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Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

Don't be naive. It was never a symbol of trust. At most it was a symbol of prominence or notability as decided by a biased, unaccountable group of Twitter employees. Many of the old blue check mark accounts routinely posted inaccurate information or outright lies.

The new X Community Notes system is far superior for establishing trust.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/biden-clai...

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-22/elon-m...

Fundamentally just because a software feature worked a certain way at one time doesn't create an obligation for tech companies to keep it working the same way. Whether you consider that acceptable is entirely irrelevant.

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> Many of the old blue check mark accounts routinely posted inaccurate information or outright lies.

So? The point of the old blue checkmark wasn't to assure me that what the account said was true. It was to provide some assurance that the account was really the account of the prominent or notable person with that name.

By "the new X community notes system" do you mean the same one that existed and was entirely developed before Elon bought Twitter?

It was a symbol of trust in identity, not trust in veracity. Same as SSL certificates.

Nah, it was never a symbol of trust in identity. A lot of those accounts were actually managed by social media staff, not by the "verified" people themselves. It was always just a meaningless vanity mark.

If the person chooses to have others manage it that's their business. That doesn't change the basic nature--it's saying this is who it claims it is.

As someone described it: You know that https://www.satan.com is actually Satan but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to sell your soul there.

>Many of the old blue check mark accounts routinely posted inaccurate information or outright lies.

There are always going to be misinformation. It's crazy to think a company or any committee can determine these for us though. It's not even logical yet alone practical. then you need to determine whether said entity made any judgment errors in assessing a person or claim. Those who demand centralized 'truth' authorities are useful idiots for power seeking authoritarians.

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