# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [August 13, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634 "2024-08-13T00:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/341 "2024-09-18T10:54:50Z")
I propose we ignore the trolling dummy and get back to the business of considering just how incompetent and stupid Elon Musk is. To wit: There is a newly published book on the market — **[Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter](https://www.amazon.com/Character-Limit-Elon-Destroyed-Twitter/dp/059365613X)** by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac — which exhaustively details how Musk’s ignorance and arrogance led to his acquiring and then ruining the platform, transforming a once-meaningful communication hub into a laughingstock. If you don’t have the time or energy or level of interest to read a whole book, you can read the following summation, which highlights how Musk’s stated goals for the platform _were in fact the previous leadership’s own objectives_ but that Musk disregarded and sabotaged all those efforts already in progress, because he’s a fucking idiot. > **[Twitter’s Pre-Musk Plans Mirrored Elon’s Vision—Until He Abandoned, Trashed...](https://www.techdirt.com/2024/09/17/twitters-pre-musk-plans-mirrored-elons-vision-until-he-abandoned-trashed-or-ignored-them/)** > > Today, the new book by NY Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, comes out. If you’re at all interested in what went down, I can’t recommend it … Me, I’m putting the book on my Christmas list. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/342 "2024-09-18T11:20:04Z")
The preview box sure cuts off at an awkward spot in the lede. And yes, that was an odd example of drive-by trollery. So much ignorance in so small a package. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/343 "2024-09-18T11:28:46Z")
If I met Elon face to face, I wouldn’t call him Elmo or anything else. I’d say something to him that really hurts “Who are you?”. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/344 "2024-09-18T13:06:03Z")
Or you can listen to an interview with the writers on the NPR podcast Fresh Air: > **[What Musk's Twitter takeover could tell us about a possible government...](https://www.npr.org/2024/09/11/nx-s1-5107969/elon-musk-twitter-x-trump-audit)** > > After buying Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk instituted sweeping changes — including rebranding the social media platform as "X." Authors Kate Conger and Ryan Mac recount the takeover in Character Limit. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/345 "2024-09-18T13:23:37Z")
Re: behind his back / to his face: You do all know that these posts are public, right? It’s not really possible to talk behind someone’s back in print on the web. For the record, I hadn’t realized “Elmo” was meant to be derogatory. It’s a nickname, not an insult. Nicknames can be wielded in malice, but we’d have to know what he thought of it. Maybe he likes it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/346 "2024-09-18T13:44:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I hadn’t realized “Elmo” was meant to be derogatory. Isn’t it a reference to a muppet? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/347 "2024-09-18T13:50:37Z")
It is an insult. And, it’s highly derogatory. To the actual Elmo. To be compared to a serial liar, a world champion misogynist, a white nationalist, whose latest “visions” are more like “hallucinations” or drug fueled dreams; is damaging to the real Elmo’s psyche. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/348 "2024-09-18T14:24:26Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > To be compared to a serial liar, a world champion misogynist, a white nationalist, whose latest “visions” are more like “hallucinations” or drug fueled dreams; is damaging to the real Elmo’s psyche. That’s fair. The red muppet is really an innocent child who never harmed anyone. Wasn’t it bad enough in the mid 90s that he was relentlessly tortured by countless strangers through tickling? Sure, some might say he asked for it; “Tickle Me” was his chosen monicker after all. But I believe it went too far. And now this?! We need to step back and reconsider our treatment of Puppet Americans. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/349 "2024-09-18T14:26:24Z")
This explains so much. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/350 "2024-09-18T14:39:04Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > We need to step back and reconsider our treatment of Puppet Americans. He’s a Muppet. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/351 "2024-09-18T14:51:01Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The red muppet is really an innocent child who never harmed anyone. That’s actually the best reason to not call the subject of this thread “Elmo”. He is the opposite of innocent and has harmed many, many people. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/352 "2024-09-18T14:59:50Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Touched a nerve, didn’t I? It may be that in your delusional world you believe that. Perhaps you also believe that you’re the Emperor of Abyssinia. But this is the Pit, where we like to banter, and when some pompous moron shows up dictating strictures about how we should conduct ourselves, the opportunities for banter are endless! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/353 "2024-09-18T15:01:20Z")
I am neutral on the use of Elmo. On the one hand, there is the real Elmo being sullied by this dude’s reputation, on the other hand the letters of “Elmo” are slightly more visually distinctive than those of “Elon”, which at a half-glance look sort of like “elm” and “melon”. I don’t think it’s too terribly pejorative to The Unprofessional (see: _that_ was pejorative). I’d call him that even if I didn’t like or dislike him. Or not. I don’t care too much one way or the other what people call him. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/354 "2024-09-18T15:41:15Z")
I prefer to call him Melon Husk. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/355 "2024-09-18T16:22:16Z")
I enjoyed the muppets very much in the 20th century, but I’m only vaguely aware of Elmo as an irritating red muppet they introduced later on. I assume there are also humans named Elmo. A quick look at the stats says that there are around 8500 people called Elmo, a little more common than the around 3300 with my name. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/356 "2024-09-18T16:31:42Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > He is the opposite of innocent and has harmed many, many people. So, completely on-brand for Elmo. > **[Elmo actor resigns amid new sex allegations](https://www.jacksonville.com/story/entertainment/local/2012/11/20/elmo-actor-resigns-amid-new-sex-allegations/15847037007/)** > > Associated Press > NEW YORK - Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned from "Sesame Street" on Tuesday amid allegations he sexually abused underage boys, bringing an end to a 28-year career in which he tu… ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/357 "2024-09-18T16:36:21Z")
I prefer Eloon (as in lunatic) since it’s a bit insulting and actually references his behavior. Unless I’m talking about his products, where I often refer to the stench of his Musk in terms of depreciating their value to me. And I give zero fucks if it’s childish and insulting, because, hey, it makes me feel a tiny bit better. I’ll own being slightly rude and childish, better than being a racist, bigoted asshole wanting to ruin the lives of myself and many of my friends. Then again, I was happy to use MAGAt and own the insult in a different thread. I would mention that the person who climbed on their high horse, @Randolph would have been better served if they’d stuck with chiding us for lack of _creativity_ in our insults and nicknames (which would have been a more-or-less valid criticism) rather than simply writing off anyone who uses them as someone to be “readily dismissed”. Irony of ironies 😉 someone who tells me a person can be completely dismissed because they can be childish at times IN THE FLAME FORUM seems to be volunteering themself as someone who should absolutely be dismissed. 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/358 "2024-09-18T18:51:36Z")
Calling him “Elmo” saves typing as compared with calling him “Elon, whom I despise.” Same thing with “Donald.” Some of his fans have called him “THE Donald” but never “Donald,” which Trump is said to dislike. So in the interest of clear communication, I type “Donald” instead of “Trump, whom I despise.” It’s shorter. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/359 "2024-09-18T19:49:39Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > He’s a Muppet. Yes, i acknowledged that in my post. But he’s also a puppet. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fTIJA7rUBkQ/maxresdefault.jpg "The Simpsons: What's a Muppet?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTIJA7rUBkQ) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/360 "2024-09-18T20:33:17Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > Musk lives in the finest bubble money can buy. Or maybe he wasn’t joking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=19)