# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442>\
**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:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1502

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**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 23, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/1502 "2022-11-23T17:12:41Z")

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> [@Charlie\_Tan](#):
>
> However, @Stranger_On_A_Train has been remarkably absent from this thread, after having been rebutted by numerous posters. Of course, he has no obligation to return, or to answer.  
> So I post this only to point out that after a barrage of posts, he has decided to remain silent.

I haven’t been ‘silent’ but I didn’t specifically address the responses to my query for reasons why Twitter is an important platform for journalism because I didn’t really have anything else to contribute. I’ve read the responses—or ‘rebuttals’ as you refer to them—and while I am still not really convinced that the demise of Twitter is a critical blow to modern journalism, I think they all made valid points based upon their experience in the use of the platform, and there were no statements that were objectively false or that I felt required contention on my part. As I noted in my original statement, I am not a journalist and my dislike for the use of Twitter stems from how I see it being used from the perspective of a news consumer, i.e. as a ‘crutch’ to make up for not doing research or independently verifying information, and in the case of [CNN.com](http://CNN.com), to literally puff out their stories to ‘newsy’ length without any real contribution.

That some journalists use the platform as a way to connect to sources is a perfectly valid counter, and while it wouldn’t be my go-to method, again it isn’t my vocation or area of expertise. I would still contend that it has created a culture where (some) journalists shoot from the hip with their comments, often to the detriment to reputation, but you can call that a misuse of the platform rather than an inherent problem with it (although I think it, and to an extent other social media, are purpose designed to elicit that kind of response). I suspect we are going to see what a post-Twitter world will look like (or at least, this version of the platform) and while I personally don’t believe that is going to be for the worse, I understand and sympathize with the disruption this ill-conceived takeover of the platform by a mendacious rich idiot who has made no concessions toward people using the platform for legitimate business or social connections versus as a way to ‘express’ every thought-fart that passes between his ears, and apparently eliminating al controls to prevent its dominance by would-be demagogues and conspiranoists.

Stranger

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