# 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:** 271
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5406 "2023-07-02T01:01:17Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > Okay actually it’s three yeah this is obviously the result of a necessary backend system going down, maybe they thought they could live without it but it turns out that the parts of the site that are still working are bugging out trying to connect to the parts that don’t anymore causing massive strain that they didn’t anticipate. It’s being spun as an intentional act, which has the same appearance as accidentally shooting yourself in the foot and pretending like you meant to do that, as if shooting yourself on purpose was a necessary and important act. Survey says… DING! The number 1 answer. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5407 "2023-07-02T01:02:52Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > It’s being spun as an intentional act, which has the same appearance as accidentally shooting yourself in the foot and pretending like you meant to do that, as if shooting yourself on purpose was a necessary and important act. Notice how, when a cat blunders in a comical accident, when it rights itself it immediately behaves as if it meant to do that, even though the observing human is falling down laughing at the transparency of the pretense? Cats are way more convincing about it than Musk. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5408 "2023-07-02T01:20:55Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > who cares if other companies are scraping your data? The people who want to sell the data to other companies. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5409 "2023-07-02T01:41:36Z")
And cuter. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5410 "2023-07-02T02:12:26Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > It’s being spun as an intentional act, Technically, it is intentional. They didn’t accidentally stiff AWS or forget to pay the bill. They chose to cheap out, daring their provider to do something, and not even the most egregious moocher is ever truly surprised when they get cut off, disingenuous fake protests notwithstanding. Twitter fucked around and found out. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5411 "2023-07-02T02:13:40Z")
Cuter, yup, even when their ploy is to stick a hind leg up and lick their buttholes. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5412 "2023-07-02T02:22:43Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has tweeted a photo of some grass, presumably to suggest that “the grass is greener” over at his new social networking service Bluesky, which many Twitter users are today discussing migrating from Twitter to. > > [https://i.imgur.com/3OBNkO4.png](https://i.imgur.com/3OBNkO4.png) > > For some reason, Elok Muns has retweeted this. Everyone knows Musk loves grass. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5413 "2023-07-02T02:45:48Z")
Jesus Christ I take most of the day off Twitter and he breaks it even more. Actually, that makes it a good day to stay off, huh? I guess I’ll wait for my bluesky invitation…… ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5414 "2023-07-02T04:00:09Z")
You need to do more research into this. Elon is 100% lying. This is absolutely related to GCP giving Twitter the finger for non-payment and Twitter engineers scrambling to unfuck the mess they’ve been handed. “Scrapers” is a nonsense cover story. Use your skeptic brain here. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5415 "2023-07-02T05:05:48Z")
I don’t believe the scraper story either, but the fact that some reports talk about moving off Google cloud and others say it’s AWS (Amazon) makes me question the accuracy of any of these reports. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5416 "2023-07-02T05:20:20Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > “Scrapers” is a nonsense cover story. Use your skeptic brain here. [https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/1675203894731833346](https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/1675203894731833346) [https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1675253946582007809](https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1675253946582007809) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5417 "2023-07-02T07:43:35Z")
> [@](#): > > I keep waiting for that post from Elon making a humble apology and accepting full responsibility. Godot wiII be delivering it any time now. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5418 "2023-07-02T07:48:05Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > So these sites are probably now being inundated by scrapers, thus the throttling. So, what’s the current daily limit on reading Reddit, Facebook, etc posts? ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5419 "2023-07-02T07:53:39Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > So, what’s the current daily limit on reading Reddit, Facebook, etc posts? Indeed. I wonder how Elmo expects his site to replace Facebook, Youtube, Reddit, TikTok, Google, Paypal, and Amazon when he can’t even handle heavy traffic without DDOSing himself. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5420 "2023-07-02T07:58:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Looks like Elon’s got a problem. Specifically, he slapped his dick onto the table several months ago, and then he has spent every single day since then hitting it as hard as he can with a variety of hammers. Come on, man. Your refusal to see what is standing right in front of you is laughable at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5421 "2023-07-02T10:07:01Z")
I’m suspecting that the Elon Musk account and the Elon Musk (Parody) account, which Enol Muks retweeted, are run by the same guy: [![](https://i.imgur.com/gaJnHWE.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/gaJnHWE.png) Oh well. At least everyone’s talking about him. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5422 "2023-07-02T12:08:35Z")
I’m not sure where you’ve seen AWS reported. Zoe Schiffer from Platformer reported the GCP story a few weeks ago. She has a ton of inside sources and her coverage of the Twitter dumpster fire over the last year can be trusted, IMHO. I also have an inside source as I’ve hinted at several times in this thread, which is why I feel confident that Schiffer’s coverage is accurate. But I’ve been intentionally vague about my own source for understandable reasons so I’m fine if you don’t take my word for it. The scraper story doesn’t make sense on it’s face. You don’t need to throttle all of your casual users to target a few outliers. What happened was on the morning of 1 July, Twitter found itself with insufficient infrastructure for normal use. This crashed the site. Throttling all authenticated users and locking out unauthenticated users allowed the site to come back up, but then the bug that was reported upthread with unauthenticated users being able to ddos the site just by trying to use it caused additional problems for the engineers. They’re going to have a shitty holiday weekend, and it’s all because Elon doesn’t pay his bills. He also thought that the billion dollars Twitter was paying Google was unnecessary because he thinks he’s the smartest man in the room. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2023, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5423 "2023-07-02T12:22:59Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > In Twitter’s case, it looks like people then switched to writing scrapers that just scraped the content from the public facing web pages instead of the API. This is trivially easy in the age of AI - ChatGPT will happily write a Twitter scraper for you. So these sites are probably now being inundated by scrapers, thus the throttling. > > I don’t know what the answer is here. This is of course silly nonsense on so many levels. The Twitter web app is itself a JavaScript program that uses the API, this isn’t 2006 where people have to contrive ways to scrape HTML pages. Elon (and others) are betraying their stale technical skills when they spout this kind of smokescreen. API abuse was a problem long before Musk ever bought Twitter, and it’s a (largely) solved problem _if that is indeed_ the problem you’re trying to solve for. We deal with it at my company all the time. Musk’s strategy of limiting per API key serves only to reward data miners at the expense of legit users. Miners and other techies are prepared to deal with this? You want to limit my API key rate to 1/10th of its current allowance? Fine, my software just auto-generated 1,000 more keys by farming out CAPTCHAs to a call center in the Phillipines. Meanwhile your legitimate users, who don’t use these techniques, get bottlenecked and just give up. This isn’t a hard problem to address for professionals who know what they’re doing. Musk’s strategy here resembles nothing so much as an assistant manager at Costco wanting to sell more hot pizza slices, and deciding the best strategy is to eliminate free food samples so people don’t get too filled up on individual tortilla chips. This is what happens to morons who bully their employees so much that nobody offers productive feedback. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5424 "2023-07-02T13:38:17Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I’m not sure where you’ve seen AWS reported. It’s in the screenshot in post 5346 above. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5425 "2023-07-02T13:46:53Z")
I was sure that _ **Scrapers** _ would be an ideal name for a horror movie. Sigh, already been done 2016, 2023, AND a proposed TV series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=270) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=272)