Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[Humble Beast 258]

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Haha yeah this.

the @Humble Beast’s are actually beating their chests that <checks notes>…the site is still online.

Well done, Elmo. A true genius!

No. I’m laughing at the doomsday calls. It’s funny. People rooting HARD for it to blowup. 

[Brisketexan 105,114]

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Haha yeah this.

the @Humble Beast’s are actually beating their chests that <checks notes>…the site is still online.

Well done, Elmo. A true genius!

Know what else is still online?

https://myspace.com/

Seriously, it still exists.  "It's online" is not exactly a great sales headline in an investment prospectus.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

1 minute ago, Humble Beast said:

No. I’m laughing at the doomsday calls. It’s funny. People rooting HARD for it to blowup. 

People are rooting against Elon because he’s a horrible human being.

For whatever reason, that’s a prerequisite for your unbridled support. 

[Humble Beast 258]

4 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

People are rooting against Elon because he’s a horrible human being.

For whatever reason, that’s a prerequisite for your unbridled support. 

Newsflash, you likely “support” some horrible human beings explicitly and/or implicitly. 
 

Also, I have this weird thing where I can disagree with people about certain things and agree with them about others. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Humble Beast

[GenXer 2,870]

8 hours ago, Orale said:

In the event it becomes unusable, where does everyone go? You'd think some rich tech guys are working around the clock on something to replace it. I don't care for Instagram, don't have Facebook, and have no idea how tiktok works. Reddit's a weird interface and I looked at Mastodon just now and closed it 30 seconds later completely confused. It'll be interesting to watch the race to be the new twitter. I only got on it during the 2020 election and am embarrassed how much time I've spent on it since then. I think my life will be better without it. Thank god for Surly. 

This is the first I’ve heard of Mastodon. When you “tweet” on Mastodon, is it called “masterdate?” If so, I’m in.

[Neonmoon 38,129]

People aren’t rooting for Twitter to blowup. People are laughing at a overconfident braggart that has zero concept of free speech or social media business acumen buy a company out of spite and it failing in predictable and spectacular fashion. 
 

 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

2 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

Newsflash, you likely “support” some horrible human beings explicitly and/or implicitly. 
 

Also, I have this weird thing where I can disagree with people about certain things and agree with them about others. 

What do you agree with Elon about in terms of his management of Twitter?

What about his first few weeks at the helm have you cheering wildly?

Its been an unmitigated disaster in every conceivable way. 

[Eskimohorn 5,635]

People aren’t rooting for Twitter to blowup. People are laughing at a overconfident braggart that has zero concept of free speech or social media business acumen buy a company out of spite and it failing in predictable and spectacular fashion. 
 
 

The Eskimo Hut / Spite Store strategy is a bold move

[Chopper 17,230]

I'm rooting for the guy who gives official check marks to provide "status" to avowed US white supremacists (ntm is their irl friend) is a really fucked up flex.

[Fudge Nuggets 19,190]

14 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

Newsflash, you likely “support” some horrible human beings explicitly and/or implicitly. 
 

Also, I have this weird thing where I can disagree with people about certain things and agree with them about others. 

People might agree with you at times if you were ever right about anything.

Ah well, nevertheless...

[Brisketexan 105,114]

1 minute ago, Eskimohorn said:

The Eskimo Hut / Spite Store strategy is a bold move

Yep.  Think of how long shaggytexas.com stayed up and running after it functionally died as a viable website?  It was a graveyard of deleted shitposts and badmofo posting to himself....yet by the Humble Beast standard, it was successful because it was "still functioning."

There's also an underlying issue with the Elon fanboys, one they share with a lot of people.  They think that the quality and intelligence of a person is measured by one metric: their wealth.  Someone with billions?  He's unquestionably one of the smartest people on the planet.  AND, that brilliance translates across the board -- if he's a genius computer programmer, he's also a genius psychologist, pilot, archeologist, football coach, chef, etc. etc. ad infinitum.  We know this, because he has accumulated more "points" than other people ("points" being $$$).

There are some breathtakingly brilliant people of modest means -- people smarter than Elon could ever dream of being.  And there are some billionaires who are utter dumbasses, at least with respect to things outside of their area of strength.

