[ NNSquad ] Mark Cuban Hates Hate on Twitter, and Takes a Swipe at Anonymity

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Mark Cuban Hates Hate on Twitter, and Takes a Swipe at Anonymity

http://bit.ly/cGJn1N  (Business Insider)

Our old friend Mark Cuban is back with another commentary about how
the Internet has "gone wrong."  

Now he's upset about "hate" tweets in his Twitter timeline, and seems
to suggest that anonymity is to blame:x

   "The anonymity of Twitter has value, but like Myspace in the early
    days, what worked for it in the short term, could work against it
    in the long term.  If Twitter doesn't come up with a solution for
    the quantity of hate being published, the door will be open for
    others to preempt and replace it."

A solution?  What does he propose?  Forced identification?  Pre-moderation
of all tweets?

In fact, Twitter already provides (1) a mechanism to block any given
Twitter user from posting to your timeline, (2) the means to make your
timeline inaccessible except to persons who request access and that you
approve, and (3) an abuse reporting mechanism

It seems that Mark actually wants the benefits of a wide distribution
platform but is unwilling to even avail himself of the available control
mechanisms, so he resorts to publicly "hating hate."

Of course he isn't the first.  I'm reminded of this classic scene
from "Get Smart":

http://bit.ly/ah4fqg  (YouTube)

And -- special treat -- as long as we're in this episode ("All in the
Mind") -- we might as well visit what has to be one of the funniest
telephone-related quickie bits of all time -- Maxwell Smart and Agent
99 trying to call CONTROL headquarters (via an operator) from a phone
booth rapidly filling with water:

http://bit.ly/atICAL  (YouTube)

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator