# 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:** 33
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/641 "2022-11-08T14:51:36Z")
> [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > So looking at the (I assume new) [parody rules](https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/parody-account-policy) it looks like you’re supposed to get a warning to change before getting suspended. Not that it really matters but I’m curious if that is what has happened to these “impersonation” accounts Here are the new rules - no warning. Musk probably fired whoever wrote that page you linked to, so it’s not been updated. > > ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/642 "2022-11-08T15:06:48Z")
No impersonation? As I said in another thread, “What makes the Musk Rat guard his Musk?” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/643 "2022-11-08T16:54:52Z")
I’ve always thought Twitter encourages narcissism anyway. Look at me! Look at me! I don’t want to engage with you, I just want you to look at me! ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/644 "2022-11-08T17:15:40Z")
This is exactly it. LOOK AT ME!!! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/645 "2022-11-08T17:18:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Elon isn’t a genius or a revolutionary, he hasn’t invented anything himself, the only thing he brings to the table is money, and he’s too blinded by ego to realize that he got lucky a few times, in spite of himself. In fact, most of the money that Musk brings to the table is actually other peoples’ money, including taxpayer dollars in the form of subsidies, grants, low interest loans, and tax breaks. > [@dtilque](#): > > Comnsidering that drop in Tesla stock price, I’d be very surprised if Musk is still the richest person in the world. Probably not even in the top 5 anymore. Let’s be clear; Musk was only “the richest person in the world” in the sense that someone becomes a wealthy tycoon playing _Monopoly_. The valuation of Tesla, which at one point eclipsed the top six automotive manufactures combined despite the fact that each of those companies built as many cars in six weeks as Tesla did in all of 2020, is completely specious, FOMO-driven speculation with no basis in an objective reality of what Tesla could render in profit over decades of production. Musk’s other manipulations show that he understands very well that his ‘wealth’ is little more than an economic slight-of-hand. Musk, of course, is not Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller or Henry Ford, and not even the fictitious Tony Stark or D.D. Harriman that he imagines himself to be. Despite all of his pretensions about having earned everything himself at great risk and having founded many technology companies on little more than the sweat equity of his own brow, several of the companies he has credited himself with founding were actually started by others who were driven out after Musk came in. No, Elon did “solve the payment problem on the internet” by starting PayPal, and despite having himself retroactively listed as a founder of Tesla he neither started the company nor fulfilled the legal obligations to the actual founders who he forced out after taking over as a later investor. He shows little detail technical knowledge of the companies where he claims to be the genius expert involved in the design of every system, and is often clearly and inaccurately parroting phrases that he has clearly just heard someone else use. He has attempted to deflect criticism by alternately playing the victim, pretending to be on the autistic spectrum, and attacking people both in court and public forums who lack his financial resources and legions of weirdly fawning adorationists ready to step in and troll anyone who denies the greatness of their God Emperor, including [pursuing an one-sided petty feud with a former minor official of the SEC](https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musks-tesla-asked-law-firm-to-fire-associate-hired-from-sec-11642265007) because this is apparently what wealthy technology tycoons who sleep on their production floors and claim to live in $50k houses do with their spare time. Musk’s dalliances in right-wing politics, embrace of conspiranoia, and supposed devotion to “free speech” (if and only if it is the kind of speech he approves) all mark him as far more of a [Frederich Flick](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Flick) than the Greatest American Business Hero he tries to cosplay at being. Of course, his willing supplicants here and elsewhere leap in and whinge about how badly he is treated and how misunderstood Poor Elon is, often by poorly imitating his attempts at insinuation and insult. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/646 "2022-11-08T18:58:10Z")
I’ve migrated to Mastodon, as have most of the journalist types I was following. Even with the growing pains they’re having right now it’s a much more pleasant place than Twitter. Unfortunately many of the artists and authors I follow on Twitter haven’t moved over yet; some are afraid because there’s a learning curve. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/647 "2022-11-08T19:02:29Z")
Yeah, I went and checked Mastodon out, briefly. I may set up an account there to follow the same accounts I followed on Twitter, or similar ones, if they become available, which I hope they do. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/648 "2022-11-08T19:10:36Z")
Advertisers are fleeing Twitter because Musk looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. > But contrary to Musk’s version of events, the problem is less that leftists are bullying the company that makes Cheerios and more that Musk is not as good at business as he thinks he is. Advertisers don’t like to run their ads in places where they might appear alongside abuse, harassment, spam, racism, misogyny, slurs, and the like. The typical way to make advertisers comfortable—to ensure what they call “brand safety”—is to limit speech on a platform. This poses an obvious problem for a self-described “free speech absolutist” who has telegraphed that he wants to make the platform friendlier to the kind of people who bristled at Twitter’s making it more difficult to post uninhibited hate speech, election denialism, and the like. > Musk seems to lack a fundamental knowledge of how advertising works, and maybe that makes sense; Tesla has not historically done it. > **[The Advertising Industry Is Bringing Elon Musk to His