Read about Steve Lackmeyer's tweet that he later deleted, and I've been wondering this for a long time. Why do people make offensive/stupid/wrongheaded tweets, then delete them shortly thereafter? Somebody, somewhere will most likely get a screen grab of it, it will live forever (or at least it won't go away quietly like the tweeter probably wished it would), and you'll get busted for it. I don't tweet, probably never will, but if I ever did, I don't think I'd ever tweet something racist (as has been done many times) and then go back 15 minutes later and delete it, assuming "Whew, OK, I deleted it, everything's fine and back to normal now".

"Act in haste, repent at leisure". Happens to everyone. I don't tweet.

Most normal people know better to send out an offensive, racist, sexist tweet. But if you are racist, sexist, or have an offensive personality, you probably aren't a "normal" person to begin with. Louis CK nailed this perfectly with smartphone rant. When you tell someone something bad to their face, you will deal with the reprucussions immediately. It may be little more than just a visual display of their hurt feelings, but it will happen. When you fire off a tweet/text message/faceebook update, etc., its like screaming into space. You can say the most horrible thing and you *technically* don't have to face anyone personally or deal with any consequences, at least at first. Of course, online social justice warriors can always flood you with RT's and responses until you delete it (which as you pointed out is worthless since anything on the internet is forever). But you could also just turn off your computer or phone and not deal with it at all.

I think people in general have become very desensitized to normal human emotions and logic because of this and other things with technology. Just look how many people get off on being internet trolls in comment sections. There is a theory out there that technology is progessing far faster than the human mind and society in general can catch up. Twitter is becoming the perfect example of this. And I imagine when civilization finally collapses, whatever species that takes our place will probably pin our ultimate demise on something dealing with social media. I am only half joking.

Come on, Mel...everybody Tweets!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmvwFcfWmY

Out of 50,000 or so tweets, I've probably deleted a couple of dozen, though the reason is usually bad spelling or the chance of misinterpretation. (One person has declared something close to offense, but I've known her for years and she has yet to unfollow me.)

My Robin can't rock anymore but I do tweet sometimes heading for the powder room.

Dennis,
I don't know if you are kidding or not, but I don't tweet, don't know how, and don't want to know how. And I am a retired "techie". Social media just doesn't do anything for me. I think I'm the only person on the planet that has never used Facebook. Actually, I'm not a "joiner" and have only joined two groups in my life, Yahoo's Widownet and OKCtalk.
C. T.
Come on, Mel...everybody Tweets!!!

Out of 50,000 or so tweets, I've probably deleted a couple of dozen, though the reason is usually bad spelling or the chance of misinterpretation. (One person has declared something close to offense, but I've known her for years and she has yet to unfollow me.)

Good god, man. Have you thought about seeking help from a tweeters anonymous group?

Dennis,
I don't know if you are kidding or not, but I don't tweet, don't know how, and don't want to know how. And I am a retired "techie". Social media just doesn't do anything for me. I think I'm the only person on the planet that has never used Facebook. Actually, I'm not a "joiner" and have only joined two groups in my life, Yahoo's Widownet and OKCtalk.
C. T.

Sometimes, C.T., when it comes to technology: Less Is Better!

Dennis,
I don't know if you are kidding or not, but I don't tweet, don't know how, and don't want to know how. And I am a retired "techie". Social media just doesn't do anything for me. I think I'm the only person on the planet that has never used Facebook. Actually, I'm not a "joiner" and have only joined two groups in my life, Yahoo's Widownet and OKCtalk.
C. T.


This made my day. :)

Also, there are a lot of people who have avoided Facebook, so you are far from alone.

Dennis, I don't know if you are kidding or not, but I don't tweet, don't know how, and don't want to know how. C. T.

C.T....I was kidding. For what it's worth, my Mom raised me right. I promised her that I would wait until I got married to Tweet.

P.S. I do have a FB account, to stay in touch with family.

Count me in on the no Facebook list. Besides the "not wanting anything to do with Facebook as a company" side of things, it has had the unexpected benefit of causing me to miss all of the family drama we've had in the last few years because I don't have an account to see or participate in it.

Good god, man. Have you thought about seeking help from a tweeters anonymous group?

How much help can you get out of 140 characters?

(Oh, and Steve Lackmeyer is closing in on 45,000. Then again, he's been on there slightly longer than I have.)

I can honestly say I don't think I've read a single one. That's kind of his job to maintain some interest in his writing though isn't it? Maybe yours too FAIK.

