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Comment by FriedrichN | Hacker News Reader

Every time I make the mistake of looking at Twitter I am reminded of how much of an absolute cesspool it is. Only the loudest, rudest, dumbest, most extreme opinions seem to get through. Social media only highlights the extremes of the spectrum whatever the subject.

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I hate twitter. Every time I get on I feel much worse than before. So much hate and conflict...

> Only the loudest, rudest, dumbest, most extreme opinions

I'd add the voice of rich people to this list.

If you restrict to view tweets from people you follow only, twitter can be interesting. If somebody you don't follow tweets something really inspiring then you'll see it either through a retweet or on Reddit.

To customize twitter: https://twitter.com/dorfsmay/status/1428712897136533510

Is there an easy way to stop twitter from showing "recommended" tweets from people you don't follow? I find that those are invariably sarcastic or rage-inducing.

The only way I have found is to follow my customization above and use TweetDeck.

I heard people using lists, but I have not explored.

I think you can get all of these benefits plus more by just creating Twitter lists. Ignore the "follow" feature/bug & the home screen all together.

I would even suggest unfollowing everyone on your list but if to many people did that it would probably cause Twitter to make huge changes because their whole ecosystem seems to be about "Followers" & "Likes" & "Retweets". Whatever content can generate that. In fact here's a list of abused tweets in the tech world - https://twitter.com/jamonholmgren/status/1423036069189099520

I’ve been using lists for the last few years and I keep waiting for the day when Twitter deploys a change that ruins them. No ads, tweets in reverse chronological order, it’s the only Twitter experience that’s palatable for me.

Agreed! Though you did just mention one 3 letter word feature I never like to promote as I am amazed it still exists.

the ultra-rich or campaign-talking-point-rich?

I found that twitter has great info if you find quality people to follow.

Are you looking at trending or specifally seeking that type of content? My twitter feed has little of this and there are a lot of accounts that just talk about their work or cool things they build or have found.

A big part of the idea of twitter is to curate who you follow rather than use it to see what the lowest common denominator is interested in.

This may be true in some cases, but you'd have to answer why Twitter is a cesspool for the vast majority of people, and why it needs to be carefully curated in the first place.

It seems clear to me; the vast majority of human conversation is gossip that is "garbage" except to the small group who cares about it. Twitter amplifies that to the max.

Every social media site that allows connection to an essentially infinite number of people will demand curation.

Same reason most television is a cesspool: low-budget, over-the-top drama is cheap to produce and appeals to the lowest common denominator. If you want to watch good tv, you have to go find The Wire, and if you want to read good twitter, you have to do the same.

I don't use Twitter, I don't have an account, but sometimes (news) articles link to tweets. And when I click on them and see the replies I have to actively remind myself that it is not an accurate representation of the population.

As Hannah Arendt wrote in her notebook "Amor mundi - warum ist es so schwer, die Welt zu lieben?"

Even the "mute words" feature on Twitter does not work. That's all anyone needs to know about how much Twitter is geared towards ramming sponsored and annoying content down our throats every time we're on it.

I just really get on in short sprints to post my own words and if there is an emerging crisis, I can hopefully search for independent (non commercial and non-partisan) comments about the issue through carefully tailored keywords.

Social media betrays and manipulates us by invalidating an removing options that work in controlling what we see on it. They start out useful, but slowly degrade once they go public.

yes! this! it's a giant problem- social media becomes a collection of only the extremes, leaving out the middle ground where most ppl actually fall, in for the clicks :(

And the people on it seem to think it's the place where the intellect & highly productive hang out (some of them do, along side with everyone else).

They think twitter is the paramount of humans' open discussion, democratize/revolutionize politics & finance or something.

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