Elon & Twitter

[mspohr]

Data the dog: Twitter turns its privacy policy into an old-school video game

In Twitter Data Dash, players take control of a blue puppy who eats bones that inform him of site regulations

www.theguardian.com

You take control of a blue-hued puppy named Data and are tasked with retrieving five bones hidden in each of the game’s Day-Glo urban environments. (Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the analog I kept returning to during my gameplay.) After you complete your objective, the level ends and Twitter blesses you with a distilled talking point from its ethics board. Case in point: once I collected my first set of bones, a message popped up on screen informing me that I could opt out of Twitter’s targeted advertisements if I wanted. The second time around, I was given instructions on how to filter my DMs.

 

[ohmman]

We can call it whatever we want but peeling back the onion this is the sole reason EVERYONE that is against this deal is losing their ever loving minds. Just a WAG and based on the posts here 90% of the Tesla owners and fans are left with many far left and this just makes them crazy. Any person from any company they can't do without that has even one sliver of like, fondness or at minimum doesn't think Trump as an alien is going crazy, bonkers and trying their hardest to put some spin on this thing that it is such a bad idea.

If you all think that firmly about the issues with Elon, his values and his willingness to allow Trump back on Twitter then put your money where your mouth is. Sell your Tesla and cancel your Twitter account if you are that upset. No use belly aching over it. Life is too short. I have with many of my favorite things. When companies decide to pick a side then they run that chance. I donated every last Nike item and haven't spent one dime on that POS company the day they wanted to support who I feel is a worthless human in Kapernick. There are a couple other companies as well.

I'm sorry to call this out, but it's complete nonsense to assume that just because people agree or disagree with Elon's decision that it must have ideological roots. It sounds as if your opinions are rooted there, but it doesn't mean everyone else's are. The idea of "free speech" isn't even ideologically based, since the entire political spectrum loves their own free speech and generally doesn't love the opposing political view's speech as much.

My read of the commentary here, and my personal opinion, is that Elon is a brilliant guy who has gathered knowledge in these technological engineering fields and that putting his efforts into social media isn't my preferred use of his energy. I'd rather see him get into aviation or other transit with the same kind of seriousness he brought to SpaceX. That isn't saying it's not his prerogative to do whatever he wants, on the contrary I think we all understand he can do whatever he'd like (legally). However, everyone here is merely expressing their opinion on the matter, or there would be no reason to have a discussion at all. The opinion of some is that Elon should do something useful, and some of us think that social media is useless. I personally find Twitter to be one of the lowest forms of social media. I prefer places for longer, more thoughtful discussions instead of distillation of complexity down to memes and emotional snippets.

I'd feel the exact same way if Elon said he was going to buy Nintendo. It just seems like a poor use of an amazing skillset.

 

[Buckminster]

I'd feel the exact same way if Elon said he was going to buy Nintendo.

Only a matter of time!

 

[_Redshift_]

I'm sorry to call this out, but it's complete nonsense to assume that just because people agree or disagree with Elon's decision that it must have ideological roots. It sounds as if your opinions are rooted there, but it doesn't mean everyone else's are. The idea of "free speech" isn't even ideologically based, since the entire political spectrum loves their own free speech and generally doesn't love the opposing political view's speech as much.

My read of the commentary here, and my personal opinion, is that Elon is a brilliant guy who has gathered knowledge in these technological engineering fields and that putting his efforts into social media isn't my preferred use of his energy. I'd rather see him get into aviation or other transit with the same kind of seriousness he brought to SpaceX. That isn't saying it's not his prerogative to do whatever he wants, on the contrary I think we all understand he can do whatever he'd like (legally). However, everyone here is merely expressing their opinion on the matter, or there would be no reason to have a discussion at all. The opinion of some is that Elon should do something useful, and some of us think that social media is useless. I personally find Twitter to be one of the lowest forms of social media. I prefer places for longer, more thoughtful discussions instead of distillation of complexity down to memes and emotional snippets.

