Upon request of @april_harding I will attempt to list some off-the-cuff principles for how my 🧵s come together.

I'm sure others do it differently, this is about how I do it.

That's right. It's a 🧵 about 🧵s.
1. Understanding the medium is important. A thread is not a blogpost. As much as possible make each tweet stand out as a stand-alone idea. The best part about threads is that each tweet can reach different people and generate different conversations.
2. The characters are limited, but you have attachments, QTs, links, etc. Try as much as possible to cite your sources and give people a path to learn more about each of your claims.
3. If you want to make a point in a thread, but it is too long or complicated, consider making that point in a stand-alone thread and quoting it.
4. Do it live. Writing a thread as-you-go can feel stressful, but is much more likely you will end up with a complete thread than if you promise yourself you'll start a draft in a doc somewhere.
5. Leverage collective intelligence. Writing live means people can comment with interesting additional comments that can make your idea better, or even take you in a completely different direction. It's OK!
6. Speak in your own voice. Don't pretend to be a news host on the nightly news. That will allow you to own up to mistakes and course corrections as you go. So long as expectations are clear, people are perfectly OK with it, even appreciate the twists and turns.
7. Use multiple devices. I tend to write on my laptop and check notifications on my phone to see if any good comments are coming in as I go.
8. There's different kinds of threads:
- story threads
- list threads (like this one)
- ad hoc sensemaking threads (like this one )
- many more, I'm sure

Know which one you're writing and make sure you keep your promise to your audience.
9. The first tweet is still the most important tweet. Most people will see just that, and if they are not grabbed by the hook the rest is for naught. Anecdotally, it really seems like the 🧵 emoji makes a difference. Put it up top so people know to expect a thread!
10. Have fun! It's not often we have a new kind of medium to experiment with. I'm sure before long it will become stale and formulaic like everything else, but until then, be creative, experiment, break rules, starting with the ones on this list!
11. The end is not the end. You can keep adding good points to the end of the thread as they come up over time. Better still, it will make the thread re-emerge in your readers' feed, giving it new life.
12. Be shameless! Reply with your thread wherever you think it makes sense, ask for feedback etc. This is Twitter. Worst case, people will ignore you.

E.g. See plug by @cyrilnotes.
P.S. Feel free to send me other stuff for an off-the-cuff review. Maybe.

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More from @alexandrosM

18 Sep
I am reading the slide deck of the TOGETHER trial and have a few questions of those who know a bit more about this stuff than me.

I'll try to keep this thread as neutral as possible.

To read the deck, click the link below, and press the "slides" button. rethinkingclinicaltrials.org/news/august-6-…
The trial says (implies) that it's using "shared control patients". In the "recruitment over time" slide, it shows that the placebo group was recruited in both "stages". Does this mean placebo patients from either stage were used to form control groups for each drug tested?
It also says (last bullet) that this is a "planned interim analysis of the fluvoxamine arm with the data cut from August 2nd, 2021". Does this mean the trial isn't done? What's the rationale for sharing data on other drugs if this was supposed to be about fluvoxamine?
Read 7 tweets
18 Sep
So, this is probably the worst rebuttal I've seen recently, and this says a lot. I suspect I'm going to have a few things to say so it's time to reach for that 🧵emoji.
So, first strike for a Professor of Ethics, he doesn't link to the video he is responding to. The tweet he quotes doesn't link to it, and the article the tweet links to doesn't link to the video. It's all meta-commentary. So here's the original:
Second strike for a Professor of Ethics, he mentions that he "led WHO's policy brief on the ethics of vaccine mandates". Professor, that's what's called a "conflict of interest". You're supposed to acknowledge it makes your position a little tenuous, not use it as an argument.
Read 11 tweets
18 Sep
A partially effective measure will not only select for the subset of the problem it doesn't address, but the very existence of the measure can worsen the problem by creating the impression it's under control, encouraging people to let their guard down.

What are some examples?
1. ADE:
A partially effective vaccine will not only select for the subset of the variants it doesn't kill, but the very presence of antibodies can worsen the infection by giving the virus the body's own signature, encouraging cells to let their guard down.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody-…
2.
Journalistic best practices not only select for the subset of disinformation they don't address, but their very existence can worsen the problem by creating the impression journalistic outlets have disinformation under control, encouraging people to let their guard down.
Read 13 tweets
18 Sep
Today's experiment in #tweetInversion...

- do you think this one works?
- if so, why do you think it works?

I'm still on the fence about whether this is.a tool of sensemaking or sophistry.
I think I know why I was uncomfortable about this one. Her tweet is built on a false fact claim. The evidence is not being hidden, it's right there. So in this case inversion is not making a symmetric tweet. The response is genuinely superior, since it's actually true. Huh.
... And I think this may be the first #tweetInversion that will exceed the original in likes, and it's going to do it in less than an hour. This is somewhat confirmatory of my suspicion above.
Read 5 tweets
17 Sep
I've started trying something that may look irritating, but is testing a hypothesis. Namely:

If a tweet, with minimal modifications, can become a perfectly coherent reply to itself, then the original is vacuous meta-commentary that can be discarded without further consideration.
I've been noticing quite a few of these on-high "pretending to be wise" kind of quips that sound wise until one realizes that they are entirely free-floating and cannot be distinguished from their negatives, which also sound just as wise.
It's perfectly possible that I myself have written stuff like this in the past, though I usually try to write with reference to facts, such that a simple reversal wouldn't work. I'll continue to investigate and refine the hypothesis.
Read 8 tweets
16 Sep
Today's donation to the FLCCC is in the honor of "Will". This one is a fascinating troll though, so first, a little 🧵
So, our friend "will", is one of the most stubborn, dishonest arguers around. Peruse his tweets if you like: @su3su2u1. If you hear him tell it, he's here to find arguments to convince his family to get vaccinated. Image
What really attracted my attention though, is that he didn't seem to want my help in that regard. Very, very strange. Image
Read 17 tweets

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