Elon & Twitter

[bkp_duke]

This is the only guy. Haha.
And as I pointed out he’s removing a feature that was added to force people to log in (to make Twitter money).

Extremely outdated "feature". Most sites keep you logged in with a cookie.

Plus, if you want to post, you have to be logged in.

Hotz is correct, this should have been nuked a long long time ago.

 

[STS-134]

Was it on this thread that an annoying person doubted my assertion that various Silicon Valley engineers were volunteering to work for Elon to help clean up Twitter’s code? Anyways, here’s another example:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1594906882027552773

Well. That thing he's trying to get rid of happens to be one of the most annoying things about Twitter. Hasn't made me want to smash my phone or computer screen yet as much as YouTube's annoying tendency to play ads before videos though.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Volunteering would typically mean not receiving pay.

In context, not necessarily in this case. I think he means simply engineers lining up to work for the company (even with pay). Hotz is not working for free, he is asked for cost of living in SF:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1592955427179765760

 

[Cosmacelf]

Well. That thing he's trying to get rid of happens to be one of the most annoying things about Twitter. Hasn't made me want to smash my phone or computer screen yet as much as YouTube's annoying tendency to play ads before videos though.

YouTube premium. Worth it. I never see ads on YouTube.

 

[italian bread]

Bush signed the original EV tax credit (the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007). Arguably that did more for Tesla than anything to date.

Bush signed it, but it was Congress which created the $7.5K tax credit. And once Tesla got its legs by benefitting off the tax credits, Musk advocated against extending the EV tax credit program.

 

[EVNow]

Hotz is not working for free, he is asked for cost of living in SF:

Yes, probably working as a contractor.

I can see people like him - no family and in between jobs - working temp for Twitter. "Worked for Elon and survived" would be a pretty good item on anyone's resume.

 

[Ogre]

George is already on it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1595179131431309312

Well the annoying popup is gone so he's halfway there.

 

[Ogre]

Elon is all in:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1595250835096621057

Next cupboard over is a stack of "Thin Blue Line" tee shirts.

Volunteering would typically mean not receiving pay.

Not at all. It just means you are stepping up to do something.

"Any volunteers to swap shifts with me?"

 

[Ogre]

This is the only guy. Haha.
And as I pointed out he’s removing a feature that was added to force people to log in (to make Twitter money).

The feature was stupid. Browsing Twitter from a web client while not signed in sucks. All it did was get in the way of people reading threads which are linked to from elsewhere.

The goal is to make Twitter more enjoyable first and foremost. Money comes later.

 

[thx1139]

For all his faults, Trump didn't try to GET IN THE WAY of Elon. Biden has threatened to investigate Elon's companies, ignored him, outright lied and said a competitor (GM) "led the way".


I'll take non-interference over that BS.

You mean the Trump that lowered CAFE standards which cut ZEV credit sales and also sent in motion the end of Solar Tax Credits in the 2017 tax cut for the rich. Solar Tax Credits dropped to 26% in 2021, were set to drop to 22% in 2023 and end in 2024. IRA restores them to 30% back dated to Jan 1 2022 and added battery storage to the program. Now expires 2032.

 

[thx1139]

The feature was stupid. Browsing Twitter from a web client while not signed in sucks. All it did was get in the way of people reading threads which are linked to from elsewhere.

The goal is to make Twitter more enjoyable first and foremost. Money comes later.

Oh wow what an important thing, that I never noticed, to get rid of.

 

[sleepydoc]

I can't help but think that having the popup was a prior business decision, not an insurmountable programming obstacle. I think it's great to have it gone, cuz I don't want a Twitter account and it's easier to read this way. But as a way of guaranteeing that I'll never be monetizable on the platform, it works even better!
(Pro tip to George: you just had to click the "sign up" button, and then close that window and the popup disappeared)

Getting rid of a pop up is a trivial programming task. If this is his great accomplishment then he’s not worth what he’s getting paid

 

[MC3OZ]

Nice.

My question was ‘what is the strategy to win‘.

Post a lot of memes and jokes on Twitter.

We have outlined what we know about Elon's plans in this thread several times.

I assume that if he learns that Plan A doesn't work Elon will work on Plan B,

......

If Plan Z doesn't work, Elon will work on Plan 1A.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Did the same groups who supposedly agreed to not pull advertising on this condition directly control the vast majority of Twitter advertising (which presumably is mostly corporate ads for companies that sell products)? It would be interesting to see any emails or conversations on how this "deal" was brokered.

The gist I got was a bulk of lost revenue were companies pausing ads to wait to see how things would shake down at Twitter. I would be fairly surprised if a group of those companies banded together and agreed to continue advertising while the Council was still being set up. It would make more sense to pull advertising until the council was already set up and there is some assurance that there would be some people other than Elon that makes ultimate judgement about content. If Elon actually went through with the promises, it would show he at least would stick to his word, and they would put advertising back.

Yep. Companies paused their ad buys as Elon openly attacked their concerns and introduced chaos to the platform their brand would be shown in... and he spins it as "well they didn't mindlessly support me so it's their fault I'm being a partisan ahole now"

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Post a lot of memes and jokes on Twitter.

We have outlined what we know about Elon's plans in this thread several times.

I assume that if he learns that Plan A doesn't work Elon will work on Plan B,

......

If Plan Z doesn't work, Elon will work on Plan 1A.

If free speech doesn't work, and speech-within-limits-of-a-broad-council doesn't work, then Whatever-speech-Elon-likes will be plan 1A

 

[Ogre]

That sounds like a very expensive strategy. For him and for TSLA shareholders.

It's almost as if people didn't know that Musk has made a habit of doing stupid/ expensive things which turn out to be incredibly profitable.

Can you name a Musk company that people didn't think would be a massive waste of time and money when he got involved?

 

[italian bread]

The Twitter dam has begun to buckle!

Forbes:
It became apparent Sunday night that Twitter’s automated copyright strike/takedown system was no longer functional. A user went viral for uploading the entirety of The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift in two minute chunks over a 50 tweet thread.

 

[italian bread]

It's almost as if people didn't know that Musk has made a habit of doing stupid/ expensive things which turn out to be incredibly profitable.

Can you name a Musk company that people didn't think would be a massive waste of time and money when he got involved?

Boring Company?

 

[MC3OZ]

That sounds like a very expensive strategy. For him and for TSLA shareholders.

I can't remember the last time Elon simply gave up and walked away.

Perhaps on taking Tesla private, but some retail shareholders begged him not to do it.

I do remember him not giving up on:-

• Production Hell
• FSD
• Reusable rockets.

If we are looking for a product that has gone through plans A...K, perhaps the Solar Roof is that product, and again Elon isn't giving up.

I don't think Elon really cares that much about money, he will spend whatever it takes.

 

[Ogre]

Boring Company?

You're kidding right? Many people STILL criticize it as a giant waste of money. It was literally funded by flame throwers and hats because Musk couldn't get financial backing for it.