Will Musk ruin Twitter?

[KyriakosCH]

I think he will. He is really the last person who should have been allowed to buy Twitter - so you can also thank (apart from Musk's ridiculous recklessness) the greedy Twitter previous owners who couldn't resist selling.

[LimpingFish]

He already has.

[KyriakosCH]

"Let that sink in" 

I hope the art part of Twitter will survive, but yes, Twitter may be literally destroyed by this idiot.

[AndreasBlack]

Depends what you mean by ruining it, but i'd say, no. If he likes to use Twitter, he'll find ways to make it even better and i think he has the potential to do it, i on the otherhand still struggle with getting what's the big deal with Twitter, so i would most definately ruin it if it was up to me Time will tell.

[LimpingFish]

If he likes to use Twitter, he'll find ways to make it even better and i think he has the potential to do it...

Based on what? Musk is, by and large, a fraud. He was born into money, and hasn't shown any business acumen besides buying up companies with obvious potential. He has created little of worth, though he takes credit for a lot.

No, he's a (thin-skinned) fraud, who likely bought Twitter out of spite.

I foresee two outcomes; Twitter simply peters out, much like Myspace, as people move en masse to other platforms, and we all move on with our lives.

Or, more likely, Musk sells it for considerably less than he paid.

[Khris]

Agreed 100%.

It's also really funny how the new verification system immediately and predictably want up in flames. People made accounts like LookheadMartini (still giggling at that one), bought verified status for 8$ then tried to get retweeted while posting basically "what if companies were honest" tweets.

Ken Klippenstein has posted a bunch in the last few days: https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1591262905101479936

Also this happended:

 

[KyriakosCH]

If you are the owner or ceo of a huge platform, the last thing you should do is try to be a star in it. Reminds me of what happened with the ceo of Reddit who was altering posts by people who were writing against him. But Musk is a lot worse, and I agree that it seems he did buy Twitter simply out of spite and because he is so angry his recklessness was used against him.
I see him as a luckier version of Elizabeth Holmes, and at some point tesla (yes, with a small "t", Tesla himself was a giant ) stock won't be overpriced - if/when that happens, his fall will be instant.
It was also a major error of judgement by Musk to invite more scrutiny on him by buying a platform so many people use. Before the Twitter saga with him started, I never looked into his credentials and was very surprised to find that he has no actual scientific (or math) degree to speak of. He is just pretending to be a science/math guy when he is another conman.

[Danvzare]

As far as I can tell, his intention was to never buy Twitter, but to instead stir up trouble. Which in turn landed him into trouble, and forced him to buy Twitter. Now he's trying to make lemonade out of lemons and seems to be failing.

Does this spell the end of Twitter? Possibly.
But if it does, I can only see that as both inevitable and good.

I mean, didn't Instagram pretty much already replace Twitter in the same way Twitter replaced Facebook and Facebook replaced MySpace? It's an never-ending cycle, of which Instagram itself isn't even the latest in the chain. I think that might be WhatsApp or Discord or something.
It's all the same thing either way. And it's a thing I never understood. 

[KyriakosCH]

But Facebook still exists (and is meaningful eg if you want a group for your work/ I use it for the people who enlist in my online literature seminars). I never used Instagram and know nothing about it :/ Twitter is very good for indie art projects (including computer games)

Musk just sucks and should be identified as a massive conman.

[Mandle]

What if actually IS trying to improve the world and has correctly identified Twitter as something that needs to be destroyed as part of this master plan?!

(I don't believe this by the way, but it would be a good excuse for him to use when Twitter goes under)

[KyriakosCH]

What if actually IS trying to improve the world and has correctly identified Twitter as something that needs to be destroyed as part of this master plan?!

(I don't believe this by the way, but it would be a good excuse for him to use when Twitter goes under)

So Musk is the living embodiment of the  emoticon

[KyriakosCH]

I thought of a nerdy (and likely worse than just bad) joke, so I will write it, sorry in advance 

If we assume that Trump is a derivative of Musk, then Biden is the antiderivative of Musk, and with Musk clearly being a linear function with huge slope (his ego) => Biden = half of a very large number times X^2.
Which makes sense, since Biden is in many ways a parable.

[Gilbert]

I don't know, but I think Twitter was already ruining itself since it tried to enforce people to log in just to read tweets.

I never have a Twitter account, and I had been reading tweets from people without problems, until recently, when just scrolling down a bit in someone's site would generate a pop-up asking me to log in and you cannot make it go away. Not long before, this measure could be defeated by just browsing the site in a incognito Window, but this is no longer the case now.

I know those of you who already have a Twitter account would not notice this and would not even care about it, and I am not saying I wouldn't register for an account either. I just thought it's not time yet. However, all those stupid stuff happening recently (forcing me to register to read stuff) just discouraged me to register for an account now, ever.

