He’s had enough.
Trent Reznor, better known as the man behind the band Nine Inch Nails, is apparently fed up with Twitter. In a long, free-flowing rant post tonight in the NIN forums, Reznor let his haters have it. What starts out as a diatribe against the record labels (which Reznor has been one of the main opponents against in recent years), quickly turns directly to Twitter, which Reznor seems to blame for allowing him to give too much insight into his personal life — something which some trolls are using against him. And so he’s taking a break from the social media scene, and has turned his Twitter account into a “one-way” stream of NIN-only material, according to his new bio.
And apparently, he won’t change it until “Twitter improves blocking.” The reason for this is people Reznor calls the “Metal Sludge contingency.” Here’s Reznor graphic description of these people:
Metal Sludge is the home of the absolutely worst people I’ve ever come across. It’s populated mainly by unattractive plump females who publicly fantasize about having sex with guys in bands. Kind of like a role-playing game where people NOBODY will fuck make up stories about their incredible sexual encounters with people they WISH they could fuck. It would be kind of funny in a sad and pathetic way except the fun doesn’t stop there – hate and good old-fashioned outright blatant racism are also encouraged to spice things up and remind you how truly ugly these scourges are. TRULY ugly on the inside (the outside is obvious).
But buried in this stuff, Rezor has some good points. First of all, Twitter is quickly getting overrun by spammers. That’s probably not a shock to those of us who follow and use Twitter a lot, but it’s getting to the point where celebrities are now starting to notice it, and it’s turning them off from the service. As he puts it, “So when you see the new accounts that pop up daily on Twitter spewing [garbage], usually from picture-less creatively named profiles, spewing hate at Mariqueen and I, take a moment to visualize the sad couple people behind them.”
Also, he’s thinking about the idea of these networks using real-life verifications to encourage better conversations:
I had thought a while ago about attempting to start a mainstream public forum that required real verification of it’s participants for purposes of context. The idea was to have a place where you can actually discuss whatever and have some idea of who you’re conversing with. For example, if we were discussing drumming techniques and you can see that someone participating in the discussion is a drum instructor vs. a 13 year old kid Googling answers, you’d have the proper context in which to have a potentially valid discussion. If we were discussing EDLC’s heart condition and a real cardiologist speaks up, I’d value his opinion over, say FredFuckFaceWhateverHisLastFuckingNameIs’s “opinion”. Know what I mean? Anyway, we’re in a world where the mainstream social networks want any and all people to boost user numbers for the big selloff and are not concerned with the quality of experience.
That’s obviously another shot at Twitter, but it really speaks to most networks. Facebook is by far the best as it at least tries to make sure real people are using it. This topic is something I have thought about recently, as well.
Reznor kind of gives away what seems to be at the heart of his issues towards the beginning of his rant:
Back to Twitter. I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and “human”. I was not expecting to broadcast details of my love life there, but it happened because I’m in love and it’s all I think about and that’s that. If this has bummed you out or destroyed what you’ve projected on me, fair enough – it’s probably time for you to leave. You are right, I’m not the same person I was in 1994 (and I’m happy about that). Are you?
Apparently, some people are disappointed with Reznor no longer portraying himself as the crazed counter-culture icon he was in the early-to-mid 1990s. He’s in love now, and it’s changed him. And thanks to Twitter, millions of people have been privvy to that. Other celebrities should consider that a warning. With Twitter, there is no PR person filtering the message about you. That’s both powerful, but also potentially harmful.
Reznor’s post is actually quite insightful, when you’re able to parse it. Especially when compared to Kanye West’s rant about Twitter last month. And his rants have proven useful in the past, especially against Apple’s ridiculous app approval process for the iPhone. Perhaps now, Twitter will step up its game in the fight against spam and trolls.
Well, some do say twitter is on a “downward spiral”
obviously debated that in the title as well
Although Trent may have a few great points in the “rant”, what exactly am I supposed to feel sympathy towards? He confesses his love for a woman and his fans retaliate with childish nonsense?… Welcome to the internet.
Celebrities are like banks: they want all the benefits of a capitalism, but when the shit hits the fan they want someone to “fix” it for them. If you’re popularity is contingent upon the spread of information via rapidly updated social networks, but those social networks are made up of immature, unrestricted idiots, well… I guess….. cope?
true…
i totally agree that twitter should fight against spam.
