# 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:** 53
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1041 "2022-11-15T00:09:03Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > I’m not pissed off. Please don’t ascribe feelings to me. I think that grown ass adults making $150K a year complaining about the end of a “free lunch” perk are silly geese. Even worse are those who don’t work there, and are ranting about it, anyway. $150K in the Bay Area ain’t all that much. And that amount is before taxes. Just saying. ---
**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 15, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1042 "2022-11-15T00:58:24Z")
Now even Jack Dorsey is fact-checking Elon’s twits. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhkOJApXEAAilQH?format=png&name=small) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhkOJApXEAAilQH?format=png&name=small) ---
**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:** [November 15, 2022, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1043 "2022-11-15T01:11:14Z")
Wait, what’s the Actually Verified thing there? Is that a chrome extension or is that real? ---
**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 15, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1044 "2022-11-15T01:12:38Z")
It’s a Chrome extension. > **[Twitter’s fake Verified accounts are exposed by this free Chrome tool](https://www.techradar.com/news/twitters-fake-verified-accounts-are-exposed-by-this-free-chrome-tool)** > > Eight-Dollars helps you spot potential fakers > **[GitHub - wseagar/eight-dollars: A browser extension that shows twitter blue...](https://github.com/wseagar/eight-dollars)** > > A browser extension that shows twitter blue vs real verified users - GitHub - wseagar/eight-dollars: A browser extension that shows twitter blue vs real verified users ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1045 "2022-11-15T02:17:53Z")
SpaceX buying Twitter ads? That’s like making a bulk purchase of your own book to get it on the best-seller list. ---
**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 15, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1046 "2022-11-15T03:38:54Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > SpaceX buying Twitter ads? That’s like making a bulk purchase of your own book to get it on the best-seller list. It is hardly [the most suspect acquisition that Musk has had one company work with another.](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/solarcity-was-insolvent-when-tesla-paid-2-6-billion-to-buy-it-lawsuit-says/) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1047 "2022-11-15T04:00:30Z")
TL;DR Why is Musk’s purchase “the end of Twitter”? What plans for Twitter does Musk have that are alarming? ---
**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:** [November 15, 2022, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1048 "2022-11-15T04:50:35Z")
He wants to turn it into a better version of YouTube with higher payouts to creators, a global payment system with returns better than the stock market, and the most reliable source of information on the internet. All while slashing staff and budgets. ---
**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 15, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1049 "2022-11-15T05:01:11Z")
This should clear things up: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zsX4pIdtQEc/maxresdefault.jpg "Twitter's Head of Communications Speaks Out | The Daily Show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsX4pIdtQEc) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1050 "2022-11-15T05:03:52Z")
They deserve to earn what an employer is willing to pay them, neither more nor less. This is basic economics. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1051 "2022-11-15T05:16:23Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > TL;DR Why is Musk’s purchase “the end of Twitter”? What plans for Twitter does Musk have that are alarming? To me, there’s at least 3 separate non-trivial existential risks to Twitter that Musk is actively driving forward at a breakneck pace: 1. Technical: Twitter may not have the requisite engineering talent to keep the site up and running for much longer and the site could simply fail whale one day and never come back. Just today, the component responsible for sending 2FA authentication texts was turned off or stopped working (unclear which). Anyone who uses 2FA and signs out of Twitter can’t sign back in until this is fixed. Other bugs are creeping into the site and it looks like at an accelerated rate. 2. Financial: Advertising revenue is declining far faster than the cost cutting is happening. The new Twitter is loaded up with debt and there could come a time when there’s no realistic prospects of Twitter ever reaching a financial breakeven point at which case everything past that point is just throwing good money after bad. 3. Userbase: Declining interest in Twitter could feed upon itself and Twitter could experience what happened to MySpace with users flocking elsewhere. Obviously all three feed upon each other in complicated ways but each independently could spell the complete end of Twitter. Whats alarming is that Musk seems to wake up every day and makes a decision that makes each of these risks even larger. ---
**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 15, 2022, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1052 "2022-11-15T05:19:47Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > They deserve to earn what an employer is willing to pay them, neither more nor less. And if their employer isn’t willing to pay them what they think they’re worth, they’re within their rights to tell the rest of the world every last detail of how they’re getting screwed over, in accordance with Elon Musk’s deeply held beliefs that all legal speech should be permitted and totally free of consequences. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1053 "2022-11-15T05:24:11Z")
Of course, they are, no one is saying otherwise. A potential future employer might not view that favorably, though. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2022, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1054 "2022-11-15T05:25:04Z")
Or they might view it super favorably! The world is awash in possibilities! ---
**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 15, 2022, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1055 "2022-11-15T05:26:37Z")
Then fuck 'em. I wouldn’t want to work for an employer who has a problem with me telling the truth about how I built up a company that an idiot billionaire asshole bought out and destroyed through sheer incompetence and egotism. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1056 "2022-11-15T05:37:51Z")
Among other things: He seems to want to blur the distinction between accounts that are verified to belong to a real, particular, person or organization, and other accounts. That is a disastrous idea. It destroys the whole reason for Twitter’s existence. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1057 "2022-11-15T06:45:44Z")
Can you at least acknowledge that during a time of massive morale failure maybe kicking his employees in the gnads just because he can is not a wise move? I don’t know if you are aware but employees are good things for a company to have, and if you convince all of them to quit, or following your suggestion of > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > fire them all, and start over. leaving nobody including (or perhaps espcially) the CEO knowing how the company works, it might not be the best way to maximize shareholder value. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1058 "2022-11-15T07:21:15Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > They deserve to earn what an employer is willing to pay them, neither more nor less. This is basic economics. No, basic economics states that there are two parties in any transaction. They deserve to earn a sum that lies between whatever an employer is willing to pay them and whatever pay they are willing to accept. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1059 "2022-11-15T07:32:45Z")
Meanwhile they employees owe their employer somewhere between the amount of work they are willing to do and the amount of work the employer requires. And feeling valued by their employer has a large effect on that first value. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2022, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1060 "2022-11-15T08:41:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > “The thing is Bob…it’s not that I’m lazy. It’s that I just don’t care.” Two things. First, many thanks to @Stranger_On_A_Train for cluing in me to the excellent Mike Judge movie _Office Space_. All these years it had somehow escaped my attention. Watched it last night and it was hilarious! Second, the company culture parodied in that movie is remarkably similar to how I’m imagining Twitter right now under the “leadership” of Musk. And the dedication of the typical Twitter employee being pretty much like that of Peter Gibbons in that clip. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=54)