What most of us are watching, because it's mesmerizing (someone used that term yesterday, and it's perfect for this), is a man of near-infinite narcissism and arrogance self-immolating with a fire fueled by those very qualities.  It is absolutely analogous to him declaring that because he's brilliant, he's the best pilot the world has ever seen, so he hops into a fighter jet, and promptly augers in....

 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,234]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

It means he doesn’t understand the model of Twitter…or Facebook…or radio….or network TV.

Platforms that make their money from ads need viewers. Charging the viewers….to generate orders of magnitude LESS revenue than ads do…necessarily costing you many eyes that won’t pay…is not smart.

I understand the model, what I don't understand it a model that is in existence solely on ad revenue being called critical and useful as people would be more than willing to pay for something like that.

Majority of those blue check people make good money from twitters existence, yet they are apparently ok with that source of revenue going away because they are being asked to pay a paltry sum.  It's like an actor refusing to take a movie role because of having to pay SAG dues.

One side is losing money here, one side is making money. Both sides lose if the golden goose dies.

[Bateshorn 9,927]

29 minutes ago, GenXer said:

This is the first I’ve heard of Mastodon. When you “tweet” on Mastodon, is it called “masterdate?” If so, I’m in.

I'm just hear for the tired masterbation jokes.

[Brisketexan 105,114]

Just now, MonkeyDoughnut said:

One side is losing money here, one side is making money. Both sides lose if the golden goose dies.

Sure.  Now do the math.

Twitter needs BILLIONS in revenue.

Blue check marks from people/outfits who use the platform as part of their business model can generate MILLIONS.

I went to law school in part because I'm not a math genius, but I'm pretty sure that BILLIONS > MILLIONS.

 

Nobody is saying that Elon can't (or shouldn't) look at other ways/sources to INCREASE revenue.  But if he does that at the expense of the BULK of his revenue.....then he's a fucking dumbass.  And that is EXACTLY what he has been doing -- in terms of increasing/not losing ad revenue, he's done almost everything wrong that could be done.

[Bateshorn 9,927]

2 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I understand the model, what I don't understand it a model that is in existence solely on ad revenue being called critical and useful as people would be more than willing to pay for something like that.

Majority of those blue check people make good money from twitters existence, yet they are apparently ok with that source of revenue going away because they are being asked to pay a paltry sum.  It's like an actor refusing to take a movie role because of having to pay SAG dues.

One side is losing money here, one side is making money. Both sides lose if the golden goose dies.

I suspect they don't mind paying, IF twitter is awesome. But that's not the case, Twitter is already full of sewage and laying off everyone only threatens to make it worse.

It's like offering me a premium cable service.....that only shows Caillou. Fanbois are screaming "WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? Breaking Bad?  Pay our genius godhead and watch your bald brat like he orders!!!"

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,234]

3 minutes ago, Bateshorn said:

I suspect they don't mind paying, IF twitter is awesome. But that's not the case, Twitter is already full of sewage and laying off everyone only threatens to make it worse.

It's like offering me a premium cable service.....that only shows Caillou. Fanbois are screaming "WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? Breaking Bad?  Pay our genius godhead and watch your bald brat like he orders!!!"

Damn...Caillou reference resonates personally.... Just brutal show

[wildcat09 29,353]

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Sure.  Now do the math.

Twitter needs BILLIONS in revenue.

Blue check marks from people/outfits who use the platform as part of their business model can generate MILLIONS.

I went to law school in part because I'm not a math genius, but I'm pretty sure that BILLIONS > MILLIONS.

 

Nobody is saying that Elon can't (or shouldn't) look at other ways/sources to INCREASE revenue.  But if he does that at the expense of the BULK of his revenue.....then he's a fucking dumbass.  And that is EXACTLY what he has been doing -- in terms of increasing/not losing ad revenue, he's done almost everything wrong that could be done.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s being unfairly targeted by…ACTIVISTS!”

@Humble Beast

[wildcat09 29,353]

13 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I understand the model, what I don't understand it a model that is in existence solely on ad revenue being called critical and useful as people would be more than willing to pay for something like that.

Majority of those blue check people make good money from twitters existence, yet they are apparently ok with that source of revenue going away because they are being asked to pay a paltry sum.  It's like an actor refusing to take a movie role because of having to pay SAG dues.

