Beyond Selidor

The article seems to argue that while the behavior wasn't at all justifiable, it was explainable by the transphobia that is endemic on social media; and of course the system of Twitter. Which...even giving the benefit of the doubt that these are the two primary reasons for Fall being the victim of an internet mob, still doesn't explain why similar incidents have happened and will continue to.

Bad experiences with transphobia may certainly explain why — for example — Neon Yang decided to get involved, but I don't find it convincing when it comes to cis people like NK Jemisin, who admitted she gave her own take on the story without having read it. If nothing else, I hope that this episode will teach people to look before they leap, and just approach Twitter with a bit more thoughtfulness, and approach each situation asking themselves if adding their own hot take is actually going to be helpful.

I think there is this tendency on the part of the wider public to view each incident as sui generis (despite talking about broken Twitter). In the aftermath we unpack the particulars of the communities and individuals involved, the material that set off the storm, what the intention behind it was, what could have been done differently. We look for explanations.

Agreed, which is why I think it's important to look at who was involved, and whether there are any long-term patterns of behaviour — a lot of the people who leapt into the fray in the Isobel Fall situation are names I recognise from the past fifteen years of online conflicts and pile ons, predating Twitter in some cases. This is why I'm so insistent that focusing on toxic platforms is a huge mistake: we need to look at people (individual bad actors, and bad group dynamics) and focus on their behaviour.