Covid Twitter

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Woodchopper
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Covid Twitter

Post by Woodchopper » Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:10 am

The excellent Carl T Bergstrom writes about why the experts aren’t on Twitter nearly as much as they were: https://twitter.com/ct_bergstrom/status ... tr93otF8TA
bad-faith discourse, widespread trolling, and organized brigading have created an information ecosystem in which the top public health accounts on twitter have to speak in koans.

[…]

No wonder so many COVID researchers have thrown in the towel and left twitter. This is what happens every damn time anyone tries to say something thoughtful instead of virtue-signaling their allegiance to one extreme position or the other.

[…]

The serious discussions about COVID are no longer taking place on twitter. One could stay around and do scicomm or outreach here—but efforts to do so end up being a perpetual reminder that the fable of the scorpion and the frog contains more truth than one would like it to.

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Woodchopper
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Re: Covid Twitter

Post by Woodchopper » Sun Jul 10, 2022 5:00 pm

One of the annoying things about having a large-ish account is that if you tweet an opinion that generates discussion, you inevitably end up in North American feeds where I simply don’t recognize the aggression & hysteria. It’s like a parallel universe.
https://twitter.com/andrew_croxford/sta ... obzaledArQ

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Woodchopper
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Re: Covid Twitter

Post by Woodchopper » Sun Oct 02, 2022 12:28 pm

The excellent Meaghan Kall points out that:
I’ve definitely scaled back my COVID-19 posts.

Not because the new science isn’t interesting. It is.

But because in adding to the COVID-19 conversation I am accused of perpetuating fear, and in not constantly insisting on more measures, I’m a minimiser.

[…]

What puts me off, as @CT_Bergstrom articulates well, is that the serious discussion held between both scientists and non-scientists is no longer happening on #COVIDTwitter. It’s gone toxic.

And I miss it.
https://twitter.com/kallmemeg/status/15 ... Vshn4FRI5Q

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