One side is losing money here, one side is making money. Both sides lose if the golden goose dies.

Local news is critical and failing because nobody is willing to pay for it. More money was probably spent this year on NFTs than local news, and NFTs are literally worthless in every possible respect.  The world isn't an econ 101 model.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,511]

If a boss invites everyone to leave if they're not going to increase their commitment, you're actually only inviting your high-demand employees to leave. But the afraid-of-unemployment people will remain. Basically middle manager types that don't really understand what they're doing, and they waste everyone's time due to their ignorance.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Brisketexan 105,114]

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

“He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s being unfairly targeted by…ACTIVISTS!”

Well, yeah....now that "ANTIFA!" isn't busy planning the giant false flag that was January 6th, they've gotta find something that occupies their time.

Funny how Elon's fanboys give Elon 100% credit for anything remotely good that's happened to any of his companies, but absolve him from all responsibility for any failures. 

And man, the irony of Elon, in this sequence, 1) saying that a huge problem with Twitter is bots, 2) making an offer to buy Twitter based on that alleged need to "clean this bot shit up," 3) agreeing to forego any due diligence into actually looking into how many bots there really are, 4) trying to get out of the deal because "Twitter lied to me and is overvalued because it has all those bots that I always said it had," 5) then, once acquiring Twitter, eliminating a huge chunk of the folks responsible for trying to winnow down bots and keep them under control, then finally, 6) once it's apparent that he's totally shitting the bed at Twitter, trumpeting as a benchmark of his success Twitter's high user-count.....which now surely includes a rapidly climbing number of bots and fake accounts.

It is 100% this meme:

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,234]

16 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Sure.  Now do the math.

Twitter needs BILLIONS in revenue.

Blue check marks from people/outfits who use the platform as part of their business model can generate MILLIONS.

I went to law school in part because I'm not a math genius, but I'm pretty sure that BILLIONS > MILLIONS.

 

Nobody is saying that Elon can't (or shouldn't) look at other ways/sources to INCREASE revenue.  But if he does that at the expense of the BULK of his revenue.....then he's a fucking dumbass.  And that is EXACTLY what he has been doing -- in terms of increasing/not losing ad revenue, he's done almost everything wrong that could be done.

It's not debatable that he's a dumbass who doesn't get what he bought, but he's at least opened up an opportunity for Twitter to switch to being just a backend for other companies... a "powered by Twitter" type scenario where Twitter is just the technical delivery mechanism the other companies could run their realtime messaging platforms on.  Would offload content moderation and interaction with humans for him... let the other companies do that work and own responsibility.

[Brisketexan 105,114]

Just now, MonkeyDoughnut said:

It's not debatable that he's a dumbass who doesn't get what he bought, but he's at least opened up an opportunity for Twitter to switch to being just a backend for other companies... a "powered by Twitter" type scenario where Twitter is just the technical delivery mechanism the other companies could run their realtime messaging platforms on.  Would offload content moderation and interaction with humans for him... let the other companies do that work and own responsibility.

And after the bankruptcy shakes out, maybe that's what it will be.

What you're describing is not the $44 billion company Elon paid for.  

There may be some valuable function in Twitter that can be streamlined/modifed and monetized in an effective way.  What Elon is doing is not furthering that in any way, other than arguably "allowing new grass to grown where all vegetation has been burned to the ground."  That's not good business.  Good business will be the people/entities that acquire the wreckage of Twitter for pennies on the dollar and do something like what you described.

[Grade of D as in David 13,253]

1 minute ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

It's not debatable that he's a dumbass who doesn't get what he bought, but he's at least opened up an opportunity for Twitter to switch to being just a backend for other companies... a "powered by Twitter" type scenario where Twitter is just the technical delivery mechanism the other companies could run their realtime messaging platforms on.  Would offload content moderation and interaction with humans for him... let the other companies do that work and own responsibility.

It's not debatable that Chernobyl was a disaster, but at least it opened up an opportunity to study the effect of radiation poisoning on surrounding flora and fauna.

[Humble Beast 258]

8 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

What do you agree with Elon about in terms of his management of Twitter?

What about his first few weeks at the helm have you cheering wildly?

It’s been an unmitigated disaster in every conceivable way. 

