Stop the shouting

There is a very interesting commentary in The Australian newspaper this morning, from The Times "Stop the Shouting: if we don't tame Twitter, we'll face mob rule". Some excerpts are below:

"...I think communications technologies can decide the political temperature. After decades in which they generally helped moderate discourse, outside autocracies, they are now inflaming it. When blogging was all the rage a decade ago, at least there was space for nuance. Now, opinions are boiled down to a single shout. 

I use Twitter mainly to find and pass on links to articles and reports on topics that interest me. To do so, though, I have to wade through bitter feuds, walk past vicious ad-homs, jump over blatant embellishments and bump into absurd hyperbole... 

We need to find a way to tame Twitter, to fence in Facebook, to insist on net neutrality and revive moderation. To do so while respecting free speech and without handing government the power to propagandise and censor, will not be easy. But it must be attempted before the mutual shouting gets worse."

It echoes some of my own thoughts, particularly observing commentary on world events in the last few months, including our own election.

Full article is here. Apologies if you can't read it, it may be subscriber only access - I can send you a copy though if you ask.