Paul GrahamVerified account

It's weird how after being a user for 10 years I still can't tell whether Twitter is net good or bad for the world. On one hand there are Twitter mobs, and Trump saying he might not have won without it. And yet I've learned so much and "met" so many interesting people.

I think this is not merely a case of something being complicated and thus hard to judge. The way Twitter works makes it hard to judge. It increases the amplitude of the waves, which makes it harder to tell whether the average point is above or below the x axis.

It's slightly alarming to think what the Twitter replacement might be like. Will it increase the amplitude even more, till the vibrations shake society apart? Or will some social antibody kick in and make users prefer something that doesn't jerk them around so much?

@paulg Sometimes i think arguments against a particular platform, like twitter, are really an argument against the internet. Lets say twitter ceases to exist tomorrow, do you think much of what you dislike would also go away? my hunch is that it would end up somewhere regardless

Having spent all that time munging HN, I'm fairly confident that design choices can have a big effect on what a social media site is like.

I feel like thats a different statement than asking “is twitter good for the world?”. When i worked at techcrunch, us banning comments didnt stop folks from criticizing me or the companies. The site was more pleasant, but did it change the world? i have my doubts

i really respect your experience here and im offering up these criticisms because i hope your experience proves me wrong. i want to believe changing site design makes a global difference, but im skeptical. My hunch is site design doesnt eliminate ideas that want to be aired