Knees](https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/musk-advertising-twitter-boycott.html)** > > Twitter's new owner is torn between Madison Avenue and his “free speech” reply guys. Guess where the smart money points. > > “Elon, Great chat yesterday,” MMA Global president Lou Paskalis [tweeted](https://twitter.com/LouPas/status/1588599808587345921) Friday before the new Twitter boss blocked his account. “As you heard overwhelmingly from senior advertisers on the call, the issue concerning us all is content moderation and its impact on BRAND SAFETY/SUITABILITY. You say you’re committed to moderation, but you just laid off 75% of the moderation team!” > **[Elon Musk Blocks Top Marketer Who Questioned Twitter’s Retreat From Content...](https://www.yahoo.com/video/elon-musk-blocks-top-marketer-003612866.html)** > > Meanwhile, the NAACP's president and CEO called for an all-out advertising boycott of the platform ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/649 "2022-11-08T19:36:42Z")
When I read in the Garmen newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today that Elongate Musk is a will-o’-the-wisp ([_Irrlicht_](https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/elon-musk-hat-fuer-twitter-keinen-geschaeftsplan-er-macht-politik-18443515.html?premium) in the original) I found it to be an appropiate comparison. Then I went to wikipedia to learn something about _ignis fatuus_ (also a very appropiate name, _fatuus_ being Latin for fatuous and Merriam-Webster’s having this list of [synonyms](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatuous)) and was truly delighted to learn that another word for will-o’-the-wisp or _ignis fatuus_ is **hinkypunk**. I like that word, will forever assotiate it with Musk. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/650 "2022-11-08T19:53:02Z")
There is nothing punk about Musk. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/651 "2022-11-08T19:56:05Z")
Punk has many [meanings](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punk). I like meanings 1, 2c and 4 as a noun as well as 2 as an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/652 "2022-11-08T20:03:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “What’s the plan?” That reminds me of [this scene](https://youtu.be/CN1aqtehk88), except Elon is all five of them rolled into one. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/653 "2022-11-08T20:38:00Z")
I might move over, if the people and organizations I follow do. So far, they mostly haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/654 "2022-11-08T20:56:42Z")
One of the quotes that @Acsenray gave pointed out that Tesla doesn’t advertise, giving that as evidence that Musk doesn’t understand it. That’s true, but furthermore, Tesla doesn’t even have a communications team. As in the people who send out press releases and answer questions about the products from reporters, that kind of thing. I remember hearing that Musk got rid of Twitter’s communications team as one of the first layoffs. He really doesn’t understand this part of business. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/655 "2022-11-08T21:00:28Z")
In that context, I would think of it as “no good little punk.” A brat. A troublemaker. A ne’er-do-well. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/656 "2022-11-08T21:00:43Z")
More than that, Musk dissolved Tesla’s PR team himself a few years back and has repeatedly re-iterated he won’t re-introduce one. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/657 "2022-11-08T21:17:33Z")
> **[Elon Musk Says No to Tesla PR: We Don’t “Manipulate” Public Opinion](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/elon-musk-says-no-to-tesla-pr-we-dont-manipulate-public-opinion-160270.html)** > > Tesla always had a love-hate relationship with the automotive media, and it came to an abrupt end in October 2020, when the PR department was dissolved. ... OTOH (Jun 04, 2022) … > **[Elon Musk’s Tesla hired PR firm to monitor employees on Facebook: Report](https://www.wionews.com/world/elon-musks-tesla-hired-pr-firm-to-monitor-employees-on-facebook-report-484903)** > > Elon Musk’s Tesla company reportedly hired a PR consultancy firm to monitor their employees’ activities on social media, especially Facebook, when some workers sought to form a union at the company’s factory in Fermont, California, between 2017 and... ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/658 "2022-11-09T01:47:23Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > D.D. Harriman Is this the guy who employed Woodcock to keep Butch from robbing the Flyer? _“Think you used enough dynamite there, Elon?”_ ---
**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:** [November 9, 2022, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/659 "2022-11-09T03:01:57Z")
Elon is rolling out a gray checkmark to do the exact same thing the blue checkmark was designed to do before he decided to cbange it to meaning “I have eight dollars”. > **[Twitter briefly rolled out gray 'official' check marks. Then Elon Musk...](https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/tech/twitter-gray-check-mark/index.html)** > > A new verification mark intended to better identify prominent Twitter accounts has instead become the latest source of chaos at the company under new owner Elon Musk. Also, in a sign that THIS IS FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME THAT WAY I’M NOT YELLING YOU’RE YELLING, he’s sold off $4 billion in Tesla stock. > > > Ed Ludlow @EdLudlow At rhis rate, by the time his Twitter fiasco is done he won’t own Tesla either. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/660 "2022-11-09T03:24:33Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Is this the guy who employed Woodcock to keep Butch from robbing the Flyer? Nope. He’s _The Man who Sold the Moon_ in Heinlein’s Future History. > **[Delos D. Harriman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos_D._Harriman)** > > Delos David Harriman, known as D.D. Harriman, is a character in the fiction of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein. He is an entrepreneurial businessman who masterminded the first landing on the Moon as a private business venture. His story is part of Heinlein's Future History. > Harriman's first appearance in print was in the story "Requiem" which described his death while pursuing his dream of landing on the Moon himself. Having opened space to humankind he was, like Moses, denied the s... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=34)