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

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975162#Comment_118975162

Oh, stop it. You've already used the "he hurt you" card, without substantiation.

To @seamus you similarly wrote:

It's clear you have a massive chip on your shoulder regarding Elon Musk, but what has any of this got to do with his bid to buyout twitter? You are just harping on about how much of an idiot you think he is

And when @AndrewJRenko expressed not wanting to do business with Musk you challenged their virtue (eluding to CEOs and companies and products which have nothing to do with Elon Musk, or Twitter, or his bid to buy out the latter):

Do you have a facebook?

A microsoft windows PC?

have you ever purchased anything from Amazon?

Do you boycott websites that use Amazon Web Services?

Also actually, are you aware that one of the board members of twitter up to now has been the crown prince of saudi arabia?

If none of the above megalomaniac billionaires bother you, then why Elon Musk buying twitter?

Clearly, you feel the need to lash out at people personally who have misgivings about Elon Musk buying Twitter; as though you cannot process the fact that people are not as in love with Elon Musk as you might be. People are allowed to criticize him, you look kind of petty though for attacking them for the mere act of doing so however.

seamus

I’m wondering how the author may not have heard of 8chan, an unmoderated platform full of spam and child porn.

You mean 8chan, the platform that virtually nobody on earth has heard of and that nobody uses except a small army of incredibly damaged and antisocial misanthropes?

Yeah, there's a reason why nobody uses or wants to use it; because it's full of spam, hate speech and child porn.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975166#Comment_118975166

It seemed like as soon as Obama won by leveraging social media, yes, cable news became a twitter feed. CNN would parade that man with a beard on to talk in front of a wall and read out tweets. They leaned into "iReporting" outsourcing their journalism to every joe with a camera. It seemingly left no room in their schedule for substantive news, I guess people in the graphics department weren't as big on the Pentagon Papers as karen yelling at a man in the park. Twitter has been a focal point for that instant-upload instant consumption of 'news'

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118974922#Comment_118974922

Facebook? No, deleted my account a couple of years back and deleted WhatsApp for similar reasons.

Windows PC - Yes, why? Who are you referring to here?

Amazon - I haven’t purchased for many years, for similar reasons.

AWS - I generally wouldn’t know where websites are hosted, so, no.

Crown Prince - shareholder, not board member

timmyntc

Musk is certainly doing this for his own gain and not some philanthropic gesture.

It absolutely will not turn into a wild west 100% free for all, what he has actually proposed is requirement to verify your ID to participate, thereby wiping out most of the bot accounts. Good thing he's planning on going private because the drop in userbase alone from a move like that would cause havoc on share prices if it was still publicly traded.

Likes and RTs and trends can all be manipulated by bot farms, so if you need a human ID to participate it may well cut down substantially on that kind of thing. Stick in some more ads and twitter+ or some such nonsense and he'll make it worth his while.

At the end of the day its done for influence, same as Jeff Bezos buying up the washington post a few years back. Ironic that the same washpo was running articles lamenting the twitter buyout as dangerous to have such media power owned by one billionaire 🤣

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975175#Comment_118975175

To be honest, I doubt he cares much for free speech - very few people really do. What they care about are the views they care about getting an airing.

Musk's version of free speech will be about, I suspect, promoting his world view. Is that a problem? Not really, if you disagree, there are plenty of other Twitter like services out there.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975229#Comment_118975229

Does he really think that people are going to trust him and the company with a copy of their ID?

Overheal

That would wipe out most of the bot accounts, but also would wipe out most of the legitimate users, too, who are not going to go to the trouble (And definitely not the brand of user who people are fanfic'ing about restoring to the platform, they value their anonymity and evasion from law enforcement). The idea that people would pay a subscription fee to fart out their opinions is laughable, and the inundation of ads and 'sponsored content' is, in part, what drove people away from the facebook platform.

Mike Murdock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975031#Comment_118975031

I think that is a pretty good summary of the likely outcome of this purchase.

Unless Musk is going to fire the entire layer of upper management (such as Parag Agarwal, Sarah Berland and Vijaya Gadde) and middle management straight away, I can't see seismic changes to the platform in the short to medium term.

I could see a swathe of junior staff upping and leaving for other tech companies off of the back of this news. If they feel he's going to allow Trump and others back on the platform. Which we don't even know if he will.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975252#Comment_118975252

It will wipe out most of the accounts that post hatefully, engage in defamatory comments, conduct witch hunts and the like. It will have the effect of sanitising the platform and making it more moderate (and probably boring).

