Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Dontrike]

because those two are really poisonous to conversation, period.

Like you were ever interested in a conversation.

[Breccia]

He is more of a petulant child than Trump is

Are we talking absolute petulance, or proportional? Trump spent way less money to be almost as petty.

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So just so we're clear, Musk has once again said he is looking for a replacement so he can step down before 2023 ends.

I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out

There's a roadmap? Has anyone seen it? I don't mean us, I mean the people at Twitter. I don't believe there's a roadmap considering how many people he's firing. Who would be left to follow it?

I’m guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company because I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year.

"Dead and buried" is, technically, stable.

Musk goes on to say that

I think I was a little worried about the direction and the effect of social media on the world, and especially Twitter.

Then he threw $44 billion in a pile and set it on fire. Seriously, I don't buy his depictions of his own actions at all. Nobody concerned with the direction of social media lets insurrectionists back on their platform. I mean, unless you're concerned the direction is "insurrectionists are facing consequences for their actions" and you object to that.

I thought it was very important for there to be a maximally trusted sort of digital public square, where people within countries and internationally could communicate with the least amount of censorship allowed by law. Obviously that varies a lot by jurisdiction.

Then he fired people who told him someone else was getting more likes than him. And started making people pay to speak and pay to listen, which of course, is not free speech by any definition of the phrase.

I think the real issue is "Elon Musk is a bawling child waa waa waa". I don't know who his successor will be, in fact I think he's probably still lying about wanting to find one, and I think it's more likely that he'll sell it off than hand it off.

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Joke's on him, the Twitter website hasn't worked for me for at least a week now.

A touch off topic but...it wasn't just you.

Twitter is back after an outage for many on Wednesday. The full extent of the issues was unclear, but the problems were centered on the iOS app. If I tried to refresh my “For you” feed, for example, I got a message that says “tweets aren’t loading right now.” My “Following” feed loaded once but showed the same error message later.

“Pardon the interruption!” Twitter’s support account tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “iOS users may have experienced some trouble using Twitter earlier. Things should be back to normal now.”

User reports peaked at more than 8,000 on Downdetector. I also saw a lot of posts on Twitter asking if the service is down, indicating it wasn’t a total meltdown, I didn’t run into any issues with Twitter in my Chrome browser.

Twitter has been spottier than usual as of late following Elon Musk’s mass layoffs. Last week, many people were having issues tweeting, while the service went through a few hours of glitchiness in December. Might be time to bring back the fail whale.

The author says that Twitter failing on a random-ass Wednesday isn't great news, and I'm hard-pressed cider to disagree.

[Edge-]

I think I was a little worried about the direction and the effect of social media on the world, and especially Twitter.

Rofl, he's coping so fucking hard with his $44B L. This is what terminally online people who don't think they're terminally online think.

[tehdang]

@tehdang I've asked you the question in the most reasonable way possible

It's never going to be reasonable calling someone a bootlicker and falsely accusing them of having said things they never said, then claim shock at not receiving answers. I've simply asked you to spend some time off the ad hominem and fabrication so we can restart calm discourse. That option is left open for you, and I think you are quite able to leave the other junk by the wayside.

Mr. Sealion.

Mixing insults and questions appears to be an ingrained habit for some. That could explain why asking to lay off it a bit would always come off as disingenuous at some level. Secondarily, the persistence may also demonstrate that they desire to accuse someone of dodging more than they desire answers. In any case, I don't wish to test the mods in responding to insults with the same level of insults, trading bootlicker for propaganda swallower, and faking posts by him each time he fakes some by me.

[Shadowferal]

...see?
Told ya...

[Mekh]

Mixing insults and questions appears to be an ingrained habit for some. That could explain why asking to lay off it a bit would always come off as disingenuous at some level. Secondarily, the persistence may also demonstrate that they desire to accuse someone of dodging more than they desire answers. In any case, I don't wish to test the mods in responding to insults with the same level of insults, trading bootlicker for propaganda swallower, and faking posts by him each time he fakes some by me.