Dan Gordon, of the Samuel Gordon Jewelers family, is over the 150,000 mark in a little over 7 years on Twitter.

Dan Gordon, of the Samuel Gordon Jewelers family, is over the 150,000 mark in a little over 7 years on Twitter.

So how many times did people find out he was in the bathroom/eating dinner/having a drink/watching tv/doing something nobody really cares about in all those tweets? Joking... A little.

This made my day. :)

Also, there are a lot of people who have avoided Facebook, so you are far from alone.

Likewise, I refuse to join Facebook, tweet or any other kind of social media..... not getting my time. OKCtalk is the only thing I access.

In fairness to some social media, Twitter is exactly as useful as the list of people you follow. Follow a lot of city and downtown development accounts? Your feed will be full of awesome, and you will see stuff happen and get announced in what is practically real time.

Personally, I really value Twitter more than an other social media platform. As stated previously, it just depends who you follow. I create lists to help me keep up with local happenings, technology, etc...

I am on facebook and have twitter but don't really use it as I never bothered to try to figure it all out.. I only joined for a contest to win Great concert tickets one time. .lol.. but I feel the same way about people deleting facebook posts. usually its the drunken updates or the passive aggressive ones that end up deleted..lol.. If I say it its out there forever. I don't really post much though

About a year ago I did make a twitter account. Just to keep my hands on my cleanskull moniker. Never have used it though.

I quit Facebook when I took up Twitter. Aside from only wanting to deal with one at a time, Facebook had lost me. It just didn't seem useful or fun anymore. I've never sent a tweet, but it is excellent for staying on top of the goings-on around town.

I never really understood people trying to compare Twitter to Facebook - to me they are completely different tools for social media. Probably that's simply because of how I use it.

I use Facebook on a personal level to keep up with close family and friends and to archive some of my activities and as a great place to keep photos. I also use my JohnTV Facebook as a tool for my commercial activism.

I use Twitter almost exclusively to keep up with local, national and some international news. I also use it to see the headlines from blogs I follow (like Lifehacker and mashable). I don't follow twitter feeds from friends and family - unless those friends tweet on topics I am interested in.

Dan Gordon, of the Samuel Gordon Jewelers family, is over the 150,000 mark in a little over 7 years on Twitter.

does he really think people care that much to demand that kind of volume? I certainly hope not

He has 12,716 followers, so if he thinks so, it's justified. (I have yet to break a thousand.)

I wonder if he paid for a lot of them like abigale ogle

I've tweeted only a handful of times, typically along the lines of, "Your puppy is cute," or "You guys be careful driving." I always delete them after a short time not because they are offensive, but to hide the evidence of how lame they are.

I've had a twitter account since 2009 but don't use or follow it much. (Do have a couple of national journalists on the follow list but rarely look to see what's up.) Unfortunately, I just discovered it's been hacked, someone retweeted a bunch of stuff and subscribed me to 1000 feeds. Twittereraser.com cleaned up the tweets. I'll have to find a bulk unfollow tool to clean up the rest of it.

To the OP, what tweet was deleted? Got a link to a story? The rest of the thread seems to imply it was a racist, sexist, or offensive tweet, which I have a hard time believing of Steve, so wouldn't mind some clarification.

To the OP, what tweet was deleted? Got a link to a story? The rest of the thread seems to imply it was a racist, sexist, or offensive tweet, which I have a hard time believing of Steve, so wouldn't mind some clarification.

Agree - I thought it was odd this thread has gone on for two pages yet the content of the Tweet or a link to what was read about it has yet to be posted......

To the OP, what tweet was deleted? Got a link to a story? The rest of the thread seems to imply it was a racist, sexist, or offensive tweet, which I have a hard time believing of Steve, so wouldn't mind some clarification.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/30/5usa2yqu.jpg

What's offensive about that? Sounds like the definition of every forum on the Internet......

I think the OP used it as a chance to open up a broader discussion on deleting posts.

I think the OP used it as a chance to open up a broader discussion on deleting posts.

Probably should have included the tweet or article regarding the tweet though. The implied statement made it sound like Lackmeyer had indeed posted something offensive - if the tweet above is it, the OP is way off the mark.

I personally don't take issue with someone deleting a tweet or other social media post. I have deleted a post or two, but mostly because at a later time I had a different opinion than the one originally expressed and I didn't want that opinion to define my perspective on the topic.

