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Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

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Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#671

Post by jasmer »

There's a bit of Putin invading Ukraine effect - Putin and frankly probably most Russians and frankly everyone else realizes it's a mistake. But it would be the end of him if were perceived to 'fail' on such a grand scale. The Ukrainian invasion continues (aka ending untrained soldiers as fodder) in order to salvage his status, and indirectly, the reputation of Russia.

Elon might be perceived to be too 'damaged' to fix anything now - his credibility on Twitter shot, but, were he to do a giant 'mea culpa' right now and put some other person in charge, he might win a few points frankly but it's going to be really hard for him.

Perhaps Elon could make a 'Freedom of Expression Constitution' and then put someone in place to 'Enact the Constitution' - maybe he could head the 'Constitutional Board' and then walk away saying: 'I've done what I've come to do, Mars needs me more than Twitter, it's in good hands, I'm on the Constitutional Board to make sure they follow the right path!'. That would give him public cover for his motivations and maybe save just enough face for him to get out his own way. I suggest most people would agree Twitter could have used some reforms anyhow and so even if the market didn't buy the 'narrative' they would see the reality of the situation and some upside.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#672

Post by morelisp »

pg wrote: post #350

I'm not leaving Twitter. It seems more likely than not that Elon will reverse the ban on links to other social media sites. I just don't want to hang out there in the meantime. Plus given the way things are going, it seemed like a good time to learn about alternatives. I still think Elon is a smart guy. His work on cars and rockets speaks for itself. Nor do I think he's the villain a lot of people try to make him out…

In your tweet you said "I give up."

Given that you're not giving up your Twitter account, nor something less tangible like your belief Elon is acting in good faith, nor even something the evidence keeps building against like his ability to run Twitter well - what exactly are you giving up, or giving up on?

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#673

Post by distantsounds »

belligeront wrote: post #15

Amazing that just a month ago he tweeted[1]: "It's remarkable how many people who've never run any kind of company think they know how to run a tech company better than someone who's run Tesla and SpaceX.". It's been fascinating watching so many VC types ignore so many red flags just because some of Elon's early actions validated their priors (e.g. tech companies are bloated and need to layoff staff). [1] https://twi…

considering how many YC-funded ventures have failed, it's hard to believe he'd be wrong about this, too.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#675

Post by wsc981 »

raspberry1337 wrote: post #643
secos wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus I don't think he realizes that the techniques that work for cars and rockets don't work in social media. This argument made sense a month ago. Unfortunately he really hasn't shown any improvement since then that would lead me to agree with you on that point. It's now a situation where he has to either find enough new people who agree with whatever his approach is or /win people back/ - both of those are quite…

Twitter has less bots yets more activity than ever. In what dimension do these Hacker news posters live?

Yeah, I feel Twitter has improved under Elon’s leadership. In the past my account was banned and I could never get Twitter Support to explain what tweet caused my ban. Then I stopped using Twitter for a very long time. Perhaps a year ago created a new account and since Elon took over I am much less worried for unfair bans.

I like that many doctors who were silenced during COVID pandemic have been allowed to speak once more. Censorship was ridiculous under the old leadership. It seems Twitter is now much more a free speech platform and I feel Twitter is better for it being so.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#676

Post by Alex3917 »

pg wrote: post #350

I'm not leaving Twitter. It seems more likely than not that Elon will reverse the ban on links to other social media sites. I just don't want to hang out there in the meantime. Plus given the way things are going, it seemed like a good time to learn about alternatives. I still think Elon is a smart guy. His work on cars and rockets speaks for itself. Nor do I think he's the villain a lot of people try to make him out…

> He could still salvage the situation.

That would involve him spending the time to learn how social media works. No doubt he's smart enough, but it seems like he may no longer have the attention span required to learn this.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#677

Post by raspberry1337 »

pg wrote: post #350

I'm not leaving Twitter. It seems more likely than not that Elon will reverse the ban on links to other social media sites. I just don't want to hang out there in the meantime. Plus given the way things are going, it seemed like a good time to learn about alternatives. I still think Elon is a smart guy. His work on cars and rockets speaks for itself. Nor do I think he's the villain a lot of people try to make him out…

I give as much credence to these thoughts as I do to all the Hacker News users predicting the imminent software-crash of twitter one month ago when Elon fired 80% of the employees. My reflection is that HN just seems smarter than reddit and other places, but it's just an illusion.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#679

Post by echelon »

pg wrote: post #350

I'm not leaving Twitter. It seems more likely than not that Elon will reverse the ban on links to other social media sites. I just don't want to hang out there in the meantime. Plus given the way things are going, it seemed like a good time to learn about alternatives. I still think Elon is a smart guy. His work on cars and rockets speaks for itself. Nor do I think he's the villain a lot of people try to make him out…

I think a lot of us would love to see you post more on HN!

Twitter may be bigger and more discoverable, but the discussion pales in comparison to what happens here. This is a much more special place.

Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now

#680

Post by vertis »

jacquesm wrote: post #647
vertis wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read some advice that it's better to lock the account than delete it, especially if you had a decent number of followers. Reduces the likelihood of impersonation.

Good point, well, too late for that I guess. But at the rate Twitter is heading for the scene of the crash I don't think it will matter for much longer.

It's not too late, you have a full month to reverse the deactivation.
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