I’m not there but I think the culling of staff was warranted. He probably went too far and didn’t handle it well, but the numbers needed to come down like everywhere in Silicon Valley. 
 

The most offended moderation staff that quit first probably aren’t that big of a loss.

 

Otherwise he doesn’t seem to be doing well. Is it irreparable? Idk.

[Brisketexan 105,114]

4 minutes ago, Humble Beast said:

I’m not there but I think the culling of staff was warranted. He probably went too far and didn’t handle it well, but the numbers needed to come down like everywhere in Silicon Valley. 
 

The most offended moderation staff that quit first probably aren’t that big of a loss.

 

Otherwise he doesn’t seem to be doing well. Is it irreparable? Idk.

So, about 5% of what he's done.  "The company probably needed an employee haircut, and some members of the moderation staff would have been a good place to start....because I personally want Twitter to allow more alt-right bullshit." 

Nevermind your second point being dubious....95% of what he's done has been utterly counterproductive.  The fucking legal jeopardy alone (FTC consent decree, EU requirements, employment law requirements) is staggering.  Seriously, if that was the ONLY story, it would be disastrous.

[MeerkatBong 115]

The inverse of Elon stanboi’s are the people who have such a deep hate for him that they are offended and upset even when funny and comeuppance happens. Enjoy the meltdown.

[Hefeweizen 5,320]

3 minutes ago, Grade of D as in David said:

It's not debatable that Chernobyl was a disaster, but at least it opened up an opportunity to study the effect of radiation poisoning on surrounding flora and fauna.

Now now, it also provided us with a solid Netflix show.

[Celery Man 20,942]

44 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I understand the model, what I don't understand it a model that is in existence solely on ad revenue being called critical and useful as people would be more than willing to pay for something like that.

Majority of those blue check people make good money from twitters existence, yet they are apparently ok with that source of revenue going away because they are being asked to pay a paltry sum.  It's like an actor refusing to take a movie role because of having to pay SAG dues.

One side is losing money here, one side is making money. Both sides lose if the golden goose dies.

I don't think that people writ large would be willing to pay for something like that. Where is there an instance of people (mostly everyone) willing to pay for something like that? At their relative peaks, how big was angie's list vs craigslist?

If only a small subset of users are willing to pay for something like that (using twitter), even if that group is initially very large the platform becomes less of what it is. A big part of the value is the network effect - it is where everyone is. It becomes not that if it's only where "people willing to pay $8/mo" are. And then even those people who are willing to actually slap down a credit card number and add twitter to their list of revolving subscriptions will leave.

Of course still, the reason people don't want to pay for a blue check is because if the blue check = "i paid $8 for this" rather than "i am who I say I am, and i am someone who is somewhat notable in my space", the blue check isn't worth anything. It's not a free banana stand changing to a banana stand that charges a dollar per banana. It's a free banana stand that changes to $1/mo to access and no more bananas. What the fuck am I paying for?

Edited November 18, 2022 by Celery Man

[RDCanecutter 26,426]

17 hours ago, Pig Bellmont said:

Fuck around and find out…

Assuming you want to stay, what's to say Twitter lasts more than three months anyway?

[Brisketexan 105,114]

11 minutes ago, MeerkatBong said:

The inverse of Elon stanboi’s are the people who have such a deep hate for him that they are offended and upset even when funny and comeuppance happens. Enjoy the meltdown.

Oh, my glass of schadenfreude overfloweth for sure.

And the thing is, I haven't had any deep hate for Elon.  I didn't much care for him, mostly because I don't care for narcissist-based cults, and I definitely saw one around him (and this whole process has sure as shit validated my perception).  But if he'd just kept on with running Tesla and SpaceX, I'd have been generally neutral on him.

But now that he's put himself out there as an arrogant god to be worshipped......yeah, I'm enjoying his rocket-assisted fall from grace.

[G650 14,254]

Is there anyone who isn't enjoying Elmo's self immolation?

[RDCanecutter 26,426]

12 hours ago, The Dog said:

oh good grief whomever has the cheapest car just break through the thing and everyone go home.

They must have really stern barrier arms in that parking garage. Back in olden days when I drove an Alfa Spider (sits about one oxygen molecule above road level) I drove under one until it only blocked the windshield, then reached forward and tapped it up. Thing swung wide open.