That a stupid evil overlord an inconsiderate billionaire buying the whole thing and pushing it towards a cliff just added oil to a dumpster fire. Not to mentioned the small incident when another billionaire former president of some third-world country had attempted to ruin it already a bit earlier, and I sometimes imagine what would happen if this billionaire former president bought the thing instead of that other one who manufactured explosive electric cars to go to space. Who will win as a worse boss? Let's pick up the fight!

[KyriakosCH]

I think that the likeliest outcome is he will ruin the platform and then sell it for a small fraction of what he paid, to whoever wants to buy it - probably some controversial figure who is also an edgelord - at which point Twitter will have officially died.
But people should recall that for this to happen, not only conman Musk was needed; you also needed the previous owners of Twitter, who obviously only cared about trapping Musk and getting away with easy money and couldn't care less about Twitter or its users 

[Khris]

A bunch of people have argued (and I agree) that Twitter should ideally be run by the government(s) as a public service (because it's not merely the current thing destined to go the way of MySpace, Twitter is rather a unique and very useful platform, despite all the bullshit that's also on there).

Musk is a manchild trying to desperately achieve one of the few things endless money can't buy: being a "cool guy". He's also in the process of firing all the people who kept twitter running, and they can't simply be replaced by new people because they took home all the institutional knowledge. So twitter is probably going to become unusable soon because it's already showing the small cracks that are a telltale sign of collapse.

So my vain hope is that it's eventually going to become a public service, or that Mastodon isn't going to buckle under the influx of new users and turn into a usable alternative.

[Cassiebsg]

The "old" owner can take a fraction of his earnings by the sale,hire all the fired personnel and give them better pay, create a new improved platform Twitter 2.0 called "Coollibri" and invite all Twitter users to join... thus killing Twitter. After all, a social media platform is only as valuable as it's users. Everybody wins... well almost everybody... 

[Creamy]

I don't know, but I think Twitter was already ruining itself since it tried to enforce people to log in just to read tweets.

Sadly this is the norm nowadays. Pinterest, Instagram, Quora... they won't let you just browse. Registration everywhere.

The "old" owner can take a fraction of his earnings by the sale, hire all the fired personnel and give them better pay, create a new improved platform Twitter 2.0 called "Coollibri" and invite all Twitter users to join... thus killing Twitter

For the price they paid    the new owners certainly requested a non-competition clause.
But some fired employees will certainly go to a competitor.

[KyriakosCH]

"Coolibri" 

[Khris]

Btw, Shaun had (as usual) a great take on this whole situatiuon:

[LimpingFish]

I don't know, but I think Twitter was already ruining itself since it tried to enforce people to log in just to read tweets.

If you click the "log in" button, a second form opens that can be closed, allowing you to keep scrolling.

[Matti]

Thanks for that tip, LimpingFish!

I thought about registering on twitter for a while, but now I'll wait some more and see what happens.

[Gilbert]

If you click the "log in" button, a second form opens that can be closed, allowing you to keep scrolling.

Aw, thanks a lot!
Who would have thought of that?
This is completely against logic though, that you'll have to attempt to log in to access stuff without logging in.
This gives more proof that Twitter is broken.

[bicilotti]

If you click the "log in" button, a second form opens that can be closed, allowing you to keep scrolling.

This was extremely useful, thanks!

Mastodon is a very welcoming place — and in the last days pretty crowded too.  Pick an instance that you fancy and you are set. I have seen adventure games and general artsiness on mastodon.art, but it really does not matter as instances are federated and you can follow/post/reply from everywhere.

[LimpingFish]

Happy to help.

[mkennedy]

When Twitter previously banned Trump they were just covering themselves legally.  If Trump is allowed back on Twitter Elon  Musk will realize this when Trump instigates the next insurrection and  they both get sued

[Khris]

Some More News has compiled a great two-parter about the moronic fifteen year old divorced dad that is running twitter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlL4xvn6xWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Y7U4LOTYY

Pretty long but as always funny and very informative.

[LimpingFish]

Well, it looks increasingly likely that you won't be able to browse Twitter without an account login.

...

Also, I'm getting bored waiting for Twitter to die.

[Gilbert]

Yeah. Seems they you are now forced to log in to read anything now.
In fact, shortly after Musk's acquisition, the contents became readily available again for a few months (i.e. without the need of using the trick mentioned above).
Since it's intentional to block non-user from reading stuff, I interpreted it as Musk f***ing up the company so hard that it's no longer working (probably because of the massive layoff that there were no longer any people to maintain it anymore), so it's just returning to its "working state" now. 

[KyriakosCH]

Twitter is now Xitter, by the way.



