# 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:** 188
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3744 "2023-03-10T18:51:08Z")
I actually hadn’t noticed that at all, is that something that you are keeping track of? You seem to stick up for @Sam_Stone a lot, is that something we should be keeping an eye on? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3745 "2023-03-10T18:55:58Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Actually, that’s a load of cheap stereotypes. Also, maybe the right can compartmentalize and make allies with people they don’t agree with on all things. But that’s impossible for people on the left, which is why you feel that your cheap stereotypes and judgements of hypocrisy based on them are valid? _You_ are the one talking about how the left loved him and all, completely without any sort of substantiation to that assertion. For you to turn around and complain about stereotyping, well, there’s a word for that. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The left has a more totalitarian mindset. You must agree with them on _everything_ or you are excommunicated. Yep, yep, yep. More cheap stereotyping that conveniently reinforces your preconceived conceptions. Do you have _no_ self awareness at all? > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You tend to decide that flaws in others or their diversions from the one true path make them ‘pieces of shit’ or other gross, derogatory labels. No, I don’t. That’s just something that you have made up. > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’s rather sickening to watch, especially coming from people who claim to care about ‘online safety’, ‘trigger words’ and ‘hate’. I assume that the accusations from the right about the left don’t make it to your ears, or are you in agreement that we are all a bunch of pedophiles? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3746 "2023-03-10T18:56:23Z")
I think it’s your username. Easy to think that you stick up/befriend @wolfpup😉 ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3747 "2023-03-10T18:57:54Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I actually hadn’t noticed that at all, is that something that you are keeping track of? A couple years ago I tried to get a friend of mine @Spaquaman to get involved in SD. For my efforts, @wolfpup dragged me into the Pit. My buddy hasn’t been involved much with SD since. Thanks @wolfpup. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3748 "2023-03-10T19:01:47Z")
To be fair, I was not thinking of you at all, and wouldn’t put you in that box. However, I think of the Pit as the SDMB equivalent of Star Trek’s mirror universe. I don’t hold anything here against people outside the pit. I will continue to be polite ans respond to polite requests outside thr pit regardless of what that person says here. But in the pit, given just how incredibly awful people behave here, I feel no such compunction. I never start these pissing contests, and have no desire to fight people on the internet, but if you’re going to go after me in the Pit, well then the gloves are off and you’re going to get it right back if I feel like it, or your demands for a response will go ignored if I feel like it. Pit denizens don’t get to play, “Clown nose on” and call me a fuckwit or a ‘piece of shit’ or whatever, then turn around and take off the clown nose and demand a cite as if they were interested in a real debate. You lose that right when you go for the cheap attacks. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3749 "2023-03-10T19:05:50Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > You seem to stick up for @Sam_Stone a lot, is that something we should be keeping an eye on? You must have been a hell of a hall monitor. Come the revolution, I’m sure you’ll be one of the ones holding the clipboards. Here’s hoping you get the chance to inform on someone and move up the ladder. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3750 "2023-03-10T19:08:12Z")
I assume you didn’t get the context where @EastUmpqua had just claimed that I stuck up for @wolfpup a lot? I have no idea how often he sticks up for you, I just threw that out there to show how silly an observation it was. As far as I am aware, it was exactly that one time in this thread. So, my question to you, if you deign to answer it. Are you going to call @EastUmpqua out on being a hall monitor as well, with the derisiveness you did at me, or admit that you made a mistake and didn’t understand the context of what you were replying to? Or just sit and continue to paint yourself into a corner of pure hypocrisy? I’ll guess the last to be the most likely, but maybe you have grown as a person and will prove me wrong. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3751 "2023-03-10T19:14:02Z")
Nope, didn’t notice the context. And I don’t really care. This is not great debates. It’s the Pit, where gang pile-ons and sneering, mocking behaviour are the norm. So if you feel I was unfairly mocking you, well, look in a mirror. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3752 "2023-03-10T19:16:15Z")