I'd feel the exact same way if Elon said he was going to buy Nintendo. It just seems like a poor use of an amazing skillset.

100% Agreed with this.

 

[_Redshift_]

When this whole Twitter thing started weeks ago, I was really vocal in my friends’ circle how much I hated it. They were wondering why I would get so passionate about the subject.

See, Tesla was special. I went through the inconvenience of beta testing the Model S for the first 4 years, so many major and minor issues. I tolerated all the issues because I was a strong believer in Tesla’s mission. Elon was like a superhero.

Now, I feel the ship that was sailing with a strong purpose is a bit adrift. Elon recently walking back the urgency of fighting climate change was like a stab in the back.

Where is that strong purpose of following the mission? Was it all a lie? Was it just to help him become the richest man?

And all this lost focus for what? Twitter? Good grief!

 

[Bet TSLA]

I'm sorry to call this out, but it's complete nonsense to assume that just because people agree or disagree with Elon's decision that it must have ideological roots. It sounds as if your opinions are rooted there, but it doesn't mean everyone else's are. The idea of "free speech" isn't even ideologically based, since the entire political spectrum loves their own free speech and generally doesn't love the opposing political view's speech as much.

My read of the commentary here, and my personal opinion, is that Elon is a brilliant guy who has gathered knowledge in these technological engineering fields and that putting his efforts into social media isn't my preferred use of his energy. I'd rather see him get into aviation or other transit with the same kind of seriousness he brought to SpaceX. That isn't saying it's not his prerogative to do whatever he wants, on the contrary I think we all understand he can do whatever he'd like (legally). However, everyone here is merely expressing their opinion on the matter, or there would be no reason to have a discussion at all. The opinion of some is that Elon should do something useful, and some of us think that social media is useless. I personally find Twitter to be one of the lowest forms of social media. I prefer places for longer, more thoughtful discussions instead of distillation of complexity down to memes and emotional snippets.

I'd feel the exact same way if Elon said he was going to buy Nintendo. It just seems like a poor use of an amazing skillset.

Agreed. Useless drivel supported by nothing.

My main worry with Elon buying Twitter is that he's taking what was a source of relaxation and amusement and turning it into a job and source of more stress. Even if he can improve it immensely, that seems like a big mistake.

At the same time, I don't see that his main superpower, reasoning from first principles, will serve him particularly well in trying to improve Twitter. There are no first principles of social interaction. He can make all sorts of technical improvements in the communication tools and have it become a much worse service. It's what I expect, since Elon's history with communication with customers is very poor. He has no successes in that area that I can think of.

 

[Beltsbear]

Unfortunately Elon who said getting into politics was bad himself and said he would be neutral, keeps taking sides.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1525549535786717184

 

[EVNow]

Unfortunately Elon who said getting into politics was bad himself and said he would be neutral, keeps taking sides.

This tweet said it all. This was before Twitter acquisition .... clearly he is under the influence of "alt-right" personalities. He just uses their language now - "woke", "owning libs" etc. Won't be surprised to see an explicitly racist comment sometime soon ...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1516600269899026432

Yes - he actually thinks asking people to use a person's preferred pronoun is a bigger threat to civilization than insurrection.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1516601612114055170

 

[EVNow]

Very interesting .... so, is Twitter ready to cancel deal ? I hope so.

The faster this is behind Elon, the faster he can get back to Tesla & FSD.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1525615849167589380

and ofcourse Elon is now in full on Gamer Gate Bro mode.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1525580131246321664

 

[phantasms]

Can we get a cry emoji added for this thread? Like, helpful, informative, etc isn’t cutting it.

Don’t meet your heroes….or follow them for too long on Twitter.

Yes Elon. Here are my liberal tears. Enjoy.

 

[spacerfc]

This tweet said it all. This was before Twitter acquisition .... clearly he is under the influence of "alt-right" personalities. He just uses their language now - "woke", "owning libs" etc. Won't be surprised to see an explicitly racist comment sometime soon ...

