What to do about "Hashtag Crashers"?

Rating: 4 after 2 votes

We had an unexpectedly disturbing thing happen tonight while the moms all gathered around on Twitter to share their thoughts on ABC's new show, "In the Motherhood."

There we were, discussing the show using the hashtag #itm so all the moms could follow the discussion. Suddenly, a hand full of people started jumping in the conversation posting crude tweets and profane comments directed at the moms using the same #itm hashtag. We were hit with what I can only describe as hashtag crashers. The experience was weird and disturbing to all who logged on to watch the show and share comments. We even switched the hashtag under which we were tweeting -- and they followed the discussion and posted further inappropriate remarks.

The experience got me thinking: who owns a hashtag? What's the appropriate way to respond to this kind of behavior? Should members in the discussion be expected to block the users? Ignore it? Should people expect Twitter do something? Is this just something that's to be expected as Twitter grows, since it's a totally open communication platform?

What are your thoughts and opinions on the subject?

Tags: crashers, hashtag, parties, twitter

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kelly McCausey on March 26, 2009 at 10:22pm: Megan this reminds me of how our mom chat rooms used to get crashed. The same things would happen - inappropriate language and crude remarks from obviously immature types. Our solution was to password protect our rooms and ban IP addresses - but that sure isn't possible in a hashtag event.

Maybe that's something that a premium level of Twitter will come with - the ability to reserve a hashtag and block some users from using it. I for one would be willing to pay for that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Carolyn on March 27, 2009 at 1:03am: that is really interesting! It is beyond me why they would want to, but then again.. it was just to irritate and get a response out of the moms.

Sorry I missed it! Ha; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angela Marion {pricousins} on March 27, 2009 at 3:07am: I hadn't heard of this. What a shame! You would think that Twitter would do something about it! Did anyone contact twitter? It's really a shame...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alicia on March 27, 2009 at 4:48am: Interesting~ I'm kinda more of a "Dory" to stuff like that. I ignore it~ the more you play into it, it becomes fun for the crashers. Which, I guess is the point? I wonder if we weren't so cool if it would happen? lol~; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marlene M. Linke on March 27, 2009 at 5:16am: It sounds like twitter may need to add a secure code to join in on a hashtag thread; similar to what people can do to prevent chat room crashers.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marlene M. Linke on March 27, 2009 at 5:19am: The problem is that regardless of how immature these crashers are, the intention is to be antagonistic and they know it. It is really sad that a group of sincere individuals can't get together to enjoy something together without interference.

Alicia said:
Interesting~ I'm kinda more of a "Dory" to stuff like that. I ignore it~ the more you play into it, it becomes fun for the crashers. Which, I guess is the point? I wonder if we weren't so cool if it would happen? lol~; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michele Horne on March 27, 2009 at 5:23am: I am bummed I missed the show and the Twitter discussion! I can't understand who has the time to go into groups like this just to be negative... that is so out of my mindset. I am not sure what to do, it's just too bad. Maybe we'll just have to rely on kharma?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angeline Duran Piotrowski on March 27, 2009 at 6:15am: I think you are right, Twitter is a totally open communication platform and that kind of thing is to be expected. That is why we have private chat options, like the one provided by Ning (this site's platform). Someone else here suggested that Twitter could develop a premium level of service that would allow for private invitation-only tweetups and that would be a cool idea. I personally wouldn't sweat it. I am aware that when I'm using a free service I don't get to make a lot of demands. Twitter is still my favorite Social Networking platform and one of the things I value most about it is the broad access to EVERYBODY. Every community has its share of hooligans (do I sound like my grandpa?). It doesn't concern me. I am able to ignore a crasher of two. Ain't no thang, but a chicken wing.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alicia on March 27, 2009 at 6:22am: I think you are totally right:) And I fear we are not alone with our concerns~ I hope they can add a code or even come up with a better solution~ whatever that may be.

Marlene M. Linke said:
The problem is that regardless of how immature these crashers are, the intention is to be antagonistic and they know it. It is really sad that a group of sincere individuals can't get together to enjoy something together without interference.

Alicia said:
Interesting~ I'm kinda more of a "Dory" to stuff like that. I ignore it~ the more you play into it, it becomes fun for the crashers. Which, I guess is the point? I wonder if we weren't so cool if it would happen? lol~; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kimberley Clayton Blaine on March 27, 2009 at 7:54am: Great point Megan, it was annoying and shocking to see idiots crash our event last night and get cheap thrills - As in any public venue, I guess we should expect the weirdos to come out of the woodwork. It would be great to block crashers, that would solve this issue. Is there a mechanism to do so?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Megan Calhoun on March 27, 2009 at 12:15pm: Well, I know you can block people from following you. But, I don't think you can block people from a Twitter Party using a hashtag. Hopefully, Twitter will come up with some way of doing this.

Kimberley Clayton Blaine said:
Great point Megan, it was annoying and shocking to see idiots crash our event last night and get cheap thrills - As in any public venue, I guess we should expect the weirdos to come out of the woodwork. It would be great to block crashers, that would solve this issue. Is there a mechanism to do so?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ricci Neer on March 28, 2009 at 1:36pm: Hi :) I had this happen a few weeks ago and I sent a DM to @spam. They suspended the account pretty quickly.; ▶ Reply to This