So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120082398#Comment_120082398

Fair enough, it wasn't coming across as you "not caring".

Cordell

Impossible like no one actually owns linux kernel, but it's as capitalistic and corporatist as it can possibly be. Do tell me more.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120082423#Comment_120082423

Who owns "email"?

kowloon

Don't companies set up their own Mastodon servers? Isn't Truth Social a ripped version of Mastodon code?

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120082440#Comment_120082440

This is the wrong analogy, a more appropriate yet still inaccurate one is that Mastodon is to microblogging what Gmail and Hotmail are to email.

It is a free open source platform with free and private servers and private for profit forks like Trump's thing. If, or when, the free public severs will consolidate into anything relevant they will raise interest from both users and capitalists and at that point the funding will stop being sustainable as an independent non commercial service.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120082410#Comment_120082410

Well TBH as with Twitter itself, the market will decide if Mastadon has value. I'm not sure the market will choose decentralised fussiness over the convenience of a single app of entry, but as the brief Flavour of the Month it has been curious how Mastadon hasn't held onto that explosion in users. The decline much steeper than I'd have expected.

Mastodon will be there whether or not the market decides it has value or not. If you take Mastodon.ie it had only about 500+ users in late October and has over 10,000 active users now.

Basically from Mastodon's point of view it's not a commercial entity really - it's just a set of protocols and software.

I would see the likelihood being that you'll see better apps and consolidation onto the well run instances only.

Sand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120079350#Comment_120079350

Look friend, he stated in black and white that it would be worse for adult networking sites to identify and entirely remove teenagers accessing their platform. Not that it was difficult, but that it would be worse to do so. You can do all the mental gymnastics you want to pretend he said something else. But it wont change what he actually did say.

McHardcore

Does anyone else suspect that Elon is pushing this right-wing ideology just to be a contrarian?

I am in no way supporting his stupid viewpoints. I believe that he may be trying to sow discourse on Twitter in a push to increase its engagement from users. As a side effect he is getting alot of publicity from social networks, like here, or the media, which in turn is bringing more users to the site.

He probably saw how websites like Facebook, youtube, etc increased their user engagment by feeding them controversial posts. So for pragmatic reasons, he brought back all the controversial eejits and began making controversial posts himself.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120083013#Comment_120083013

Except he didn’t state that it would be worse, that’s now your third lie, soiling a man’s reputation with made up stories for some very strange reason. His quote on the topic is crystal clear. Obviously, alt right circles have gone deep with their character assassinations, by twisting his words, and you’re going along with them. Why are you going along with this tissue of lies?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120083120#Comment_120083120

Maybe he is trying to access a right wing market share for EV, if they latch on to something they tend never to let it go once they see it as anti left woke no matter if it makes sense or not.

Not saying this is it but it's the only thing I could think of as a reason why is Elon was being in anyway strategic or analytical about the takeover.

I don't actually believe it to be the case but it's an interesting thought experiment none the less 🙂

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078950#Comment_120078950

He reversed his blue tick mark for sale stuff which lead to my earlier issues.

No one has argued he can't do what he wants, people are also free to slag him for it. People are also free to highlight the fact that he is a massive massive hypocrite from his actions he shows when provoked, I don't think that means offended.

You are only responsible for your own posts, I am more saying that others have believed Musk's statements are have been shown to be wrong in turn. I feel like you will be proven wrong in time and in 6 months someone else will be arguing for a new reason Musk is great.

Larbre34

Well bad luck for him, cos the last people that are going to buy an electric car connected to the internet, that you need a named account to own, run and maintain, that is liable to be hacked and that cannot be fuelled from a bunch of jerry cans from its own boot, are MAGA, redneck, 2nd amendment lovin' dickheads.

Especially built by a South African in California who talks weird.

Quin_Dub

I see he's just announced that later this month they will change the character limit from 280 to 4000 , which fundamentally changes the core function of Twitter.

