Twitter etiquette: what you can and cannot say

[Jazzy]

In light of British journalist Guy Adams’s Twitter account being suspended after he criticised NBC’s London 2012 Olympics coverage and a police investigation into a Twitter troll who abused Team GB diver Tom Daley, we have put together a tweeting etiquette guide.



The shock suspension of Adams’s Twitter account after he published the corporate email address of Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics has left many tweeters confused about what is and isn’t allowed on the site.



Adams makes a fair point that Zenkel’s corporate email address is publicly available and that he didn’t publish his personal contact details. Moreover, it was Twitter, who is suspiciously in a commercial relationship with the US broadcaster during its Olympics coverage, which first alerted NBC’s social medial department to Adams’s tweets.



So what are the rules? And more crucially, when will Twitter suspend an account?



Read more



Isn't this an infringement of Freedom of speech?



Your thoughts?

 

[Sinon]

It's not an infringement. The freedom of speech is still in effect, but you must be prepared to accept the consequences for what you say. We are free to call people rude things, we're free to criticize (duly or unduly), we're free to threaten people. But there are consequences which are born from each of these actions. Additionally, we're discussing Twitter. It's not a right, it's a privilege. They own their own website, they are fully allowed to dictate what is and is not deemed acceptable content, the same way this forum or any other website is. If I were to start posting pornography, I would (rightly so) be banned or otherwise have my posting abilities moderated. This would not be a breach of my freedom of speech, but simply a consequence of a previous action which is outlined as unacceptable.

 

[DrLeftover]

And then there was this-

LONDON – The list of Olympic-related Twitter transgressions turned potentially criminal Tuesday when police arrested a 17-year-old boy for allegedly making malicious comments following a frenetic exchange of rants against British diver Tom Daley after he fell short of medaling.... ...



@Rileyy_69 posted another message, saying I hold a gun license for shooting birds and I'm gonna shoot yours as well.''

http://www.usatoday....rest/56601380/1







STUPIDITY is NOT a Constitutionally Protected Right.

 

[Jazzy]

Just to let everyone know, I wasn't serious when I said it was an infringement. As we all know, there is NO such thing as freedom of speech on the internet.

 

[JetWing34]

Quite legit. I follow these rules on Facebook as well.

 

[DrLeftover]

Just to let everyone know, I wasn't serious when I said it was an infringement. As we all know, there is NO such thing as freedom of speech on the internet.

Well. Yes there is. To a point.



Sites like MyFaceGTweeterplusbookspace are owned by private businesses who are providing a service to the public. And as such, have to set some ground rules.



So are blogging sites that allow you to put up your own Web Log and babble away on it.



They have to answer to various authorities and their advertisers for what happens on their sites.



If you want to say whatever fool things comes into your head (barring making threats against Olympic divers and whatnot, which are illegal) go to something like HostMySite or GoDaddy and buy yourself a website, write some HTML code, pay your monthly fee, and have at it.



And even then, if you make threats that can be taken seriously, you'll find some guys in out of style suits at your front door, but other than that, if you want to put up the Adolph Hitler Fan Site, or babble on about how Justin Beiber is the Anti-Christ, you are free to.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

Guy Adams posted a scathing series of tweets aimed at NBC and its affiliates. In one tweet he pretty much called Matt Lauer a tosspot. I have no problem with Twitter suspending his account until after the Olympics, since it’s clear his only mission is to make personal, non-constructive comments to the people in charge.



As DrLeftover said most websites/blogs/etc. are offering a service. They are entitled to do as they please and deny you that service if you don’t respect their TOS.

 

[The Dragon Master]

It's not an infringement. The freedom of speech is still in effect, but you must be prepared to accept the consequences for what you say. We are free to call people rude things, we're free to criticize (duly or unduly), we're free to threaten people. But there are consequences which are born from each of these actions. Additionally, we're discussing Twitter. It's not a right, it's a privilege. They own their own website, they are fully allowed to dictate what is and is not deemed acceptable content, the same way this forum or any other website is. If I were to start posting pornography, I would (rightly so) be banned or otherwise have my posting abilities moderated. This would not be a breach of my freedom of speech, but simply a consequence of a previous action which is outlined as unacceptable.

Fully agree with this. Said everything I was thinking.

 

[Evil Eye]

I remember a thread on another forum.

Some guy was pissed because the moderators had locked his thread or something. He posted kinda like this: IM AN AMERICAN, MY FATHER IS A POLITICAN [sic], FREE SPEECH, ILL TELL CNN. Yes, caps, bad spelling... and I'm not making that CNN thing up. (Thread seems to have disappeared though

) So a few posts in several other Americans were apologising for the guy's stupidity and several others were trying to explain that the constitution has little to do with the internet, that the internet isn't the US and that the forum was a service offered by a company that then got to decide the rules (as Shiro and Leftover said).

I thought it was kinda funny all in all

Anyway, whoever owns the thing you're using gets to dictate the rules. They have every right, but it can still be rude.