Taking the extreme out of it can only be good tbh.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975250#Comment_118975250

I wouldn't - but sure plenty of people on twitter already do, because you get a status symbol of a blue checkmark. ID verification is one of the ways to get the famed blue tick, and plenty of ordinary joe soaps have sent in ID to get it and get some digital clout.

We've come a long way from the days when advice was not to put any personal info online unfortunately

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975190#Comment_118975190

Nope, sorry to disappoint you but I'm far from a Musk "fanboy". He is the same as any other billionaire businessman, acting in his own interest. Even with his twitter musings, its all about PR for his enterprises.

But trying to use a tweet about how tunnels are protected from surface weather as proof that his purchase of twitter is a guaranteed train wreck or something... lol. Its barely relevant to the discussion and seems more like bitterness than something relevant at all to the fact that twitter may be going private in the coming days/weeks.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975272#Comment_118975272

No, I firmly disagree with the argument it can "only" be good.

Just like Truth Central, or Truth Social, or whatever, learned that it isn't only good to strip away all content moderation. Twitter with a verify-only platform would learn very quickly there is not only good in that hamfisted approach to nuking their bot problem along with the majority of their real userbase.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975250#Comment_118975250

When that database gets hacked people will be able to go to the dark web and get your home address for $15 and unmask your username.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975283#Comment_118975283

You believe allowing extremist posting hidden behind anonymity is a good thing?

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975252#Comment_118975252

The freedom lovers are not coming back at all. Majority of the twitter clones were spaces for freedom lovers, they already have their spaces, they are not a target demographic for twitter any longer.

As for who would pay to fart their opinions on an online soapbox, they length people will go to for validation online would surprise and depress you. Plenty of people would pay to either make their tweets more prominent (akin to an ad boosting) similar to how some pay 3rd parties for bot farms to farm retweets and likes. If they can clamp down on bot use, they could claw back some of that revenue by offering it in-house.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975272#Comment_118975272

No, it won’t,

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975301#Comment_118975301

Do you sincerely think I do? Enough bollox.

magicbastarder

what he has actually proposed is requirement to verify your ID to participate

am curious as to how much (human) overhead this will create; and what would they mean by verifying your ID? what details would they need?

and as mentioned above, how many users they'd lose if they implemented it.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975275#Comment_118975275

Ordinary joe soaps don’t get blue ticks though.

Lots of people have lots of reasons for remaining anonymous on Twitter. Lots of people don’t have freedom from their spouse or their employer or their community to speak freely.

Anonymity is not the problem, and handing over ID to an impetuous fool like Musk is not the solution.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975265#Comment_118975265

Did swathes of junior staff leave while Trump was on the platform? Meta is a fairly despicable company and it doesn't have issues with retention, because morals are tradable.

There may be a few martyrs but there will be no exodus. The renumeration will ensure that.

Sheridan_Le_Fanu

Musk is a dead-eyed creep.

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975288#Comment_118975288

Thats the case with almost every platform imaginable - not even social medias but any shop or website with billing attached will also have some form of address. Personal information getting leaked in hacks is hardly new, a very weak argument against twitter holding on to verification. Also who says they'll store it? They might take it review it then delete it. You are grasping at straws here to be honest.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975312#Comment_118975312

The barrier to entry of the blue tick club is painfully low. You could be a Z-list internet celebrity or even in the top 0.05% of followed accounts based in connemara, the barrier is very low and it will only get lower. Universal even.

-Just saw your edit, we are in agreement.

Anonymity is not the problem, and handing over ID to an impetuous fool like Musk is not the solution.

Anonymity is good, although its ever shrinking online with govts trying to destroy it. Off-topic for this thread though. Giving your ID to any social media is not a good idea, however it is an opportunity for them to monetise more. DO you really think the average twitter user cares what happens with their personal data?

Place is a cesspool full of narcissists, they'll do anything for clout

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975309#Comment_118975309

Im only going by what you wrote. I said "taking the extreme out of it can only be good"

You replied with: "No, I firmly disagree with the argument it can "only" be good."

What else was I meant to take from that exchange that you believe extreme posting should be allowed on twitter, or is it more like the extreme posting you agree with?

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975312#Comment_118975312

And if Every Ben Stiller has a blue check, and not just the most famous, hollywood actor/director/producer Ben Stiller, makes the checkmark kinda meaningless.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975302#Comment_118975302

The length some 'whales' etc. may go is not in dispute, but that the entire userbase of Twitter would have to reveal Personal Identifying Information to the platform. So what Twitter would be left with are the leftover folks willing to submit that information, and these people you mention who were already gladly spending money to be influencers or whatever. I still contend a huge majority of users would not do so, just as I would never give that information to Facebook.