But to fight against TROLL’s is a bit hard to do..
I think that Trent need to read the golden rule that claims “do not feed the troll” and live with it..
internet had prove that the only solution against trolls is not feed them. Thats it, theres nothing more we can do, cuz the more you pay attention to them the more they will reproduce..
Ranting on popular things get you free publicity.
The guy’s doing amazing marketing for his band by creating non-sense headlines. It’s either that or TechCrunch has become a music scene blog….
@Sebastian: I’m sorry, but that’s BS.
No one, regardless of fame, deserves to be harassed, period. Becoming famous may relinquish some privacy, but using it as a justification for harassment is ridiculous.
@Trae
Nobody deserves harrasment. But there is also no law stating you will go to jail for obnoxious twits to you.
Twitter is the friggin pet rock of our time. Im being totally serious.
@Trae
How does voluntarily using a service equate to harassment?
I’m against all celebrity stalking. I think its messed up that I guy can shove a camera in a person’s face and not get in trouble, etc.
but….
ITS TWITTER. Not your house phone. You don’t like it, stop using it.
Nice.
Zing!
Honestly I’ve enjoyed reading Trent’s tweets, I never looked them as “damaging his brand,” but rather allowing fans a more personal look at the mastermind behind NIN. I have the utmost respect for the man, and I hope he doesn’t let the obligatory fringe element of social network trolls discourage him from participating.
Who needs twitter when I can read about celebrity rants here. Is twitter available for cell phone texts because I don’t have time to check the webpage. I’m missin out on what ashton is up to. Unless some one is giving away free t-shirts, i’m not signing up.
Ditto!! I couldn’t have written that any better myself!!
The above was in response to the post by Graham Hancock.
Everything has it’s day, and eventually some one comes and steals its lunch (with thanks to an Arrington video post for access to this quote) originally talking about something else, but equally true here.
Agreed. Twitter is quite “Fragile” now.
I think this rant is a little much.
P.S. Follow me on Twitter
http://www.twit...com/JoeyBrander
goodbye twitter! {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/PiLWgvoXG0_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”goodbye twitter! ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/F6OYZEkXzz”}}}
Cool post, thanks for writing. I enjoyed being able to read Reznor’s points, which I agree were insightful, with your perspective blended in. Cool and thx.
Interesting article. Your/the point about spam is right on. Hopefully the twitter team is working on some creative solution to this problem: it is getting harder and harder to distinguish bots from real people.
This is getting problem #1 for all famous people who are putting themself on public line like Twitter. Majority of people are bitter and they spread this bitterness to anybody they can. If you don’t know how to keep your position and train emotional distance you will end up like this guy who clearely lost it. And it’s only his fault. Not Twitter.
There are two types of celebrity. Those who can handle publicity with strength and those who crack under negativity.
Negative people will always exist. It’s part of our Yin Yang nature. Nothing wrong with it, they make us move further.
It’s up to us to make emotional distance and use services like Twitter or FB with more clear goals. If you use it as emotional toilet, you get shit back in your face
Nice comment +1
Are you saying Trent Reznor can’t take being a celebrity? lol.
His current whining seems to indicate his emotions are pretty fragile. Otherwise he would ignore criticisms.
I don’t think this shows that Reznor is particularly fragile, just that there’s a limit to how much anyone can just shrug off.
One of the interesting things about twitter is that, direct messages aside, you can actually see what it was people were saying to him. Hop over to http://search.twitter.com and search for “@trent_reznor”.
Either he gives up the likes of Twitter and FB or he doesn’t.
Surely this is the ideal medium by which to communicate with his followers/fans (since he’s a musician and moderately famous) and if his followers tweet back at him with profundities, he can knock them off his social network friends lists.
Why he made this rant… interesting, and in parts a few good comments about the service and state of interactive web2.0 arena …remains to be explained.
I agree. It’s not twitter It’s the person/people using it. There will always be phishing, spam, etc…I’m not sure exactly what trolls are but….if you can’t handle it don’t use it but don’t try & spoil it for the rest of us!!!!!! If you don’t want to get replies….BLOCK!
I can fully understand Trent’s position here. I’m following him for a while already and was pretty happy about the interesting and open tweets that I read.
But sadly it was indeed just a question of time until this will be abused by some jerks.
