Twitter to Warn Before You Jump into a Fight

Twitter is testing new prompts on iOS and Android that warn before starting a conversation that it could get heated. In one example, there is a message directly in an ongoing conversation that says "Conversations like this can be intense." In another, which appears to appear if you try to respond to one of those intense conversations, it is titled "Let's take care of each other" and features three vignettes to encourage empathic and fact-based conversations.

You can see the prompts in the tweet below:

The prompts are the company's latest attempt to reduce persistent harassment and abuse on the platform. Another message, for example, warns you before you tweet something that might be offensive. Twitter can also display a message if you try to retweet an article that it thinks you haven't read, which could help reduce the spread of misinformation. While they can help prevent some bad tweets from being shared, the growing list of potential caveats to scrutinize before tweeting is a troubling indicator of the entire experience.

As always, if you're not sure if you should post something, the best pre-tweet message is the one Twitter won't show you: never tweet.