Thread by @Noahpinion

1/Some people object to Twitter blocking on the grounds that it creates echo chambers.

Here is why that is not a danger.

2/Yes, some people will use the block function to block everyone they disagree with.

Yes, the replies to those people's tweets will then become echo chambers.

But - and here is the crucial point - WHO READS ONLY ONE FEED??

3/With cable news, echo chambers are dangerous. Many people get their TV news from one one channel - Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or whoever. They are thus prevented from hearing other viewpoints.

Twitter is nothing like cable news, because people follow many feeds.

4/Even if EVERY feed was a pure echo chamber, most people read many, many tweeters, and thus will consume a variety of viewpoints.

Individual tweeters' threads becoming echo chambers does NOT make one's Twitter feed an echo chamber as a whole!

5/This is even true of a person who turns his own threads into an echo chamber!

You can block all repliers who disagree with you, but follow lots of people with whom you disagree!

In other words, even creating an echo chamber doesn't put you in a bubble unless you want it to.

6/Now what blocking anyone who disagrees with you DOES do is to prevent your readers from getting to arguments.

It turns a freewheeling, open discussion into one-way opinion communication.

In other words, it turns Twitter into a collection of blogs.

7/In the days of blogs, bloggers had conversations indirectly, by block-quoting and linking each other, then adding commentary - which is similar to screenshotting.

Then people (including some nasty people) fought it out in the comments.

Blocking makes Twitter more like that.

8/Now, all this having been said, I personally don't WANT to turn Twitter into a collection of blogs. I LIKE having debates in my feed, and letting my readers see those debates. I definitely don't want to block anyone who disagrees with me!

9/I use blocking to basically ban people from the comments section (i.e. the reply threads). I think constructive, informative, useful exchanges of ideas - including good debates and arguments - can happen better in an environment where trolls get banned.

10/There is inevitably going to be a diversity of users on Twitter. Some will want to block anyone who disagrees with them. Some will want to block anyone who seems disruptive (and will have different standards for who counts as "disruptive"!). And some won't block at all.

11/If you're one of the snarky dudes who goes around trying to shame people into not blocking, because it creates an "echo chamber" or a "bubble", or a "cocktail party", or violates "free speech", you should give up your lonely, silly quest.

12/Meanwhile, I'll continue to block people who seem like their main purpose on Twitter is to disrupt and impede the exchange of ideas. And I will rely on pure gut instinct to do so.

If you don't like that...well, go read someone else instead!

(end)