It's effectively Facebook now.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084678#Comment_120084678

Is that a typo? You have to mean 400, surely? Four thousand words is a multi-page short-story. I hope they're also introducing the ability to edit those tweets lol.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084678#Comment_120084678

He really didnt understand what he was buying or why it was popular.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084688#Comment_120084688

No typo. 4000 characters. Not sure if that's just for Twitter Blue users or everyone. They're also giving everyone two feeds; the accounts you follow, but also a feed with "recommended" accounts/posts for you. Who or what determines what gets recommended is anyone's guess. But like Facebook, it will likely be easily manipulated to ensure right-wing content gets pushed to more peoples feeds.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084691#Comment_120084691

That much has been clear from day one.

prosaic

I don't think Musk cares so much about why it was popular, but rather how it might work in future. Of course, being a regular twit, he'd know how/why it works.

He's said that he sees social media as one of the dangers to society's future and, as i understand it, he wants to make twitter into an overall positive contribution to society: free speech, dialog, community conversation and all that. Perhaps he's driving towards a mix between social media and wikipedia where the current conversation is laid out. Community notes seems to reflect the way comments work in wikipedia.

People here see it that he is in it for his own gain and ego. Ego, probably is a bit of it, but all of his enterprises have been focused on multi-generational change, looking to see what is needed in 50 or 100 years time. I would see it that his play in twitter is to address the social media aspect of how society should operate some distance into the future.

Edit to add, you'd be a complete fool to discount what he's doing, no matter how much you dislike his personality or ideology.

Dohnjoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085004#Comment_120085004

Yeah, I don't think so. He's a billionaire and saw an egotistical opportunity to buy Twitter as his own plaything, get petty revenge and have his own unrestricted megaphone.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085004#Comment_120085004

A few years ago, I probably would have agreed with you, but I came around quickly to seeing the new emperor is naked.

Twitter is awful now. The lack of moderation is designed to be rage inducing, and in 2023, who needs more rage in their life?

Tesla price is tanking, other car manufacturers have come around and I see people discussing how Tesla Motors will be a blip in history books.

The mission to Mars will just not happen in our lifetimes. (Or more importantly, Musk's or Bezos' 😂) The more we learn about Mars, the more hostile we discover it to be. The first few generations of life on Mars will be beyond grim.

No, I don't pay any attention to Musk. He could do so much good with his money and he just doesn't. It's a complete waste of his position, for the good of the world.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085004#Comment_120085004

It's nice to talk about Free Speech as this halcyon ideal that betters society - but as far as I can see, there's no hard proof that suggests completely untrammelled free speech doesn't ultimately breed extremism, bullying, abuse & violence and so on. Mature dialog didn't suddenly start with Tim Berners-Lee's most famous piece of alliteration; we've had free speech for centuries in one shape or another - but always with recognition that the law has to put a cap on some aspects (libel, defamation and so on to name just two trivial examples).

A key difference now is that whereas once upon a time, you might have to own being a díckhead to someone's face (or standing in public on your soapbox in the square), now you can hide behind a username or VPN and just abuse others to your heart's content. Too much of the "free speech for all" rhetoric gets clouded by refusing to acknowledge the reality that it basically argues for speech without consequence. Or is just a facade for wanting to be an ásshole to others.

And when you add that unfiltered form of communication into the mix with the hormonal chaos of childhood and adolescence? Nothing good comes out of that. Child psychologists are still trying to chart the long-term mental health effects of lives entirely lived and nurtured online, a world where normal social cues are lost behind a UI. Important developmental aspects children simply aren't experiencing cos everything's online in TikTok or whatnot.

As to Musk? No; he actively sought to get himself out of the $44 billion buyout in the first place; while we've seen noted examples of a man incapable of taking even small jibes or insults; were he serious about Free Speech he wouldn't fall foul of obvious hypocrisy in the manner he behaves. As I said before myself, either make Twitter a black box, or don't.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085004#Comment_120085004

Probably? Probably? he is a thin-skinned narcissist. it is all about ego for him.

Quin_Dub

Recent years has definitely seen a shift in interpretation of the meaning of "Free speech".

As other have said when most people today talk about "Freedom of speech" what they really mean is "Freedom from the consequences of my speech".

They want to be able to say whatever they like and not have to face criticism or consequence as a result.

And Musk is definitely one of those people , he does not like when people challenge him or call out something he has said and he reacts very badly when they do.

His purchase of Twitter was a knee-jerk act of hubris that may actually bring about the collapse of his entire "Empire".

