Robert Smith deleted nearly all his tweets

[admin]

Robert Smith was quite active on Twitter, using the platform to engage with his fans more than any other social network. However, on December 16, 2024, he unexpectedly deleted almost all of his tweets and removed his retweets. What led to this decision?  This Twitter thread from 14th December 2024 (one of the few tweets Robert did not delete), reveals that the continuous questioning (in our opinion, obsessive) of a "fan" might have pushed Robert to take that decision. You can go and read the thread and make up your own mind.

To backup my assumption, I'd like to quote Robert's recent comments (19th December 2024) during his interview in the Sidetracked BBC program. There, the hosts asked him for his thoughts on Chappell Roan's rise to fame over 2024, including how she made headlines for pushing back on harassment and stalking by fans. Robert said:

It's a complicated subject. I think what you're doing as an artist, you want people to feel like they're engaging with you," Smith responded. "But it is a modern-world phenomenon that there's a sense of entitlement that didn't used to be there amongst fans.". He explained that when the Cure first started "it was kind of enough that we did what we did." Smith added, "I didn't, as a consumer, I didn't expect something more. It was enough to see Alex Harvey or to see David Bowie. I didn't expect to hang out with them or get to know them, whereas now it seems almost like that is part of the deal."

In my opinion, the posts by the "fan" on the Twitter thread exhibit an obsessive quality that aligns with Robert's criticisms of modern fandom: "there's a sense of entitlement that didn't used to be there amongst fans." While the user's intentions remain unclear, it is evident that their behavior disturbed Robert. By December 16, nearly all of his tweets and retweets, including one referencing curefans.com, had been deleted, a change that did not go unnoticed by the same user and other fans.

Robert Smith joined Twitter January 2009, nearly 16 years ago. Since then he tweeted and RT hundreds of things. All that is gone now. His oldest tweet now is from April 14th, 2018:

Today Southbank Centre announces many more acts for Robert Smith's Meltdown festival (15–24 June 2018) including CURÆTION-25, a special show from Robert Smith himself that will close the festival on Sunday 24 June. https://t.co/49DRnrHwz0 https://t.co/ioCddDeOr2

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) April 14, 2018

As of writing this post, there are now only nine tweets on Robert's account.

To my surprise (we thought after deleting all his tweets he wouldn't write again), he posted again on Twitter on December 19th 2024:

https://t.co/7vfw4GDYkt

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) December 19, 2024

The next day, he wrote his first ever post on BlueSky, Twitter's competitor. Smith posted a flyer of Malice's second show ever:

💭

[image or embed]

— Robert Smith (@robert.thecure.com) December 20, 2024 at 7:35 PM

Does this mean Robert will start using more Blueksy than Twitter? Will he use both equally? Will he quit altogether? In the past he opposed the use of social media and smartphones.

When Donald Trump won the recent US elections on November 5th, several curefans moved to Bluesky. While some deleted their Twitter account most opted for just opening an account there. Some Cure members followed the same path and on November 13th, Reeves suggested to use Instagram's Threads and Bluesky as alternatives to Twitter:

Alternate reality #2... pic.twitter.com/s6m9cHVvMQ

— reeves gabrels (@reevesgabrels) November 13, 2024

Although Robert opened a Bluesky account around the same time as Reeves, he didn't post anything until three days after the incident described above. Therefore I don't think this move is due having Elon Musk (owner of Twitter) working in the next Trump administration.

And is Bluesky better than Twitter? This has nothing to do with the topic here, but probably the answer is: no. Let's remember Bluesky was founded by Jack Dorsey (the original owner of Twitter). Jack recently left them and this is what he said: Bluesky is literally repeating all the mistakes [Twitter] made as a company.. You can read more on here

So people flocking to Bluesky are probably leaving to just another Twitter. Maybe Nostr is a better alternative than all the existing options, but I will leave that for another topic.

https://www.freethink.com/internet/nostr

[word_on_a_wing]

Yes the post from that person on Twitter was utter crap (and wrong imo.  I feel like he is sharing about himself in a personal way like I haven't seen before, mostly via the recent interviews).

However I feel your assumption such a comment would lead to leaving Twitter is ludicrous.

It is more about the platform, and what it now stands for.  Twitter is no longer Twitter, it is Elon's "X".  He utterly shat on the creative hub that Twitter was, destroying it, and turning it into an untrustworthy space.  I've seen all the creative folk that I follow become silent on "X" for some time, and then transition over to Bluesky, and around the same time all The Cure folk did the same.  I feel if RS was to not make this transition then this would be more unusual. But he joined with his creative peers, which makes sense.

I recently saw a post from Roger about selling his Tesla specifically because of Elon, and how much he detested him.
I'm thinking this is likely a shared sentiment within the group.

...also, what is with an 'Admin' account writing the last post? It was conjecture and someone's opinion, and by posting under 'Admin' it gives a false sense of authority. Would have been better posted by someone's personal account.
...just my opinion

[dsanchez]

However I feel your assumption such a comment would lead to leaving Twitter is ludicrous.

The reason shared above is highly likely the trigger to delete the tweets. However, I can't explain the underlying details in public.

