Blocked on twitter!

I was blocked before I’d tweeted anything - presumably on the blocking list because I follow GC accounts and/or had liked a GC tweet

So actual thought-policing then.

The last iteration became unworkable because their definition of "terf" was too large and they ended up blocking themselves.

Yes, that was funny!

August 1, 2013 Article by Tim Farley discussing a previous incarnation of a 'mass block list' and its creator.
'The Block Bot is unsuitable for general use in its present form'
(extract)
" Early this year an atheist in the UK named James Billingham (known online as ool0n) built and published The Block Bot."

skeptools.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/block-bot-twitter-report-abuse-ool0n-atheism-plus/

The TerfBlocker account, the current one, FYI, is at a minimum associated with Kilgore. The last iteration became unworkable because their definition of "terf" was too large and they ended up blocking themselves.

And yes, a block list blocks everybody with no exceptions for current followers. (If you pointed it out to a user, the response is likely: why were you following me anyway? Are you a spy?)

It's a control issue. Who determines what's acceptable on twitter.

Twitter IS a cesspool. The way the tech works helped make it that.

Parker Molloy has blocked me, using what I assume as a block list.

Parker molloy wrote a piece for the New York Times fairly recently and then a lot of people who hadn’t interacted with them realised they were blocked so I think Parker used the blocklist after the piece? I was following them so didn't think I’d be blocked but apparently blocklists don’t differentiate!

Parker’s retweeting stuff from Kilgore trout, who might be an offshoot (or parody of I suppose) of the Kilgore sprout account mentioned upthread.

(I was trying to see what you could see/do on blocked accounts using an incognito browser and looked at Parker’s page as I knew I was blocked)

Yes, you can report a profile name which is what you can see.

You cannot report a tweet. You cannot get to the tweet to see it or use the report function.

The profile name has to include hateful information.

For instance, I think everyone should report anyone who has "terf puncher" or "honorary terf puncher" in their name.

Please. That's a genuine request.

From Twitter guidelines. I don't know what it means but it says you can report an account which has blocked you.

Note: You can report an account that you have blocked or that has blocked you. Go to that account’s profile and click or tap theoverflowicon and then selectReport.

Oops. "Embed"

Good luck, Marguerita, with doing that now.

Without being logged in, twitter's options are "Copy tweet" and "Imbed Tweet". There is no report function.

A 3rd party site may have a report function without a twitter account, but twitter has set it up so that it will not happen, ergo, unlikely that such reports from 3rd party sites are being taken seriously.

Can you see who has blocked you and block them in return

From twitter, the way to find out of someone has blocked you is to look at their account and find that you're blocked from their account.

There are 3rd party sites which host block list, and you can name search there. I don't trust that method completely. I also don't trust accounts which purport to discover which lists you're on.

The safest way to find out which list you are on is to find out which lists are being used by by people who oppose your position through twitter search or

Or, use the method described here:

medium.com/@ZigaTurk/how-to-find-who-is-blocking-you-on-twitter-ae444e680a93

Both methods are laborious (while twitter did that on purpose, others are taking advantage).

But to use the report function, you have to be logged in

I don't think I had an account when I reported the fgm posts.

You can see them if you don't log in.

You can also read them is you have another account, or log into an incognito window.

But to use the report function, you have to be logged in.

Now IF you have a second account and monitor mentions of your main account from it, you can see whether or not an account which has blocked you is targeting you. That's an awful lot of work - which is the purpose behind the blocklists.

That's not how they began, but it's a main reason they're so popular.

But you can't read theirs or report theirs

You can see them if you don't log in. You can report tweets without even having a Twitter account. The only tweets I've reported related to someone promoting fgm and I didn't have an account at the time.

I’m on at least six block lists, all people I’ve had no interaction with. I follow a lot of gender critical tweeters and that’s all it takes. It doesn’t bother me. I hope the Rachel McKinnons at al keep on blocking everyone in the world with a different opinion to them until they’re left just sullenly tweeting to themselves.

Kindofageek - ah, so that makes sense. Can you see who has blocked you and block them in return ? I had no idea for ages that Madigan had blocked me as I had never interacted.

Thanks to this thread, I have also discovered that I am blocked by someone I never knew existed Like PPs, I have also never tweeted, just follow and like. My names are unidentifiable though.

People who block you can read your tweets, and report you.

But you can't read theirs or report theirs.

Welcome to the real reason why block lists are used.

I’ve been blocked and I’ve never posted anything on there. Badly written sledgehammer piece of code imho. Decently written code would be more sophisticated.
Anyone using it should ask themselves why the writers would want to control their Twitter experience.
It doesn’t stop us from seeing their tweets - you can either set up another account or just don’t log in to do that - but it does prevent them from seeing anything that Terfblocker decides they must not see. I wonder why it would want to do that...

Twitters a conference of idiots and these tools using blockers are just talking into space. That's why they get so angsty against people actually meeting and talking. We need to do more of that old fashioned comms stuff 😲🙄😮

Dr Jo Grady has tweeted about using a block list...I don't know which one. Someone pointed out to her that that would include a lot of academics because some block a blocked person's followers too. They make the mistake of assuming that people only have gender critical followers. They will be shooting themselves in the foot when they care about who sees their posts.

I’ve heard that there’s a GC blocklist called @CultBlockerPro that blocks 15,000 TRA accounts (they say it’s ten times more than @TerfBlocker) - I’m not sure if this is true, or who runs it?

There is this. It has almost no followers
mobile.twitter.com/cultblockerpro?lang=en

I don't understand what the point of block lists is. You can still view what someone has written- just log out of Twitter.

It is all rather self-aggrandizing isn't it? The person I've never heard of and have never communicated with has 700 followers. Not exactly a big name.

On the other hand Blaire White (yes I know she's not everyone's cup of tea)is one of the most famous trans women around with several hundred thousand followers and she's on block lists. The vanity involved in thinking "yeah Ms White you might be famous, popular and at ease with yourself but you're not getting to see my tweets, oh no" is impressive.

It's mass block List. McKinnon was blocking over 71k last time I looked. She has 4K followers so that is a terrible ratio! It's crazy and self defeating as people end up blocked for doing and saying nothing. They have just associated in some minor way with a horrid Terf.

I’ve heard that there’s a GC blocklist called @CultBlockerPro that blocks 15,000 TRA accounts (they say it’s ten times more than @TerfBlocker) - I’m not sure if this is true, or who runs it?

This teaching union seems to be using one of the mass 'terf block' lists
(Labour union for more than 40,000 public teachers in BC Canada)

twitter.com/preta_6/status/1081381565408542720

worth checking