems like a good place to break off.

[askafriend]

It seems we are actually in agreement then! I apologize for misreading.

I think it's the "which media to promote" bit which may have thrown me off.

Cheers!