The ongoing X and Elon Musk Transgressions Thread

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593067105670557697


This is the perfect distillation of what's wrong on my mind

Galloway is great; I regularly listen to him and Kira Swisher on their Pivot podcast.

[Fuzz]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593459801966538755

The fact that Musk is tweeting out memes after burning $44 billion is a sad reminder of just how little money means to the rich, because they have infinite supplies of it.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593459801966538755

The fact that Musk is tweeting out memes after burning $44 billion is a sad reminder of just how little money means to the rich, because they have infinite supplies of it.

Were you expecting something else?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593459801966538755

The fact that Musk is tweeting out memes after burning $44 billion is a sad reminder of just how little money means to the rich, because they have infinite supplies of it.

The image doesn't even make any sense, unless this dim bulb is openly admitting corporate suicide.

A major conundrum for me is that I am an avid Twitter user. I don't tweet anything and I occasionally comment on relevant topics, but it's my de facto source of breaking information. If I can discipline myself to not look at comments I typically have a fantastic utility experience with the platform.

If it goes away I'm going to have a hole in my online experience. Strangely enough, I'm actually OK with that since it was always sketchy, and was a nuclear bomb of stupid waiting to be set off under Musk's helm.

I'll miss it, but probably only temporarily. There will be another platform to fill the space, and actually CP (ahem, sureLoss) already essentially fills it.

[JohnnyB]

Twitter is up with YouTube among the best of the big Western social media platforms imo. People talk about it as a cesspool, but that's pretty much up to your own choices in who to follow, meanwhile it actually is useful and fills a distinct niche.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Twitter is up with YouTube among the best of the big Western social media platforms imo. People talk about it as a cesspool, but that's pretty much up to your own choices in who to follow, meanwhile it actually is useful and fills a distinct niche.

Exactly. Follow the right people and it’s great. I’ll be sorry to see it go but if it takes Musk down it may be worth it.

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Exactly. Follow the right people and it’s great. I’ll be sorry to see it go but if it takes Musk down it may be worth it.

Lol it’s not going anywhere and he doesn’t seem to concerned.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593567140950540288

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593462001438756866

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Exactly. Create your own isolated information bubble and it’s great for you, your perception of reality and the truth you are trying to create for yourself, but not great for society or the common good. I’ll be sorry to see it go but if it takes Musk down it may be worth it.

fyp

[Fuzz]

The thing is, Twitter can be useful. Plenty of good reliable reporters use it, and it's a great way to get small bits of into out quickly. But the problem for Twitter is the platform had nothing to do with it's usefulness. It's all the people on it that make it good. And those people can go elsewhere, and if they do, that leaves Twitter with nothing. Most of the value in Musk's purchase was in the users, and he knew that, which is why he fought to get a real number so hard.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Lol it’s not going anywhere and he doesn’t seem to concerned.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593567140950540288

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593550533033336832

Hand wavin'! It's not like Twitter is going to shut down because the engineers aren't there to peddle the bicycle. It will fail when an error occurs that isn't caught. Or when an update isn't installed and it gets hacked. Or when hardware dies and no one replaces it. But it may "seem" to coast along just fine for awhile. Until it doesn't.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1593479825401864193

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Its a parody account.

But it has a blue checkmark.

[Ozy_Flame]

This who debacle just confirms to me that Twitter - or the concept of it - should be a platform that is a public utility and something maintained and supported in public lexicon rather than concentrated in the hands of a single private corporation or from the eccentric whims of the ultra wealthy.

I don't necessarily agree that social media as public utilities need to be regulated by government, per say, but by an organizing body (a 'caretaker' organization, if you will) that is funded by institutions to ensure a widely-available communications tool is stable, functional, and without influence of a profit motive (although those who participate could certainly use 'Twitter' as a vehicle for revenue models if they so chose).

Personally I think this would make sense for a neutral news platform, emergency broadcasting, industry standards development, and equal access for all.

A non-profit, public utility that serves communications platforms in a digitally-connected, global world. That's what I hope comes from the ashes of this and the general malaise imposed by the current version of social media today.

[Azure]

You are delusional if you would trust the government to maintain something like Twitter as a non-profit, public utility.

I would trust a non-profit organization, with an independent board and transparent funding, but not the government.

[Ozy_Flame]

Did you read my post? Goddamn, son.

[Wormius]

I don’t even know how much of the demise of Twitter is being exaggerated. It seems like a lot of “farewell” messages from people like it’s inevitable/impending, but not really much too much else news-wise.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

This who debacle just confirms to me that Twitter - or the concept of it - should be a platform that is a public utility and something maintained and supported in public lexicon rather than concentrated in the hands of a single private corporation or from the eccentric whims of the ultra wealthy.

Can't be done. The law in the United States no longer requires sources of information to produce verifiable facts and provide free and democratic access to information and truth. The government was the last bastion of such requirements and that went out the window with the Bush administration and the invocation of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, there is no return from this house of cards that has been built and it is only a matter of time before American society comes crashing down on itself under the weight of the division caused by disinformation.

People must try to get their heads wrapped around the idea that social media is a direct reflection of our culture and politics. Go from platform to platform and you will see all the failings of our culture and society. Facebook has turned into a quagmire of disinformation, argument, and advertisement. Instagram is narcissism central, feeding the egos of the vapid. Tik-tok is a live action version of Instagram and a Chinese disinformation/social engineering tool. Twitter is a cesspool of ignorance, disinformation, division, and hate. They all started out with great promise, but then people started using them and their inner demons were unleashed.

The only way to save social media is to regulate the crap out of it. Return the Fairness Doctrine to law and create a new mandate of moderation for these social media apparatus providers. If the children can't behave, then they need a slap on the ass and some time to think their mistakes. As it is, social media is just the opposite. It has become anti-social media and is the primary reason for the divisions forming around the globe. Time to take Twitter out behind the barn and put it down.

[Matata]

Any regulation board or committee for social media will be quickly usurped by highly motivated groups who stand to make obscene amounts of money through social media manipulation.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by Matata

highly motivated groups who stand to make obscene amounts of money through social media manipulation.

Huh, that.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Did you read my post? Goddamn, son.

Yes, you said it is a public utility, which would have to be run by a government.

Lanny is correct. The government is one of the biggest sources of misinformation. They should be the last entity we should trust to regulate ANYTHING where truth & fact is important.

[Ozy_Flame]

You are confusing public with public sector and continue to blur the lines between the two. Some of you need to detach the former from the latter when talking about public goods.

I'll use another crayon here though - I agree, no government owns this thing. A social media platform should be beyond any one government or corporation. It should be a public realm utility that is supported and maintained in a way that keeps the lights on and ensure the proper standards are in place, as defined by the appropriate industry and community leaders.