Twitter might revoke the policy by the end of this week. It wouldn’t be the first time since Elon took charge that they did something rash, then undid it hastily.
(I added some additional emphasis to that first sentence.)
Never mind by the end of the week; they revoked the policy by the end of the day! At 9:50 p.m. EDT on Sunday, December 18, Molly White (@molly0xFFF on Twitter) tweeted:
policy page and tweets announcing it are now gone.
As I keep saying: at Twitter, there is no plan, just knee-jerk responses to stimuli.
If you’re still using Twitter, ask yourself why.
And if you’re still working at Twitter and there isn’t something like an H-1B, medical insurance, or a much-needed contribution to the household income keeping you there, ask yourself why twice.
Because this is a Twitter story, there has to be a dumb twist: Jack Dorsey, former CEO of Twitter, recently donated to the Nostr project. Once again, because this is a Twitter story, there has to be an even dumber twist: that Jack’s donation was in Bitcoin — 14 BTC, or $235,000 as I write this (it was $245,000 when Coindesk wrote the story about the donation).
What doesn’t Twitter allow anymore under the new policy?
The Promotion of alternative social platforms policy page says that Twitter will remove “any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs)” to the services listed above, or even any mention of your handle on those services, such as:
“follow me @username on Instagram”
“username@mastodon.social”
“check out my profile on Facebook – facebook.com/username”
The policy also states that “technical or non-technical” workarounds, including “plaintext obfuscation” (including the classic “I’m so-and-so at instagram dot com”) is a violation of this policy.
What does Twitter still allow under the new policy?
The page is a little more vague about links that aren’t a violation of the policy, which are summed up as links to social media platforms that “provide alternative experiences to Twitter, and allow users to post content to Twitter.” Presumably YouTube falls under this category, as does LinkedIn. The page also says that cross-posting to Twitter isn’t a violation of this policy, but only because it it were, it would be nearly impossible to enforce.
What are the consequences of posting something that contravenes the new policy?
First, there are violations at the per-tweet level. For tweets that count as “an isolated incident or first offense”, they have the option of deleting the offending tweet or temporarily locking your account. Repeat offenses mean getting locked out permanently.
Then, there are those violations at the account level — that is, where you mention one of the forbidden services in your Twitter bio or account name. As a matter of fact, as I write this, I am in violation of this new policy:
The policy states that anyone who does this will have their account temporarily suspended until they remove any mention of the offending services. Additional violations will result in a permanent suspension.
It’s just more evidence that there is no plan, just knee-jerk responses to stimuli
From the haphazard way they’ve been managing their own staff to disasters like the Blue Check program to the “Apple is kicking us out of the App Store!” non-event to capricious account suspensions to this, it should now be quite evident that there’s no plan being executed here — just a seat-of-the-pants scramble based on whatever whim Elon happens to have at the moment. I feel terrible for anyone who’s still working there.
This is NOT the time for premature compliance; this is the time to seek better places to post
If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance that you have a Twitter post or bio that points to something on one of the now-forbidden services. Before you change that post or bio to comply with the new policy, consider:
Twitter might revoke the policy by the end of this week. It wouldn’t be the first time since Elon took charge that they did something rash, then undid it hastily.
Do you really want to comply with such a policy?
My recommendations:
Stop feeding the beast. End your use of Twitter. Keep your account so that someone else doesn’t take your Twitter identity, but don’t use it.
Find better places to post. Use the social media services that meet your needs and that aren’t under the control of a raging narcissist whose id is out of control.
If you like long-form tweeting or “tweetstorming,” consider blogging. It’s a better medium for longer-form posts, and it gives you control over everything, from content to presentation, and it means you really own your content.
Pictured above is an AI-generated illustration of a magazine featuring Elon Musk. Note that his gun hand has a few too many fingers — or is it Schrödinger’s trigger discipline?
Dr. Janice Glasgow, Professor Emerita, Queen’s University, Canada.
Back when I was a computer science student at Crazy Go Nuts University, the professor teaching the AI course — Dr. Janice Glasgow — said that this question would stump just about every conversational artificial intelligence system at the time:
If someone is sitting in the waiting area of a bus station, what’s the likelihood that they’re wearing a tuxedo?
This was back when “AI” most often referred to rules-based AI, which was based on programmed sets of rules and facts. In effect, they were made of a big collection “if this, then do that” instructions. These systems generally “learn” only through their programming; expanding their knowledge typically means doing more programming.
