So, you decided to wade into the wonderfully interesting world of Twitter to help people see that minor attracted people are human just like everyone else. Great! I am glad to see you around! A few things first, though, and this is by necessity a guide that is designed for both Twitter veterans and Twitter newbies. This guide could be dedicated to strategy, but here my main concern is opsec, or operational security: Keeping you on Twitter and safe in the process.

First and most importantly, keep yourself safe. This guide has a slew of tips and resources for you. Read all of it before you continue, preferably before you create your first account. Seriously – your security matters, and even if you find that guide dry and boring, I assume for the rest of this that you have read it and understood it and will not be repeating it here.

Secondly, if you have other social media accounts, know your posting style and the topics you cover. If you overlap between your MAP account and your real-life account, people can and will notice. In fact, one MAP was recently confronted by a good friend of theirs because of this, and they ended up having a conversation with all of their friends and family. So… do not overlap completely with your real-life interests. Keep some of them vague, use a different writing style, and try not to put too much personality into your postings.

Interface

Twitter’s interface is pretty straightforward. You write tweets organically, they are called, well, tweets. If you put someone else’s tweet on your feed, that is called a retweet. The heart button is the like button (no, there is no dislike or edit button, sorry). If you “retweet with comment” that is called a quote-tweet.

You will want to check your privacy settings to ensure people cannot find you by your phone number, that you have no phone number on the account, and whatever else is to your liking. It is generally good to turn off Twitter’s quality control.

It is here that we must get into good netiquette. This is the long version. I really, really suggest you read it. Twitter’s enforcement of its policies can seem arbitrary, and many MAPs wind up suspended with zero reason given, but can be tied back to rule violations of varying kinds, so let me get into the short version (you really should still read the long version though).

  • Avoid harassing people or hating people or a group of people
    • This one is the biggest. Quote-tweeting someone and attacking them as a person can make you subject to this policy. Address their behavior or content, and try to avoid attacking them as a person. “You’re a stupid bitch” is an easy violation whereas “That was a silly take, did you think about that before you posted it” is no violation at all.
  • Avoid using strong language
    • Shush, I know, piss off. I do it too. But the thing is, if you get in the habit of using strong language, you might slip up and use that strong language to hate or harass people, and all of the sudden ZAP there goes your account or you get locked out for awhile.

Harassment

Nothing really prepares you for being harassed, in real life or online. For any kind of severe harassment (particularly when you have a real name of the perpetrator), keep records and report anything threatening to the police. However, there are a few different scenarios I need to address because each have their own separate response:

  1. Mass harassment from trolls
    1. Use your block button repeatedly. People can and will report anything you say, and being mass harassed or getting called out before a big-name troll account with lots of followers is a sure sign you need to start blocking people. Do not even bother responding. Responding will only add fuel to their harassment.
  2. Someone attempting to hack your account
    1. Prevent this! Go to settings > account > security > password reset protection. Change your password every few months and use a password manager. If you get an email requesting a password reset and you did not request the reset, do not click the link.
    2. Know what phishing scams are and what real emails from real companies look like vs emails that are fake. Read your email headers. Do not just use a password manager for Twitter, use it for every single online account you have.
    3. Read all of this and follow their advice. Again, prevention – do this now.
  3. Somebody finding out sensitive information about you
    1. They might use it to force you to do things, they might threaten to share it publicly, etc. In this case, you are best off calling their bluff – share the information anyways! Talk to the people you are closest with, tell them about it. Meanwhile, play along with the person, or better yet, do not reply at all. They get sadistic pleasure out of watching you squirm – so do not give them the satisfaction.
  4. Separate from number 3, someone doxxing you
    1. Make your account private (settings > privacy and safety > protect your tweets).
    2. Report it.
    3. Get ahead of it. Talk to friends and family members, tell them you are a minor attracted person and you have no desire to harm kids, etc.
    4. Do not respond to any harassment.

In general, the goal of harassment is to get any kind of a response out of you that the perpetrator can use to further harass you. Their goal is to make you miserable, and they will not be rational. Anticipate some level of harassment and simply block/report anyone being rude or hostile towards you for any reason. Replying and reporting makes the report null and void, though, so try to avoid doing both.

