Twitter and The Musk

[Ksyrup]

I just saw one of these in the wild for the first time on Monday, in Lexington. It looked even more ridiculous in person than I imagined. It was white. Even the brake lights were stupid looking - they looked like some sort of PC Jr.-generated pixelated red lights. My wife saw it and just busted out laughing.

[flere-imsaho]

If I've been following the news correctly, it seems that Cybertrucks do a pretty good job of disabling themselves.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I just saw one of these in the wild for the first time on Monday, in Lexington. It looked even more ridiculous in person than I imagined. It was white. Even the brake lights were stupid looking - they looked like some sort of PC Jr.-generated pixelated red lights. My wife saw it and just busted out laughing.

The ones that have are not stainless steel are actually the better looking ones. Wait till you see the stainless steel one. It looks ridiculous with fingerprints all over it.

[RainMaker]

So a reporter decided to post the hacked materials from the Trump campaign. His account was suspended by free speech absolutist Elon shortly after.


If you want to read it, it's here.

[GrantDawg]

Sounds like a big nothing-burger. About what I expected when the press didn't release it.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Ksyrup]

Elon also has such a lack of self-awareness, he actually tweeted that Mark Cuban is proof thast morons can become billionaires.

[Insert Face Palm Emoji Here]

[JPhillips]

Looks like Elon's robots were "human assisted" which means a guy in a haptic suit did everything the robot did.

[Mota]

Twitter becomes more of a cesspool every day. It's just right wing MAGA morons that are left, I do stay because I follow a bunch of wrestling stuff on there, but all of the "normal people" are gone.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Mota

Twitter becomes more of a cesspool every day. It's just right wing MAGA morons that are left, I do stay because I follow a bunch of wrestling stuff on there, but all of the "normal people" are gone.

I only use the "following" tab, so I stay away from most the far Right stuff unless it is someone reposting a reaction to it, but many of the regular posters I follow are gone. Like yesterday during the college games, there are usually a pretty steady stream of reactions from all the sports accounts I follow. It was pretty quiet.

[RainMaker]

Seems weird Musk has high security clearance and gets hundreds of billions in welfare and contracts.

[flere-imsaho]

Does it seem weird though, really?

[JPhillips]

Wow: Twitter's new ToS says all disputes will be heard in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas located in Tarrant County (Tesla investor Reed O'Connor's court)

Truly remarkable, considering Twitter's new HQ is NOT in this district, but in western Texas. pic.twitter.com/IoJgrVgytq

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) October 17, 2024

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mota

Twitter becomes more of a cesspool every day. It's just right wing MAGA morons that are left, I do stay because I follow a bunch of wrestling stuff on there, but all of the "normal people" are gone.

Au contraire. I get the leftist dregs of humanity all the time, all I have to do is click on virtually any trending topic/phrase/hashtag.

This just adds to my belief that the real algorithm largely exists to shove shit we don't want down our throats because pissed off users tend to engage more.

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by Mota

Twitter becomes more of a cesspool every day. It's just right wing MAGA morons that are left, I do stay because I follow a bunch of wrestling stuff on there, but all of the "normal people" are gone.

I'm down to mostly high school football scores and occasional college hockey. I can get the rest elsewhere and only will target a story so I can find the source

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bronconick

I'm down to mostly high school football scores

It is absolutely a Godsend for that purpose.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Au contraire. I get the leftist dregs of humanity all the time, all I have to do is click on virtually any trending topic/phrase/hashtag.

This just adds to my belief that the real algorithm largely exists to shove shit we don't want down our throats because pissed off users tend to engage more.

That may very well be the case.

I'm glad I no longer need Twitter for HS sports and my girls' recruiting stuff. I had been slowly weeding my follow list of a bunch of college and travel SB teams/coaches, but Elon made me short-cut it by pushing me to weed myself from my own feed.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Au contraire. I get the leftist dregs of humanity all the time, all I have to do is click on virtually any trending topic/phrase/hashtag.

This just adds to my belief that the real algorithm largely exists to shove shit we don't want down our throats because pissed off users tend to engage more.

