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The only reason why I needed nitter to access x is due to organizations still using it as their main communication solution to their customers. Even my local co
by Ugvx 22d ago
The only reason why I needed nitter to access x is due to organizations still using it as their main communication solution to their customers. Even my local council uses it. I would like this to be the final push for people to get off x but I suspect its going g to stay and I guess I don't get to see news from my local council anymore.
- dolebirchwood 22d agoI'm totally clueless, but aren't there rules requiring accessibility of public-facing government communications, to the extent that they shouldn't be allowed to use a gated platform when making official statements that are a matter of public interest?
- VLM 22d agoNo, and this policy goes back to publication in for-profit newspapers. Not an issue in the USA in general. With a disclaimer that there's one zillion governmental entities on the planet overall, so its plausible that one requires no fee and no signup required.
- derbOac 22d agoIt should be that way. My tolerance for people posting to X without also posting to an open platform is over. Public institutions especially. There's zero excuse, none.
- zahlman 22d ago> There's zero excuse, none. How about the general lack of awareness of "open platforms", or of any given one of your objections to X? Most people are not in the HN bubble.
- edoceo 22d agoIf it's not the case currently, it should be, that public institutions MUST make their public statements widely available. The old POSSE way seems correct. Blocked, or EULA'd or Paywalled on third-party platforms doesn't do that.
- Petersipoi 22d ago[flagged]
- rideontime 22d agoAn open platform could be as simple as hosting their own website. You don’t need to be in a “bubble” to know about websites.
- deleted 22d ago[deleted]
- DOGMATICA 22d ago“As simple as hosting their own website” is contradictory for a majority of the people using the internet.
- olyjohn 22d agoWe are talking about organizations here who are communicating with the public.
- ncallaway 22d agoThe context of the thread is public institutions. I promise you, most public institutions are capable of hosting a web site or running a bluesky account
- alightsoul 22d agoThey choose not to because no one uses them. To get views for political purposes you have to use social media like blue sky and the fediverse
- MarkusQ 21d agoWhy should public institutions be trying to get views for political purposes? Isn't that directly contrary to the intended role of public institutions in a democracy?
- alightsoul 21d agoBecause they want to win the next election? Corruption basically.
- alightsoul 22d agoPeople don't seem to know about bluesky, the fediverse and the indie web enough.
- whatthesmack 22d agoSome people avoid those because they tend to consist entirely of people that support banning non-approved ideas that the real world considers non-controversial. That's why X hasn't disappeared like some of the HN crowd predicted.
- mullingitover 22d agoI thought HN predicted it would fold due to mismanagement, and arguably it would've if it hadn't been delayed by being rolled into the larger Katamari ball of securities fraud that is SpaceTeslaXAI. And while it hasn't disappeared, it's losing ground to Pinterest.
- account42 21d ago> And while it hasn't disappeared, it's losing ground to Pinterest. Is it? I haven't seen a Pinterest link in a while so I guess it depends on what bubble you're in.
- mullingitover 21d agoIf you're not hanging out with a lot of Gen Z women it would explain why it's not on your radar, that's their key demo and they're on a very solid growth trajectory[1]. It's no secret, meanwhile, that twitter has seen steady declines both in daily active users as well as plummeting engagement levels from those that haven't left yet. [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/pins-gains-21-7-3-173600029.html https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/pins-gains...
- jolmg 22d ago> consist entirely of people that support banning non-approved ideas that the real world considers non-controversial What's an example?
- aaron695 22d ago[dead]
- fearmerchant 22d agoNewspapers are still often required to be used for certain government publications and they cost money. TwitterX is free. I'm not clear what the controversy here is exactly.
- etdznots 22d agoIt is not free? You just pay them with your private information and by looking at a few ads. That is not free. Unless you believe information and time have no value?
- alsetmusic 22d agoNewspapers aren't free either. But Twitter, I mean that crappy one-letter site purchased by a chud, is still garbage. I'm definitely not defending it.
- culi 22d agoYou need to make an account to access it. That's not free
- AlexandrB 22d agoWorse, you can be banned for reasons unrelated to your local laws and lose access.
- fearmerchant 22d agoI have an account and I paid zero for it. Are we talking about the same thing?
- BLKNSLVR 22d agoYou've paid with a certain amount of personal information. But to be fair, that's the same with a newspaper subscription.
- 22d ago
- culi 22d agoSomeone could certainly make a case in a lawsuit for an ADA violation. I bet if people organized, the city would listen before it got to that point There are open meeting laws like the Brown Act but I think that only restricts relying on social media for deliberation. Not communication There is also Lindke v. Freed (2024) which holds that public officials using social media can be sued under the First Amendment violations like blocking users or deleting comments.