Beyond TOS

Some general advice to keep your Twitter experience tolerable and using the algorithms to your advantage:

  • Check the profile of the person you are responding to first
    • Bear in mind that, “Trolls exist. They steal your socks. But only the left ones, what’s with that?” In all seriousness, look over their content, usually 2-3 scrolls will do. Is it largely political and only directed at one person? Is it mostly hate? Then do not bother.
  • Use your block button
    • The purpose of the block button is not hiding your tweets from people (anyone can use an alt or browse without being logged in), it is to use Twitter’s algorithms to your advantage. If @JoeyShmoe reports @FredFlintstone, the system will determine if it is or is not a likely violation. If Fred has Joey blocked, the system will not make a determination and respond with no violation. Blocking takes the power out of mass reporting campaigns. Personally, I block premptively whenever I see problematic/harassing accounts come across my feed.
  • Remember that like a cop, “Anything you say on Twitter can and will be used against you for all eternity because the internet.”
  • Limit your replies to people
    • This may seem counterintuitive. More is better, right? Not always. The further you go in a conversation on Twitter – really anything beyond 2-3 replies – the fewer impressions you get from it, so unless you are having a civil and respectful conversation where you and others are listening to each other, there is no real reason to go beyond 2-3 replies. That time and energy will be better spent elsewhere.
    • Avoid replying to obviously bad takes – advocating death/violence/genocide, clearly abusive insults, etc. Quote-tweeting is fine, but replying has more power to bump their tweet up in the rankings than retweets or likes.
  • Cover more than just MAP issues and reply to big-name accounts
    • Especially politicians. Why? Because people interact with big accounts with lots of followers, particularly famous people and your account becomes more visible, particularly if it is popular or controversial.

Twitter’s Double-Standards

You should expect that Twitter will not play fairly with suspensions and rule violations. Twitter’s enforcement of their rules are already arbitrary at best, and the accounts that fling hate and harassment our way often take repeated waves of reporting to finally be suspended where with MAP accounts, all it seems to take is a single violation. Therefore, you must expect that your tweets will be under more scrutiny than other accounts on Twitter, and you must tweet responsibly.

Know Twitter’s terms of service and follow them. Do not bypass suspensions until it has been a month without any reply regarding your initial suspension. Have backup communities – like MAP Support Club, Riot communities, Discord groups, forums, etc – where you can connect with others if your access to Twitter is suddenly revoked.

Community Netiquette

It should perhaps go without saying, but there are some general rules that you should follow. If you are in a group chat or private MAP community of some kind, it is wise to keep the happenings of that community inside that community. Taking screenshots and sharing them outside the community without a very good reason for it – for example, someone is unrepentantly abusing children – is generally grounds for banning in most communities and is viewed with a high degree of scrutiny.

Attacking other MAPs, regardless of the reason, is viewed much the same way. Without a really, really good reason to it, all you do is earn the ire of many people and risk being cancelled yourself for it. Unfounded accusations? Expect people to start hating you. So, be civil. If you cannot be civil, do not engage. Block, ignore, whatever you need to do. Nobody wants to have to wade into your drama and tell you to stop acting like a jerk, myself especially. It gets old. Be mature and walk away if you cannot get along. If we spent half the energy setting a good tone for advocacy that we do bickering, we would get much further.

Miscellaneous Notes On Effective Advocacy

I saved this for last because these are things you can honestly do whatever you like with. Think about it, do something about it, let it inform how you advocate, whatever. You do you!

  1. Do not validate myths and bad takes
    1. In other words, do not reply to the trolls, and in particular, do not re-say what they said in different words. All you are doing is reinforcing what the audience thinks and bringing those ideas before a wider audience.
    2. Ignore these bad takes or better yet, come up with a rebuttal that does not mention the source or the myths at all. Simply state your truth and support it as best you can.
  2. Try to avoid using the words “pedophile” and “pedophilia”
    1. I generally stick to minor attracted people/person and minor attraction, as it is clearer and harder for trolls to spin. I do not even use acronyms unless my target audience is other MAPs.
  3. About overtly stating your DM’s are open in your profile…
    1. …you should probably not do that for a few reasons. If people want to message you they see a little envelope icon if you have that enabled, so stating it is redundant. But more importantly, people might take it as, “Wink wink, nudge nudge, hey, send me some good stuff, know what I mean?” Probably not your goal in doing that, so…
  4. Arguing
    1. Look at someone’s profile first. Are they the intellectual type of person? Then argue! Debate! Discuss! But if not, trying to open a discussion with them is really pointless – try to make emotional appeals instead.

So, there you have it, some general ideas on how to stay on Twitter and be effective at spreading the message. If you liked these tips and want more, get a hold of me.