# 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:** 232
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4624 "2023-05-03T20:29:05Z")
> **[Terms of Use](https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179876898/terms-of-use)** > > Please read NPR's Terms of Use. > [@](#): > > ### Trademarks > > National Public Radio®, NPR®, NPR program and application names, and NPR logos, and the names, logos and program names of Member stations and Content Providers and any other trademarks or service marks appearing with the NPR Services, are the property of National Public Radio, Inc., Member stations, Content Providers or other licensors. These marks are protected from reproduction, imitation, dilution and confusing or misleading uses under national and international trademark laws, and all rights in these marks are reserved by their respective owners. Except as otherwise expressly permitted elsewhere in these Terms of Use, you may not use any such marks without the prior written consent of their respective owner(s). I would absolutely expect NPR to take legal action if the NPR Twitter handle is used in a way that constitutions “imitation, dilution and confusing or misleading uses.” ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4625 "2023-05-03T21:02:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > That’s why the WWF became the WWE. Funny enough, the name change was mostly because of legal action taken against them _outside_ of the US. First Switzerland in 1993, then the UK in 2000. ---
**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:** [May 3, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4626 "2023-05-03T21:08:17Z")
NPR has an update on their article; > [@](#): > > In an email sent at 2:19 a.m. EST after the story was originally published, Musk wrote a message without any text in the body but with this subject line: “You suck.” Agile WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ---
**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:** [May 3, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4627 "2023-05-03T21:20:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > NPR has an update on their article; > > > [@](#): > > > > In an email sent at 2:19 a.m. EST after the story was originally published, Musk wrote a message without any text in the body but with this subject line: “You suck.” Good. The man-child thinks he’s flexing his awesome power, but he’s actually engaged in slow but inexorable self-destruction. No matter how rich you are, you need partnerships and collaborations, and for that you need to engender trust, competence, and stability – not gratuitous destruction, insults, and poop emojis. Elmo is not ALL bad, as someone said upthread, but except maybe for Trump it’s hard to imagine any asshole more deserving of the comeuppance that’s coming up. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4628 "2023-05-03T21:24:11Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I wonder what would happen if, every 29 days, NPR tweeted out a dot. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Or a poop emoji. > [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I vote for toilet paper emoji 🧻 Why not combine with @Kimstu’s comment and lean into the joke? 🇺🇳 🎃 📰 (sorry, best I could do with a limited choice of emojis and time) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4629 "2023-05-03T22:21:13Z")
Maybe he should get checked for brain tumors or something? Because he’s clearly not well. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4630 "2023-05-04T00:10:00Z")
At this point I think the brain tumor has to be checked for Elon Musk. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4631 "2023-05-04T05:16:00Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Second biggest, behind **nate**. If I’m the biggest Musk sycophant on this board, that’s really telling. I mean, sure, I had to correct and embarrass several of you that were posting casually researched click-baity articles about him, coming up with your own fantasized summary as a ‘gotcha’. Demonstrating that if you were to actually _read_ the content, and _(gasp)_ actually click a level deeper, it really wasn’t what you were claiming, clearly pointing out where you were wrong. But that’s on (the royal) you, not me. When I’m here, I fight ignorance, and that is what I did. And to repeat myself yet again, there are plenty of reasons not to like Musk and to think he has finally bitten off a bit more than he can chew. There is never a reason to believe pure bullshit just because it agrees with that. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4632 "2023-05-04T05:23:38Z")
> [@nate](#): > > When I’m here, I fight ignorance, and that is what I did. No, you just promised not to post before posting a bunch of shit. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2023, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4633 "2023-05-04T06:18:56Z")
> [@nate](#): > > And to repeat myself yet again, there are plenty of reasons not to like Musk and to think he has finally bitten off a bit more than he can chew. Okay, sure, whatever, but the important question is, how did you do on the applicant aptitude test? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4634 "2023-05-04T06:44:53Z")
I had to respond with my particular [favorite meme](https://imgur.com/a/UeEgt9I) about drag shows. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4635 "2023-05-04T09:03:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > That’s why the WWF became the WWE. That, and the panda wrestling circuit: [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7V5tFbCAAA-OVT?format=jpg&name=small) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7V5tFbCAAA-OVT?format=jpg&name=small) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4636 "2023-05-04T12:13:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I keep seeing the term _API_ in this thread. Since I don’t really use Twitter, I don’t really have any need to learn what API is, but it would be nice to know what the letters stand for. Others have explained what it is. As a concrete and direct example, here’s an API extract of the thread you’re currently reading, starting a couple of posts before yours, viewable at this link: [Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition - #4597 by kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition/963442/4597.json) Here’s an excerpt of that data: ```auto { "id": 24109903, "name": "kaylasdad99", "username": "kaylasdad99", "avatar_template": "/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/{size}/3398_2.png", "created_at": "2023-05-01T21:21:02.579Z", "cooked": "

I keep seeing the term API in this thread. Since I don’t really use Twitter, I don’t really have any need to learn what API is, but it would be nice to know what the letters stand for.