But trying to use a tweet about how tunnels are protected from surface weather as proof that his purchase of twitter is a guaranteed train wreck or something... lol. Its barely relevant to the discussion and seems more like bitterness than something relevant at all to the fact that twitter may be going private in the coming days/weeks.

I'm not even the user who brought up the tweet, it has been as relevant to the discussion as you all keep wanting to breathe oxygen into it. I said my piece and folks have wanted to have a stir about that piece, so be it. It doesn't 'guarantee' Musks ventures will be trainwrecks, but it seems like bad faith to dismiss the reality Musk has a string of successes, and failures, in his wake (SpaceX is kinda both) - the most successful product the Boring Company ever made was a flamethrower. And with regards to "rights," Musk has a spotty track record (collective bargaining, right to repair, etc). He has a history of over-hyping and under-delivering, and right now is clearly the "Hype" stage, where everyone is psyching themselves up to pre-order Twitter+ and hailing the bid as the fight for America's free speech and all this other bullshit. I have no idea if it will simply be underwhelming, or a complete trainwreck, and I ascribe to neither theory, even with far more than one tweet or data point at my disposal - I only ascribe to the theory reality will not match or exceed Hype and I will be around when the commiserating happens.

joseywhales

I think ordinary joe soap, myself included, will happily disengage with Twitter entirely if some extra commitment at all is asked of us. I mean currently I like most users, just read it occasionally for some car crash moment that a friend has linked. I would describe myself as a read only user. Part of that is my reluctance to have any opinion publicly accessible that is attributable to me and will be searchable for the rest of my life. If we have to verify ID, Christ, people will run for the hills.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975323#Comment_118975323

Allegedly on the spectrum, according to his SNL monologue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCF8I_X1qKI

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975192#Comment_118975192

I need to update my references, but that’s basically what twitter with free speech will become. It’ll attract the weirdos, Alex Jones, Joe Rogan, ex-Reddit, conspiracy theorist types, a rather large army of incredibly damaged and antisocial misanthropes, same as Facebook is doing with their Meta VR -

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/25/a-barrage-of-assault-racism-and-jokes-my-nightmare-trip-into-the-metaverse

sam t smith

First thing he plans to do is ban anyone with pronouns in their profile. Second is ban anyone who has ever used #bekind on the platform.

Interesting times ahead.

seamus

There are many practically and legal reasons why the ID thing can't happen in general.

On the topic of Musk attempting to become a media magnate though, it's a possibility and it's a very real risk to free speech.

For example, imagine Twitter decides that anyone with over 10k followers needs to register ID with Twitter before they're allowed to tweet. Under the guise of "protecting our users from scammers and disinformation". Of course.

@BigJoeCrunch who has 100k followers and posts mainly comedy with some political satire, makes an unfriendly joke about Musk, who characteristically takes it badly and gets into a war of words and loses badly.

Enraged, Musk demands to know this accounts real ID and tells his underlings to go get it. Who do, because TOCs and privacy laws don't matter when you're an American CEO.

A couple of hours later the guy is "anonymously" DOXXed and you have psychos at his door making death threats.

Then once the anonymous dissenters are hounded off Twitter, it's onto the journalists. A reporter sticks up exclusive photos of Musk and Epstein partying and suddenly finds their account suspended for spurious reasons. Twitter blames a technical error, but the reporter notices that the algorithm is curiously hiding their tweets and deprioritising them.

It becomes known that if you want to keep your channel on Twitter, you don't talk about Musk.

And that is very **** dangerous from a free speech perspective.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975487#Comment_118975487

He'd be more likely to use it to crack down on collective bargaining.

eg. if I'm a Starbucks employee in my state, I can probably find an effort to unionize for that right now on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chsdsa/status/1506299387294752779?s=20&t=DMlGDVpPwl4xbCN2LoMblQ

In a version of Twitter where Musk can sell or slip your information to CEO Kevin Johnson to reveal whether or not @chsdsa or @SBWorkersUnited is operated by a Starbucks employee off the clock, and who exactly they are, what their DL# is etc,, this type of political action would never get off the ground on the platform.

Collective Bargaining is something that hits Musk right in the cajones, at his investments in places like Tesla and SpaceX. He would know who everyone on Twitter was, and if they were a Tesla employee running an account like this, he'd find simple ways to fire them for poor performance.