# 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:** 416
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8306 "2023-12-22T22:22:27Z")
But the limits are shouting “fire!” in a theater, or tracking an aircraft. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8307 "2023-12-22T22:23:14Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Many major retailers, for one example – right on their own product pages. The community note appears right under the ad, not in some comments section. You don’t have to click or scroll away to see it, and you can’t avoid seeing it if you look at the ad. I’ve never seen that anywhere before. Community notes is a good system. It takes a number of votes to allow a community note to go public, and the people who participate have their influence go up and down by how often their ratings match the ultimate rating on the note. If you guys think Twitter is full of garbage, you should sign up and use community notes to flag it. There are still lots of lefties on Twitter - it’s not just a right-wing echo chamber. I’d say it’s closer to 50-50 now. As an editor for Commujity Notes with a fairly high reputation score, I get to see all the potential notes. EVERY Elon Musk quote gets hit with community notes, often inappropriately. Some make it to the public, even if they criticise Musk. So here’s your chance to let everyone know how bad Elon Musk is or anyone else on the system. Just make sure your note actually reflects an error in the post and isn’t just a variation of “Don’t believe Elmo! He’s a poopyhead!” like so many of them are. Sitting on the SDMB kvetching about it doesn’t do anything. Take action. Get on Twitter and make sure your viewpoint is represented. And if you add a community note to an Elon post and I agree with it, I guarantee I’ll promote it up to public. I have promoted lots of left-wing notes when they illustrate an error in the original post. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8308 "2023-12-22T22:25:50Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > If you guys think Twitter is full of garbage, you should sign up and use community notes to flag it. There are still lots of lefties on Twitter - it’s not just a right-wing echo chamber. I’d say it’s closer to 50-50 now. > > As an editor for Commujity Notes with a fairly high reputation score, I get to see all the potential notes. EVERY Elon Musk quote gets hit with community notes, often inappropriately. Some make it to the public, even if they criticise Musk. So here’s your chance to let everyone know how bad Elon Musk is or anyone else on the system. Just make sure your note actually reflects an error in the post and isn’t just a variation of “Don’t believe Elmo! He’s a poopyhead!” like so many of them are. I applied to do community notes a while back, and it acknowledged that, but never granted me the authority. Do you have to be a blue check? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8309 "2023-12-22T22:44:30Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Aren’t community notes awesome? What other platform would allow users to directly confront and criticise advertisers by placing notes right under their ads? Yes, isn’t it just amazing and proof that Elmo is truly the free speech absolutist he claims to be and not someone who just buys out things and then claims credit for having made them, like he does with Tesla. Oh wait. > **[Community Notes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Notes)** > > Community Notes, formerly Birdwatch, is a feature on X (formerly Twitter) where contributors can "add context" in order to provide fact-checks, under a post, image or video. The program launched in 2021 with Community Notes becoming widespread on X in 2023. As of November, it has expanded to over 50 countries, approximately 133,000 contributors. Notes are seen by up to 5% of the readers of the content they are attached to, amounting to tens of millions of views per day. Initially shown to U.S.... > In August 2020, development of Birdwatch was announced, initially described as a moderation tool.[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Notes#cite_note-Hollister-2020-12) Twitter first launched the Birdwatch program in January 2021, intended as a way to debunk misinformation, with a [pilot program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_program) of 1,000 contributors,[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Notes#cite_note-Lyons-2021-5) weeks after the [January 6 United States Capitol attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack).[[9]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Notes#cite_note-Elliott-2023-9) The aim was to “build Birdwatch in the open, and have it shaped by the Twitter community.” In November 2021, Twitter updated the Birdwatch moderation tool to limit the visibility of contributors’ identities by creating aliases for their accounts, in an attempt to limit bias towards the author of notes.[ ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8310 "2023-12-22T23:09:20Z")
