# On the closing of the Elon Musk Twitter thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 28, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706 "2022-11-28T20:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/41 "2022-11-29T01:58:13Z")
I too have been following that thread with great interest. I would have no idea just how many alarms was the Twitter dumpster fire without that thread. And in my opinion, the sniping was middling at worst. It really wasn’t that bad. But hey, if we want to turn SDMB into some kind of safe space where nobody will ever get the vapors, and well, Leno was much safer for the octogenarians than Letterman or Conan, then yeah. Let’s do more wacky newspaper headlines and fewer stupid human tricks. ---
**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 29, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/42 "2022-11-29T02:18:45Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I just reviewed the thread and there were 5 mod notes for personal attacks. That should be more than enough for people to pay heed. To the extent that I was one of the “problem children” who was warned for a personal attack (which was not intentional; my intent was literally to provide an example of an advocate who pops into every single Elon Musk-related thread with a reflexive defense) I apologize for my contribution for the sidetracking. I was willing to give @Sam_Stone the benefit of the doubt that he was not aware of as specific fascist symbology, but when it was pointed out to him with references he doubled down on the “If I don’t know what ‘88’ means Elon doesn’t either” even though Musk has a long history of baiting people with inflammatory rhetoric which would certainly be evident to anyone who has followed him as much as @Sam_Stone. And then when I noted his implication, his response was to openly accuse me of lying even as I referenced the post where he provided absurd alternatives to Musk’s motives. To claim that there was a one-sided ‘pile-on’ of @Sam_Stone is at least obtuse. Do I personally think that @Sam_Stone is a fascist supporter? Not deliberately, or at least not openly. But Weimar Germany was full of people who thought that while the National Socialists might be going a bit far, they certainly had some “good ideas”. Elon Musk, however, is a fervent supporter of whomever he thinks might boost his stature, regardless of ideology. He is, as I’ve stated repeatedly, the [Frederich Flick](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Flick) to Trump or DeSantis or any other would-be demagogue, which is an observation I’ve com after reading an even dozen books on the rise of fascism and industrialist control of the Weimar era, and plenty of people extolling him and defending his support of the emergent Nazi regime. So it is difficult to observe almost the exact same passive-aggressive rhetoric in someone and not respond by at least highlighting the hypocrisy and pretense of victimization, all while the person in question defends the shit-stirring abrasiveness, and certainly while he destroys the livelihoods of thousands of people out of a fit of pique and/or utter ineptitude, and then being ‘lectured’ about code review and business strategy that makes fuck-all sense. I’m personally volunteering to not post in that thread if it is reopened, but with the hope that moderators will note the distinction between legitimate discussion and the ‘sealioning’ of disingenuous contributors just seeking to deflect all criticism of the subject of the thread. This is probably asking too much of the (unpaid) moderators to regulate the behavior of posters who are subversive in their efforts to sideline legitimate critical discussion by alternatively throwing flaming shit and then complaining about how they are being attacked for having hands covered in burning feces, but if the alternative is allowing deliberate shit-stirrers to derail every discussion by pretending to be victimized by the response to their own sewer-raking, I’m not sure that there is much value in having any discussion that always has to be curtailed to the performative earl-clutching crowd. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/43 "2022-11-29T02:21:53Z")
@Stranger_On_A_Train 's posts are some of the most well-reasoned and informative ones in the thread under discussion. I hope if it is reopened or continued in some way, they’ll be permitted to post in it. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/44 "2022-11-29T02:23:43Z")
How about move the whole thing to the Pit and reopen it? It’s practically a Musk pitting anyway. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/45 "2022-11-29T02:26:35Z")
I agree. Then the moderators can take a break and it can continue on. ---
**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 29, 2022, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/46 "2022-11-29T02:47:20Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > How about move the whole thing to the Pit and reopen it? I’m tempted to take a page from the old Trump thread and call it “Butt-Hurt Elon Takes To Twitter Again”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/47 "2022-11-29T03:14:33Z")
I’m willing to move it to the Pit. I will do so. Maybe all future Elon Musk threads should just be in the Pit. It would save the Mods a lot of grief for sure. ---
**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 29, 2022, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/48 "2022-11-29T07:41:44Z")
I just want to say thank you for restoring the thread. Also, in retrospect, my comment about “… then you’re not doing your job” was unfair and I apologize for making it. Sometimes, looking in from the outside, one doesn’t see all the challenges that mods are faced with. I guess I was just frustrated at seeing a popular and informative thread abruptly shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/49 "2022-11-29T12:29:03Z")