", "post_number": 4597, "post_type": 1, "updated_at": "2023-05-01T21:21:02.579Z", "reply_count": 4, "reply_to_post_number": null, "quote_count": 0, "incoming_link_count": 0, "reads": 189, "readers_count": 188, "score": 52.4, "yours": false, "topic_id": 963442, "topic_slug": "now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition", "display_username": "kaylasdad99", "primary_group_name": "Charter_Member", "flair_name": "Charter_Member", "flair_url": null, "flair_bg_color": "", "flair_color": "", "flair_group_id": 35, "version": 1, "can_edit": false, "can_delete": false, "can_recover": false, "can_wiki": false, "read": true, "user_title": "Charter Member", "title_is_group": true, "bookmarked": false, "actions_summary": [ ``` If you search that link for “kaylasdad99” you’ll see your own posts (and some other data about you). Someone like me could use this to create an entirely separate website, with my own styling, using this data however I want, just by scraping data from this site’s API. For example I could build my own Straight Dope Mobile App to display this website’s data, or just embed this data in my own website, or just warehouse all the data for my own scheming purposes. It’s a valuable and convenient service, so I don’t fault Musk for trying to monetize it. But I can’t imagine a business case where it makes sense to charge $47,000/month for Twitter API access. Musk still doesn’t understand that Twitter’s value isn’t as a content farm, but as an attention farm. The crap people post on Twitter isn’t worth paying money for\*. But for an advertiser, the eyeballs that read that crap are _very_ valuable. So you want people using the API to spread Twitter links far and wide, so they’ll direct attention back to Twitter where their attention can be farmed by advertisers. \*Exception to paying money for Twitter crap: some companies pay millions of dollars for _all_ Twitter content, every single tweet and like, for warehousing, mining, and sentiment analysis. Lucrative but niche business case, and it falls apart if people stop engaging because of Musk’s dumb business practices. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4637 "2023-05-04T13:12:13Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > That, and the panda wrestling circuit: Wildlife Wrestling Federation ---
**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:** [May 4, 2023, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4638 "2023-05-04T13:26:31Z")
Is that people who wrestle wildlife, or wildlife that wrestles with one another? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4639 "2023-05-04T13:33:31Z")
Clearly the latter, based on the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4640 "2023-05-04T13:33:58Z")
> [@nate](#): > > I fight ignorance, and that is what I did. [Still telling yourself that, huh?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-someone-with-no-business-acumen-get-to-be-the-richest-person-in-the-world/974903/194) ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4641 "2023-05-04T14:54:14Z")
And yet even What\_Exit could not produce any evidence when asked. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4642 "2023-05-04T14:56:12Z")
[![](https://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2019/1/22/ee508f2d-fdcc-4121-9adf-cdaab472e394.jpg) ](https://en.bcdn.biz/Images/2019/1/22/ee508f2d-fdcc-4121-9adf-cdaab472e394.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/4643 "2023-05-04T14:57:14Z")
> [@nate](#): > > And yet even What\_Exit could not produce any evidence when asked. That sealioning assertion [had already been addressed in the thread you linked.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-someone-with-no-business-acumen-get-to-be-the-richest-person-in-the-world/974903/191) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=231) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=233)