It’s truely sad to see this happening and I really wish there would be a way to get rid of all those idiots on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and anywhere else.
Easy, you follow them initially because they seemed interesting, and if they turn into jerks… UNfollow them and if they still post stupid tweets, block them.
Somewhere in the book of the law of averages states that one in every ten tweet will be stupid, and probably the same can be said about users…
Maybe I am an idiot, but isn’t that why you protect your feed? It is either public, where you find trolls, or you make it private.
If you can’t handle the rawness of being a celebrity in social media perhaps you should stick with the PR person? These tools don’t work miracles, nor do they provide automatic, quick and easy interaction.
I agree a million percent that spam on Twitter has gotten OUT OF CONTROL. It is getting beyond annoying. Kudos to Mr. Reznor for speaking up! Just because someone is a celebrity does NOT make them “fair game” and I, personally, get sick and tired of the hatefulness I see all over the inturdweb. It’s about time SOMEONE said something!
Trent is a pretty smart guy actually. And the best part about him is that as a musician, he has grown up, matured and moved on – and he’s actually honest about that. So many musicians keep on clinging to their personas despite the obvious effects of age.
Who here likes to see a 60 year old Iggy Pop rocking out topless like he was 20 years old?
Agreed.
Unless it is Mr Steven Tyler. He can still do whatever he wants!
And James Hetfield.
That is an image that I wish I hadn’t seen. Iggy will always be a great artist, though.
Some folks probably like his shirtless fashion and enjoy seeing his yabbos. Different strokes for different folks.
Couldn’t Twitter introduce some sort of premium model for ‘Celebrity’ accounts – qualified by number of followers (over 5000 let’s say). Charge a small fee (which celebs would be willing to pay since there is commercial value in the service for them) and then employ a small team to monitor these accounts, remove/identify spammers, introduce a slight time delay on incoming messages if necessary for filtering purposes. I haven’t quite thought it out but you get the point. I think Twitter has a duty to look after these users as they are the ones driving growth. If the celebrities leave, half of the user base will leave.
It’s called Super Chirp: http://www.tech...re-super-chirp/
Thanks for the link. A great if not obvious solution which makes me wonder what the Twitter guys are doing that they didn’t think of putting a premium service such as this in place themselves.
The Twitter people stopped innovating right after they launched Twitter. Instead, they gave out their API to everyone and now a lot of smarter folks are stealing Twitter’s revenue by making some great products.
I don’t think Twitter and the unwanted fan following and spamming is the real issue here. The trigger sure was the stalking and harassment on Twitter by this Fred-What’shisFace who attacked him on all levels possible, writing incredibly psychotic blog postings about him and his charitable work and personal life and campaigning against Mr Reznor with no reason and out of the blue on a real personal level that was pushing him over the edge.
Some days earlier (06/04/09) Reznor already wrote something like his final explanation in the same forum in a different thread:
“It’s too draining to attempt to communicate with a mob and ultimately utterly pointless. Any community that grows to a certain size will implode as the lowest common denominator takes over. I try to stay personally engaged but it’s either truly mentally unstable types constantly spamming my PMs (100s per day), or self-righteous entitlement from “fans”, or random cowardly snipes from hate-driven scum of the fucking earth that need something to define their utterly meaningless lives by attacking someone from the shadows.”
He continues:
“It makes me resent people, resent my work, resent fans and resent any interaction whatsoever with the “community”. Of course this is not aimed at everybody and BY FAR most of you are decent and cool people. BUT, for those wondering why I occasionally lash out, often with some scolding advice for me… You have NO IDEA the amount and intensity of bullshit that comes my way from the “community”.”
And concludes:
“When this tour ends, so does any accessibility to me and I really can’t wait at this point.”
http://forum.ni...3551#msg-723551
He is absolutely right with his decision. He has far better to do: Enjoy his life and art, spend time with friends and his girlfriend, browse the net and chill. Enjoy it, Trent.
Good stuff, thanks for posting that.
You’re welcome. Found the other posting on his profile and thought it contributed to an explanation. (Not that I was doing a stalky research or anything
I jut clicked on his username)
http://member.n...?user_id=109510
I kind of experienced the clash with this Fred guy (maybe you can still find it in his Twitter feed?) some days ago and already thought that this was too much of acceptable ‘criticism’ a person in the spotlight has to endure on a professional level. I understand that this can be a trigger. And then the almost professional PM stalking from other crazies… I understand it.
