Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

641–650 of 757 posts

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#641

Post by rvieira »

jasode wrote: post #226

It's instructive to contrast what other billionaires did with media properties they owned: - Jeff Bezos personally bought Washington Post but he left it alone and let the editors run it. What Jeff did do was invest some money into the IT department to modernize the workflow tools (metrics dashboards, etc) for journalists. He stayed out of the decisions of what stories get run on the front page. - Rupert Murdoch owns…

Rupert Murdoch is a bad example. He is widely acknowledged as the UK's "Kingmaker".

That's even the actual title ("Kingmaker, The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty") of a BBC documentary about him: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kxvz

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#642

Post by BulgarianIdiot »

ssnistfajen wrote: post #488
BulgarianIdiot wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's imagine Google Cloud, AWS, Azure are resp. Google's / Amazon's / Microsoft's everything apps. They are managing to handle the regulatory weight of supporting applications of all kinds of nature, and if you rethink Twitter as a platform you can do the same as well. Many things are possible, and the Twitter app today may even continue to work as-is. But underneath it will be able to power more apps and more use c…

Google, Amazon, and Microsoft absolutely do not have "everything" apps. Google Maps is the closest to a mega-app and it's still highly focused on things that are location-based. These companies also don't favour their own services over others on their cloud platforms. That's why regulators aren't coming after them. Twitter is not a cloud service provider and it's not hard to see why the argument you presented does no…

I'll be brief so you hopefully see my point:

1. A general purpose computing platform is an everything app. 2. Cloud platforms and their APIs are a significant step towards moving higher-level in development platforms compared to, say, compiling a raw binary and running it on Linux. 3. Keep moving in that direction.

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#643

Post by bouk »

pseudo0 wrote: post #25
modeless wrote: post #12

I think he only posts polls when he believes he knows the outcome already. Yesterday he posted a poll about unsuspending the journalist accounts and when the outcome wasn't what he wanted instead of following the majority vote he posted it again with different options (with the same result, which he did abide by the second time). I think this indicates he's tired of Twitter already. But he still owns it, so who will…

It seems like it would be the smart move to hire someone with expertise in social media, give them his high-level vision, and let them implement the details. The last few weeks of Elon's micromanagement have been a complete shitshow.

If only there was someone with expertise in social media at Twitter

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#644

Post by hoseja »

BeefWellington wrote: post #584
FormerBandmate wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hyperbole. Tesla and SpaceX were insane accomplishments in moribund industries (the first successful auto startup in 80 years, and pretty much singlehanfedly revitalizing space travel which was basically dead, people with way more resources tried and failed at both of them). That being said, the Twitter acquisition is the work of a petulant child

The ball was already rolling on Tesla before Elon came along though. He was the majority of their first funding round but their company structure and development of a concept car was already underway. He just saw the opportunity that others were already working on and funded it, then stepped in, pushed the original founders out, and claimed it was his idea in the first place until he and the company settled a lawsuit…

There were dime a dozen garage companies hand-crafting electric cars. None of them challenged the industry, none of them would.

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#645

Post by gordon_freeman »

jasode wrote: post #268
woodruffw wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bezos is one thing, but I'm not sure if Murdoch is a great example: he perhaps refused to spike specific articles, but his entire media empire is built around promulgating his (increasingly revanchist) politics. His success is attributable not to "staying out of it," but to having a receptive audience that he (to waxing and waning degrees) has successfully influenced for the last 30 years. Besides, I don't think Twit…

>, but his entire media empire is built around promulgating his (increasingly revanchist) politics. Yes, I understand that and we know that WSJ leans more conservative than New York Times. Murdoch's empire reflects his worldview. I mean "stay out of it" as in micro-managing day-to-day newspaper stories or writing constant op-eds to respond to his critics. That's the type of distracting minutiae that Elon has sucked h…

I would put WSJ to more of a centre than either left or right of political ideology assuming we can ignore their conservative leaning Opinions writers.