> [@EastUmpqua](#): > > > [@k9bfriender](#): > > > > I actually hadn’t noticed that at all, is that something that you are keeping track of? > > A couple years ago I tried to get a friend of mine @Spaquaman to get involved in SD. For my efforts, @wolfpup dragged me into the Pit. My buddy hasn’t been involved much with SD since. Thanks @wolfpup. I have no idea what you’re talking about, you fucking dimwit, and I’ve never heard of your friend. The first time I interacted with you in the Pit – and the only time, AFAIK – was in **[this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climate-change-is-not-the-immediate-threat-facing-us-today/931737)** where you tried to defend one of the most astoundingly stupid posts I’ve ever seen trying to deny climate change, which you did with an incredibly asinine post of your own, thus introducing yourself as a first-rate imbecile who knew as little about climate science as the moron who wrote that OP. After making a total ass of yourself in that thread, and trying to accuse me of Googling stuff that I “didn’t understand”, you slinked off and were never heard from again. But you do pop up elsewhere from time to time. I wish you’d stop making shit up, though. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3753 "2023-03-10T19:16:52Z")
Ah, so that’s a no, then, no personal growth. It was not the “mocking”, it was the implication that I was some sort of authoritarian, with your comments about clipboards and promotions and all. It was a pretty pathetic “mock”. It was a pretty straightforward accusation, though. I assume that you think the same about @EastUmpqua, since he is the one that made such an observation in ernest. You think that, come the revolution, he will be holding clipboards and looking for promotions? Or, because he is in your tribe, you give him a pass? ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3754 "2023-03-10T19:20:44Z")
Sam, people aren’t accusing you of being too mean for the pit, they’re accusing you of being an intellectually dishonest child. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3755 "2023-03-10T19:24:30Z")
To think, all of this could have been avoided if you’d just admitted that you were dumb and gullible to [accept Trump’s poop-tweet](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sam-stone-believes-trumps-tweets/922633) as anything other than the random gibberings of a toddler-clown. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3756 "2023-03-10T19:30:14Z")
Sam, it’s not too late, you still have a chance to live up to your word: > [@Donald Trump Declassifies all Documents Related to Russia/Collusion and Hillary Emails](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donald-trump-declassifies-all-documents-related-to-russia-collusion-and-hillary-emails/922448/71): > > Because at the time I assumed that if the President tweets, “Today I have ordered that…,” that it’s a reasonable assumption that he ordered it. You all don’t believe it, so I admitted that there’s no proof he’ll actually do it. Again, let’s just end this speculation about whether it’s going to happen, because we’ll know if it happens soon enough, won’t we? If it doesn’t, then Trump committed another evening self-own on Twitter. We will find out shortly. Tell you what: If Trump does … You said “Tell you what: If Trump does nothing, I will come back to this thread and say, “I’m a big weenie for trusting a Trump tweet when I should know better.”” You can still live up to your word. It’s an incredibly minor thing, but that you haven’t yet lived up to such a minor promise might just show something about your character. But you still have a chance, if your word is something that matters to you. ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3757 "2023-03-10T19:36:39Z")
> [@Tipping Repair People](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-repair-people/930370/43): > > > [@Tipping Repair People](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-repair-people/930370/42): > > > > You are the one expressing confusion about the entire concept. > > Conflate means to combine ideas into one (i.e. tipping and bribing). You seem to think that tipping is ‘bad’ because someone bribed a cable guy for another line or a waiter for a free steak. What you are missing is the difference between rewarding good, competent service and bribing someone (e.g. a politician) for that persons’s own benefit. I will admit that I don’t really have a problem with the worker getting some extra cash from the customer for getting an extra cable line, or a waiter for giving a customer a free steak. In both cases, that builds customer loyalty and return business. I’m still not sure what your angle is. My apologies @wolfpup. I think it was @k9bfriender who dragged me to the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3758 "2023-03-10T19:38:40Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have no idea what you’re talking about, you fucking dimwit, and I’ve never heard of your friend. It’s odd, as it seems he is confusing you for me. I thought he kept better track of such things on his clipboard. But, his friend did start two threads. Both of which seemed to be reasonable thread and interesting. I had an interaction, I think my