As for Twitter, personally, the people I follow (which are usually musicians or political science analysts) are still there, so for now, I will continue using it. For The Cure-related stuff most of the fan accounts are still active, as well as the band and Robert (for now at least). And don't think Bluesky is better (and certainly not Threads which is own by Mark Zuckeberg)

[dsanchez]

..also, what is with an 'Admin' account writing the last post? It was conjecture and someone's opinion, and by posting under 'Admin' it gives a false sense of authority. Would have been better posted by someone's personal account.
...just my opinion

hey - this was written by me. Was doing some other tech stuff and posted this when still logged in. Admin account is used for contests, rules and general technical stuff only.

[dsanchez]

...no seriously though ...who the f*ck are you referring to when you saw "our" and "we"? 

typo - read again

[dsanchez]

However I feel your assumption such a comment would lead to leaving Twitter is ludicrous. It is more about the platform, and what it now stands for.  Twitter is no longer Twitter, it is Elon's "X".  He utterly shat on the creative hub that Twitter was, destroying it, and turning it into an untrustworthy space.  I've seen all the creative folk that I follow become silent on "X" for some time, and then transition over to Bluesky, and around the same time all The Cure folk did the same.  I feel if RS was to not make this transition then this would be more unusual. But he joined with his creative peers, which makes sense.

I didn't say anything about leaving Twitter. I wrote that he deleted nearly all his tweets due the obnoxious behavior of a fan towards him on Twitter.

Whether he will leave for good in the future, time will tell. For now he continues using it (and as I mentioned, I was surprised as I thought he would stop posting after that incident)

[MeltingMan]

This Twitter thread from 14th December 2024 (one of the few tweets Robert did not delete), reveals that the continuous questioning (in our opinion, obsessive) of a "fan" might have pushed Robert to take that decision. You can go and read the thread and make up your own mind.

The middle part of the message is not OK, i.e. from column 8 to 16. In my opinion, the responsibility lies with the operator of the platform. They must have the option to shorten/adapt texts. Otherwise, I believe RS' personal rights have been violated.

[Ulrich]

@MeltingMan : you're right about the platform, it should be their duty to delete unfitting comments or ban such users, but seeing Mr Musk changed the whole thing, he probably changed that too (or even welcomes such behaviour)!

Twitter is no longer Twitter, it is Elon's "X". 

Yeah, what a great business decision. Changing an established brand name, it's like changing a brand like "James Bond 007" to "Agent 7" or "Indiana Jones" to "XY Bones"... 

I recently saw a post from Roger about selling his Tesla specifically because of Elon, and how much he detested him.

I didn't know that, thanks for sharing! 

[dsanchez]

This Twitter thread from 14th December 2024 (one of the few tweets Robert did not delete), reveals that the continuous questioning (in our opinion, obsessive) of a "fan" might have pushed Robert to take that decision. You can go and read the thread and make up your own mind.

The middle part of the message is not OK, i.e. from column 8 to 16. In my opinion, the responsibility lies with the operator of the platform. They must have the option to shorten/adapt texts. Otherwise, I believe RS' personal rights have been violated.

Unfortunately there's no such thing (banning trolls) in major social networks i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. While on this forum we have clear rules where trolling is not allowed, trolling or 'being annoying' is not something that is 'punished' (i.e. you are banned) on social media. The only thing Robert could have done is blocking the user, thus preventing further interaction (Roger is known for blocking many trolls on Twitter). This (the fact you can pretty much say anything in anonymity knowing you won't get banned) is one of the reasons why all the major social media platforms have millions of users and we only a few thousands...

[Ulrich]

Unfortunately there's no such thing (banning trolls) in major social networks i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.

Not true. It may not happen often, but accounts can be banned on Facebook if posts are not according with their standards:
https://transparency.meta.com/en-gb/policies/community-standards/

(I assume other channels have similar policies!)

[dsanchez]

Not true. It may not happen often, but accounts can be banned on Facebook if posts are not according with their standards:

Unfortunately there's no such thing (banning trolls) in major social networks i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.

Not true. It may not happen often, but accounts can be banned on Facebook if posts are not according with their standards:
https://transparency.meta.com/en-gb/policies/community-standards/
(I assume other channels have similar policies!)

my comment mentioned banning against trolling, which is very specific rule on this forum, but non existent or not clear in major social networks. Nothing about banning against trolling on the link you provided, nor on Twitter or other major social networks:

https://help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies
https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870/

i.e. if you report a user who is trolling/annoying you (let's take for example the user mentioned in the initial post), your report will highly likely be dismissed, because it does not fall under the other categories (violent speech, hateful conduct etc). It would have to be something REALLY bad for the platform to take action. This is, of course, unfortunate.

[MeltingMan]

the fact that you can pretty much say anything in anonymity

It's not just that, but the internet never forgets anything unless the text is adapted, by whoever. Apart from that, many have perceived Robert's transformation, at least on stage from 2022, as predominantly positive - myself included. What does that p*gg*w*gee who doesn't like it have to do with us?! That's his/her problem. Wanting to share that with the whole world is nonsense. So...I'm going off topic now. 

[Ulrich]

RS should have just blocked that user and ignored his strange comments...

...your report will highly likely be dismissed, because it does not fall under the other categories (violent speech, hateful conduct etc).

Yeah that's right, but I understand that.
We had a problem too trying to define what exactly "trolling" is a couple of years ago, I think... Each of us had a different view on it.