{"id":4249,"date":"2013-12-13T12:30:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T17:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=4249"},"modified":"2013-12-13T12:30:30","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T17:30:30","slug":"blocked-user-outrage-spurs-twitter-to-reverse-policy-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/12\/13\/blocked-user-outrage-spurs-twitter-to-reverse-policy-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Blocked! User outrage spurs Twitter to reverse policy change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter quietly changed its blocking policy on Thursday, but the ensuing user outrage caused the company to quickly backtrack and apologize for the change.<\/p>\n

Twitter\u2019s blocking policy as it was\u2014and now as it is again\u2014notifies a user if they\u2019ve been blocked. Blocking a person also prevents them from following you or interacting with your tweets. The brief change in the policy changed the block to more of an ignore\u2014users were no longer notified if they were blocked, and they could still interact with your tweets, although you wouldn\u2019t see those responses in your feed.<\/p>\n

dick costolo Joi Ito<\/p>\n

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said Twitter users had requested the change, fearing that block notifications would only anger the people who had been blocked and may lead to even more harassment.<\/p>\n

But any users satisfied with the change were drowned out by a wave of outraged tweets. Users who had experienced abuse on Twitter were concerned that their harassers would still be able to read and reply to their tweets, even if those replies were invisible. Other users would be able to see the harasser\u2019s interactions, and their replies would show up in Twitter search results.<\/p>\n

The complaints were so overwhelming that Twitter reversed its position on blocking Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier today, we made a change to the way the \u2018block\u2019 function of Twitter works,\u201d Twitter vice president of product Michael Sippey wrote in a Thursday night blog post. \u201cWe have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users\u2014we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe. Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twitter told TechCrunch that the change was designed to let users with public accounts know that just because they\u2019ve blocked someone doesn\u2019t mean their tweets are private. If the blocked user logs out of Twitter, they will still be able to view your tweets\u2014but not respond to them.<\/p>\n

Twitter has faced criticism in the past for the way it handles harassment on the service. In August, the network added a \u201creport abuse\u201d button on individual tweets and dedicated more resources to moderating the site.<\/p>\n

via Blocked! User outrage spurs Twitter to reverse policy change | TechHive<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twitter quietly changed its blocking policy on Thursday, but the ensuing user outrage caused the company to quickly backtrack and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[1110],"class_list":["post-4249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-media","category-technology","tag-twitter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-16x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7345,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/01\/07\/netflix-begins-blocking-users-who-bypass-region-locks\/","url_meta":{"origin":4249,"position":0},"title":"Netflix begins blocking users who bypass region locks","author":"NCCT","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Netflix has begun blocking users' access to the service when it detects that a geolocation bypassing utility, such as a proxy or VPN, is being used. Although these blocks are currently limited in scope, it could be a precursor to a wider crackdown by the popular streaming service. Over the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8783,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/12\/21\/error-451-is-the-new-ray-bradbury-inspired-http-code-for-online-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":4249,"position":1},"title":"Error 451 is the new Ray Bradbury-inspired HTTP code for online censorship","author":"NCCT","date":"December 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Error code 451 tells you when content you want to see is blocked due to \"legal obstacles.\" By Ian Paul | PCWorld The web is full of cryptic status codes that your browser shows when it can\u2019t connect to a website, such as 403 Forbidden or 404 Not Found. 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The findings, first reported by Pro Publica, show how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6135,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/06\/sprintt-mobile-plan-to-buy-spectrum-together-may-be-blocked-by-fcc\/","url_meta":{"origin":4249,"position":3},"title":"Sprint\/T-Mobile plan to buy spectrum together may be blocked by FCC","author":"NCCT","date":"August 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A proposal from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler would block an attempt by Sprint and T-Mobile US to buy spectrum together in the incentive auction that will transfer airwaves from broadcast TV stations to cellular carriers next year. Further Reading FCC chairman regrets that AT&T and Verizon control the best spectrum\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2014_coverage_map2-300x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8580,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/09\/01\/wikipedia-bans-381-user-accounts-for-dishonest-editing\/","url_meta":{"origin":4249,"position":4},"title":"Wikipedia bans 381 user accounts for dishonest editing","author":"NCCT","date":"September 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Editors of the English version of Wikipedia have blocked 381 user accounts for editing articles on the online encyclopedia despite being secretly paid to do so by various interests. The\u00a0 editors also deleted 210 articles created by the accounts. 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Twitter confirmed on Friday that it was notifying users whose valid login credentials were recently being passed around on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}