first, with @EastUmpqua in the thread about tipping, where I tried to explain the why giving a server a big tip in exchange for them giving you free food was actually theft. He either didn’t understand that, or really didn’t want to understand that, and went on to misrepresent me several time before I gave up. By “dragging” him to the pit, I asked in the “troll’s” thread _if_ anyone else felt I was being trolled. He followed me to that thread to complain about being dragged to the pit. The other thread that his friend started, it was @EastUmpqua who told him he was wrong. _You_ were not involved at all. And if he meant to refer to me, then I don’t see how his friend would have cared. Guy made 3 posts, 2 of which are _after_ I “dragged” @EastUmpqua to the pit. I’ll note that there was recent discussion about @EastUmpqua in the trolls thread, but the consensus seems to be not that he’s trolling, but that he’s just an asshole and a bit stupid. This interaction confirms the asshole and stupid part. That’s not exclusive to being a troll, though, and the jury is still out on that one, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3759 "2023-03-10T19:42:41Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > This interaction confirms the asshole and stupid part. That’s not exclusive to being a troll, though, and the jury is still out on that one, IMO. I love you. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3760 "2023-03-10T19:44:56Z")
In that case, I can think of all sorts of fun uses for that clipboard. ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3761 "2023-03-10T19:46:02Z")
Yep, time to move on . ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3762 "2023-03-10T19:57:23Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > > > And sure enough, the posts before mine basically dismissed that video. > > It didn’t show him to be the genious that you make him out to be, no. Sure, if someone had said that he’s stupid, and he has no idea what he is doing, then that video would counter that. > > All I saw in that video, and any other videos about him, is him demonstrating that he understands the basic concepts involved in the industry that he is in. I agree. I’ve always been agnostic about Musk’s specific degree of geniusness, because ISTM that everything he’s done, both good and bad, could have been done by geniuses and non-geniuses alike, given some particular combination of personality and circumstances. So I don’t have a dog in the fight about how smart Musk is. But I certainly don’t think that the linked video demonstrates anything in the way of technical brilliance or mastery of esoteric engineering knowledge on Musk’s part. It doesn’t prove that he doesn’t have those qualities, either, but it’s nothing like the “gotcha” that Sam and others seem to be considering it. I suppose if anyone really believes that Musk is a total ignoramus and phony who doesn’t know anything whatsoever about the technical aspects of his tech companies, that video would conclusively refute such beliefs. But I likewise haven’t seen anybody here making such claims, so I’m not sure what the video is supposed to be proving. Musk’s big-picture technical descriptions in the video are about at the level I would expect from an undergraduate engineering student presenting on their year’s work on their senior project (minus all the serious analysis with differential equations and stuff that I would also expect such a student to have mastered). Or perhaps a competent VP Marketing with an undergrad science major background who’s taken a month or so to study spec documents and talk with engineers, in order to prepare a big pitch to potential investors. Mind you, both of those are non-trivial accomplishments that are probably beyond the grasp of anyone who’s really a total ignoramus and phony, so it’s fair to re-emphasize that Musk has definitely cleared that particular (very low) bar. But in terms of explicitly demonstrating any actual brilliance or deep specialist knowledge in rocket science, nah. Not seeing that at all. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3763 "2023-03-10T20:19:53Z")
Well, it’s pretty clear what’s happened, which also happens to occur elsewhere frequently - the video refutes a straw man. There’s generally a low opinion of Musk by several posters, including yours truly, which has led his supporters to create a prototypical straw man poster who loudly proclaims not only that Musk isn’t as brilliant as he portrays himself to be but that he’s actually an outright fool, entirely ignorant of the workings at each of his companies and not merely Twitter. Never mind that such a straw man bears little resemblance to the actual posters in the thread - make enough smoke and you can convince people there’s a fire. And hence, a video that not only fails to show he’s a genius (though certainly shows he’s more knowledgeable than a lay person) but a video that refutes a non-existent straw man. It’s the sort of faux ‘balance’ I thought we had gotten past over the last several years of gaslighting by the right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=187) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=189)