Why do so many posts here send us to twits?

[question everything]

We have mocked Whinny Donny that his sole way of communication was by twiting. Twiting requires no thought. Just click the first thing that comes to mind. (Or whatever Whinny Donny has under his hair).

Yet it appears that 50% of posts on DU; 80% on the Lounge, send us to read a twit.

Why? Duers are well informed, articulate, with original thoughts. When I first joined here, in 2004 I really tried to read every single post. They were interesting, informative, not only about politics but about many topics.

I don't understand why people have to have a twiter account. Some sort of self assurance, to see how many follow them?

Either way, we have here twits of the morning and twits of the night, twits of midday, and twits of supper and twits of dinner; I once read that Democrats have dinner and Republicans supper..

Still, if someone likes someone's opinion, why not copy and paste the comment?

I have no idea who Jeff Dietrich is - I suppose it is my loss - still, every day someone post a twit by him. I have never bothered to read. Why not just paste the comment?

Some post a twit of an article from the Washington Post, for crying out loud. Again, why not paste the title, several paragraphs and a link? Can even be a gifted link.

Yes, rant. Still, is this one more sign of the deterioration of the American mind? Getting information from, what 120 characters, without any thought behind them?

OK, start shooting (metaphorically, please)

[BlackSkimmer]

1. Completely agree.

Several DUers seem to do nothing but follow tweets just to post them here.

Lots of time on their hands I reckon?

[NewHendoLib]

2. I see it as laziness

Social tool - induced erosion of attention span

[eppur_se_muova]

3. I wish such posts could be auto-marked with an emoticon.

Honestly, if I knew there was nothing in a post but a tweet, I probably (>90%) wouldn't bother.

[MLAA]

4. I enjoy every single Jeff Tiedrich and Middle Age Pundit tweets since I don't use

Twitter myself.

[LenaBaby61]

16. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[Piasladic]

19. me too!

I love their posts.

[Ocelot II]

5. I suppose because they found them interesting and wanted to share them.

You don't need a Twitter account to read a tweet (not a "twit", though some Twitter users certainly are twits). I don't care much for Twitter either, but the reality - like it or not - is that it has become a major means of quick communication that millions of people use. You can easily skip them if you don't want to read them.

[AZProgressive]

6. There are people on Twitter that I can't find on DU

Mainly Democratic politicians. I like that I can follow who I like or block and ignore who I don’t like.

[question everything]

17. And are these twits thoughtful, important messages?

Or, because of their short life span it does not matter? No need for: "on second thought," or "after additional information," etc.

How can we assign a value to something that just comes out, in 120 characters?

[mahina]

25. Exactly

There is no other communication stream where we can hear directly from Eric Swalwell, Jamie Raskin, Adam Schiff, great Democratic thinkers in their own words regularly. It’s just a channel for communication. There’s nothing positive or negative about it inherently. If people don’t want to read posts here they should not read them.

Imagine having to hunt down every different website for every different legislator or great thinker and repeatedly go back to them to see if they wrote something that day. Why not read them all and share what merits sharing?

These kind of posts just make no sense at all.

[Kaleva]

7. I have no issue with folks who provide links to other member's posts

[LakeArenal]

8. Because many of us aren't on FB or Twitter

I get as much of each on DU that I don't feel any need to join either.

DU is what you make it. Maybe not everyone here follows what you find interesting, informative or entertaining.

[Tetrachloride]

9. I use a technique to block twitter and you tube

From time to time, i unblock to take a look.

A commentary or copy and paste of the tweet would be welcome.

Twitter is a wasteland more desolate than Facebook

[pecosbob]

13. Ditto...posted twitter links require me to take multiple steps to unblock

Those posting links without commentary should realize that a significant portion of DUers will not read their post. Number two on my list is posts that are simply entitled 'This' and are accompanied by a jpeg image of some quote somebody or other made sometime.

[PatSeg]

35. "Simply entitled This"

Yes, I think a lot of people don't entirely understand the primary purpose of a subject line. It should at least give some indication of what the post is about. The reason to be here is communication. We cannot assume that everyone can read our minds.

[Skittles]

10. sometimes it's fun to read the responses to a tweet

yes indeed

[zuul]

11. Why are so many post just videos?

I’d rather read a tweet than watch a damn video.

[PatSeg]

36. I don't mind the videos

if there is some context included. When I'm online, I usually prefer to read than watch videos.

[LeftInTX]

39. The most annoying thing: Autoplay videos on websites!!

Ugh...trying to read an article and a darn video pops up and on some sites, it's next to impossible to stop them.

So, then I turn my volume all the way down so I can't hear the video.

Then, I decide I want to watch the video, and another video is already playing and I can't find the original video.

Then if I forget to close the tab, videos keep playing forever. Then, if I try to watch another video an another site when I turn my volume back on, several videos start playing at once.

[Deuxcents]

12. I love the animal videos n tweets

I don’t have Twitter but if the subject is interesting, I click on..if not, I don’t.

[Grasswire2]

14. this again?

Twitter is the national conversation, now.

The latest news is there, in real time.

The most important people are there. And you can contact them directly. And often they answer back.

There is no way other than twitter that I could speak directly to Four Star Generals, heroes such as John Dean, Legislators and officials, professors, members of the White House press corps, etc. etc., and have my messages seen and acknowledged.

You can be an influencer, if you wish to be one, in the national conversation.

Twitter is what you make it. You choose your experience there.

And some of us learn amazing facts and read the words of newsmakers.

And we bring some of that here.

Because it would never get to DU members who repudiate twitter, otherwise.

[questionseverything]

18. I'm glad people post their favorite tweets

I wouldn’t have time to read them all so have others take the time to find the best of them really helps

[LeftInTX]

42. Agree!

I read tweets. I don't have enough followers to be an influencer, but it's a great communication tool. It's what you make of it.