Unless this idiot is forced to change it back, it may well be the end of the platform.

[Gilbert]

Seems like the X is supposed to be spelled and pronounced 'Sh'.
VERY fitting name.

[Stupot]

Seems like the X is supposed to be spelled and pronounced 'Sh'.
VERY fitting name.

So instead of Tweets, do we call them Xeets, pronounced "sheets"? If, so, people are going to be Xeeting all day and all night, and sometimes even Xeeting themselves.

[KyriakosCH]

Remember that this guy was once presented as a genius, when in reality he may well have considerably below average intelligence.

[Gilbert]

Remember that this guy was once presented as a genius

He still is. He's a genius of Xeets/sheets/Shi.../Seats.

[KyriakosCH]

And another genius plan of his is for paid xeet-posters, who will receive money only from views by other people with paid xeeter accounts.
He is proposing a pyramid scheme and is proud of the idea.

[Danvzare]

Seems like the X is supposed to be spelled and pronounced 'Sh'.
VERY fitting name.

So instead of Tweets, do we call them Xeets, pronounced "sheets"? If, so, people are going to be Xeeting all day and all night, and sometimes even Xeeting themselves.

Ok, seriously? He literally called it Shitter and Shits? (Just with an elongated "I", which is actually how I sometimes pronounce "Shit")
The guy is either an idiot or he's trolling us. Wait a minute, those two things aren't mutually exclusive... 

[LimpingFish]

Unfortunately, it's only called "X.COM" because Musk, like the man-baby he is, thinks it sounds cool. He's owned that domain for a long time, and I believe he tried to have Paypal originally called "X" (or maybe it was one of the other ventures he bought his way into).

According to sources (¬¬), Twitter is now "X", pronounced "ex", (as in extreeememememe!!1) and a tweets will now be known as "X's", pronounced "exes"...as in "I've been married a few times, but all my exes hate me..."

[Khris]

The logo is also a unicode letter: 𝕏

Plus, the trademark for the letter X is owned by a bunch of other companies, Microsoft and Meta among them.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/problem-with-x-meta-microsoft-hundreds-more-own-trademarks-new-twitter-name-2023-07-25/

Incredibly rich, surrounded by yes men and really, actually stupid, like IQ 80 stupid. What could go wrong?

The only nice thing about this is watching the fanboys squirm, wrestling with the fact that supporting their idol will look more and more embarrassing as time goes on and twitter's value goes down.

[KyriakosCH]

Unfortunately, it's only called "X.COM" because Musk, like the man-baby he is, thinks it sounds cool. He's owned that domain for a long time, and I believe he tried to have Paypal originally called "X" (or maybe it was one of the other ventures he bought his way into).

According to sources (¬¬), Twitter is now "X", pronounced "ex", (as in extreeememememe!!1) and a tweets will now be known as "X's", pronounced "exes"...as in "I've been married a few times, but all my exes hate me..."

Afaik, "xeet" is used officially in Tweeter. For example here is a still I got from there:



And while "ex-eet" sounds a bit better than "xeet", it is already a meaningful term (exit) so I really doubt it can be sustainable. "Tweet"/"retweet", on the other hand, were unique and had become part of the web language, while not meaning anything else.

Nice consistency, btw: "how to xeet", with the "tweet" button still there.

[Cassiebsg]

Oh GOD!

I thought you guys were joking.... just realized it´s both!  (plus face palm)

[Gilbert]

Contrary to everybodies' believe, I find Musk extremely clever troll.

Try to read the following sentence:
"Twitter is now Xeeter."
It has multiple meaning and implications, considering that we may use "Xeeter" as both a noun or a verb.

Also, not only him. YOU also use the thing yourselves. So, you frequently Xeet (or ReXeet) yourselves.

The only way out of this Xeet embarrassment is to stop Xeeting using it yourselves.

[KyriakosCH]

From interviews, Musk himself says he has let go of around 80% of Twitter's employees.
How the thing is even still running, is impressive. But I doubt it will be around for long.
Should be the first time a massive social network dies not due to competition, but its owner's streak of cretinous decisions.

It's amazing, really, that Musk prior to being duped into buying Twitter, managed to have most media hail him as a very intelligent person, and poignantly one with science/math knowledge. I - and I wouldn't be alone in that - never had reason to look into his education, prior to the Twitter early fiascos, and was surprised to learn he has no actual science/math degree. He is a hack and never even uttered a single phrase in all interviews I've watched which would allow you to form any sense his intelligence is above average. Quite the opposite, really, even an average intelligence would allow him to occasionally say something insightful in a field he was involved in.

I wonder, if you are in so precarious a position (where you do need to maintain a myth about your mental worth), how can you be so reckless as to throw the spotlight on your decision-making at so central a stage? Maybe he simply is dumb enough to be unable to realize he is dumb.

