remove the link to twitter/X account

[dimpase]

With many scientific orgs, and not only, getting off twitter, it would be timely if SciPy followed suit.

We listed some reasons at sagemath/website#487

[tupui]

I disagree, the platform still has some reach and we have more than 5k followers.

This needs to go to the forum and other maintainers to vote on this if we want to proceed.

[matthew-brett]

I agree with @tupui - there does seem to be some attempt to boycott X on various esthetic or political grounds, but I don't think we should join it - and stay neutral. If there are people who would benefit from news from us on X, we should post news there.

[dimpase]

If there are people who would benefit from news from us on X

Yes, certainly, there people who benefit - the main beneficiary is called Elon Musk. At some point you cannot remain neutral any more (one cannot stay neutral on a modern cross of circus and Völkischer Beobachter). If you want to stay neutral on a social media, move to a decentralised, politically sane platform, such as Mastodon (and, hey, you can even run your own instance of it).

[lucascolley]

I am +1 on removing the link, although I do not think that discussing that decision is a good use of developer time. If everybody agreed or was ambivalent then it would be a no-brainer. But in the presence of contrary opinions, I think it would be best for everyone involved to save their time for other things.

[tupui]

Mastodon and Bluesky are losing traction. All platforms have their supporters and detractors you can find good and bad everywhere. We are definitely not here to do any politics.

[dimpase]

"some attempt to boycott X" includes dozens of German universities, NWO (Dutch analog of NSF) etc. The last link is short and right on target.

---

In recent years, we have observed that the public discourse on X is increasingly characterized by the spread of misinformation and hate speech, making it difficult to engage in constructive dialogue on the platform. As a science funder, NWO believes it is important to foster connections and contribute to a respectful and inclusive public dialogue. NWO has concluded that X is no longer a platform that adequately facilitates this. Our account and previous posts will remain available, but no new content will be posted.

NWO thanks everyone who has followed us through X in recent years and hopes to continue to reach our followers through our other channels. Want to stay up to date on calls and developments around Dutch science? Then subscribe to our newsletter. NWO will also remain active on the NWO website and on LinkedIn
. In our magazine 'Onderzoek' we provide insights into developments in the scientific field. Subscribing to our magazine is free and can be done via this link.

[dimpase]

Mastodon and Bluesky are losing traction. All platforms have their supporters and detractors you can find good and bad everywhere. We are definitely not here to do any politics.

They are not losing traction at all - in particular Bluesky as growing very fast right now (currently at 27 million and growing at a rate of 2 users per second right now.
One cannot totally stay away from politics - if you do, then at some point you might see Russian tanks rolling under your window.

Keeping a link to Twitter on your website has become a political statement. Thus, removing it is neutrality, keeping it - not at all.

[matthew-brett]

We can remove the link when we have reason to believe that no-one will benefit from the information. Perhaps there will be a time when X becomes irrelevant for the sharing of useful information - but that time is not now, and I don't think it should be our role to vote on whether that should be so.

[dimpase]

On 11 January 2025 12:37:27 GMT-06:00, Pamphile Roy ***@***.***> wrote: Mastodon and Bluesky are losing traction. All platforms have their supporters and detractors you can find good and bad everywhere. We are definitely not here to do any politics.

Staying on twitter/X is a political statement - and hopefully not the one you want to make.

[dimpase]

@matthew-brett I find a link to twitter/X an endorsement of it, and triggering. Why you think it's OK to keep it is beyond me - perhaps you simply have never had politics catching up with you in a bad way?

Nowadays one cannot even see what's posted on twitter/X without logging in there, by the way.

[matthew-brett]

As I say - if it becomes clear that no-one is using the information on X, then we can remove the link.

[dimpase]

How do you objectively decide whether any subscriber to a closed resource benefits from it directly?

One can always argue that the shareholders/owners of such a platform benefits from the mere presence of SciPy there, thus SciPy could never leave due to this?

[matthew-brett]

Let us keep an eye on the number of users of X and its competitors.

[tupui]

Right now @dimpase you're the only one making this political and are using a passionate language.

We are three people with the credentials and we only ever post SciPy updates and never give any likes nor retweets.

[dimpase]

Right now @dimpase you're the only one making this political and are using a passionate language.

We are three people with the credentials and we only ever post SciPy updates and never give any likes nor retweets.

I am not the only one, by far.
You somehow think you do something useful, whereas millions, who left or are leaving X, think X and any engagement there is downright harmful, for science and engineering too. Please read the quote from the NWO site I posted above.

You also spread lies (from X, I suppose) here about the popularity of Mastodon and Bluesky.

Last but not the least, this issue is limited to removing the link to X on the website.