It does get a little annoying on DU, but first world problems, be damned.

[scarytomcat]

48. also they are full of lies and bullshit

the stuff about H Clinton is offensive and cost her the election and gave us Donny Boy remember?

[Grasswire2]

49. I never see anything about Hillary on twitter. Nothing.

Stop looking for it there, and you won't see it.

[msongs]

15. best part is when posts repeat the exact same information 3 or 4 times wasting

time and bandwidth

[tblue37]

20. Some of us always include (copy-paste) the text of the tweet and embed the tweet itself

so you can read the comment without the tweet and see the videos without leaving DU.

[PatSeg]

37. Yes, I agree

Then I only go to Twitter if I want to read the comments or in rare cases, leave one.

[Piasladic]

21. Get off my lawn!

Stupid jerks posting things I don't understand or care about... (shakes cane angrily)... stupid twit posts I read even though I can easily block them. I hate the modern era, and I don't ever want to hear or speak about it again!

[Grasswire2]

24. yep

[BannonsLiver]

44. Yes, it's like a Luddite.

[old as dirt]

22. I would never do that.

OK, start shooting

[48656c6c6f20]

23. And damn the push button phones too!

Man was meant to use a rotary dial. why this nonsense and new fangled tech?

You should follow this person

https://twitter.com/IHATETWITTER2

[Wicked Blue]

26. AMEN!

There are some on DU who do this constantly. Maybe I will put them on ignore.

[True Dough]

27. "We have here twits of the morning and twits of the night, twits of midday, and twits of supper..."

I read tweets here. I sometimes post tweet here, although never under the types of headings that you describe above.

But I did get a good laugh reading your amusing synopsis of what happens in the forums each and every day.

[question everything]

28. Looks like there are only 2 or 3 DUere

Just from the past two weeks:

Tweet of the day https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216204957

Bonus Tweet of the Day https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216202685

Tweet of the Day https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216199456

Tweet of the Late Night: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216197883

Tweet of the early evening: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216193571

Tweet of the Week https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216192392

Tweet if the Afternoon: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216166662

And so it goes. At least 2 every day. Why not tell, at least, who is the twiter?

[True Dough]

30. "Why not tell, at least, who is the twiter?"

That's a question you'd have to ask them. I've seen a couple other threads imploring them to offer greater specifics in thread titles. Alas, it has not come to pass, at least not yet.

[Sympthsical]

29. It's not like articles were getting read anyway

We don't do that online.

It's a thing that's been getting worse and worse all over social media.

Post an article with a headline. The more inflammatory the better. If you can be bothered, paste in a paragraph or two. Make sure it serves the purpose of outraging people. At no point should one provide further information, analysis, or any attempt at seeing if there's an update.

And for the love of god, do not include any context. Context is the Devil's subtext. Context might lead to thinking, and thinking leads to Wrong Thoughts.

The number of times I've read a slanted headline with a single paragraph, then read the entire article and discover that is not at all what the headline led me to believe is unreal. And when I read an article, and then spend less than a minute googling? Forget it. The facts might actually be the opposite of what is being implied by the article.

Twitter's perfect. It's like licking the frosting off the cupcake. Just toss out the substance. Only the good parts, people! Get that sweet sugar rush of smug superiority without any of the boring bits.

I mean, no one actually needs information. That's just extra bother.

[PatSeg]

38. Wow, excellent analogy

Fortunately, I still do like the substance and read quite a few articles every day.

"Get that sweet sugar rush of smug superiority without any of the boring bits."

And Twitter is the "frosting on the cupcake"!

[question everything]

46. Thank you for the analysis. The sad reality is that we, I, at least, have always assigned this

behavior to the Rs. I would describe their comments in the line of Me Tarzan You Jane. We, Democrats, are more articulate, we expand on our thought.

As we've heard, Social Media is the greatest equalizer.

[brooklynite]

31. So because Trump's Tweets are idiot, so Sre everyone else's?

Trump also did campaign rallies. Something else we should drop?

Plenty of good content on Twitter if you follow the right people.

[Grasswire2]

50. exactly

It is what YOU make it.

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. You probably recall when many threads sent us to posts on Free Republic

Which in many ways, was much more banal than anything on Twitter.

Twitter is like DU in that it serves as a sort of news clearinghouse.

And for what it’s worth, Tiedrich is often funny and almost always spot on point in his criticism of the right wing.

[scarytomcat]

33. I don't go to twitter or facebook or any other thing like that

so I do NOT read they messages
they should stop just posting links if they think I should know a great revelation or something

[PufPuf23]

34. My druthers would be for DU to have a Twitter forum

similar to Breaking News.

[PatSeg]

40. Interesting idea

Though probably would never happen.

[PufPuf23]

43. Have suggested a Twitter forum several in prior similar treads.

It is not like I am a high profile or influential poster at DU. 😁

The other times got several responses that were a paraphrase of "Interesting Idea" and "Probably never happen".

Getting use to the twits so not as globally irritating; can't see myself ever joining.

[PatSeg]

45. Oh my, I didn't realize that

my response was so universal!

Oh well, we can still encourage people to post more substance and clarifying subject lines. I've notice that a lot of DUers do take such suggestions to heart and really try.

I don't care for Twitter and really prefer to get stories and opinions elsewhere whenever possible. Unfortunately, there are times when it is the only source for some stories.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

41. I'm guilty as charged.

I'm working from home. It is common that all the time I have is to post a link to the tweet. Yes, I post a lot of tweets from the Washington Post. If I have the time later, I can come back and fill in with a few paragraphs from the actual article.

Viewers who are so inclined can click and read too.

Often, it's the best I can do.

Happy New Year.

[frogmarch]

47. I like the tweets.