Today, “AI” is generally used to refer to machine learning, which take a pool of data (generally, the bigger that pool, the better) and use it to “train” themselves by making predictions based on that data and adapting to feedback (often provided by humans) on those predictions. These systems generally “learn” from “experience”. Expanding their knowledge typically means providing them with more data and feedback on the predictions they make based on that data.
Tuxedo Mask might make an appearance at a bus station…
For a rules-based system to be able to answer the question “How likely is a person waiting at a bus station to be wearing a tuxedo?”, it would not only have to be able to parse an English question, but it would also have to know what a bus station is, what a tuxedo is, and general rules about clothing, different levels of formality and other social rules (many of which are unwritten), and of course, how terrible bus stations are.
ChatGPT seems to be pretty good at answering “artifical general intelligence” questions, or at least pretty good at faking it. I thought I’d ask it Dr. Glasgow’s question, and this is how it replied:
It is unlikely that someone sitting in the waiting area of a bus station would be wearing a tuxedo. Tuxedos are typically worn for formal occasions such as weddings, black tie events, or proms. It is more common for people waiting at a bus station to be dressed in casual or practical clothing that is suitable for travel. That being said, it is always possible that someone might be wearing a tuxedo for any number of reasons, but it would not be a typical or expected sight in a bus station waiting area.
I’m bringing back the Tampa iOS Meetup in 2023 under a new name: Tampa Bay Apple Coding Meetup. If you’re in the Tampa Bay area and want to learn how to program Apple devices in Swift, this meetup will be for you!
I’ve got a fair bit of experience showing people how to build applications for Apple devices and technologies, from doing presentations on coding augmented reality apps for the iPhone…
…to co-authoring the book on iOS development…
…to writing all sorts of apps:
These meetups will follow my usual modus operandi:
We’ll define a simple app that we want to make for the iPhone/iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or other Apple device.
Then we’ll look at the tools and techniques that will allow us to create that app.
And finally, you’ll code along with me as we build the app together. You’ll leave the meetup with either a complete app, or at least a part of the app that you can continue working on.
The goal is to help you learn coding or sharpen your skills by building apps for the preferred devices of the digerati!
I’m currently working on getting a space for the first meetup of Tampa Bay Apple Coding in January — watch this space for announcements!
Winter Village and Curtis Hixon Christmas Lights by Matthew Paulson. Click to view the source.
Here’s the list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events for Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, December 19 through Sunday, December 25, 2022. That’s right — this is the week leading up to Christmas!
Every week, with the assistance of a couple of Jupyter Notebooks that I put together, I compile this list for the Tampa Bay tech community.
As far as event types go, this list casts a rather wide net. It includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under the category of:
Programming, DevOps, systems administration, and testing
Tech project management / agile processes
Video, board, and role-playing games
Book, philosophy, and discussion clubs
Tech, business, and entrepreneur networking events
Toastmasters (because nerds really need to up their presentation game)
Sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre fandoms
Anything I deem geeky
By “Tampa Bay and surrounding areas”, this list covers events that originate or are aimed at the area within 100 miles of the Port of Tampa. At the very least, that includes the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, but as far north as Ocala, as far south as Fort Myers, and includes Orlando and its surrounding cities.
This week’s events
Keep these two things in mind for the next couple of weeks:
The end of December is usually a slow time for meetups.
A number of organizers schedule their events using Meetup.com’s “autopilot” feature, using an option like “2nd Tuesday of every month,” and it doesn’t account for holidays with lengthier downtimes, like Christmas.
The closer an event is to Christmas, which falls on Sunday this year, the more likely it is to be cancelled. Double-check with the organizers before attending an event!
Monday, December 19
Group
Event Name
Time
Young Professionals Networking JOIN in and Connect!
🎄Keep in mind that a number of people schedule their LinkedIn events on “autopilot” and set the for “every 3rd Friday of the month,” or something similar. They often forget to account for holidays. Check with the organizers that an event is actually happening before going!
🎄 Christmas Eve alert: These events are scheduled on LinkedIn and Eventbrite, but there’s no guarantee that they’re actually happening this day. Check with the organizers!
🎄 Merry Christmas! Take all of the events listed below with a grain of salt and a big cup of eggnog — they may not actually be happening! Check with the organizers before you go.
If you’d like to get this list in your email inbox every week, enter your email address below. You’ll only be emailed once a week, and the email will contain this list, plus links to any interesting news, upcoming events, and tech articles. Join the Tampa Bay Tech Events list and always be informed of what’s coming up in Tampa Bay!
