# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442 "2022-04-25T22:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 126
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2502 "2023-01-04T13:09:13Z")
Catturd is complaing about something. A good thing. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2503 "2023-01-04T16:04:47Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’m not sure what shadow-banning is, but I suspect it is “all of our ideas are very popular and if we aren’t getting likes it must be because the deep-state FBI/CIA agents embedded in Twitter are not allowing it”. As shadow-ban is when a social media user is still on a platform, but their posts don’t show up in feeds or other aggregation locations. All the posts are still there, if you go looking for them, but effectively nobody sees them. It’s similar to a Demonetized video on YouTube. I don’t think there’s any dispute that this is a thing that happens. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2504 "2023-01-04T16:19:01Z")
Twitter has the capacity to ‘de-boost’ or ‘boost’ anyone it likes or dislikes. They also have the ability to prevent your messages from being returned in searches. They have a lot of power to shape messaging. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2505 "2023-01-04T16:34:41Z")
“Shadow-banning” is pretty much what Elon has said his [preferred method of moderation](https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-exec-says-moving-fast-moderation-harmful-content-surges-2022-12-03/) is. Though that might already be old news. And of course reading the tea leaves and declaring the lack of likes and views on your tweets is the result of a shadow ban is nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2506 "2023-01-04T17:18:20Z")
> [@naita](#): > > And of course reading the tea leaves and declaring the lack of likes and views on your tweets is the result of a shadow ban is nothing new. We know it’s a thing, but there’s no way to tell if any particular tweet or user has been targeted (unlike a YouTube demonetization which the creator is notified of). So it leads to all kinds of speculation about political or personal bias. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2507 "2023-01-04T17:22:19Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > We know it’s a thing, but there’s no way to tell if any particular tweet or user has been targeted (unlike a YouTube demonetization which the creator is notified of). So it leads to all kinds of speculation about political or personal bias. It’s a thing now. On old Twitter you just got suspended or banned, but claims of shadowbanning abounded nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2508 "2023-01-04T19:11:22Z")
You can check here if you’re shadowbanned. > **[Twitter Shadowban Test](https://shadowban.yuzurisa.com/)** > > Are you shadowbanned on Twitter? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2509 "2023-01-04T20:14:36Z")
> [@naita](#): > > “Shadow-banning” is pretty much what Elon has said his [preferred method of moderation](https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-exec-says-moving-fast-moderation-harmful-content-surges-2022-12-03/) is. Ah yes, free speech means we’re not going to stop you from speaking, we’ll just stop your speech from being heard. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2510 "2023-01-04T21:05:59Z")
In a way you won’t notice unless you have third parties checking for you. Very transparent this sort of “moderation” is. Not. Totally par for post-truth RW trolls. The truth is falsity, falsity is truth, and nothing is trustworthy because trust, like truth, are stoopit librul virtues, not virile alpha-male RW virtues. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2511 "2023-01-04T23:13:41Z")
If a tree stands on a plain in the sunshine, and no one is there to see it, does it still cast a shadow? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2512 "2023-01-04T23:15:37Z")
…I’m not sure if “shadow-banning” (the way that it is generally understood) is happening more or less than it was pre-Elon. What I’ve observed is that there were “algorithmic tweaks” that looked like they were _intended_ to make “new voices” more discoverable. I follow just under 5000 people, but I’ve got a highly curated feed, so what I saw happen on my feed was that I started to get shown more “people I agree with” but that _I didn’t follow_, and some people that I follow and used to regularly show up in my feed _were no longer being shown at all_. A lot of people were observing that they were being shown tweets from people they actively disagreed with like Andrew T@te or Jordan P$terson, but I think that was more a result of algorithmic failure than a deliberate decision to put that kind of thing on people’s feeds. I think the new algorithm may have been taking into account the people you interact with as well, and if you spend a lot of time either arguing with or quote-tweeting people you disagree with, the algorithm took that into account, and may have been pushing similar content into your feed. Which brings us to