[KyriakosCH]

[Khris]

If anybody wants a BlueSky invite code, I have some. Just send me a PM

[Danvzare]

If anybody wants a BlueSky invite code, I have some. Just send me a PM

What is BlueSky? And why is it invite only? 

[eri0o]

I think it's the Twitter from the dude that was a Twitter founder. I wouldn't mind an invite only because I like to take my user in things just in case. lol

[AndreasBlack]

Maybe he simply is dumb enough to be unable to realize he is dumb.

Yes, he does have Asperger's and as i understood it, parts of that diagnosis is having a hard time socially, reading social cues. Sounding or saying dumb stuff without realising how dumb it sounds, etc. But being very clever in specific interest's. Not sure Twitter is one of those interests

[Blondbraid]

Maybe he simply is dumb enough to be unable to realize he is dumb.

Yes, he does have Asperger's and as i understood it, parts of that diagnosis is having a hard time socially, reading social cues. Sounding or saying dumb stuff without realising how dumb it sounds, etc. But being very clever in specific interest's. Not sure Twitter is one of those interests

As somebody diagnosed with Aspbergers myself I take strong issue with that statement, While I did spend most of my childhood having to manually learn social cues that come naturally to most neurotypical persons, Aspbergers make you more prone to overthinking things, not less. Any idea that Autism or Asperger syndrome makes you more deliberately unsociable, self-centered, and narcissistic is a garbage stereotype made up largely thanks to entitled dudes who want to excuse their shitty behavior and use their diagnosis as a shield against being called out on it. Seriously, that kind of claim is not a good look.

So far as from what I've seen, Musk's basking in big publicity stunts and being dead set on his beliefs based on no facts but his own subjective opinions is the stark opposite of what you typically see from people on the spectrum, and seems entirely caused by his upbringing (his family made their fortune from an Emerald mine in apartheid south Africa, need I say more?).

[Matti]

Just wanted to share, as I think it's definitely one of the better in- and outputs I had with ChatGPT.

[Stupot]

Phew, that's world peace sorted.

Now. Climate.

[Danvzare]

Just wanted to share, as I think it's definitely one of the better in- and outputs I had with ChatGPT.

I feel like this is a reference to current events, and that it's flying over my head. 
Not that I'm complaining though. Living under a rock is rather lovely. 



Well, it's been nearly a year. So I wonder, did Musk ruin Twitter?

Let's see... he ruined the access to the API, he ruined the verified badge, and he ruined the actual name of Twitter. But other than that, everything seems to be functioning exactly the same. For now at least.

[Matti]

Now. Climate.

No worries. Elon got it!

I feel like this is a reference to current events, and that it's flying over my head. 
Not that I'm complaining though. Living under a rock is rather lovely. 

Yes, it is. The escalation in Israel/Gaza should be all over the news for over a week now 

[Stupot]

Hahaha. Oh crap. And here I was thinking AI was gonna help us come up with solutions for reversing climate change, not rebranding it.

[LimpingFish]

Wow, even AI Elon (Ailon?) is a prick.

Anyhoo, is everybody ready to start paying to use TwiX?

[Danvzare]

I feel like this is a reference to current events, and that it's flying over my head. 
Not that I'm complaining though. Living under a rock is rather lovely. 

Yes, it is. The escalation in Israel/Gaza should be all over the news for over a week now 

Oh yeah, I've heard about that. I still don't get it though. 
I thought Gaza was a city not a strip?
Like I said though, it's flying over my head. 

Anyhoo, is everybody ready to start paying to use TwiX?

Is it wrong of me to hope that he does it, just so I can watch Twitter close down, as everyone stops using it? 

[CaptainD]

Anyhoo, is everybody ready to start paying to use TwiX?

Honestly, it all depends on how much. If the mooted $1 per year thing is real, that's definitely a fee I could live with; to an indie dev the marketing value of Twitter can be very useful )albeit difficult to quantify). But a higher cost... not sure where I'd draw the line. We'll see what happens.

[Blondbraid]

Oh yeah, I've heard about that. I still don't get it though. 
I thought Gaza was a city not a strip?
Like I said though, it's flying over my head. 

At least you're honest about not knowing about the situation in question (and I don't blame you, it's just horrific and depressing),
Unlike Elon Musk, who seems to have made the opposite his signum.

At this point, it feels like Twitter only totters on because it had a large user base to start with, but I doubt it's likely to reverse the losses.

[Khris]

The latest news about Elon ruining Twitter is he might close it for people in the EU because the EU is pretty strict about data protection and hate laws and whatnot.

Threads for instance is still not available here.

[eri0o]

I hope BlueSky and Mastodon gain more traction eventually just because I think we need some general platform refreshing.