Yes - he actually thinks asking people to use a person's preferred pronoun is a bigger threat to civilization than insurrection.

Right, like he must be under the influence of alt-right when he tweeted Trump is divisive and shouldn't be a candidate in 2024... /s

BTW, the word "woke" most definitely is not limited to things related to preferred pronouns, obviously we don't know what Musk is referring to by using this word but I think the following description from Wikipedia's definition of "woke" fits his usage of the word pretty well:

By 2020, parts of the political center and right-wing in several Western countries were using the term woke, often in an ironic way, as an insult for various progressive or leftist movements and ideologies perceived as overzealous, performative, or insincere.

 

[30seconds]

I think Elon should buy Vogue, clear liberal bias since they aren’t putting Melanie aren’t on the cover. Would totally blow the minds of the libs.

 

[JRP3]

Everyday this looks more like a clown show, with Elon leading the circus. I really don't trust his judgement anymore and when the stock recovers above $1K I will be more aggressively reducing my TSLA exposure.

 

[mspohr]

He found truth.

I was not born racist nor grew up to be racist. I simply became racist after I learned the truth," read a post from Payton Gendron (18) who murdered 10 innocent people yesterday

 

[Daniel in SD]

Under Elon's content moderation policy the video of the murders would not be removed. He's definitely going to have to go to a subscription model because I don't think advertisers will like that.

 

[mspohr]

Under Elon's content moderation policy the video of the murders would not be removed. He's definitely going to have to go to a subscription model because I don't think advertisers will like that.

Of course, there is also the whole issue of how he found "truth" on 4chan, TikTok, etc. and (of course) Fox news who encouraged his belief in "replacement theory".
It seems that this is irresponsible. Hard to square with "absolute free speech".

 

[ggies07]

Everyday this looks more like a clown show, with Elon leading the circus. I really don't trust his judgement anymore and when the stock recovers above $1K I will be more aggressively reducing my TSLA exposure.

I'm still holding until at least 2030, but if it hits 2k before then, I'll be pulling it.

 

[Beltsbear]

Under Elon's content moderation policy the video of the murders would not be removed. He's definitely going to have to go to a subscription model because I don't think advertisers will like that.

If you think Elon’s Twitter would leave up the video, which is basically KKK recruiting material , the you are right that they would lose most advertisers on the platform. Going to subscription would dramatically drop viewers and accounts. 4Chan is not a commercial success for a reason.

 

[Daniel in SD]

If you think Elon’s Twitter would leave up the video, which is basically KKK recruiting material , the you are right that they would lose most advertisers on the platform. Going to subscription would dramatically drop viewers and accounts. 4Chan is not a commercial success for a reason.

I don't actually think he would. I think he'll find that running Twitter will not be nearly as fun as trolling on Twitter.
I was just pointing out that implementing his "whatever is legal" policy would be a financial disaster for him.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1523654106745020418

 

[Dave EV]

Of course, there is also the whole issue of how he found "truth" on 4chan, TikTok, etc. and (of course) Fox news who encouraged his belief in "replacement theory".
It seems that this is irresponsible. Hard to square with "absolute free speech".

The "great replacement theory" is a whole can of worms which has unfortunately gone way more mainstream on the right in recent years. You have the Fox "News" spouting off on this constantly - they aren't even trying to hide it any more. It's obvious that this type of messaging must be discouraged, since it is often coupled with violent rhetoric that leads to events just like yesterdays.

Insightful discussion requires moderation and so far we haven't seen any signs of how this will be achieved.

I've said before that I think that Twitter is a horrible medium to tackle the types of nuanced discussions the world needs to have. It is no town square. Forums / BBS systems like TMC are better, but heavy moderation is required to make these platforms work. Twitter primarily serves as a way to take out-of-context quotes where people constantly attempt to "own" the other side. It is filled with gish gallop - I see this all the time and the time / space required to counter misinformation is simply not possible.

Maybe all the meat of Elon's ideas are being kept private under NDA, but we will see. He's never let an NDA stop him from spilling the beans before.