today. When I woke up this morning, Twitter had decided to behave. No signs of the buggy behaviour of the last few days. But I _also_ started to see people back-on-my-feed that I hadn’t seen in _weeks_. They just popped back up. It was like seeing old friends again. And the new people (who I agreed with but didn’t follow) had dramatically dropped right off. So what I’m guessing they did a big roll-back of things to get things stable. Even things like my “followed topics” have reset to the same order they were a couple of months ago (and the way that I prefer it) which, for me at least, is a good thing. But I don’t anticipate any of the changes that Musk has said are “coming soon” will be coming, anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2513 "2023-01-05T02:32:34Z")
I thought about making a new thread in IMHO, but does anybody else think Musk is going to get dumped as CEO of TSLA? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that he gets dumped as CEO. I just have this funny feeling that a lot of the big investors are not really happy right now. They don’t care if he throws away $44B in Twitter (unless they’re the handful also invested in Twitter of course) but destroying TSLA is unacceptable. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2514 "2023-01-05T22:10:12Z")
The latest PR from Elmo: the Tesla Cybertruck can pull “near infinite mass”. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlphiGmaEAAJpMI?format=jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlphiGmaEAAJpMI?format=jpg) > **[Tesla's Claim That Cybertruck Can Pull "Near Infinite Mass" Is Hilarious...](https://www.theautopian.com/teslas-claim-that-cybertruck-can-pull-near-infinite-mass-is-hilarious-bullshit/)** > > At this moment in time, the Tesla Cybertruck is a machine that is mostly hype. I’m not saying it’ll never actually get produced or anything like that, but I am saying that most of the general concept of what a Cybertruck is about 75% hype... ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2515 "2023-01-05T22:31:14Z")
Very cool. So the Cybertruck should be able to haul Sagittarius A\*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Which is nowhere close to “near infinite”, but at over 4 million solar masses, it’s pretty damn massive. Or, even more massive, Elmo’s ego. In other news, perhaps spurred by recent flooding in California and elsewhere, Elmo has also declared that the Tesla can not only float, but it can function as a boat and propel itself across the water, although he did add that he doesn’t particularly recommend it. But he does say that the Cybertruck, in keeping with its apparently miraculous capabilities, will be truly amphibious. Note that I am not making any of this stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2516 "2023-01-05T22:32:51Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The latest PR from Elmo: the Tesla Cybertruck can pull “near infinite mass”. All it needs is a big enough lever and a place to ~~stand~~ drive. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2517 "2023-01-05T22:34:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Very cool. So the Cybertruck should be able to haul Sagittarius A\*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Which is nowhere close to “near infinite”, but at over 4 million solar masses, it’s pretty damn massive. Who needs to fly to Mars when we can just tow it to us? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2518 "2023-01-05T22:43:23Z")
Hey, I can pull a near-infinite mass too - I just can’t move it. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2519 "2023-01-05T22:50:32Z")
Having luckily avoided having heard of this project until now, I could immediately tell it was going to be mostly hype before learning of its ability to pull near infinite mass. The giveaway is in the name: WTF is a **cyber** truck? Does it come with a Keanu Reeves voice pack? Is the owner’s manual written by William Gibson? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2520 "2023-01-05T22:57:48Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > WTF is a **cyber** truck? According that copy, you shouldn’t use the indefinite article. So you should be asking “WTF is Cybertruck?” Like Optimus Prime! Or Oprah! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2521 "2023-01-05T22:58:38Z")
I assume that Elmo chose the name “Cybertruck” because (a) it sounds science-fiction-y, and (b) to play off the Tesla theme of everything being computerized. Another theme of the Cybertruck, designed to appeal to Elmo’s idea of what appeals to truck buyers, is bulletproof body panels made of stainless steel, and robustness that allegedly extends throughout the body. During one show, one of the demonstrators (or possibly Elmo himself) attempted to demonstrate this by throwing a baseball at the Cybertruck’s side window. Turns out, a fast baseball hitting the truck’s window did exactly what you would expect it to do, and, sadly for Elmo, not what Elmo had hoped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=125) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=127)