Woke up this morning to see something like 70 new posts in the thread, entirely due to a, um, robust difference in perspective between one particular poster and everybody else. Fine. It’s the Pit. A “let’s bash on Musk” thread is probably useful at the moment, but I do think there would be value in a non-Pit thread for tracking and discussing the Twitter implosion. The existing one will not be able to do that. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/50 "2022-11-29T12:37:33Z")
Should be noted that there are still 2 threads in imho about the musk/twitter situation. Also the one that’s now in the pit was more sniping than informative posts before getting moved. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/51 "2022-11-29T12:44:44Z")
**I found these:** > [@Is it Legal? Elon Musk ultimatum. Do ‘extremely hardcore’ work or get out](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-elon-musk-ultimatum-do-extremely-hardcore-work-or-get-out/975040): > > Can Musk or any boss make this demand? Work 12 hour days (long hours) or get out? The performance standards are off the chart. Exceptional performance? So, I’m exhausted working 72 hour weeks and my new code has a couple bugs that can be found and fixed. I get canned instead? WTF? Btw, he is cutting management and increasing programmers to develop Twitter 2 0. Is this legal in your opinion? Cite [Elon Musk gives ultimatum to Twitter employees: Do 'extremely hardcore' work or get out | CNN Bu…](https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/tech/elon-musk-email-ultimatum-twitter/index.html) > [@Elon Musk's legal trouble](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elon-musks-legal-trouble/975050): > > Elon Musk was just in court. He’s been in court before and is likely to be again both because he’s a litigious so and so and because he sort of thinks he shouldn’t have to follow laws and regulations he doesn’t like. A couple of bits stood out in his recent testimony that I found particularly entertaining and enlightening and I think a thread about his legal trouble has the potential to be useful in the future, so here goes! (This is not a thread for general speculation in Musk’s behavior putt… > [@DeadTreasSecretaries](#): > > Also the one that’s now in the pit was more sniping than informative posts before getting moved. I agree. The content was already being overwhelmed. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/52 "2022-11-29T13:04:10Z")
I think there’s interest in a civil thread that’s more general. I plan to start a “breaking news” thread in MPSIMS, with the usual breaking news rules. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe a pit thread plus a breaking news thread will better meet the desires of posters than a single IMHO thread. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/53 "2022-11-29T13:06:58Z")
I was also thinking of this thread, although I guess you could argue that it was more tangential. > [@How does someone with no business acumen get to be the richest person in the world?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-someone-with-no-business-acumen-get-to-be-the-richest-person-in-the-world/974903): > > The collapse of Twitter will be a classic case study for MBA students someday. How did a guy who doesn’t understand where Twitter’s value is, gutted the company, and destroyed its brand and integrity get to be so wealthy? He didn’t start Tesla, he bought in when it was young. I’m not sure what his history was with PayPal, and I’m not sure where SpaceX will go. But how could someone who fucked up Twitter so seriously get anything else done? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/54 "2022-11-29T13:14:03Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think there’s interest in a civil thread that’s more general. I plan to start a “breaking news” thread in MPSIMS, with the usual breaking news rules. We’ll see how that goes. Maybe a pit thread plus a breaking news thread will better meet the desires of posters than a single IMHO thread. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/55 "2022-11-29T13:15:28Z")
Okay, here you go: Breaking News can go here: > [@Now that Musk bought Twitter -- Breaking News only](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-musk-bought-twitter-breaking-news-only/975737): > > Well, the IMHO thread kept heading off the rails, and is now in the pit. But I think there’s interest in just following what’s happening to Twitter. Layoffs? Hardcore-only? More traffic? Fewer advertisers? New/broken features? Post about it here. Then go to the pit thread if you feel the need to vent. Rants about Musk, or about your fellow doper’s take on the situation, can go here: > [@Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter/963442): > > What would prevent Jack Dorsey from building a different type of Social Media platform that rivals Twitter? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/56 "2022-11-29T13:20:43Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Okay, here you go: Thank you. 🙂 ETA: Perhaps the pit thread should be renamed? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/57 "2022-11-29T13:27:05Z")
Can I ask about user experiences in that thread? Or, is it only for breaking news? I just posted in the Pit thread, but I’d rather post in a less wandering and vicious thread. I posted that I’m not seeing any changes so far, what have other people seen – could something like that go into the breaking news thread? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/58 "2022-11-29T13:30:24Z")
I missed that one, thank you. So hopefully 5 active threads on Musk will be enough. Posters should already know any tangential on Musk in the Ukraine Invasion thread will draw moderator action swiftly at this point. There are probably another 3-4 threads on Musk that are less than 3 months old. Sometime I wonder if we need a Musk Tag that cuts across the forums like the Ukraine tag? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/59 "2022-11-29T13:32:09Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Sometime I wonder if we need a Musk Tag that cuts across the forums like the Ukraine tag? Don’t feed his ego that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706/60 "2022-11-29T13:33:16Z")
LOL, agreed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-closing-of-the-elon-musk-twitter-thread/975706.md?page=4)