What I really hate though is when people are pressured to delete comments and then go on some apology tour - not because they feel they truly made a mistake, but because their handler told them to do damage control.

I have deleted a few of them over the years, but almost universally because of misspellings, grammar or forgetting to include photo/link. In nearly every case the deletion was followed by a reposting of the same tweet but with appropriate correction. I'm not certain that I have ever deleted a tweet due to regret. I'm not a high-volume tweeter, but I have been using Twitter since August of 2008, so I have had plenty of opportunities to put my foot into my mouth. I have (mostly) avoided doing that by not tweeting drunk and not tweeting angry (though I do allow some tweets while mildly simmering during Thunder and OU games).

What Urbanized said makes so much sense. Tweeting while angry is a huge problem in political circles. I was watching the CBS Sunday morning show recently and Bob Scheiffer said one of the biggest changes in Washington is the use of social media, especially among the younger members. He said there is a tendency to just pop off an opinion - in reaction - without thinking through the subject. Once something is said - it's said. Upon reflection, many of these members realize they were only reacting to something they were told that wasn't actually true, misunderstood another tweet, etc. I thought it was interesting how he put it - something like it's creating one big "gotcha" culture due to flip, instant comments that didn't truly reflect how they felt after thinking it through. Think about it, it's the first time in history, that lawmakers are expected to react almost instantly to any and every issue. I thought it was an interesting perspective.

Twitter for me is an avenue to freely express my mind, and not my precise thoughts. And there is a huge difference.

I have 1,800ish followers and literally 99% of them are neither family nor friends, and not really any one I know. They are mostly random people and strangers I have somehow connected with on twitter. I can express my mind and not worry about offending too many people I know. And those who I do offend I'll never meet, I don't know, and I will never know.

I'm young. I say some [a lot] crude things; I'm a little rough around the edges; and I say some things I regret. Twitter is where I vent that side of my personality, so I can stay sane at my job and with my family. :)

I try to not say anything online that I wouldn't say in person. No, it's the other way around.

Outside of a courtroom, I don't tend to have many filters.
Inside of a courtroom, absence of filters can create LCS or CSQ issues
(lighter checkbook syndrome or a change of sleeping quarters.)

Probably should have included the tweet or article regarding the tweet though. The implied statement made it sound like Lackmeyer had indeed posted something offensive - if the tweet above is it, the OP is way off the mark.

I'm the OP, and I'm sure Steve's tweet offended some folks, even though it wasn't in the racist, homophobic, whatever category. I was just using it to open a conversation on it and used "offensive" as a general term. Basically, I don't shoot my mouth off in real life, or on any internet forum, whatever it may be, without thinking about it first. Lots of people broadcast something that they maybe shouldn't've to everybody in the world, then think "Oh, maybe I should've thought that through first, let me delete it", and I just don't get that. Saying something to someone's face or on a limited forum somewhere and then thinking "Oh, maybe....." just seems to be a bit different than broadcasting it to the world and having second thoughts. Guess it's just the way people are, same as posting inappropriate stuff ("Hey, look how drunfkfkd I gotooot last ngihths!!!!!!!") to FB or Instagram or whatever, I don't get it, anyway, back to your regularly scheduled tweeting/deleting...

What Urbanized said makes so much sense. Tweeting while angry is a huge problem in political circles. I was watching the CBS Sunday morning show recently and Bob Scheiffer said one of the biggest changes in Washington is the use of social media, especially among the younger members. He said there is a tendency to just pop off an opinion - in reaction - without thinking through the subject. Once something is said - it's said. Upon reflection, many of these members realize they were only reacting to something they were told that wasn't actually true, misunderstood another tweet, etc. I thought it was interesting how he put it - something like it's creating one big "gotcha" culture due to flip, instant comments that didn't truly reflect how they felt after thinking it through. Think about it, it's the first time in history, that lawmakers are expected to react almost instantly to any and every issue. I thought it was an interesting perspective.

Yep, precisely. And not just political circles, it's everywhere... Getting so tired of reading headlines about which person said what stupid thing and then coming out with an apology (usually decided on as damage control, not true regret, as has been said). And it's not a good sign that our culture is going that way, I believe. ;)

I Don't Want Your Apology. I Want You to Think Before You Tweet.*|*Madeline Wahl (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/madeline-wahl/i-dont-want-your-apology-_b_5606925.html?utm_hp_ref=tv&ir=TV)