I’ve been seeing the same tweets in my timeline for almost 48 hours now. When I do refresh I get a handful of new tweets at the top - promoted posts, cryptocurrency grifters, and anti-vax tweets mostly. When I refresh again it’s back to the same old ones.

It’s funny to see how quickly Musk has destroyed even the most fundamental principle of the site - show me tweets based on what you think I will like.

He’s a complete spoofer and will be found out in 2023.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085307#Comment_120085307

It has turned into, "Show me tweets that will elicit a response". I get a huge amount of tweets in direct opposition to how I feel generally, especially in regards to highly charged issues, such as race, trans or poverty issues.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085527#Comment_120085527

If you stick to Show Latest Tweets First rather than Home, it'll only show you tweets from accounts you follow or what they retweet.

timetogo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085573#Comment_120085573

I've found that too. The home used to be good for showing me stuff I might be interested in. In the last month or so it's changed to showing me posts by maniacs (apparently). Even when I muted the controversial guys they'd just be replaced by more from the infinite selection. So I've set it to only show me Latest Tweets. It's a lot quieter.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085670#Comment_120085670

I never liked the feature anyway, and it took a while to stop it showing up as the default timeline. I like having tweets from the accounts I follow show up in the order they were posted. Random tweets from random "recommended" accounts in a fairly random order... f*ck that. And f*ck it even more if it's now skewing more towards the type of posts some of you have had showing up lately.

Cordell

That's fine, there's no problem with more right wing oppinions, the world needs the ballance.

timetogo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120086408#Comment_120086408

So when I say "maniac" you equate that with "right wing". Interesting.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120086538#Comment_120086538

I don't know why you felt that I was referring to you but no, that's not true. I equate right wing with things like personal freedom and responsibility, meritocracy, honesty and capitalism.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120086576#Comment_120086576

Pretty sure that the posts those people are referring to have nothing to do with any of the pieces you mentioned. And if you are not referring to Penn or timetogo then your post makes no sense as you would need to explain what "That" in "That's fine" meant from your previous post.

prosaic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085307#Comment_120085307

From Musk today "New UI coming this week allowing easy switch between recommended & followed. Recommendations will get much better later this year."

bokale

"Honesty".

Brilliant.

Cordell

Yeah, like saying what you really think even if that might cause offence.

Sand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084040#Comment_120084040

Yes, he did state it would be worse for adult networking sites to deny teenagers access. I provided the exact quote from his PhD thesis earlier. You're entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.

I'm honestly bemused at this stage as to why you're so defensive about this. No sensible person thinks allowing children on a adult networking site is a good idea. Absolutely not for the children. And not for the adults either. So adult platforms have to always work to ensure children don't have access. Anyone who thinks differently - like this guy who used to head up T&S at Twitter - is not the right guy for the job of combatting CSAM.

Sand

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084146#Comment_120084146

Has there been a reversal? Twitter is still selling the Twitter Blue subscription, and while "legacy" checks are still honoured, my understanding is Musk is committed to revoking those in future if they don't sign up to Twitter Blue. I'm not seeing a great sea change brought about by the blue check mark brigades rushing to the barricades.

I'm not sure Musk is a hypocrite. He promised free speech, and people do have free speech on Twitter. But freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.

As for predictions - look, the only prediction I'm making is that Musk is a fool and despite somehow getting control of the public square ("I'm moving to Mastadon" seems to be the new "I'm moving to Canada") he won't take proper advantage of it. So I think the doom and gloom is hysterically overstated. If I recall correctly, there was predictions back in November claiming that Twitter would collapse within a few weeks. Here we are in 2023 and it's still up last I checked.

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085004#Comment_120085004

as i understand it, he wants to make twitter into an overall positive contribution to society

He used Twitter to call one of the divers involved in rescuing the Thai kids a paedophile cause the guy had the temerity to tell him his stupid technology idea wouldn't work.

He doesn't give a shite about making Twitter an overall positive for anything.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120087562#Comment_120087562

I don't know what kind of circles you're hanging around in that leads you think you can get away with lies like this, but facts aren't with you here.