That is absolutely what the algorithm is trained to do. It is all about keeping you pissed off and clicking.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Wow: Twitter's new ToS says all disputes will be heard in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas located in Tarrant County (Tesla investor Reed O'Connor's court)

Truly remarkable, considering Twitter's new HQ is NOT in this district, but in western Texas. pic.twitter.com/IoJgrVgytq

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) October 17, 2024

LOL

[PilotMan]

The speed at which AI and bots are flooding and taking over social media is amazing. A lot of my feed is fake AI generated content purporting to show something 'amazing' that 'not many people' know about, or some 'once in a lifetime' shot in space, or earth, and it's all such bullshit. We thought the eclipse was bad, that was just the start.


Then you have thousands upon thousands of bots that comment on it with 'praying hands' 'amen' and all manner of expression. You have people calling it fake, and bots replying asking to be friends with said person using the most wooden, overly formal structure. I'm not on twitter, but I can only imagine that it's worse over there.



It feels like this is a new medium of dialogue and it will turn people off from all of it, and it'll serve to influence people in all manner of ways. Convincing someone that your 'sky full of meteors' or the 'incredible moonrise' that just happened to be framed by a tree that exactly the right size was planned and totally real, is one thing, and it's the start of moving on to much more complex and influential points of view. If people will buy in and believe this shit, how can we actually function together in the real world?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

This just adds to my belief that the real algorithm largely exists to shove shit we don't want down our throats because pissed off users tend to engage more.

Agree with this 100%. This is literally what all of social media is for. If all of social media disappeared tomorrow I'm 100% confident the world would be a better place.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Au contraire. I get the leftist dregs of humanity all the time

It definitely makes me laugh to think we may be watching the same content. I'm just doing it on purpose.

This just adds to my belief that the real algorithm largely exists to shove shit we don't want down our throats because pissed off users tend to engage more.

I quit facebook for this reason. Tiktok will occasionally give me a spree of MAGA content, but as long as I don't interact with it in any way (including going to the comments to laugh at the losers) it goes away soon enough.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Radii

I quit facebook for this reason. Tiktok will occasionally give me a spree of MAGA content, but as long as I don't interact with it in any way (including going to the comments to laugh at the losers) it goes away soon enough.

It is what drives me crazy on twitter, the people that engage the nonsense. Stop quote tweeting these people! That is what they want! Ignore their stupidity. Your funny quip isn't going to suddenly change their mind. but it will drive them to more engagement.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Agree with this 100%. This is literally what all of social media is for. If all of social media disappeared tomorrow I'm 100% confident the world would be a better place.

Eh, it'd also lead to considerably more isolation OR to more (ugh) in person interaction. I already don't like half the population just based on FB. If I ever dealt with these fuckers in person the numbers would surely be even higher.

(Yeah, "half" is understating things, but it's easier than doing the actual math)

[RainMaker]

I just logged into Twitter and got an ad for slavery. WTF is going on?

Blacks should support slavery.

Christians and Jews are who tore us apart. We used to protect you, feed you, and give you honest work; but they forced us to abandon you, out into the cold, and treat you not as friends, but as enemies.

Come home, slaves. We have work to do. pic.twitter.com/gsQxM0VAfq

— The Hellenist ☀️ (@The_Hellenist) October 18, 2024

[PilotMan]

It's the world of Musk now. Breathe it in.

[RainMaker]

I get so many Trump and Jill Stein ads on Twitter now that I'm wondering if Elon is just giving them for free.

[Thomkal]

Yowza-not that it will matter to Elon, but every Democrat who is still on Twitter the day after the election, cancel twitter and leave it for the racists, sexists, and white supremacists.

[Passacaglia]

That Hellenist account is a joke, right?

[Mota]

Very weird, I blocked the Black Insurrectionist account, and it started showing up on my feeds again. Could Musk be unblocking right wing accounts for users, or did they just create a new account? Strange, but not surprising.

My "For You" feed is much better now, I had to mute a LOT of users.

[GrantDawg]

I'm back to using Bluesky more. They have improved lots of the functionality on there, and another big influx of people have started posting. Still, it is missing lots of the news and sports reporters I follow on Twitter, which is the only reason I'm still there.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Ksyrup]

I just didn't (and still don't) have the energy to start over on another Twitter, so i never followed through on Bluesky or the others. I tried but gave up. Reddit satisfies my social media needs - similar to Twitter but more organized and closer to a messageboard-like feel for deeper discussions.

