Frequently Asked Questions

Predator Alert Tool for Twitter has a unique design that puts you in absolute control over your Twitter experience.

What does Predator Alert Tool for Twitter do that, say, the "mute" feature of tools like TweetDeck don't?

Using TweetDeck's "mute" feature simply causes you and you alone to ignore that user's tweets, whereas Predator Alert Tool for Twitter lets you share your personal view of Twitter with anyone you want. Your friends can then opt-in to ignoring, or blocking, the same users you do.

But, I don't want anyone else to control what I see or don't see on Twitter!

Yeah, me neither. This is exactly why Predator Alert Tool for Twitter was created. Unlike The Block Bot, it lets you, not a moderator, choose who to block.

Subscribing to or importing a Predator Alert Tool for Twitter warnlist means you'll see alerts (red boxes) about that user account. If you want to, you can choose to block that user, or not.

How does Predator Alert Tool for Twitter differ from The Block Bot?

The Predator Alert Tool for Twitter is designed to connect victims of bullying and abuse with one another, especially people who have been bullied or abused by the same attacker. By subscribing to or creating a PAT Twitter List, you are able to send and receive messages with others who are harassed by the same person who harassed you in a way that both Twitter and your harasser never knows about. In contrast, the Block Bot is designed to let a small handful of "moderators" control what a much larger group of users get to see on Twitter.

Additionally, there are many other important differences between the Predator Alert Tool for Twitter and the Block Bot. Here's a brief summary:

• Predator Alert Tool for Twitter is decentralized (like Diaspora), whereas The Block Bot is centralized (like Facebook, or Twitter itself). Learn more.
• Every interaction with The Block Bot is public record, it has no privacy options. Predator Alert Tool for Twitter can be used in a public or truly private mode, granularly. "Private" means that no one, not even Twitter, is informed about your actions.
• Using The Block Bot, moderators who are not you decide who you block. Using Predator Alert Tool for Twitter, you and you alone decide who you block.
• The Block Bot was not designed to be shared. Predator Alert Tool for Twitter's code base is not merely open source, but explicitly released into the public domain and explicitly designed to run in multiple computing environments.
• The Block Bot is ideologically-driven (designed to create an echo chamber for a certain brand of pop feminism), whereas the Predator Alert Tool for Twitter is ideologically agnostic (you can use it for whatever purpose you choose).