Hey, if that's all it takes to keep you away, I'll gladly keep it up, honeybunch.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It's never going to be reasonable calling someone a bootlicker and falsely accusing them of having said things they never said, then claim shock at not receiving answers. I've simply asked you to spend some time off the ad hominem and fabrication so we can restart calm discourse. That option is left open for you, and I think you are quite able to leave the other junk by the wayside.

Mixing insults and questions appears to be an ingrained habit for some. That could explain why asking to lay off it a bit would always come off as disingenuous at some level. Secondarily, the persistence may also demonstrate that they desire to accuse someone of dodging more than they desire answers. In any case, I don't wish to test the mods in responding to insults with the same level of insults, trading bootlicker for propaganda swallower, and faking posts by him each time he fakes some by me.

I've made posts that have zero insults in them, with clear cut questions for you to answer. If you're still angry about the bootlicker comment 6 pages ago, perhaps it's you who needs a break. After all, you've said for how many pages now that it's the reason you won't answer the questions? If the daddy Elon and bootlicker comment upset you so much that you're too distraught a week after the fact, it seems you need to look within. I've been cordial and polite in subsequent posts. You have not. Time for you to touch grass.

This is a discussion forum. That said, we are discussing a topic: Twitter. And all related topics encompassing Twitter. Your hurt feelings tirade is not a discussion. Please come back when you're ready to have a discussion and have had time to reconcile the deep wounds my words left.







I will also clarify about the "bootlicker" comment you seem so incensed by: You were faced with a situation where you knew the Elon manipulated the information, there were links and proof of it all, there was even a giant congressional hearing that proved the Twitter files were horse shit.

I simply asked you to let us know you weren't a blind believer like "all the other boot lickers". I asked you to differentiate yourself from the unwashed masses who blindly guzzle Elon's propaganda, and that you would start questioning sources you want to believe. But it appears your decision was that you want to guzzle his propaganda without thought? Those are the people I was referring to when I said bootlickers. So are you among them, or are you not?

[Breccia]

falsely accusing them of having said things they never said, then claim shock at not receiving answers.

You mean like

You'll have opportunity to ask me my opinion for what's on your mind

That was a lie, you never answered a direct question once.

Let's circle back to it in a week.

That was the 6th.

You continue to bring up points for which you have no backing, then refuse to discuss them when your evidence is contradicted. You refuse to discuss the context of this thread, instead playing the victim card when you're challenged.

It is not "ad hominem" to call you a liar when you're objectively lying.

It is not "ad hominem" to say you have no point when you don't.

It is not "ad hominem" to say you're going off-topic when you're choosing to make the thread all about you.

And it is not "ad hominem" to call you an Elon Musk bootlicker when you agree with everything he does, or at the very minimum, refuse to discuss the negative issues despite being repeatedly directly asked.

Literally not a single word, not one, in the post I'm respoinding to is on topic. It's you on defense for being called out for being labeled a lying spamming bootlicking troll. The fact that you almost solely post late at night, when neither @Rozz nor @Flarelaine are watching, tells me you're doing it on purpose to avoid moderation.

Half of the last ten pages is you posting off-topic and being surrounded and beaten by other posters who accurately point that out. Stop being the problem and please post constructively.

Speaking of which:

Elon Musk reinvents Twitter for the benefit of a power user: Himself

A new feature displaying view counts on tweets that rolled out late last year showed Musk’s tweets at the time were driving massive engagement, including more than 1 billion views on Dec. 18, for example. All in all, Musk’s tweets on a typical day in December were shown 231 million times.

But that number dropped off substantially this year. Between Jan. 1 and the Super Bowl, Musk’s tweets were shown only 137 million times on a typical day. This week, after his posts were artificially boosted, he’s up to around 400 million per day, according to a Washington Post analysis of the view counts.

