Just like how Russia wasn’t going to invade Ukraine.
Actually, exactly like how Russia wasn’t going to invade Ukraine.
I do find it interesting that two thirds of (responding) Dopers are not Twitterers. Tweeters. Twittiteeterers. Whatever.
Technically, I have an account, but I have not twote in many years.
Elon says he wants to make it more of a free-speech zone. I don’t think he has any idea what he’s getting into. He probably has a twitterary to do his tweets for him.
I voted “something else”. I have a twitter account but use it mostly for Canadian football league news. Although I expect we’ll see more pro 1% and alt right spin commentary bubbling to the surface.
I also have an account, but have never actually written a tweet. I just like to follow some threads when someone like Ted Cruz says something stupid without realizing it.
It depends where you draw the line. I hadn’t really thought of him as evil until he pushed the anti-COVID stuff. But then I noticed him starting to push the whole one-sided “freedom of speech” angle—the one that acts like those who do evil things should be given freedom of speech, but tries to restrict people who say things he doesn’t like.
There are definitely more evil people, but I think Musk is firmly in the evil camp. And buying Twitter to take it private and thus make it less able to respond to what people actually want was itself an evil act, given his stated goals for the platform.
Who reads blogs these days?
I read more blogs that tweets. So- me.
I don;t have short attention span, and I read quite fast.
He’s always been a spectacular jackass. Remember when he was annoyed by an anonymous blogger so he had the guy tracked down so he could call the guy’s employer and have his job threatened in order to shut him up? He says he believes in free speech, he says he wants his critics on Twitter, but given his track record I see zero chance of that happening.
The structuring of Musk’s financing is a bit risky - for him, for Tesla and for Twitter.
He’s counting on an atypical level of profitability from Twitter, which suggests that he is operating with deeply unrealistic expectations or he has something planned that will likely not bode well for Twitter (although how you might asset strip a social media platform remains to be seen). Also:
Tesla stock has been on the slide already, down about 11% last I looked. A 40% fall is unlikely but not impossible, particularly as there are those with an interest in seeing Musk fail (out of sheer malice or for personal gain). One wonders what he would do in the event that loan comes abruptly due and the Tesla share price is low.
Anyhow - I will continue to tweet for the time being. We shall see what if any actual effect his ownership has on the platform.
I don’t use Twitter, but I am curious what Elon plans to do with it that he thinks it’s worth personally paying such a premium.
Exactly, that’s the whole problem. What’s twitter actually worth in terms of infrastructure and hardware? They probably have a few hundred million in hard assets, and the rest of the value comes from the userbase.
If people up and leave twitter for another social media platform, twitter becomes nearly worthless.
I have never created an account and can still read the stupid viral tweets and the hilarious replies. So, I guess I will keep doing what I have been doing: Occasionally look at tweets and their replies without having an account.
Years ago, I wanted to sign up for something that you could only do if you had a Twittter account. I don’t know if I ever actually twote. I’m pretty sure it’s been years since the last time I took a selfie, and I’ve never sent a selfie to anyone.
I use Twitter a lot. It has access to a few communities that I rely on. We’ve started talking about where we will go if the deal ultimately goes through. The groups are already targeted and harassed. We believe that Musk leadership will make that much, much worse.
All of that aside, I will be surprised if the deal goes through. Musk is chaotic, and the financing proposed seems tenuous.
The deal is “on hold” for bullshit reasons, so he is likely trying to find a way to get out w/o having to pay a billion:
He’s also trying to find different financing. Hahahahaha.