To finish my point: Twitter is not really the issue here. It’s the accessibility that he created slowly and steadily (via forums, communities, ARGs, fan centered and personal events, Twitter etc.) that lashed back now in the recent days with some heavy amount. People were confusing his persona in his music (the cool, melancholic, yet strong guy) with the person he is (HIMSELF, in love, sometimes bored, normal, not every punk and nerd boy’s darling) making jokes about his fiancé and cyberstalking him in general and that was just enough. He drew the consequences. Fair enough. Completely understandable.
I admit twitter needs to do more about spam, bot I don’t know far troll verification is going to get. As troll is a perjorative but not necessarily illegal there’s not much to be done for that. Just an aside here. I’m interested to know where on twitter people are talking about all of this sex. The closest I’ve come to discussing my sex life was when someone happened to use the word ‘dick’. Obviously, twitter, also has a shadow world replete with sex and trolls.
For those that may not know, Metal Sludge is the “Tech Crunch” of Glam Metal. It is run by Stevie Rachelle of the glam metal band Tuff.
If buttrock is a guilty pleasure, the site is good for a laugh. Their CMS is about ten years behind the times though. Not even an RSS that I can ever find.
They are known for talking smack at great lengths, so it looks like they must have hurt Trent’s feelings at one time. Which is a WTF moment in my book.
too bad
yawn.. so when is next twitter post?
Twitter need to introduce a bunch of filters, to help us block posts rather than users. I wrote about it recently due to all of the Spymaster tweets that pollute my feed: http://econsult...h-spymasterspam
The Reznor thing is of course a wider issue. If he’s uncomfortable about fuelling the Sludge fire by revealing too much about his personal life then it makes sense to avoid Twitter.
Troller.
“which Reznor has been one of the main proponents against in recent years” — Proponent against… I assume you mean opponent of.
Yeah, I really couldn’t believe that one when I read it. They’ll let anyone write for blogs these days, huh?
Twitter is picking a lot of bad press lately. First there was a story about how few people actually twitter, then a story about how few people actually have a lot of followers and now this.
Sad.
Time to short Twitter!
My goal is to have more followers than following. Im at 18 / 19 +1
Im keeping it honest. I dont have shit to say so having 19 people follow me is a miracle in and of itself.
I hate twitter to be honest and twit usually in a mocking manner.
Oh, you neglect to mention that they’ve only known each other for a few weeks, met on Twitter, that she’s a total gold digger who tweets about nothing but shopping since the engagement, and that the NIN camp is less than thrilled especially since she’s a drinker and Trent is a 12 stepper. Some say that it is a publicity stunt for poor selling NIN/JA tickets. I think Reznor is off his meds and experiencing MANIA.
20 bucks says this marriage never happens.
And like clock-work- the trolls pop up here.
I agree, twitter is fast becoming a nuissance for waht you used to get in your mailbox.
regarding Trent, stars rant from time to time only to come back and apologize, guess why
Here the fallout from Reznor’s unprofessional delusional ranting:
heroinmonkey-from NIN.com
Sorry, but your pretentious diatribe is the most mind boggling and worthless piece of self-victimization I have ever read. Oh no, the online world let you down, what a fucking horrible tragedy. What did you expect coddling, worshipping or a meaningful existence that goes beyond the fabric of reality. You wanted to “immerse” yourself with “ordinary” people. When were you ordained a god? Mount Fuck? Reading through 20 pages of people showing remorse for your experiences is in itself a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. What did you expect? The virtual world to bestow you with it’s thorny crown? People using the word “haters” as if they were the true “realists” of all that is connected through digital packets. The fact that you used the words “experiment” and “immerse myself in that world” is itself a demonstration that you view yourself as above others and those outside of your social awareness are just ripples of distorted white noise. Lowered a curtain to your personality? And you have the audacity to speak of others as being delusional?
You made music and remixes, you didn’t cure disease or attain world peace so what’s the huge tantrum about?
“Those underlings didn’t worship me so I’m going to recluse myself and pretend I am the only normal person in my tiny yet fragmented world.”