[RainMaker]

Incredibly funny that he's just doing a completely illegal election crime and no one can do anything about it. Can't hand bottles of water out in Georgia though.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Radii

It definitely makes me laugh to think we may be watching the same content. I'm just doing it on purpose.

I quit facebook for this reason. Tiktok will occasionally give me a spree of MAGA content, but as long as I don't interact with it in any way (including going to the comments to laugh at the losers) it goes away soon enough.

They all mostly suck. TikTok is too young for me. I get the appeal and how it can be addictive, but it'd be something I'd be interested in 15 years ago.
IG is just not my thing and I never got into Facebook

Twitter is mostly dead. I use it to find a cool video of something that happened or follow local sports news. It's pretty good for finding out if someone is hurt for a game or other fantasy info. Sad because I prefer the shortform text-based social media style.

Telegram is surprisingly great. Kind of a mix of the best features from a bunch of other services. And one with the least amount of censorship. And no algorithm to push up all the clickbait. Not sure the U.S. would ever allow it to take foothold here, but it's terrific for international news.

[albionmoonlight]

JUST IN: The Justice Department has sent a letter to Elon Musk's super PAC, warning that his daily $1m giveaway to registered voters in swing states might violate federal laws, sources tell CNN. It's illegal to incentivize registration with cash/prizes. @evanperez @HBRabinowitz

— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) October 23, 2024

LOL. They literally sent Elon a strongly worded letter. That'll show him.

Tomorrow, I have four detention (i.e. bail) hearings in federal court for my clients--all of whom got a lot more than a strongly worded letter from the DOJ.

I guess there are a few hundred billion differences between Elon and my clients.

[RainMaker]

Well if he keeps this up, he can expect a second strongly worded letter in his mailbox soon.

[Kodos]

And maybe a demerit!

[RainMaker]

The funniest part of the letter is it says "he might be violating the law". You're the fucking DOJ, shouldn't you know the law?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The funniest part of the letter is it says "he might be violating the law". You're the fucking DOJ, shouldn't you know the law?

To that question, Merrick Garland responded "can anybody really know the law?"

[RainMaker]

Remarkable that he still has a security clearance and is given billions in government contracts.

Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Putin since late 2022.

At one point, Putin asked him to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Big @WSJ scoop: https://t.co/NUgcDtkzkR

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) October 25, 2024

[Atocep]

I think Elon has become addicted to the potential of some political power. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he tried running for president and tried to brand himself the next leader of MAGA.

EDIT: I guess he's South African so he's not eligible. The point remains, though, I think he wants to get heavily involved in politics as long as he can have an influence on MAGA.

[RainMaker]

Maybe he can buy Clarence a horse or something and SCOTUS will let him run for President.

[Ksyrup]

Just when I needed a chuckle today, I saw this gold on the road (OC)
byu/DoWhatMakesYouRad inMadeMeSmile

[Lathum]

I feel like if I am in the "following" tab I am comfortably enjoying a nice walk on my suburban cul-de-sac and as soon as I go to the "For You (it most certainly is not for me)" tab I've ventured into some inner city hellscape where danger lurks around every corner.

[Mota]

The funny thing is that my "For You" timeline was fine after muting a ton of MAGA's, and then a week later, FLOODED again. This is not the algorithm. It is being forced on us for sure.

[Ksyrup]

I hardly go on Twitter anymore, but I guess I still have some notifications set. In the morning, I usually have 3 or 4 tweets sitting in my notifications, and 3/4 of them are right-wingers I don't follow. The other is typically some regular (non-famous) person I follow.

[whomario]

Interesting. Looking into it.

[Ghost Econ]

Is he trying to win the election for her?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by whomario

Interesting. Looking into it.

The end of x.com...

[Thomkal]

NH wins the thread with the XCom screenshot

[Ghost Econ]

So, the Twitter purchase definitely worked out for Musk and conservatives, right? It essentially destroyed one of the liberals best organizing platforms and turned it into a massive organizing platform for conservatives.