# 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:** 24
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/461 "2024-10-06T17:54:14Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Twitter Spaces live gatherings were failing back in 2023 **[due specifically to poor staffing](https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/why-did-elon-musks-twitter-spaces-fail-during-major-announcement-report-reveals-extreme-staff-shortage-383004-2023-05-26)** I don’t suppose you have a better cite for the claim that the spaces failed due to poor staffing? Not that I doubt it, but I’d love to understand exactly how, and the Business Today link just says ‘a report on Platformer’, which appears to be paywalled. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/462 "2024-10-06T18:25:02Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > It seems like Xitter itself is pretty much functional at the same level it was before he took over. But are the numbers the same? Same number of daily users? (If only a fraction of the number of users that Twitter had pre-Musk are showing up to Xitter, then the site could remain functional despite low staffing.) ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/463 "2024-10-06T18:40:13Z")
There is no shortage. > **[Musk Firings Blamed for DeSantis Presidential Launch Fiasco](https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-firings-blamed-for-ron-desantis-presidential-launch-fiasco)** > > Since taking over Twitter, Musk has reportedly cut the Spaces team from around 100 to just three. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/464 "2024-10-06T18:51:21Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > There is no shortage That is essentially identical to the other link. I’m have no doubt that you can find thousands of articles that say, “Platformer’ put out a piece saying the Twitter Spaces failure was due to laying people off”, rephrased and padded for word count. But the information that Platformer actually used to justify that claim is behind a paywall. I’m just curious if you’ve seen any source that actually gives the evidence that Platformer supposedly has. I’ve never heard of Platformer before; I don’t know them from my right nutsack; I have no idea how much credence I should give to their opinion about the cause of the failure of the Twitter Spaces events. I’d like to review their evidence and decide for myself, but nowhere seems willing to actually provide that evidence. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/465 "2024-10-06T19:08:44Z")
I just googled “twitter spaces desantis platformer” and got literally dozens of articles skimming over the high points and linking to them as the source. Nobody is reprinting the whole paywalled article, for obvious reasons, but if you’re genuinely legitimately interested it’s possible to assemble their argument from the collage of quotes and excerpts. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/466 "2024-10-06T19:13:17Z")
To be fair it was never worth $44B that is just the massively inflated price Musk, on a whim, agreed to buy it for. It was probably actually worth only about $30B, so really it’s only lost about $21B or 2/3 of its value due to his mismanagement. The other $14B loss was just a Musk being an idiot premium added to the closing cost. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/467 "2024-10-06T19:19:56Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I just googled “twitter spaces desantis platformer” and got literally dozens of articles skimming over the high points and linking to them as the source. Nobody is reprinting the whole paywalled article, for obvious reasons, but if you’re genuinely legitimately interested it’s possible to assemble their argument from the collage of quotes and excerpts. The childhood party game “Broken Telephone” is not generally how I prefer to get my news, thank you. Since the articles linked above just give individual quotes from unnamed individuals, it seems like this “report” basically amounts to “People are saying…”, I’ll chalk this up as an unsubstantiated rumor, regardless of how satisfying it might be to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/468 "2024-10-06T19:25:58Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The childhood party game “Broken Telephone” is not generally how I prefer to get my news, thank you. If you seriously cared that much, you could just pay. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/469 "2024-10-06T19:37:39Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > If you seriously cared that much I _don’t_ particularly care, but I’m not the one who made factual claims using that article as evidence. If I _had_ made that claim, I’d be a lot more interested in making sure it’s true. I would want to know I’m not spreading bullshit - you know, like Elon does. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/470 "2024-10-06T19:41:41Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I’m not the one who made factual claims using that article as evidence You are, however, the one who keeps demanding information on it and will reject anything except the original paywalled article. You know HOW to access it and get the information you demand, but apparently you’d rather just complain and insist that everyone is probably lying and to prove you wrong, neener neener. Saying now that you don’t really care rings a bit hollow when you’ve taken pains to keep insisting on the information and rejecting anything else as not good enough. A person who actually didn’t care would have just shrugged it off after the first request. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/471 "2024-10-06T19:51:46Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Saying now that you don’t really care rings a bit hollow when you’ve taken pains to keep insisting on the information and rejecting anything else as not good enough. A person who actually didn’t care would have just shrugged it off after the first request. I don’t care about the specific claim made here. I care a lot about people making factual claims with no evidence, though. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/472 "2024-10-06T19:54:25Z")
Anyways, that’s enough of that hijack, I’ll let you get back to shitting on Elon in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/473 "2024-10-06T19:54:56Z")
“I refuse to accept any evidence except this one specific piece that I refuse to look at” isn’t the same as “no evidence” but rock on with your righteous quest 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/474 "2024-10-06T19:56:01Z")
The person I was responding to didn’t pay for the article either, did he? So he did, in fact, repeat a claim without seeing any evidence for it. Pretty Elon like behavior if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/475 "2024-10-06T19:56:25Z")
Common guys. Let’s direct out ire towards Elon, because that dude sucks so fucking hard. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/476 "2024-10-06T20:48:21Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I’ll chalk this up as an unsubstantiated rumor Here’s a medal for your accomplishments. Wear it with pride. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/477 "2024-10-06T21:56:47Z")
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. The chief reason he’s got Twitter is he made a ridiculous-but-legally-binding offer and they jumped on it, took the money and ran. The rest of his strategy has played out sort of like what people say about private equity buyouts: Musk saddled it with debt, gutted the payroll, and destroyed the brand. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/478 "2024-10-06T22:29:34Z")
I had a friend on the inside during the Musk buyout of Twitter, and so I got first hand knowledge of the shitshow that ensued (yes, first hand, as in with my own two eyeballs). I also, because the topic was obviously of interest to me, followed Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer’s reporting, first on Twitter and later on Mastodon. Their sources are going to be current and former employees, some they’ve spoken with directly and others that have posted on sites for silicon valley insiders. Me, I believe them, because their reporting matched exactly with what I was seeing. But, hey, I get it. Journalists reporting with anonymous sources is an exercise in trust, and they haven’t earned your trust. Nothing wrong with that. But I think that’s all we’ve got. Insiders who don’t want to get sued speaking on condition of anonymity. Nobody’s released internal DORA metrics or anything. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/479 "2024-10-07T02:53:56Z")
On peripherally related note, > **[GEICO is Terminating Insurance Coverage of Tesla Cybertrucks, Says “This Type...](https://www.torquenews.com/11826/geico-terminating-insurance-coverage-tesla-cybertrucks-says-type-vehicle-doesnt-meet-our/)** > > GEICO, the second-largest vehicle insurance underwriter in the US, has decided it will no longer cover Tesla Cybertrucks. The company is terminating current Cybertruck policies and says the truck “doesn’t meet our underwriting guidelines.” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634/480 "2024-10-07T03:08:03Z")
Whoa, wonder if any of the other big insurers will pick up the slack – and at what price? Maybe Elon will have to buy an insurance company. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-2/1005634.md?page=25)