As far as the Metal Sludge “sluts” go, from your description of them I would have to say they are more grounded than you are. They submerse themselves into their world of fantasy but I doubt they are as consumed by their delusions and expectations as you appear to be. I especially liked how you told people to “feel sorry for them” because they don’t meet your standards of human existence. And the cutting advice? Bravo! Another irony in the scope of trading quips and maintaining class and higher standards.
Do you expect the world to apologize for not meeting your expectations? If it was just a rant then so be it, but if it’s how you truly feel in the pit of your being then I will close this post with two words.
Sea Kelp.
P.S.
I am pretty sure I will receive backlash and hatred from the “better” of your little society here and that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Bring on the threats, the trolling, the ad-hominems and the easily dismissed pyschoanalytical opinions.
You can even curse me on twitter: heroinmonkey
tl/dr
awesome story bro
Trent is always pungent and makes insightful comments, especially when talking about the web.
The Kanye West’s comparison is… well, a pity for him.
From the Insider board:
“A Message to The Man Behind the Curtain, AKA “Fathead”:
Soooo…you think social media should only be open to the “best” people? – as selected by whom, you? And by what criteria? That flies in the face of the democratic ideal of the web. If that’s how you really feel, you shouldn’t have won that Webby award. The internet is open to everyone, that’s just how it works, and how it SHOULD work – that’s the only way it supports the free flow of information. If someone is criticizing you online, you have the option to simply ignore them. This is real life, you don’t get to control it. If you can’t handle a little backtalk, then, yes, you do need to take your toys and go home. I can’t believe you are supposed to be so internet-savvy, yet are surprised that not everyone online likes you or is well-behaved. Try living out here in the real world. A lot of us have to deal with such things face-to-face on a daily basis, we don’t have money and fame to insulate us. You’ve done little for the past 20 years besides whine about how hard you have it, and how everything bad that ever happens in your life is someone else’s fault. This Twitter fiasco is the fault of a few “troublemakers,” right? It couldn’t possibly have something to do with the online bragging and oversharing of your “fiancée” or your own belligerent and censorious attitude, could it? Nah, that’s not it. That would be impossible, because you’re perfect, and she’s perfect and you both deserve a perfect world without any dirty fans in it for you to have to deal with. I’ll just shut my fat mouth and back unworthily out of your glorious presence and cry into my NIN tour shirt collection, and console myself knowing that the best woman in the whole world won the prize of your company for as long as you both shall live, or until you throw each other under the tour bus. Just like you’ve done with your fans.
I wish you’d deigned to show us all your real self a long time ago, you would have saved me a lot of time. But it’s still not too late – see that? – since you have magic powers and know everything about me and can tell what I look like and how much I weigh from what I say online, you must be able to see me, O Great and Powerful Oz. See what I am doing with both of my middle fingers held high?: I am waving goodbye.”
Funny thing is, it is very simple to “get rid” of your twitter. He claims that is what he’s going to do, then do it. I can NOT see him doing that. He loves the attention too much. And it gives him something to do, when the she-male is sleeping and he’s bored. Really, Trent, if you wanted to, really wanted to be “gone” from the online world, you would have done so by now.
Techcrunch, I rely on you for the real news since I’m in the tech industry. I never heard of Trent Reznor. Please don’t write about wannbe stars who don’t know how to use the delete button. He sounds deranged with all of his foul language, quickie wedding, and “announcing” to the world he is not going to use his computer. His ego sounds immense.
People are not really talking about the major question.
Do we want to continue appeasing an internet full of trolls, or shape the internet, conversations and overall tone in a more positive way? One way to start is by changing services so that FredFuckFaceWhateverHisLastFuckingNameIs uses his full real name and it is verified and we all know who we’re really talking to, instead of anonymous sniping from a keyboard (dimly lit basement optional).
When people don’t have to be accountable for the things they say, we end up with this.
“Welcome to the Internet” is a dismissive comment said by people who probably pile on and love the feeling of power it gives them.
READ MY OPINIONS, I HAVE THE ABILITY TO AFFECT YOUR LIFE.
etc.
@Dylan
“Welcome to the Internet” is an observation of the inevitable. Trent has utilized the internet in amazing ways, leveraging it to promote (very well, I must say) Year Zero. But just because you VOLUNTARILY submit your feelings about a new, budding relationship and some idiot writes trash, we’re supposed to suddenly create a system of checks and balances to regulate the vast amount of identities? I’m all for making the internet a more useful tool, and validated credentials/identities maybe really useful, but it also comes with a wide array of consequences.
