Elon has decided not to join our board • Hacker News Board

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#461

Post by antattack » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 12:58 PM UTC

fastball wrote: post #84

smt88 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. Assuming Musk did take over Twitter, he wouldn't need to be much of a distraction. He could dictate a few rules (don't moderate Twitter, don't ban anyone, etc.) and then leave the company to function as it did before. I think what he doesn't realize is that reducing moderation…

I don't think Musk's ideas about free speech extend to allowing unfettered botting.

On 4/9 Musk twitted that he would be in favor of $2/month fee for verified account, paid annually to deter bots.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#462

Post by strikelaserclaw » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 12:59 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #11

It’s funny that the first paragraph of the letter says they believed it was best for Elon to join the board. Then the second paragraph says that Elon declined to join the board and they believe it was also for the best.

Aka corporate talk that absolutely means nothing.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#463

Post by actionfromafar » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

smcl wrote: post #453

throwaway4good wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like Elon didn't accept Twitter's conditions for joining the board. For Twitter this is serious; Elon could destroy Twitter. Sell it again, and create (or buy) an alternative. Just like Trump he has a personal brand big enough to jumpstart a social network, and unlike Trump (it seems) he could probably build it.

I don't think the failure of Gettr or Truth Social or Gab, or any of these other networks is down to technical chops that a Musk-backed dev team would have that a Trump-backed dev team wouldn't. I think it's more down to the users. Gab/Gettr is attractive for the alt-right because you can say anything you like[0], Truth Social is attractive for Trump fans because it's backed by Trump himself. A hypothetical Elon Musk…

[0] - It's not witch friendly, it's witches only, in other words.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#464

Post by timonoko » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:09 PM UTC

Excellent. Muricans may not know it but both Twitter and Facebook are muchmuch worse in other countries.

Facebook especially is hiring Russians in Malta and other such places for content moderation. My lastest Facebook account was banned because pictures of Simo Häyhä and other such Russo-phobic content.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#465

Post by sudden_dystopia » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:14 PM UTC

As a board memeber, he was capped at 14.9% of total shares. I believe Elon has just set phasers to Hostile Takeover.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#466

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:18 PM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #400

rsynnott wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just like Trump he has a personal brand big enough to jumpstart a social network That appears to be an embarrassing failure, tho. And Musk's personal brand is much smaller than Trump's.

The Trump stuff is hard to understand; seems like he had such a massive oppurtunity.

[deleted]

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#467

Post by jaggederest » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

giraffe_lady wrote: post #422

dalbasal wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We see coloured smoke come out of the chimney. What the cardinals said is all speculation... even if they later leak something. To my ear, the most simple reading is (1) the board seat came with conditions (2) Elon didn't accept them. Twitter management undoubtedly has unresolved tensions, tense status quos, factions... As always with online forums, anyone hitched to the "free speech absolutist" wagon loses eventuall…

He got fined a few tens of millions of dollars a while back for tweeting a market-manipulating weed joke. Literally, this is not an exaggeration at all. Then iirc the SEC put a restriction where his tweets about his companies had to be like, nominally vetted by an officer of the company or something, I don't remember the details. Anyway he basically just refused, but also afaik hasn't tweeted concrete financial lies…

I really think it works better if you define the "fine" in terms of percent of net wealth.

1 basis point, or 0.01%

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#468

Post by mapster » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

paxys wrote: post #207

axg11 wrote: post #9

A very odd set of events and no explanation regarding Elon's change of mind. A pessimist would think that Elon has decided to go for a "hostile" takeover since he is no longer bound by the percentage holding cap. An optimistic would think that Elon had enough self-awareness to realize it would be an overall distraction for Twitter with little benefit. It amuses me more than it should that the CEO of Twitter has poste…

The explanation is as clear as you'll get. They wanted Elon to act like a board member – be a fiduciary of the company, be trusted with confidential data, consult leadership before making announcements, don't disparage it in public. Elon decided that being able to Tweet about the company on a whim was more important to him.

Yes, he acts in bad faith and manipulates stock. Elon while brilliant is on the autistic spectrum, I think he admitted as much.

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#469

Post by carlivar » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:36 PM UTC

loudmax wrote: post #455

RickJWagner wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

There are lots of good people on the Republican side of the aisle. Liz Cheney, Bill Kristol, and everyone involved with the Lincoln Project. Trump's admiration of Vladimir Putin should make Republicans realize what America could have become if he had succeeded in defeating democracy on January 6th, 2021. That might restore the Republican party to former levels of honesty. And even sanity.

Uhh you might want to look into Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver. Not to mention the graft within the organization.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/lincoln-project-t...

Re: Elon has decided not to join our board

#470

Post by overgard » Mon, Apr 11, 2022, 1:38 PM UTC

dalbasal wrote: post #373

paxys wrote: post #155

Reading between the lines and the PR speak a little bit: 1. Parag is covering his own ass and making clear that the initial announcement was always contingent on a few things and not a done deal. 2. He is heavily implying that being a fiduciary of the company and having to act in its best interests (including, I imagine, not randomly criticizing it in public or promising non-existent features) was the deal breaker fo…

We see coloured smoke come out of the chimney. What the cardinals said is all speculation... even if they later leak something. To my ear, the most simple reading is (1) the board seat came with conditions (2) Elon didn't accept them. Twitter management undoubtedly has unresolved tensions, tense status quos, factions... As always with online forums, anyone hitched to the "free speech absolutist" wagon loses eventuall…

I'm not sure you can relate twitter to a private forum... it's just too big and influential now. IMO it needs to be treated as a utility at this point. So yeah, free speech might not apply somewhere like here, but when twitter has presidents on it..