Elon & Twitter

[Doit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593680546571616256

 

[Knightshade]

Again... you are assuming he didn't talk specifically to the people he wanted to keep.

So you think the email to the other 95% of the company was just some kind of trolling?

C'mon dude- do better.

 

[Chunky Jr.]

It's a nice idea/gesture, but since I'm actually a hiring manager I can assure you that a 10% raise does not make people stay - it at best makes them delay leaving and often not that.

Giving those that stay a very large option grant that gives them a stake in the success of the thing they're being asked to work 80 hours a week on? That might move the needle.

I'm not sure if they are in a position to do that yet. Elon owns all the shares. I assume they would have to recapitalize the company and hand out options in that, which is not something they could have done with such short notice.

But you're right, RSUs/options would be much better all things being equal

 

[STS-134]

You were the first to reply, on my reply I clarified I was talking specifically about net worth, nothing more nothing less. It's other here that want to move those goalposts.

So if someone inherits a fortune from his parents and goes on to become the wealthiest person in history, you'd consider him or her a successful business person? There are a lot of ways one can get a lot of net worth and for some people, running a business might have nothing to do with it.

In any case, I accounted for both possibilities (either net worth or how many industries the person has revolutionized) by providing examples of two people who have done more than Elon, one in each category.

 

[bkp_duke]

I'm not sure if they are in a position to do that yet. Elon owns all the shares. I assume they would have to recapitalize the company and hand out options in that, which is not something they could have done with such short notice.

But you're right, RSUs/options would be much better all things being equal

It's a private company now. In the span of a DAY they could issue options. In theory other shareholders should vote, according to whatever the new bylaws are, but since Elon controls the bulk, he could tell whoever is listed as corp secretary that's what he wants to do and offer options in the new Twitter to employees that stay.

I have options in several private companies I've collaborated with in the past. All of it was in the hopes of an IPO in the future. Elon did, months ago, say after several years he would like to re-IPO the company, which I'm sure was a condition of his co-investors giving him cash (i.e. an exit ramp for them).

Cool thing about being a private company is you can have different share classes, which if memory serves you cannot as a public company. The original investors could be Class A shares (all voting rights), and the employees vest into Class B shares (value, but no voting rights).

 

[STS-134]

Cool thing about being a private company is you can have different share classes, which if memory serves you cannot as a public company. The original investors could be Class A shares (all voting rights), and the employees vest into Class B shares (value, but no voting rights).

Zuck controls > 50% of the votes at META, but only around 10-15% of the shares by value. Investors don't really have any say in what goes on at META because Zuck could single-handedly override all of their votes. And at Google, Brin, Page, and Schmidt collectively had more than 50% of the votes, due to having shares with enhanced voting rights.

 

[Doit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593458225533313025

So Peter Clowes was a senior software engineer who was the last one to go in his "org"

As as a senior engineer, he cited a "wired report" to either verify or obtain info about having adult content as a core component and he believes that is not only possible, but probable, as he lists that (adult content offering) as one of reasons that he can't stay.

I won't hire him even he offers to work for free.

 

[thx1139]

That free speech absolutism sure didn't age well

But I think this is a good thing if managed correctly.

 

[Discoducky]

I assume pay walled, anyone know or care to summarize? I can't currently...seems meaty though

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593686891965992961

 

[advocate8]

A good thread that confirms by priors (Twitter algorithm is amazing!) about why even a hardcore engineer would quit Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593458225533313025

want to amplify this. its an honest, fair assessment from an unusually thoughtful person of what it feels like to be there at that exact moment.
Someone like this person will not have trouble finding good employment, either.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

But I think this is a good thing if managed correctly.

I'd accept it as progress that the idea of free-speech-absolutism to organize a social media platform has been abandoned.

I worry that the person who thought it was a good idea in the first place is still making all the key decisions going forward.

 

[scottf200]

So Peter Clowes was a senior software engineer who was the last one to go in his "org"

As as a senior engineer, he cited a "wired report" to either verify or obtain info about having adult content as a core component and he believes that is not only possible, but probable, as he lists that (adult content offering) as one of reasons that he can't stay.

I won't hire him even he offers to work for free.

He was in the 15% that did not get cut in his org (ala 85% did).
So the above is the main thing you got for all his other points and reasoning? He had several. That is telling.

 

[Spacep0d]

I don’t believe in simplistic single axis labels. Take the test in say PoliticalCompass and tell us where you fall.

Anti-woke is just the new “state rights”.

Sure, link the test. I'm very much in the center, with common-cause on the left and the right, but I don't side with the extremes of either.

Exactly how many center-left atheist 2A supporters and enthusiastic supporters of universal healthcare do you know? I'm a mixed bag because I care about what is true, not what feels good or makes people like (or not dislike) me.

It takes courage to follow the facts where they lead, and the Left has a huge courage deficit. Sam Harris has been saying this for years, and the Left finds ways to assassinate his character too though he probably hates Trump more than anyone on this board.

 

[thx1139]

I'd accept it as progress that the idea of free-speech-absolutism to organize a social media platform has been abandoned.

I worry that the person who thought it was a good idea in the first place is still making all the key decisions going forward.

Agree I never thought he was thinking this through.

 

[MC3OZ]

That's harder to predict. They won't be bankrupt tomorrow. Even if they can't pay their AWS bill, Amazon probably won't shut them down immediately. The company is bleeding money and employees at a staggering rate. When the burn rate is going to get too severe to continue is dependent on a lot of factors and we don't know exactly what the financial picture is in any detail, just that it's very bleak.