The fact is, Trent submerged himself into his fans (which, I remind you, is shorthand for “fanatics”). Just cause you make money off them doesn’t mean you have to read every damn Twitter post. Especially when you’re dealing with mostly teenage angst.
To be a public figure you have to have thick skin. End of story. If you have a forum that gets ugly or loses its purpose to meaningless idiots, then shut it down and wipe your hands of it. Don’t go on a crusade.
I got on Twitter to promote myself, just as many people do. But that being said, I don’t spam or make multiple repostings. In Twitter’s own guidelines they say they will suspend accounts that re-tweet the same thing multiple times. Why don’t they do that? Many of the new accounts are obviously spam with names like “make 10k a day” or retire rich, I mean, c’mon, do we need that?
I also think the Facebook comment is quite valid. Way back when, when I signed up, you had to have a valid college e-mail for that. Being able to sign up for social sites with a free e-mail account just invites BS.
reminds me of one of the all-time great interview smackdowns…
many moons ago, John Lennon was being interviewed and was repeatedly questioned on ‘why he was so obsessed with all this freedom and rights, counterculture stuff’ why he was no longer the cute moptop….
paraphrasing here by the way
his response was along the lines of ‘i’m sorry that this isn’t what you expected, but we all grew up…why haven’t you?…
to this day, that always makes me smile….
we project so much garbage onto our heroes, and when they don’t live up to our unreal expectations, we tear them down….
good for Trent.
Trent is mad that he pulled a publicity stunt and no one bought it. They called him out on his foolishness and now everyone is fat…..he’s a child. An old immature child.
Nobody is mad because he got engaged. They’re mad because he’s acting like an a**hole.
I know some cute plump girls who like to have sex with guys in bands, and often do.
CLet’s face it: Trent has left the building and his mind.
Trent went ahead and got himself a private twitter account.
http://twitter.com/noise_floor
Couldn’t these morons just lock their existing accounts?ouldn’t these morons just lock their existing accounts?
fat girls are ruining twitter?
I am completely confused about why anyone with half a brain would use twitter. The only real value that it has is to filter out the people who might be worth my time from the half-wit morons who use twitter.
Bingo.
Twitter is a useful for news updates, technology stories and product announcements.
People who twit about their current lot in life is garbage.
My following list is elite in my book. I keep it slim and I hardly ever twit myself because I KNOW i have nothing important to say and not afraid to admit it.
I think people can use Twitter in different ways… as they personally see fit. And with the third-party apps they like. (The ones that make it an even more awesome platform.)
And some people can even consider themselves to have an “elite list“. And the people on that list can feel special.
PLEASE TECHCRUNCH:
_ NO MORE TWITTER. _
THIS IS NOT A PAPARAZZI 2.0 BLOG.
I have noticed quite a few of my followers tweeting far less than just a couple months ago.
Is Twitter becoming a fad?
Have to be honest, I stand by my opinion that Nine Inch Nails has not been relevant to anyone outside of the tech crowd since the late 90’s. And to be honest, this really sounds like a fit he’s throwing more than anything else.
NIN was one of my fav bands growing up, still like them although don’t listen to them much anymore. But I did really enjoy following him on Twitter. It was cool to see him as a real person. Unfortunately, there’s always the fucking assholes that ruin it for everyone.
He exposed himself and got burned. I guess that’s not too surprising, but it sucks.
I think this whole situation also demonstrates why you never, ever, ever feed the trolls. If TR would have simply ignored the mother fuckers, they would have shut up and left him alone. Trolls feed off your reaction. If you don’t give them one, they go away. Simple as that.
Want to rid twitter of spam? Simply institute a rule that you can’t follow more than 5 times the amount of people following you. This won’t affect celebs as they can still follow a few hundred while still being followed by millions. It also gets rid of the spammer who have 20 tweets, 4 followers and are following 19,000 people.
To me that’s a simple solution. Sure some spammers could create multiple accounts and follow themselves, but that would just be way too much work to be worth it as long as twitter can prevent bots from registering which shouldn’t be too hard.
The point in implementing this rule is to keep twitter social with real people. By only allowing you to follow up to 5 times the amount following you, twitter is demanding you be part of the community and contribute to it as no one will follow you if you’re just spamming or not saying anything worth while.