He said, and I quote "Rather than merely trying to absolve themselves *OR, WORSE, trying to drive out teenagers entirely*, service providers should instead focus on crafting safety strategies that can accommodate a wide variety of use cases for platforms like Grindr"

He didn't say it was worse for sites to deny teenagers access. He said "Rather than merely trying to absolve themselves or, worse, trying to drive out teenagers entirely, service providers should instead focus on crafting safety strategies that can accommodate a wide variety of use cases for platforms like Grindr. He knows, as everyone who's spent ten minutes on this topic knows, that there is no age identification system on the system. He knows that focusing on denying access is a fools errand, therefore he highlights the importance of contingency measures, rather than putting all their eggs in one basket - where it isn't going to work.

You can't just pick the words that suit you out of a sentence and quote them with no context.

MrMusician18

I thought that the site was meant to have collapsed by now?

AllForIt

I'm not sure I agree with a "Grindr Youth" app at all, in that I'm not convinced there is any reason for 'queer youth' to be able to contact other 'queer youth', who are strangers to them. What would stop adults using the youth app just like you can't stop the youth using the adult app. It is really up to parents to prevent their sons and daughters using adult dating sites to keep them away from predators or inappropriate situations.

I'm minded of a case in the UK where a 14yo was murdered by another teenagers who he met online.

https://news.sky.com/story/my-son-was-murdered-by-a-teenager-he-met-online-through-gaming-11931414

So yeah, facilitating youth to connect with other youth is not something I think we should sanction, rather prevent it as far as possible, particularly when there's a sexuality element to it.

AndrewJRenko

Well, that should cover the rent money for one day maybe

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/Twitter-SF-headquarters-auction-17647004.php

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120087650#Comment_120087650

The entire thing had to be reversed and redone because it caused such a mess. The entire site was just a mess of trolls for a few days as anyone could have predicted. This change was reversed and then an entirely new system had to be created.

By those rules people always had free speech on twitter and so Musk could not have brought free speech to twitter which is what his supporters wanted. This has now come full circle to where people say that twitter always had free speech so it makes his achievements here a little pathetic. He did also say he wanted his detractors to stay on twitter so still hypocritical since he is actively removing them.

There were but I am only responsible for my own posts as you say. Musk has enough money to keep twitter going for a long time if needs be which is how I have always felt. As for doom and gloom, I have not seen much in that regard. I have pointed out his hypocrisy and his idiocy and twitter became a worse place that will highlight alt right views but that is hardly doom and gloom compared to the world at large. Unless you just mean the twitter collapses stuff in which case I agree it is overstated but I don't think twitter disappearing from the world counts as doom and gloom personally.

Quin_Dub

I don't know that Musk does have "enough money to keep Twitter going for a long time" anymore.

Musk doesn't actually have a lot of readily available money - Any "cash" that he has is from loans using his Tesla stock as collateral.

He is limited by Tesla corporate rules to only being able to borrow 25% of the value his Tesla stock - Not definitive on the 25% number , but it's in and around that.

With the collapse in the Tesla Stock price , his available "cash" is very significantly reduced and he has also committed to not sell any more Tesla shares.

So his ability to continue to eat the massive losses in Twitter definitely has a timeline that is not measured in years or decades.

AndrewJRenko

He’s really sticking it to the libs

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096663#Comment_120096663

That's the 3rd Office where non payment of Rent has become a problem I think?

Also there are reports that he's now encouraging WFH - something that he was vehemently against up to very recently, to save money.

There is absolutely a clock on how much longer this can continue.

EDIT -

Article covering the Singapore Office issues

Workers at Twitter Inc.’s Singapore office were told to empty out their desks and vacate the premises, said people familiar with the situation, as Elon Musk continues to pare expenses around the globe.

Twitter staff were informed via email Wednesday that they had until 5 p.m. to leave the CapitaGreen building and resume their duties remotely from Thursday, one of the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. Singapore-based staffers have now been reassigned as remote workers in Twitter’s internal system until further notice, the person added.

Ashbourne hoop

The new two timeline structure is brutal. People you follow on one, and people of interest on the other, which has people like Ben Gilroy, The Liberal (of absolutely no interest)etc plus people you follow. Very messy.

Boggles

https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musk-breaks-world-record-for-largest-loss-of-personal-fortune-in-history-12784805

Winning!!!

Cody montana

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120097374#Comment_120097374

I hate that's it's not latest tweets anymore.

Think they tried this before.

This needs to be reversed.