I had a blue check when I applied, but I don’t have one now and I’m still a community notes editor. So I guess I can’t really help. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Yes, isn’t it just amazing and proof that Elmo is truly the free speech absolutist he claims to be and not someone who just buys out things and then claims credit for having made them, like he does with Tesla. > > Oh wait. > > [Community Notes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Notes) I never said he wrote it. BUt I do believe he opened it to the public. Or maybe not - I hasven’t been on Twitter much before the Elon era. in any event, all I said was that it was a good system. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8311 "2023-12-23T00:03:43Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > As an editor for Commujity Notes with a fairly high reputation score, I get to see all the potential notes… > And if you add a community note to an Elon post and I agree with it, I guarantee I’ll promote it up to public. I have promoted lots of left-wing notes when they illustrate an error in the original post. Just wanted to applaud someone doing good (and much-needed) work. Everyone who complains privately should highlight the error publicly. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8312 "2023-12-23T00:53:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I never said he wrote it. BUt I do believe he opened it to the public. Or maybe not - I hasven’t been on Twitter much before the Elon era. in any event, all I said was that it was a good system. Jesus Sammy, are you having a stroke or do you always get this flustered fanboi-ing over your oshi Elmo? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8313 "2023-12-23T00:56:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > > > As an editor for Commujity Notes with a fairly high reputation score, I get to see all the potential notes… > > And if you add a community note to an Elon post and I agree with it, I guarantee I’ll promote it up to public. I have promoted lots of left-wing notes when they illustrate an error in the original post. > > Just wanted to applaud someone doing good (and much-needed) work. Everyone who complains privately should highlight the error publicly. Just to remind you, you’re taking the word of a known liar who doesn’t even bother to read past the title of his own cites. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8314 "2023-12-23T01:25:32Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Just to remind you, you’re taking the word of a known liar who doesn’t even bother to read past the title of his own cites. Just out of curiosity but has Sam ever been caught in a lie about himself? I know that verifying things about people on an anonymous message board is a lot harder than verifying things published publicly on the web, but people have been caught now and then here. And Sam’s problem is often his inconsistency between what he claims a cite says and what it actually says, or claiming he said or didn’t say something here when it’s easy to prove otherwise. He lies but he’s bad at it. So if he lies about himself, we’d probably be able to figure it out. I’m not aware of that happening. When I’m asking if he’s been caught, that’s not a hypothetical. Unless he has been, I’m inclined to believe him when he talks about himself. Maybe it’s me being too easy on him yet again but I try to give someone a chance. And yeah, that does mean I don’t trust him to properly represent anything he is asked to back up, especially of a political persuasion, but I don’t disbelieve him about being a Twitter volunteer. I mean, it seems on brand to me. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8315 "2023-12-23T02:34:46Z")
I once told a story here about my kid being taught in school that beavers were amphibians. I was called a liar. A member here took it upon themselves to find out which school district my kid was in, called them, and asked them to verify my story. Of course the story was true, and to their credit the member told the story here and cleared me. What part of my personal life are you skeptical about? What about it sounds false to you? Perhaps I can validate it for you. I am not a liar. I have been called a liar here, but for things like missing something in a cite that contradicted or didn’t support something. That’s an error, not a lie. And I guarantee you that I am the most scrutinized poster on this board. I am continually amazed at the effort some people go to here to ‘get’ me. I can’t say anything here without someone demanding cites. People search through my past 24 years of posts all the time, looking for inconsistencies or things they can throw back at me. It’s crazy, but everyone needs a hobby, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8316 "2023-12-23T02:41:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I can’t say anything here without someone demanding cites. Cite? Someone had to do it… ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8317 "2023-12-23T03:08:05Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Cite? > Someone had to do it… Here’s my cite: > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Cite? > Someone had to do it… Recursion is my thing. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8318 "2023-12-23T03:14:57Z")
