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Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

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Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#901
post #678

I think people are really over-analyzing this move. I think it's motivated by prestige, not money, nor is free speech the heart of the matter. Twitter is a stagnant company. They have thousands of engineers that in the span of a decade don't seem to produce much at all, nothing visible or memorable anyway. Long-lasting Twitter problems (culture, spam, algorithm issues) never seem addressed. User growth is stagnating…

Supposedly he was talking to the Babylon bee just before about how they got banned. I am very curious what he will do.

He is anything but conventional, he is not there to go for low hanging fruit I don't think

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People have been begging for an edit button for a decade. And they haven't implemented it because it's a truly horrible idea. If you messed up your tweet delete it. If it's already got traction, then it shouldn't be changed, especially because the edit feature would mostly be used maliciously to cancel retweeters.

Retweet could show the version of the tweet as it was when it was retweeted. If you see a tweet that has a new revision ready you could see a "latest" link. If you see the latest version of a tweet with a version history you could see a "history" link which would show you a revision history.

As a not user of twitter, you really made me confirm my "no way, ever" stance, as far as the platform goes. With editing, as you describe it, enabled? "Absolutely not a fucking chance", is the most polite phrase i can think of. Imagine replying to me, me changing my reply, then you having to extra-click to wade through various re-writes i could manufacture.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#903
post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He could do that with any number of stagnant companies. Think bigger picture. Tesla: Sustainable transport SpaceX: Becoming a multiplanetary species Twitter: Free speech in the public square IMO it's actually the most important mission of the 3 since it's the basis for societal progress.

Here's a more sane interpretation of Musk's "mission" for these companies: Tesla: Gimmicky electric cars as a status symbol SpaceX: Maximizing profits on government space contracts Twitter: Tactical manipulation of stock prices All of them are about increasing Musk's clout and net worth.

Deeply cynical interpretation?

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#904

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with you, at the same time if Twitter as a company isn't really doing much, why do they have thousands of developers on staff? I don't think there's anything wrong with being a stable, profitable company, but logically it should also come with a whole lot of layoffs.

> at the same time if Twitter as a company isn't really doing much, why do they have thousands of developers on staff? ...to keep the app running? New devices, new standards, a lot of things change that you need devs to keep up with. Also, what's up with people saying twitter is stagnant? They've added Spaces, Twitter Blue and Crypto Profile Pictures - all 3 massive features added to their product. They're all trash,…

> ...to keep the app running? New devices, new standards, a lot of things change that you need devs to keep up with.

I guess, and I imagine at their size they probably run pretty inefficiently. It just seems like a surprisingly big team. From all fronts really, not just development but design too, does it really take that much effort to keep Twitter "twittery"?

> Crypto Profile Pictures

Straight out of a satire piece, I had not heard about that.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#905

So does this mean Elon can't be blocked/booted on Twitter? I guess a seat on the board is the ultimate blue-check.

Trump furiously trying to find a way onto the board.

If only Trump actually had $2.9 billion dollars.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#906
post #678

I think people are really over-analyzing this move. I think it's motivated by prestige, not money, nor is free speech the heart of the matter. Twitter is a stagnant company. They have thousands of engineers that in the span of a decade don't seem to produce much at all, nothing visible or memorable anyway. Long-lasting Twitter problems (culture, spam, algorithm issues) never seem addressed. User growth is stagnating…

I will never like or retweet anything ever if what I had endorsed could be edited later.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#907

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retweet could show the version of the tweet as it was when it was retweeted. If you see a tweet that has a new revision ready you could see a "latest" link. If you see the latest version of a tweet with a version history you could see a "history" link which would show you a revision history.

We've suddenly turned a "simple" feature into something with potentially major architectural changes[0] on how retweeting works too, just in a few minutes here! I wonder what other dragons await the ... lucky ... engineers who will get to size this feature soon. ;) [0] No idea how it works internally, but it would hardly surprise me if the lack of edit functionality caused early design decisions around stuff like thi…

Edit has obvious options for misuse. Mitigating misuse might be complicated but that's no reason not to do it. The feature I've just described is not complicated. The feature might have architectural implications but resolving those is literally the job of software development teams (including design, PM, etc).

I think it's pathetic to say of a feature that it's too hard because there may be some complications or architecture changes. It's especially pathetic to say of a basic feature like edit which exists on other platforms and is obviously possible. This defeatist attitude is, no doubt, partially to blame for Twitter's inability to improve.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#908
post #678

I think people are really over-analyzing this move. I think it's motivated by prestige, not money, nor is free speech the heart of the matter. Twitter is a stagnant company. They have thousands of engineers that in the span of a decade don't seem to produce much at all, nothing visible or memorable anyway. Long-lasting Twitter problems (culture, spam, algorithm issues) never seem addressed. User growth is stagnating…

> People have been begging for an edit button for a decade. And they haven't implemented it because it's a truly horrible idea. If you messed up your tweet delete it. If it's already got traction, then it shouldn't be changed, especially because the edit feature would mostly be used maliciously to cancel retweeters.

“Retweet if you like ice cream!” then after a bunch of retweets change it to “Retweet if you love pedophilia!” No thanks. I’d never retweet it like anything again. Editing is a terrible idea.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#909

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retweet could show the version of the tweet as it was when it was retweeted. If you see a tweet that has a new revision ready you could see a "latest" link. If you see the latest version of a tweet with a version history you could see a "history" link which would show you a revision history.

We've suddenly turned a "simple" feature into something with potentially major architectural changes[0] on how retweeting works too, just in a few minutes here! I wonder what other dragons await the ... lucky ... engineers who will get to size this feature soon. ;) [0] No idea how it works internally, but it would hardly surprise me if the lack of edit functionality caused early design decisions around stuff like thi…

Just rewrite twitter as a simple github client. You could tag the version the person retweeted or liked. Since you don't mind the repository being public, you could actually use a free account.

Re: Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors

#910
post #863

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, this isn’t accurate at all. > It means nobody is allowed to police public discourse No, it means the government cannot restrict speech. > Freedom of speech, also called free speech, means the free and public expression of opinions without censorship, interference and restraint by the government. [0] Most people assume “free speech” means “nobody” can restrict it, but it is in fact only “by the government”.…

Implying a clear line between private authority and government authority is just dishonest.

The real question is if private owners have rights over their property to police behavior.

The second consideration is what recourse private owners have to disallowed speech. It's not jail or execution. Typically just dismissal.

I do not understand the argument that a platform is not allowed to police itself.

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