- panny 22d agoWhat open medium would you suggest as an alternative to X? I miss the days when we had an RFC, people got together, came up with a solution, and we ended up with decentralized NNTP or something. Everything is someone's little kingdom now.
- olyjohn 22d agoIt's called "The Web" and every government org pretty much already has a website. All they have to do is publish something on it.
- ncallaway 22d agoI think the only thing I’d add is some kind of open and standard syndication system like RSS
- alightsoul 22d agoYou then have to figure out where the RSS button is for every website.. it's a nightmare for the average person
- pferde 22d agoBrowsers used to have a little RSS button either next to the address bar, or somewhere in the bottom status bar. But a propaganda corporation has been leading the charge in browser "development" for past few decades, and those do not like it when people exchange information without a centralized middleman, so use of RSS got deliberately pushed as far away from mainstream use as possible. So of course now it's "a nightmare for the average person".
- nomel 22d agoIt's not gated. You can read any non-adult post with a direct link. I'm seeing this perspective all over in here. As someone without an X account, I can only assume you all have X accounts to not know this!
- thayne 22d agoYou can't see replies without an account, and it is pretty common for content to be posted as a series of replies to the first post
- wasdly 22d agoYou can still view direct links, but you can’t scroll someone’s profile or use the search functionality without an account. How many I supposed to scroll a government organization’s tweets if I can only see the first few?
- ncallaway 22d agoAh, and if that person has split their post into several messages, I can definitely read all of them from a direct link to the first message, right? If I have a link to a local emergency department twitter handle, I can view all of their recent posts, right?
- dlcarrier 22d agoI presume the post is referencing principal councils in England or Wales. They're powerful enough to make life difficult, but small enough to not get a lot of oversight. From what I've heard, it's like a government-backed HOA, and they're notorious for doing whatever they want, while not letting you do what you want.
- p0w3n3d 22d agoWeb enshittification should be disallowed in public offices. It's so easy to create a news entry in Facebook or Twitter/X but they are always walling you from it unless you subscribe. This is unacceptable in public service sector.
- sillyfluke 21d ago...and a mandatory website for every app they tell you to download.
- anigbrowl 22d agoCan't you submit written/oral comments on this? Write letters to your local paper etc. You might need to be That Guy for a few months but sooner or later you're going to connect with other people who feel the same way.
- jaredwiener 22d ago[dead]
- internet2000 22d agoYou could make an X account.
- debazel 22d agoNot possible, says phone number is invalid.
- urbnspacecowboy 22d agoIs Xitter still doing the "Your account was suspended for reasons, now you gotta dox yourself" dance? (EDIT: Yes, according to debazel's reply) That'd be a reason why "You could make an X account" isn't a reasonable suggestion.
- olyjohn 22d agoYou mean give them my e-mail and phone number so they can shit that all up too? No thanks.
- silisili 22d agoDon't forget your biometrics, too.
- TheAceOfHearts 22d agoPersonally I had an account since 2008 and it got locked for no discernible reason. The website asks me to scan a QR code from my phone to prove I'm a human, and even after grudgingly installing the mobile app to try and complete this verification it just keeps throwing me into a loop.
- deleted 22d ago[deleted]
- BLKNSLVR 22d agoI really don't understand any place relying on a third party to publicise news. (but I'm as fiercely independent as my own skills and ability to learn can manage)
- JeremyNT 22d agoThe main competitor in this space is sadly Instagram, which is no better.
- frankacter 22d agoYou still have access to local council posts, without logging in. You need to log in to view the follow up discussions(comments) a subtle but important distinction For example you can view the main post and included links in incognito not logged in, just not the "discussion" https://x.com/ManCityCouncil/status/2091903421917892994?s=20 https://x.com/ManCityCouncil/status/2091903421917892994?s=20
- mechazawa 22d agoThat's assuming you have the link to their post. The profile page only shows the last 5 posts (assuming they are showing them in chronological order)
- frankacter 21d agoSeems X is balancing post visibility against bots, scraping, and some dark patterns that push people to sign in. Showing everything is not viable under those competing goals. So they have settled on: Show the post when someone has a direct link, but require login to see the discussion Show a limited number of recent posts on a profile, and require login for more Raising that limit from 6 to 10 would not solve the real complaint: “I cannot see communication from my city.” They already identify government official accounts. One simple option is to extend the visible timeline for those accounts only—six months or a year of posts—while still keeping discussions behind a login.
- ymolodtsov 22d agoFinal? If anything X seems to be more popular among users.