In the past few weeks you may or may not have noticed there has been a new series of tweets, discussions on #bropenscience and diversity and inclusivity in #openscience.
Given it's all finally calmed down A BIT (until it's back
) I'd like to share what happens every time...
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The pattern of who these trolls follow in science is so predictable. It's always the same constellation of accounts within science Twitter who have such followers. Anyway just saying so people know what we have to deal with. Think of it as a DDoS style attack.
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Anyway, just wanted to share. Do with this information anything you want.
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Also to be clear, these disposable troll accounts are often removed 100% off Twitter since they tend to say pretty vile stuff (and get reported) so it's very hard to keep track of them since banned accounts are completely removed.
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It's hilarious, or rather would be, if it wasn't so insidious.pic.twitter.com/MDBVpjnayq
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Oh, and my advice/plea/plan is the following if you want to help: if you see an account doing what I describe above. 1) Go through their following list to see if you can figure out which academic they emanate from/are a fan of.
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2) Tweet at that academic on the tweet that caused the dogpile. Explain to them with examples and screenshot what they are causing.
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3) Report and block the troll accounts. Blocking is important as these trolls use following lists to find more minorities to bother (you can unblock later when it's quitened down).
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People need to know some of their followers, the following they cultivate, has sone shit in it. This is why when people unfollow me when I tweet about inclusivity and
#bropenscience I'm kind of relieved sometimes.Show this thread
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Completely tangential question: I've never ever understood the concept of "necroposting", that is why is it poor etiquette to reply to old forum posts or tweets etc. They are there. Why can't they reopen a conversation? Thanks and apologies for the detour

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I think it's the same idea as this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning There's the issue you want to leave discussion up (like in a forum) but also that you respect the people are done with it (so don't necro). Make sense?
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@IrisVanRooij has been thinking about this and other bro tactics lately so she might have a better idea!
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I had no idea, which shows my privilege I guess. I'm sorry you and others have to put up with this.
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A really good example is happening to
@Abebab right now.
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And for those who may not realise :the reason this happens and doesn’t get shut down super fast is because so many people agree with the trolls. Just like the hair color thing now- many men and women who claim to be for equality, will still gatekeep those they see non conforming
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white women and their desire to see others walk through fire just because they did.
To shut down some of these toxic women who make equality all about sexual harassment and never think intersectionally as they don’t have the bandwidth, even tho they got a book published -
What's the hair colour thing?
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There are a few things from LinkedIn and such, it happens every few months, some dude or woman makes a comment that colored hair makes you less professional
it is a short step from that to criticism of natural Afro hair etc. Anything that isn’t blonde Becky is wrong basically -
Ahhh. Coloured blonde is fine tho.
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And people who (seemingly) knowingly keep and nurture an army of trolls as followers, who readily harass people they quote tweet, are the worst. Unfortunately there are quite a few of these in
#bropenscience and they never call out these trolls.Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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