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#646

Post by hoseja »

Gatsky wrote: post #412
jasode wrote: post #226

It's instructive to contrast what other billionaires did with media properties they owned: - Jeff Bezos personally bought Washington Post but he left it alone and let the editors run it. What Jeff did do was invest some money into the IT department to modernize the workflow tools (metrics dashboards, etc) for journalists. He stayed out of the decisions of what stories get run on the front page. - Rupert Murdoch owns…

I can scarcely believe you are holding up Murdoch as a paragon of impartiality. His newspapers are notoriously biased and scurrilous, and actively try to influence political outcomes. He doesn’t have to intervene much because he makes sure to hire people who will enact his will.

But he doesn't publicly (where the correct people can hear him, not his propaganda rags these people don't ever lay their marxist eyes upon) say mean things about the current insanity, therefore he must be good!

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#647

Post by trilbyglens »

jasode wrote: post #226

It's instructive to contrast what other billionaires did with media properties they owned: - Jeff Bezos personally bought Washington Post but he left it alone and let the editors run it. What Jeff did do was invest some money into the IT department to modernize the workflow tools (metrics dashboards, etc) for journalists. He stayed out of the decisions of what stories get run on the front page. - Rupert Murdoch owns…

Fox News????

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#648

Post by trashtester »

BeefWellington wrote: post #584
FormerBandmate wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hyperbole. Tesla and SpaceX were insane accomplishments in moribund industries (the first successful auto startup in 80 years, and pretty much singlehanfedly revitalizing space travel which was basically dead, people with way more resources tried and failed at both of them). That being said, the Twitter acquisition is the work of a petulant child

The ball was already rolling on Tesla before Elon came along though. He was the majority of their first funding round but their company structure and development of a concept car was already underway. He just saw the opportunity that others were already working on and funded it, then stepped in, pushed the original founders out, and claimed it was his idea in the first place until he and the company settled a lawsuit…

> The ball was already rolling on Tesla before Elon came along though.

You clearly have different sources from me (which are primarily Wikipedia).

My understanding was that Tesla did not have: - Ownership of the Tesla brand - Any real funding. During the Series A founding in 2004, Elon contributed $6.5M / $7.5 total. - An actual car. During the development of the Roadster, Elon was both Chairman and Architect/CTO. - Employees, beyond Eberhard and Tarpenning.

Before Elon, Tesla seems to have been only one of many early stage electric car startups with poor prospects for their future.

As for the developments around 2008, it becomes speculation who is telling the more true story between Musk and Eberhard. But as for what both have achieved elsewhere, it seems to me that Musk is also more effective as CEO.

Maybe you have sources that can contradict the above.

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#649

Post by mcv »

woodruffw wrote: post #244
jasode wrote: post #226

It's instructive to contrast what other billionaires did with media properties they owned: - Jeff Bezos personally bought Washington Post but he left it alone and let the editors run it. What Jeff did do was invest some money into the IT department to modernize the workflow tools (metrics dashboards, etc) for journalists. He stayed out of the decisions of what stories get run on the front page. - Rupert Murdoch owns…

Bezos is one thing, but I'm not sure if Murdoch is a great example: he perhaps refused to spike specific articles, but his entire media empire is built around promulgating his (increasingly revanchist) politics. His success is attributable not to "staying out of it," but to having a receptive audience that he (to waxing and waning degrees) has successfully influenced for the last 30 years. Besides, I don't think Twit…

I've never been and still am not a big Washington Post reader, but I have seen a lot of very pro-billionaire headlines from the Washington Post. I can't help but wonder if Bezos might be directly or indirectly a factor in that.

Murdoch is of course well known for using his media empire to promote his own political interests. His British tabloids were ridiculously strongly pro-Brexit because Murdoch was a respected guest at Downingstreet, but didn't have any meaningful influence in Brussels.

Re: Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll

#650

Post by trashtester »

wilg wrote: post #350
bmitc wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What tech people like Paul Graham and others were hoping was for Elon to apply his scientific first principles type of thinking that he demonstrated previously at SpaceX+Tesla to Twitter. I wish one could take a step back and just see how ridiculous of a statement this is. There is nothing about Musk’s history and management style that is even remotely close to what could be called “scientific first principles type…

Quoted post unavailable.

Trump did an interview recently where he openly admitted that the airodynamics of the Cybertruck was not very good, even if it's better than most trucks. (Trucks are generally not designed with aerodynamics as the highest priority.)

My understanding is that the design is a mix of aesthetics and to keep production costs down.

Post reply on HN