Thread by @NotPatrick

Free shirts! Welcome to BlizzCon!

Well since I'm awake, I'll take a few minutes to talk about this tweet, which has kind of gotten away from me in the past 24 hours and has apparently become somewhat popular on pro Hong Kong twitter (nothing dramatic, but a few hundred RTs and favs at this stage). Thread. ⬇️

First, I think it is being taken to be in my voice, which it isn't: I was transcribing and illustrating what people were saying and doing there. My bad for not using quotes.
Obviously this isn't to mean I don't support their being there to protest, quite the opposite.⬇️

Second, I have to say that talking to them (which I did), it felt like they did not know a lot about the facts of the Blizzard side of things (they got a lot of points wrong), and were focused on HK. Not surprising, but noteworthy to understand the Twitter aspect.⬇️

Third, they did not stay long. I was surprised to hear they left around midday. I don't know if it's because they felt they weren't being listened to (which would be a shame) or something else, but I expected them to stay the whole week end. And no they wren't asked to leave.⬇️

So at this point I would like to say that, approaching it from the Blizzard gamer perspective, I was satisfied with the things JAB said at the show's opening ceremony. He was never going to walk back the whole thing (I don't think that was a reasonable expectation) but ⬇️

he essentially told people to go and listen to protesters (not in so many words, but he strongly hinted that they were there and were welcome). I think that was a good step, and I thought it appropriate. If you disagree with me on that please don't yell at me, it is my opinion.⬇️

Which leads me to this thought: out of the many people who are angry about the incident, how many took the time to seek out information about Hong Kong? How many went online, or even to local organisations, and asked about it at all? ⬇️

And how many just tweeted angrily and didn't go further? I can't say for sure of course, but I suspect that a lot left it there. Which is a shame, because this issue *is* important, just as many others. And while I don't think hysteria helps anything, I do strongly believe ⬇️

that we should know and understand these things, and be able to have informed and reasonable conversations about them.
So I would encourage anyone who has stated that they care about this incident to do just that, and go seek out information from reputable sources.⬇️

Ok, about the Twitter aspect.
As I said, I think this tweet got popular with "Hong Kong Twitter", which is an interesting look into what I suspect happens on all sorts of similar political topics.⬇️

Again I didn't do a statistical study, but I have spent a decent amount of time looking up the profiles of the accounts RTing, and I have to say that I see a lot of bot-like behaviour. Like, a LOT. Not all of it is and I won't risk an estimate, but I'd say it's the majority.⬇️

I say bot-like because I don't know that they are actually bots, but they certainly feel like it: the accounts are usually very new (often oct 2019), have few follows/followers (often 0 of those), and tweet a lot and exclusively about Hong Kong. Usually retweets.⬇️

I'm not saying it is malicious or coordinated necessarily; it might just be people who are concerned about the issue and decided to try and do what they can, feeling that this would be a way to get the message out (though again, my Twitter bit sense is tingling).⬇️

Regardless of whether or not they are actual bots, it creates a strange almost closed circle, where the tweet seems to have gotten into a closed network of similar accounts that retweet these endlessly, either to no one or to similar (bot like) accounts.⬇️

I'm not sure what to make of that, but it is interesting to note I think. And what I do know is that, just like any other Twitter frenzy, I'm not sure it is actually helping anything, beyond maybe feeding anger to angry people.⬇️

Which I don't think is a function of the people themselves; this is just how Twitter naturally shapes our behaviour.
I do think it is too bad though, because beyond the possible bot network, and as I said, this issue, like many others, is important and deserves attention.⬇️

So if I can conclude with one thought, it would be this one: posting an angry tweet (or 20) isn't bad per se, but we have to be aware that it accomplishes very little. It feels like it does, but I believe this is an optical illusion. At "best" it adds to the frenzy & confusion.⬇️

A better way to go about it, I think, is to *actually* get informed, and then engage in a reasonable and measured way. It's less flashy, and you won't touch as many people, but those you do touch will actually be affected and might understand you.⬇️

I know this because I have done it, painstakingly, on very difficult topics, many many times. Including on Twitter. It isn't glamorous, but it can actually connect people.
So if you're still reading, that's what I would encourage you to do in the future.
Love to all.⏹️