Musk has nearly 130 million followers, making him one of the site’s most popular users. He first indicated he was pursuing Twitter in April, saying he wanted to restore “free speech” and tackle the site’s persistent problem of spam and bots.

But several former Twitter employees, including some with direct knowledge of the issues he prioritized, said Musk’s changes were often geared toward improving his own user experience. Data has emerged showing how he has benefited from the changes, and examples have piled up month after month of specific actions geared toward improving his personal experience on the site. The former employees spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

At Twitter, Musk has bent the company to his impulses in ways that might be less feasible at publicly traded Tesla, where he also serves as chief executive, and which has a corporate board, unlike Twitter.

And at one point, Musk was so hellbent on eliminating spam and bots on the site, for example, that Twitter — which uses phone numbers to verify the authenticity of accounts — banned entire country codes from its system, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.

That created a problem: One of the countries affected, Ukraine, is in the midst of a prolonged war with Russia, where social media has played a key strategic role. Ukrainians suddenly found they could not post on Twitter.

Yeah. Musk blocked Ukraine, the victim in a war started by Russia, from using Twitter.

Musk was asked about the potential brand risk to Tesla brought on by his vocal expression of political opinions. It was a rare instance in which Musk was confronted with the prospect of declining popularity.

“Let me check my Twitter account. So I’ve got 127 million followers,” he said in response. “It continues to grow quite rapidly. That suggests that I’m reasonably popular.”

He added: “I might not be popular [with] some people but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself.”

Which is a fucking lying disingenuous thing to say -- so of course, it fits right in this thread -- when you're rewriting Twitter to force-feed everyone on your platform your content.

Elon Musk's Twitter is getting worse. The outages, the paid features that used to be free, dropping third-party app access, the mass firings, not paying rent, Musk's Super Bowl meltdown, tehdang the bootlicker refusing to discuss the topic even when he started it, the list goes on and on. Twitter has objectively lost users -- oh, and advertisesrs -- since Musk took over, which is ironic considering the bans he reversed. Musk borrowed $13 billion to take over a company he's both wrecking and already at least claiming to be ready to leave.

And the funny part...is still Musk setting $44 billion on fire, okay, but the second funniest part is Trump still isn't on Twitter.

[Rozz]

Stay civil during discussion.

If debate breaks down, you don't need to obsessively reply to each other. You can move on. No petty remarks and no cyclical arguments for arguing's sake needed.

Once replies begin to focus on a poster and not the thread, it's a good sign to take a breather. So let's go back to discussing the topic.

[Orange Joe]

Stay civil during discussion.

If debate breaks down, you don't need to obsessively reply to each other. You can move on. No petty remarks and no cyclical arguments for arguing's sake needed.

Once replies begin to focus on a poster and not the thread, it's a good sign to take a breather. So let's go back to discussing the topic.

Or... and this could be a long shot I'm sure. Said poster is trolling/posting in bad faith and skirting around rules.

[Edge-]

Yo, you guys wanna pay for 2FA on Twitter?

Another big brain move from the "genius" of Elon Musk.

He said he was all about free speech, he didn't say anything about free security lol.

[unfilteredJW]

Stay civil during discussion.

If debate breaks down, you don't need to obsessively reply to each other. You can move on. No petty remarks and no cyclical arguments for arguing's sake needed.

Once replies begin to focus on a poster and not the thread, it's a good sign to take a breather. So let's go back to discussing the topic.

How about moderating?

Instead of taking up for a known troll and misinformation pushing poster.

This is fucking telling.

[Breccia]

Another big brain move from the "genius" of Elon Musk.

Huh. Well, wonder how many people will recognize this for the issue that it is.

[Paranoid Android]

Yo, you guys wanna pay for 2FA on Twitter?

Another big brain move from the "genius" of Elon Musk.

So yeah, this is a shit move.

