# 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:** 272
**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, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5426 "2023-07-02T13:49:55Z")
Ah I see. That’s, like, not even a source, it’s a screenshot of someone’s personal notes app? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5427 "2023-07-02T13:56:40Z")
Just so this doesn’t continue, Twitter _did_ pay their Google bill according to Bloomberg as verified by Reuters. So whatever happened wasn’t because Google put them on the free plan. > **[Twitter resumes paying Google Cloud](https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-resumes-paying-google-cloud-bloomberg-news-2023-06-21/)** > > Twitter has resumed paying Alphabet's Google Cloud for its services, according to a person familiar with the matter. ---
**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, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5428 "2023-07-02T13:59:32Z")
Speculation is that that reporting from 2 weeks ago was wrong, or incomplete. Neither company has officially weighed in as far as I know. And it contradicts a lot of information we do have. ---
**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, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5429 "2023-07-02T14:06:11Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Just so this doesn’t continue, Twitter _did_ pay their Google bill according to Bloomberg as verified by Reuters. So whatever happened wasn’t because Google put them on the free plan. 100% chance this was because Musk _wanted_ to pull the plug on Google, but was told he couldn’t, and is now working to figure out how to make users pay for the cost of Twitter’s services. He has no theory of how to make this website succeed. His only operating principles are: - nobody has any reason to criticize me. all the criticism is probably coming from bots. - nobody should get anything for free, especially not from me. - ideas that I find agreeable and understandable are probably good business decisions. - my wealth is proof that all my decisions are good, and my critics are just jealous. - when my decisions don’t turn out well, it’s because someone else forced me to do it. This is everything you need to know about why Musk bought Twitter, and why he’s running it into the ground. Print it out, put it on a laminated card, carry it around in your wallet. The next time he makes such an obviously stupid decision, amuse yourself by seeing how many boxes you can tick off. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5430 "2023-07-02T14:20:04Z")
“too many scrapers” is just funny. I haven’t seen the stats for this site, but i also hang out on a similar (but smaller) site where i have. About a third of the usage is bots and spiders. And it has been for years. And that’s normal, that’s how stuff comes up when you search for it. And if Discourse can tell which users are people and which are spiders, I’m pretty sure Twitter can, too. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5431 "2023-07-02T14:28:00Z")
Has anyone confirmed the rate limit operates in the way Elon describes? I tried using twitter this morning and couldn’t get the rate limit to trigger for half an hour until I started scrolling really fast and finally triggered it. Returned back 3 hours later and the rate limit was gone and I’ve been trying to trigger it again all day and failing. Others have reported it triggering with just a few posts or on the first thread they click into. ---
**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, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5432 "2023-07-02T14:33:37Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > - my wealth is proof that all my decisions are good, and my critics are just jealous. What I find fascinating are the people, such as Sam, that have this world view. Musk is rich; therefore, Musk is worthy; therefore, Musk must be talented and a genius. They cannot imagine a world where wealth isn’t the score card of worthiness. It completely ignores that there are a multitude of ways to get rich that don’t require talent or being a genius. People like Musk and Trump are prime examples. Although in terms of talent Musk seems more capable than Trump by a significant amount. Granted the hairball my cat threw up is more talented than Trump by a significant amount so it is a pretty low bar to clear. ---
**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, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5433 "2023-07-02T15:07:30Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Has anyone confirmed the rate limit operates in the way Elon describes? Reportedly worse in Twitter app than browser. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5434 "2023-07-02T16:57:27Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Oh well. At least everyone’s talking about him. He’s like a toddler that poops himself in public and is then proud as punch that everybody is looking at him. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5435 "2023-07-02T18:55:46Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > The people who want to sell the data to other companies. Funny, Pre-Musk Twitter had no difficulties selling that data to other companies that wanted high-quality big pipe access. Cheapskate companies that want public data will always try to run their own scrapers through whatever free API you surface, but last time I checked trying to get cheapskates to pay up is rarely a winning business strategy (see also: media piracy). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5436 "2023-07-02T19:26:29Z")
I feel like this recent article might be on-topic: [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-06-27/silicon-valley-is-on-drugs](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-06-27/silicon-valley-is-on-drugs) ---
**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, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5437 "2023-07-02T23:05:51Z")
> Incidentally, the reason Theo Von’s podcast was pulled was because of Roseanne saying that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but that it _should_ happen today. > > > Elon Musk @elonmusk Agile Neo-Nazism! ---
**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 3, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5438 "2023-07-03T14:37:00Z")
So people with Twitter accounts: is it a ghost town? How’s the site looking from an actual user’s perspective? ---
**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:** [July 3, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5439 "2023-07-03T14:46:29Z")
From my perspective, there are lots of ads and promoted tweets, some from recognisable names but mostly from definitely dodgy sites. I keep getting ads that feature obviously-AI pictures of various celebrities in anguish or being dragged away by the police, claiming that [celeb] had discovered some secret. It’s just weird. Any promoted tweet gets a block. Of the actual user tweets, the blue-check brigade are pretty uniformly right-wing trolls. There are still a fair number of people I follow hanging in there - enough to make it worth visiting occasionally - but the quality content is definitely being overwhelmed by the combination of spam and bullshit. I don’t follow Elon (because why would I?) but there are a lot of people that are currently setting up Bluesky accounts now. Whether they will also completely abandon Twitter remains to be seen; mostly this seems to be preparation for the ongoing deterioration of the site. ---
**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 3, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5440 "2023-07-03T14:48:50Z")
At the end of an AP article today, I noticed a change in how the media mentions the lack of response to press inquiries. Instead of something like “Twitter responded with an automated emoji” that makes it sound cute and humorous, I now see “an Associated Press inquiry triggered a crude automated reply that Twitter sends to most media queries without addressing the question.” Much better. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5441 "2023-07-03T15:06:21Z")
My Twitter is fine. I don’t follow political stuff, but the science, tech, Ukraine War, AI and other news are still coming fast and furious. Twitter is still the best way to get breaking news in many fields. It’s invaluable for following what’s going on in AI, for example. Which is why people who hate Musk and Twitter can’t get themselves away from it. I suspect if I was on the left and followed lots of lefty sites, the place would look emptier. If you follow right-wing sites, it probably feels more active. For me it feels about the same. ---
**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 3, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5442 "2023-07-03T15:09:56Z")
Are right wingers being throttled less since the site cratered on 1 July? I’m not following. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5443 "2023-07-03T15:15:03Z")
What I meant is that a lot of prominent lefty twitter accounts shut down in protest of Musk, while the site has gained more right-wing users. So if you are on the left and follow a lot of left-wing sites, it may look like your Twitter feed has died down. For others, not so much. ---
**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 3, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5444 "2023-07-03T15:31:01Z")
Gotcha. I’m specifically asking how Twitter has been in the last couple of days. I saw a reported 30% drop in traffic, which seems low considering. Since I don’t have an account I can’t view anything anymore, so I have no idea if people are still active since their followers can barely use the site before hitting rate limits. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/5445 "2023-07-03T16:07:08Z")
I just spent several minutes hitting page down and I can’t seem to hit the rate limit. Honestly, it seems the same as ever. The bullshit/nonsense factor went up, but I still see the people I follow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=271) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=273)