# 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:** 151
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3004 "2023-01-31T13:04:29Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Just Saiyan. Don’t sell yourself short. I think you’re Super! ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3005 "2023-01-31T13:20:28Z")
Hmmm. My hair just turned blonde, and my eyes blue. Now my eyes are always blue, but the blonde hair is concerning. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3006 "2023-02-01T02:52:17Z")
…on today’s episode of “how broken is Twitter?” [![](https://i.postimg.cc/6QyT0zcW/Screenshot-2023-02-01-at-3-48-55-PM.png) ](https://i.postimg.cc/6QyT0zcW/Screenshot-2023-02-01-at-3-48-55-PM.png) The algorithm is recommending I follow one person that I’ve blocked, and two people I’m already following. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3007 "2023-02-01T03:34:38Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But sometimes what looks like an obvious path to failure to us mere mortals winds up changing the world. ⁢ And there’s the problem in a nutshell. Musk is not some god to whom we are mere mortals. He is not our superior who we have to show deference towards. He’s just a man who we can judge like everyone else. If what he’s doing is idiotic for the normal person, then it is idiotic for everyone. Sure, being rich means he can get away with more idiocy, having more chances to try again, but it doesn’t make it any less idiotic. Bringing up what people have said about the guy is irrelevant when the rest of us are talking about his actions. The whole argument is that he’s been able to trick people into thinking he’s smarter than he actually is. So citing a bunch of people saying he’s smart isn’t convincing. It’s you who has to have some excuse for everything Musk does, no matter how transparent that excuse is. And the reason seems to be that you see Musk as on some level above the rest of us. He’s rich, so he has to have had something the rest of us didn’t. Even while you almost admit several times that he got lucky with one idea, and now has the money to try a bunch of stupid things until they work. That’s not genius. Anyone can just try a bunch of crazy, risky things until one works—if they have enough money. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3008 "2023-02-02T00:44:22Z")
Elmo has privated his own account because a bug is causing privated tweets to get promoted more heavily than public tweets and everyone who knows how to fix it has been fired. > **[Musk locks his Twitter account to personally test reported malfunction](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/musk-goes-private-on-twitter-to-test-if-locked-tweets-get-more-views/)** > > Musk seemingly responding to conservative users reporting a Twitter malfunction. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3009 "2023-02-02T00:44:23Z")
[![](https://i.redd.it/8utasvpttifa1.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/8utasvpttifa1.jpg) Did someone hurt his feelings? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3010 "2023-02-02T00:47:45Z")
I prefer my explanation more. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3011 "2023-02-02T04:18:39Z")
I did a rough count, almost 25% of my tweet stream consists of promoted tweets. He’s certainly getting somebody to spend money on advertising there. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3012 "2023-02-02T05:02:08Z")
I block every single brand or sponsor that I see on sight. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3013 "2023-02-02T05:47:31Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I’m completely open to the idea that Musk is a genius. I’ve never seen any actual evidence to that effect. Here is some rock-solid evidence that Musk is a genius. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Among Silicon Valley investors, Musk is almost a legend. David Sacks said the other day that one of the reasons there are suddenly so many layoffs in Silicon Valley is that ‘Musk showed that tech companies were bloated and needed to be trimmed’, against the conventional wisdom that the way to growth was constant hiring. And so everyone is following suit and looking for bloat in their own companies before the big recession that everyone thinks is coming this year. > > There’s a reason Musk had no problem raising the capital he needed to buy Twitter. His track record is such that everyone wants to invest in whatever he’s doing next. There you go. QED, Musk is a genius. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2023, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3014 "2023-02-02T09:27:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I block every single brand or sponsor that I see on sight. Same. It’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3015 "2023-02-02T11:41:47Z")
Indeed. What a fool I’ve been. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3016 "2023-02-02T15:19:06Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > I block every single brand or sponsor that I see on sight. > > Same. It’s fun. I do the same on Facebook. It’s fun to see what the dregs of advertisements the algorithm finds for me. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3017 "2023-02-02T15:28:49Z")
That’s brilliant! You grow by shrinking! Why can’t we plebes think of stuff like that? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3018 "2023-02-02T15:35:47Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I do the same on Facebook. I don’t just block them, I report them. It probably doesn’t make any difference, but I feel better about it. When I just block them, I usually give reason like “knows too much” which is both suitably paranoid and useless at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3019 "2023-02-02T15:46:08Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > That’s brilliant! You grow by shrinking! Why can’t we plebes think of stuff like that? This is a tough decision in companies all the time. If there wasn’t a $4M/day loss, then it would be much simpler to find ways to make a profit. But with that kind of loss, it could be a sign that the Twitter business model is not sustainable long-term. By moving away from active development and moving into more of a maintenance mode, it allows Twitter to benefit from the earlier development without the ongoing costs of new development. This happens with lots of companies, such as game companies. There are lots of games which spend $$$ on initial development, but after a short while revenue drops and they move into maintenance mode where they just make minor improvements and bug fixes. Twitter as a product is useful and will likely live on, but it will probably just be focused on keeping the current product running rather than trying to take over the world. With all the turmoil in Twitter, it doesn’t seem to have really changed the audience all that much. Sure, there may be some problems with the feeds and such, but the consumers don’t seem to mind enough to leave in droves. Perhaps it’s like the switch from vBulletin to Discourse we had here on the SDMB. I personally prefer the vBulletin style of forums and wish we still had that kind of UI, but I tolerate Discourse because I still want to participate in the discussions. I see Twitter as similar. People may gripe about bugs and stuff, but they still scroll through their feeds because they want that info and Twitter is where they can find it. I’m not sure if post-Musk Twitter will be profitable enough to allow the investors to recoup the billions they put in, but I can see how it will be a viable product for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3020 "2023-02-02T15:49:57Z")
Yep. If it says “Promoted” it’s blocked, no matter who/what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3021 "2023-02-02T15:50:10Z")
Of course, I was being a bit tongue in cheek. But it’s a legitimate thing to question. Nobody should expect large cuts to lead to significant growth. Perhaps you can expect them to get you to viability as a company, but the idea that “trimming the fat”, which in this case appears to be cutting into bone, you can achieve explosive growth is ridiculous. And that’s the expectation from these tech companies. Most (Twitter excepted) can be solidly profitable companies without such large cuts. But that’s insufficient for investors, who want the Next Big Thing! So, let’s just say I’m skeptical that these moves have actually been thoroughly considered in terms of achieving startup type growth rather than simply cutting costs. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2023, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3022 "2023-02-02T15:54:30Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Nobody should expect large cuts to lead to significant growth. Perhaps you can expect them to get you to viability as a company, but the idea that “trimming the fat”, which in this case appears to be cutting into bone, you can achieve explosive growth is ridiculous. It’s like amputation as a weight loss strategy. Technically it works, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3023 "2023-02-02T15:56:23Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > But that’s insufficient for investors, who want the Next Big Thing! So, let’s just say I’m skeptical that these moves have actually been thoroughly considered in terms of achieving startup type growth rather than simply cutting costs I certainly agree with that. This type of transition needs to be done carefully. The way Twitter is doing it seems like the wrong way and would likely tank most companies. The only saving grace I see is that Musk has enough of a personal bank account that he can keep things running as long as enjoys playing in this sandbox. Maybe Twitter is Musk’s white whale that he will keep chasing at all costs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=150) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=152)