Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Uselessness of Social Control Media and Why We Need RSS Feeds' Resurgence More Than Ever

Information overload can only be tackled using tools that are truly in one's own hands

Social Control Media



Summary: Social control media became pure noise or misinformation, usually in pursuit of financial expansion alone, and it is also a censorship machine which discourages not falsehoods but unconventional thinking

THE longtime readers of this Web site are aware that we don't do social control media. I personally do, but the site does not. It probably never will. It's just not worth the trouble and the distraction/disruption it has become to the lives of so many.

As The Atlantic put it in a new article, "ill-prepared arguments and political firestorms are generally not helpful" ("Twitter Is Not as Important as Journalists Make It Seem" is the headline of this article).

"It’s centrally-filtered (censored) communication, disguised as “social” — a nice-sounding term. The word “media” isn’t helpful either as it’s no substitute/alternative to actual journalism/news."I am partly guilty for spending quite a bit of time posting there, albeit only as part of the process of researching for future articles and Daily Links. I'm well aware of the downsides and have repeatedly thought about quitting such sites altogether. It's impossible to be in control in such sites; by participating there one is outsourcing all decisions to for-profit companies with their own business agenda, exposing oneself to know foes and trolls (visibility of the whole world, including 'bot armies' which leverage platforms for misinformation campaigns, at times incitations by armies). It's centrally-filtered (censored) communication, disguised as "social" -- a nice-sounding term. The word "media" isn't helpful either as it's no substitute/alternative to actual journalism/news.

"I've more than once "shared" or "retweeted" things which later turned out to be false. I wasn't even able to correct these afterwards (no "edit" option like with articles)."One perceived 'upside' of such "media" is the real-time nature of it, but in practice that means leaping past fact-checking, airing false rumours and hearsay instead. The supposed lag of news site should be seen as a strength, not a weakness. Stories can take time to understand, especially as they can be complex and different people have different points of view, interpretation, or conflicting information. I've more than once "shared" or "retweeted" things which later turned out to be false. I wasn't even able to correct these afterwards (no "edit" option like with articles).

So do you still get your "news" from sites like Twitter or Facebook? Be very careful. The bosses of these sites (shareholders) have an agenda different from yours, so those who you 'befriend' or 'follow' aren't really the ones informing you. There are algorithms between you and them and we know who controls (and hides) these algorithms. There's no neutrality, there's a business model.

"What to use instead for news? Use RSS feeds."There's another angle that's scarcely explored; because speed is favoured rather than accuracy/quality important information that's 'tweeted' won't be noticed later on, unless one relies on archiving, and it won't matter a day later either. It's very difficult to locate old material and to sort it serially/sequentially. It's basically a mess with no linkage between one post and another. It's a storm of brainfarts with random links thrown here and there. Tweets have the shelf life of a pierced apple.

What to use instead for news? Use RSS feeds. Find sites that are trustworthy (don't rely on searches across sites, as some sites can be dodgy and inaccurate, in effect noise blending in with the signal). Our RSS feed's URL has been the same since 2006 and published in it were 26,738 blog posts.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
 
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025