Holding people hostage that you can be hacked just cause $8. I remember Elon being a prick when people talked about blue check and he kept replying $8. Him thinking he held the ace. Now he is back to extortion.

Only people who can fuck him is advertisers. Not sure if maybe hacks become that bad for majority of people not paying loses engagement, thus advertisers.

[jonnysensible]

Yo, you guys wanna pay for 2FA on Twitter?

Another big brain move from the "genius" of Elon Musk.

cost cutting measure (i guess thats why there was all the 2FA drama to countries outside america a few weeks ago?)

anyone who pays for twitter is a loser lol

[Cthulhu 2020]

More evidence that Twitter is hemorrhaging money:



He gets the bill for the site's 2FA and his immediate response is to cut it down to paying customers only.

He's really cutting a lot of corners on this whole money saving thing.

[Kathranis]

Isn't 2FA itself mostly a cost cutting measure to reduce the amount of CS staff needed to deal with account recovery?

I'm assuming for Twitter it just means account recovery isn't going to work if you get hacked or stolen, since no way they're paying the necessary CS staff to deal with that.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Isn't 2FA itself mostly a cost cutting measure to reduce the amount of CS staff needed to deal with account recovery?

Yep. Blizzard gave out 2FA for free because they knew it would save costs in customer service AND people leaving WoW because their account got hacked. If Elon doesn't realize the value of secure accounts, even the free ones, he's a fool. Of course, his paying customers get 2FA. But if people's accounts start getting hacked en masse, Twitter will become a ghost town eventually, and even the paying customers will leave if there's nobody to interact with.

[Breccia]

Yeah but why do that when you can cut both AND blame someone else for the problems?

I'm quite looking forward to the part where hackers steal people's accounts and Elon Musk is forced to tell the world that his new virtual town square is a gated community, and that some people are more equal than others when it comes to "free speech".

Musk is putting himself in a position where he has, sad to say, an actual defense: "I told you 2FA was a paid service and you didn't buy it, therefore, you getting hacked is your own fault". That's an attitude I find ugly in the 21st goddam century, but it's defendable. Or it would be, if Musk hadn't already said he was fixing Twitter because of "free speech". Charging for a service is just business, and people can take it or leave it. Being a massive hypocrite is another issue entirely. I hope this move goes through and Twitter suffers for it.

[Shadowferal]

So...Musk and lithium mining, sounds safe enough. But it's the cobalt mining that should bite us all in the ass; ‘Here, it is better not to be born’: Cobalt mining for Big Tech is driving child labor, deaths in the Congo

The “quaint” moniker of artisanal mining, Mr Kara points out, belies a brutal industry where hundreds of thousands of men, women and children dig with bare hands and basic tools in toxic, perilous pits, eking out an existence on the bottom rung of the global supply chain.

The miners are the first step in the race for precious metals and minerals by some of the world’s most powerful companies, with multibillion-dollar valuations and whose founders and CEOs are household names.

If you own a smartphone, tablet, laptop, e-scooter, electric vehicle (or all of the above), then it is a system in which you are unwittingly complicit.

"At no point in human history has so much suffering generated so much profit and been directly linked to the lives of billions of people around the world,” Mr Kara writes in the book.

Around 75 per cent of the world’s cobalt is mined in the DRC -- and the world cannot get enough of it. The rare, silvery metal is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery, a necessary part of the booming electric vehicle (EV) industry.

The DRC’s industrial mines are typically structured as joint ventures between the national government and foreign operators, for the most part Chinese companies. China produces three-quarters of the world’s refined cobalt, the keys to the kingdom in the battery market.

"Cobalt mining is the slave farm perfected,” Mr Kara writes.

Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe in, and can be found alongside traces of radioactive uranium. Cancers, respiratory illnesses, miscarriages, headaches and painful skin conditions occur among adults who work without protective equipment....

...more in that link, but it's just misery² Mr Optimism's better future in the Congo is a quick death for children.