Another factor is the rate of bleeding off of users. There is serious talk of moving to other platforms. Mastadon has grown tremendously the last couple of weeks. Right now there is a lot of experimentation, but in the social media world when users get happy feet, they don't tend to come back.

I don't think it's imminent (days), but it can't last for a long time either (a year or more). Within that range, who knows?



The bond yield curve is inverted right now, which does usually predict a recession. And the US is doing better than the rest of the world right now economically, but not stellar. However the economic situation is not the typical business cycle reason for a recession right now. Inflation is high, but it's being driven by a war, disrupted supply chains from both the war and the dregs of the pandemic, and the US has a historically tight job market.

If a recession does start, the best way to curb it or even stop it is for the government to start doing infrastructure spending. Congress has passed two large bills packed full of infrastructure packages in the last two years. That money is just starting to be spent now and it will be doled out between now and mid-2024. The money is not only going for old fashioned infrastructure like roads and bridges but it also going to expand broad band into rural areas and help expand electric vehicle and renewable energy infrastructure. There will be plenty of tech work to absorb anyone who lost their job in tech recently.

The war in Ukraine will probably end within the next year. Russia's army is disintegrating and Ukraine is just getting stronger. Russia may end up pulling out if the country falls into internal turmoil, but if not, Ukraine will push them out of Ukraine and Russia won't be back. When the war is over, there will be a massive infrastructure boom rebuilding Ukraine too.

Ukraine will likely turn to the countries that helped them most to rebuild which means infrastructure contracts with European and North American companies rather than China.

The world may end up with a situation a bit like the post WW II era with some countries in very bad shape economically and others booming. The US will likely be one of the booming countries. It's been least affected by the war, it grows all its own food, and get most of its energy from the western hemisphere. The US is affected because oil is priced as a global commodity and for other things disruptions in China's production has more impact on the US economy than anything Russia has done. Right now it's a good time to be a US defense contractor, they will be cranking out products for years to come. I think Poland ordered 500 HIMARS, similar orders have come for other US weapons.

Europe is going to have energy problems for the next couple of years, but there is a clear plan in the EU to smooth things out. The UK is dealing with the same energy problems as Europe combined with a badly managed Brexit that is just beginning to hit home now. The UK economy is likely going to be chaotic for at least a few years. Ukraine will be on life support for a while, but will likely come roaring back within 10 years.



He did redo a lot of things at Tesla when he took over, but Tesla at the time was a struggling start up with only a handful of employees. They were struggling to get anything out the door. I'm not sure if they delivered their first Roadster by the time Musk took over, but the two were very close together and Elon took over because they were going through hell trying to get Roadsters finished.

Tesla was in a very different place than Twitter when he took over. The company only had 360 employees when he became CEO. It was a curiosity among some tech geeks, but was not a serious player in anything.



Back in 2015 or 2016 my partner asked me if I wanted to work for Tesla. I had a good gig then and I like living in Washington. I don't want to move back to California. But I also knew working for Elon back then would be hell.

This is one engineer who never wanted to work for him.

You do know that Elon told the Twitter staff that he he sold enough Tesla shares to keep Twitter running through a long deep recession.

Working for Elon isn't easy even for the extremely capable and highly motivated, for everyone else it is impossible. Elon only wants a small, hardworking comitted team working on Twitter. That is what he is aiming for.

 

[Spacep0d]

What if someone fake uses my real name ?

I think legitimate name owners or business owners operating under a name they can prove should get priority, and this should be taken up with Twitter management. This assumes someone doesn't legit have the same name and simply beat you to the punch.

 

[Discoducky]

I assume pay walled, anyone know or care to summarize? I can't currently...seems meaty though

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593686891965992961

Read it, not paywalled.

Synopsis: Praises Musk, execution worries abound, but also left due to unilateral power that Musk wields.

Two key quotes...

"In response, Mr. Musk empowered my team to move more aggressively to remove hate speech across the platform — censoring more content, not less. Our actions worked: Before my departure, I shared data about Twitter’s enforcement of hateful conduct showing that, by some measures, Twitter was actually safer under Mr. Musk than it had been before."

"In appointing himself “Chief Twit,” Mr. Musk has made clear that at the end of the day, he’ll be the one calling the shots.

It was for this reason that I ultimately chose to leave the company: A Twitter whose policies are defined by unilateral edict has little need for a trust and safety function dedicated to its principled development."

 

[ZenRockGarden]

I think legitimate name owners or business owners operating under a name they can prove should get priority, and this should be taken up with Twitter management. This assumes someone doesn't legit have the same name and simply beat you to the punch.

Yep, and Twitter used to have a whole team who specifically vetted and handled these kinds of cases. Used to.

 

[Spacep0d]

LOL. You know EVNow is not my real name, right

I think the problem would be someone using a famous person’s name before the famous person creates their own account.

Was it not obvious that the example of EVNow2 instead of EVNow could be applied to anything? <YourName><unique distinction>. Simple formula really.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Was it not obvious that the example of EVNow2 instead of EVNow could be applied to anything? <YourName><unique distinction>. Simple formula really.

I'm still trying to sort out what kinds of free speech you folks actually believe in. It feels very ad-hoc and situational.

Full disclosure: I am in favor of strong moderation, very much like what is done on this board thru the hard work of skilled humans enforcing a wide ranging list of standards of conduct which go far far beyond the rules of basic public free speech.