Seems like a logical solution that would be really easy to implement.
Besides being an amazing performer/musician with an amazing band, TR owes a lot of his recent popularity & longevity to the social networks and even some of the very same fans he is condemning…”Will you Bite The Hand That Feeds?”
Agree that Twitter is interesting.
Hysterical that so many are lemmingly getting whipped into a PR storm. It’s laughable to think that any celebrity really cares or is spending the time to review 100s of PMs.
That said, TR does make some good points.
“What have I become… my sweetest friend… everyone I Tweet goes away in the enddddddd..
And you could have it allllll… my empire of Twitter!”
Bow down before the one you serve! you’re going to get what you deserve!
If someone harasses you based on something that you, yourself, posted on Twitter (or any other SN for that matter), who’s to blame?
I can understand the argument that there’s never a reason to harass another human being based on religion, sexual inclination, political views, etc, etc… And harassing someone based on knowledge that you obtained from them directly doesn’t give you a “reason” to do so. BUT, at the same time, Social Media tools have made sharing our inner-most thoughts too easy and I think we’ve all lost a little control of what we disclose online. We all have heard about cases of college students posting “drunk” photos of themselves online and then getting a job offer denied based on that (let’s not discuss the “legality” of that now). The point being: just because we live in a Democracy and we have Freedom of Speech and the tools to broadcast all our thoughts and ideas doesn’t mean that we should. Sometimes, we need a pause…. before hitting the button!
I gotta call bullshit on this:
He “quickly turns directly to Twitter, which Reznor seems to blame for allowing him“.
Read in its entirety, Reznor’s post is not blaming Twitter at all. He’s blaming assholes who abuse it.
MG Siegler, I’ve never heard of you. (I’m willing to wager that you’ve never heard of me, either, unless you’ve been in White Bear Lake, MN, in which case, you HAVE.)
But I wanted to tell you that was a nicely written post. I’ll be watching for more!
The biggest issue I see here is with Twitter’s blocking system. You can block a user from seeing your posts but it doesn’t screen out their replies to you. What’s the point in blocking someone then? A better system would be for Twitter to feature a Block list that could be synched with apps like TweetDeck, UberTwitter, etc. and screen out all replies from someone you blocked.
Until that happens, all that can be done is reporting trolls as spamming Twitter. But they’re like bad cases of herpes in that they always come back. I think a two-way block system might make it clear that the targets of these trolls aren’t listening and can’t see the hate-filled remarks, rendering the trolls completely powerless.
Online communities are like worldwide public parks. You never know who you are going to meet, or what that person is ‘really’ like. Celebrities draw crowds there more so than in a real-world public place. There will always be those who have degenerate thinking and behaviors that will thrive on attention.
I think Reznor did the best think he could at this point. Keep the account for professional tweets until Twitter gets better at blocking.
It’s too bad though. I’m sure fans love to have this kind of interaction. What a rare treat Twitter and other online communities give people to connect were otherwise it would be most improbable.
You’re missing the point of this. Trent committed a reckless act. Because a fan tweeted something mildly negative to him, he revealed her personal, private information. He also slandered her with false accusations. This is not acceptable behavior for anyone, let alone someone on the level of Trent Reznor. He has great power with his fan base and thus has a great responsibility to use it wisely. His poor judgment has harmed someone. He continues to act in this reckless manner with slur after slur after slur against fans. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Irony at it’s finest. Reznor wants people to cry for him, protect him, save him..etc etc. Jesus Christ Trent you are old enough to take care of
yourself. Get off the internet and make some decent music for once in the past 10 years. He brought all this upon himself, his idiotic tweets, his attacks on people who made him who he is today.
Yep guys! Read all about it! Trent Reznor CAN’T stand his fans and TREATS THEM LIKE SHIT! Shock of the century for some of you I’m sure. Seriously. He comes across as one of those annoying men who think they are god’s gift and when you reject their advances, they start calling you fat, ugly, and lesbian. Just get the hell off the internet and take your she-male with you. Her 15 mins of fame is done..and you are close behind.
How does trent reznor know that Metal Sludge is populated mainly by “unattractive plump females”? Are there other websites we should know about and avoid that are populated by “unattractive plump females”? Should we banish fat girls now that they broke the internet? Has trent reznor HACKED Metal Sludge and has brought this important info to light?