Getting Rid of Twitter Trolls

Back story: Tweeted in response to a law Governor Moonbeam signed yesterday. Got back a series of tweets from an idiot who disagreed...and he quickly devolved into name-calling, invectives, blah blah blah. There's being an idiot, and then there's being abusive, so I reported him. I don't care about me so much as I care about my followers who have to "listen" to his garbage in my timeline.

In response, while Twitter is investigating they sent me a boilerplate letter about how to rid yourself of Twitter Troll Tweets.

It's pretty cool! You actually have several powerful options. Here's how:

Block or Mute the troll. Blocking seems to have the effect of not only blocking the troll from writing on your timeline, but also erasing the troll's posts. Muting removes troll tweets from your timeline but doesn't keep them from your account (or you from theirs.) So, if you don't like a particular thread I'm chasing, you could mute me for a while, then unmute me later. Blocking seems to get rid of ALL the troll tweets from that user, while muting only silences a user from that point forward.

To block a Twitter user:

1. Go to the profile page of the person you wish to block.
2. Click or tap the gear icon  on their profile page. This brings up a drop-down actions menu.
3. Select Block or Report from the options listed.
4. Select a reason for the block and click Block to confirm.

Blocked users cannot:

• Add your Twitter account to their lists.
• Have their @replies or mentions show in your mentions tab (although these Tweets may still appear in search).
• Follow you.
• See your profile picture on their profile page or in their timeline.
• Tag you in a photo.

• Muting users on Twitter

  Mute is a feature that allows you to remove an account's Tweets from your timeline without unfollowing or blocking that account. Muted accounts will not know that you’ve muted them and you can unmute them at any time. To access a list of accounts you have muted, visit your muted accounts settings.

  Some important things to know about mute:

  • Muted accounts can follow you and you can follow muted accounts. Muting an account will not cause you to unfollow them.
  • You will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from any muted account.

  For muted accounts that you follow:

  • The muted account can still send you a direct message.
  • @ replies and mentions by the muted account will still appear in your Notifications tab.
  • Tweets from a muted account before the time the account was muted will still be displayed in your Home timeline.

  For muted accounts that you do not follow:

  • The muted account cannot send you a direct message.
  • @ replies and mentions will not appear in your Notifications tab.

  To mute a Twitter user on the web:

  Muting from a Tweet:

  1. From a Tweet, click More at the bottom of the Tweet.
  2. Click Mute.

  Muting from a profile:

  1. Go to the profile page of the person you wish to mute.
  2. Click the gear icon  on their profile page. This brings up a drop-down actions menu.
  3. Select Mute from the options listed.

  Once you’ve muted a user on the web, you will see a confirmation banner. If you made a mistake, you can click Undo to unmute a user right away.

  To mute a Twitter user on iOS:

  Muting from a Tweet:

  1. Tap a Tweet from the user you’d like to mute.
  2. Tap the ••• icon.
  3. Tap Mute and Yes, I’m sure to confirm.

  Muting from a profile:

  1. Visit the profile page of the user you wish to mute.
  2. Tap the gear icon. 
  3. Tap Mute and Yes, I’m sure to confirm.

  To mute a Twitter user on Twitter for Android:

  Muting from a Tweet:

  1. Tap the ⋮ icon.
  2. Tap Mute @username and confirm.

  Muting from a profile:

  1. Visit the profile page of the user you wish to mute.
  2. Tap the gear icon. 
  3. Tap Mute and Yes, I’m sure to confirm.

  How do I know if I have muted someone?

  When you visit the profile of a user you have muted, you will see the red mute icon. 

  To access a list of accounts you have muted:

  1. Navigate to your muted account settings on Twitter.com. You will see a list of every account you are currently muting.
  2. From the top of the list, you can select to view Accounts you follow that you have muted, or All accounts that you have muted.
  3. You can unmute users by clicking the red mute icon to unmute. 

  Note: Accounts you follow will list the users you are both currently following and muting. The All tab will display all the accounts you’re muting, including the ones you are following.