[![](https://i.imgflip.com/1xzxxd.jpg) ](https://i.imgflip.com/1xzxxd.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8319 "2023-12-23T03:42:54Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I am not a liar. I have been called a liar here, but for things like missing something in a cite that contradicted or didn’t support something. That’s an error, not a lie. There’s an [entire thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/1520) devoted to you, your lies, and your lying about your lies where you can whine about that cross you’ve put yourself on. Sorry, factual errors. Go whine there. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8320 "2023-12-23T05:55:14Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I think it’s great. It may not translate into more advertising, but it’s a perfect example of how to set up a free speech system. Allow people to say anything they want, but create a crowd-sourced system to call out disinformation and lies. I went to this great restaurant yesterday. Sometimes they don’t cook the food enough, or leave out ingredients, but the kitchen is open to everyone so if you don’t like your dinner you can cook it some more, add spices, whatever. I think it’s great when businesses don’t really care about the product they produce and rely on their customers to fix it. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8321 "2023-12-23T06:33:29Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I think it’s great when businesses don’t really care about the product they produce and rely on their customers to fix it. Are you not grateful for the foodborne illness they’ve bestowed upon you? > **[You're Supposed To Be Glad Your Tesla Is A Brittle Heap Of Junk | Defector](https://defector.com/youre-supposed-to-be-glad-your-tesla-is-a-brittle-heap-of-junk)** > > Tesla cars are shoddily built pieces of shit liable to fall apart and malfunction in dangerous ways at inopportune moments. No, this is not a blog from 2012! It is also not a blog from 2015 or 2018 or 2022. It is not even a blog from two weeks ago... > [@](#): > > In 2023, discovery, exploration, and invention are just vibes you rent, by investing in a future-costumed effort to ignore all of what’s already been learned and pretend “making a car that works” (or tunnels, or spaceships, or social media) is a new frontier. What matters isn’t whether any of this has been done before, and more authentically, and well enough to be built upon—what matters is that this particular rich man-child hasn’t done it yet, from scratch, for himself and for his own dream of being The Most Special Boy. In the absence of any real opportunity to envision a brighter future, you sign up to support some inheritance goober’s personal fantasy camp by dumping money into his company or buying his stupid-looking car. In this way, you are meant to understand, you have participated in the great grand adventure of discovering tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8322 "2023-12-23T11:42:03Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Just make sure your note actually reflects an error in the post and isn’t just a variation of “Don’t believe Elmo! He’s a poopyhead!” like so many of them are. I thought he was more of a pedophile. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8323 "2023-12-23T15:08:24Z")
I think this quote from that must-read article sums it up for me. _The reason Tesla hasn’t “worked all the bugs out yet” is that the company is run by people who hold established best practice in ideological contempt, and is defined by a tech-industry culture that fetishizes innovation and regards product quality as a third-order concern. There simply isn’t as much investment money and credulous tech-media adulation to suck up in the promise of iterating on what already works. You must reinvent, almost literally in this case, the wheel—this time, apparently on the premise of “…and what if it sucked?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8324 "2023-12-23T17:16:23Z")
Hmmm, maybe reality does have a liberal bias after all. It seem Elon is having trouble keeping his AI from going woke. > **[Elon Musk promised an anti-‘woke’ chatbot. It’s not going as planned.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/23/grok-ai-elon-musk-x-woke-bias/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzAzMzA3NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzA0Njg5OTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MDMzMDc2MDAsImp0aSI6IjY5Y2MyOTRkLWNmZTEtNDg0OC1hODFlLTBjMTU5ODM3NjQxMyIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjMvMTIvMjMvZ3Jvay1haS1lbG9uLW11c2steC13b2tlLWJpYXMvIn0.qVuPQJqoujasjsVfpl1_WqqoKvvmZvKlsO2MGVNxXEc&itid=gfta)** > > Elon Musk’s “Grok” AI is drawing complaints from conservatives, who say it’s still too liberal. Musk says he’s trying to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/8325 "2023-12-23T17:29:03Z")
Just give it a functional lobotomy by feeding it only RW propaganda. That seems to have worked on the natural intelligences amongst us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=415) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=417)