In theory, somebody driving my car could have avoided all parking garage fees back then.

It'd be hilarious if they could have had somebody just walk over and push the damn thing up, using their actual body, like an animal.

[956 Worldwide 34,709]

1 hour ago, Bateshorn said:

I suspect they don't mind paying, IF twitter is awesome. But that's not the case, Twitter is already full of sewage and laying off everyone only threatens to make it worse.

It's like offering me a premium cable service.....that only shows Caillou. Fanbois are screaming "WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? Breaking Bad?  Pay our genius godhead and watch your bald brat like he orders!!!"

You continue to not understand, fundamentally, what the blue check was and why now that it means nothing Elon has introduced a second gray check mark. 
 

Also, imagine you own a site where you have everyone from Stephen King to Taylor Swift to the Royal Family creating free content for it. And your first thought it, “I need to charge them for that shit.”  It’s like NetFlix telling Martin Scorsese to pay THEM if he wants to put a movie on their service. Dumb AF. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,817]

People aren’t rooting for Twitter to blowup. People are laughing at a overconfident braggart that has zero concept of free speech or social media business acumen buy a company out of spite and it failing in predictable and spectacular fashion. 
 
 

Failing? Seems to be working pretty normal today. Oh well.

[Brisketexan 105,114]

4 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Failing? Seems to be working pretty normal today. Oh well.

I presume you have the same opinion about myspace.com?  It's functioning just fine today.

If you view a business as "does the software/tech work?  Then it's successful!", then you're on the money.  If, on the other hand, you view it by the metric that, you know, BUSINESSES are measured by -- financial performance -- then yeah, Twitter's got some serious-ass issues.  Just like Myspace.com does (once had a value of a jillion dollars, today has a value of 3 Stanley Nickels, but hey....you can click on the webpage and see stuff!)

[Chad Fuck 17,673]

1 hour ago, Bateshorn said:

I suspect they don't mind paying, IF twitter is awesome. But that's not the case, Twitter is already full of sewage and laying off everyone only threatens to make it worse.

It's like offering me a premium cable service.....that only shows Caillou. Fanbois are screaming "WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? Breaking Bad?  Pay our genius godhead and watch your bald brat like he orders!!!"

Goddamit I had fucking forgot all about Caillou.  That whiney little bitch.  

[Wally Fairway 5,545]

Live view of twitter

Spoiler

 

[Bateshorn 9,927]

Tumblr still exists.  They even overhauled their app design. That doesn’t mean anyone uses it.

[Chopper 17,230]

NYT tech reporter writes everything is going to plan for Elon. Don't worry. Hang tight.

[Chopper 17,230]

 

[Celery Man 20,942]

[F250 28,770]

28 minutes ago, G650 said:

Is there anyone who isn't enjoying Elmo's self immolation?

DonkeyCigars is not happy but will pretend to be indifferent about it.

[Grade of D as in David 13,253]

I think that meeting is going to look more like this.

[Brisketexan 105,114]

2 minutes ago, Chopper said:

 

 

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8,817]

I presume you have the same opinion about myspace.com?  It's functioning just fine today.
If you view a business as "does the software/tech work?  Then it's successful!", then you're on the money.  If, on the other hand, you view it by the metric that, you know, BUSINESSES are measured by -- financial performance -- then yeah, Twitter's got some serious-ass issues.  Just like Myspace.com does (once had a value of a jillion dollars, today has a value of 3 Stanley Nickels, but hey....you can click on the webpage and see stuff!)

I didn’t have a MySpace. So no opinion on it.

[MeerkatBong 115]

35 minutes ago, G650 said:

Is there anyone who isn't enjoying Elmo's self immolation?

Briskettexan.

[Captain Ron 12,876]

8 minutes ago, Chopper said:

 

I thought their offices were closed until Monday?

[MeerkatBong 115]

5 minutes ago, F250 said:

DonkeyCigars is not happy but will pretend to be indifferent about it.

I’m enjoying it immensely, you weirdo. I also like calling him Elmo as we’ve done, because Elon Musk is not my standard.

[Dbeasy 15,048]

So Musk is destroying Twitter. Can we make him CEO of Facebook and LinkedIn too, asap?