I think the preferred approach if you’re outraged about Twitter management, is speak out about it on Twitter, as opposed to quit in protest. Fight the fight if it’s worth it.
Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
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Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#172It's interesting to see these tech influencers and their lag time on giving Elon the benefit of the doubt before they've had enough. Will Elon ever have a "coming to jesus moment" and realize that he's alienated so many of his peers that he is, in fact, in the wrong? Or is he so delusional that he really does believe he has the answers?
You're assuming that Elon isn't doing what he intended to do, turn Twitter into his own personal, right wing echo-chamber with political influence.
> You're assuming that Elon isn't doing what he intended to do, turn Twitter into his own personal, right wing echo-chamber with political influence.
He simply unbanned accounts which were wrongfully banned. Accounts which simply communicated legal to hold opinions. There is nothing wrong or morally objectionable about this. I’d rather say it commendable.
If Twitter is becoming a right-wing echo-chamber it’s because left-wing accounts are leaving and nothing else.
So why are they? Are they afraid of having an argument where they can’t have the opposing view banned?
Cmon! You can do better than this.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#173Amazing 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…
And in the replies to this tweet he insists[1] "Elon is a smart guy" in spite of all the evidence to the contrary [1] https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1604557444247539712
He's smart. He's also the last person on the planet that should be in charge of a social media platform.
Smart + deficient in the ethics department is a recipe for disaster.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It's news to me that that users are not allowed to mention other social networks' accounts on Twitter anymore. Isn't that a mischaracterization though? The new policy they announced, as far as I've seen, only applies if the account is "solely" promoting other brands. [0] > Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usern…
That may be the written policy, but there were widespread reports of mastodon ('s largest sites) being considered too harmful a link to be put in a twitter bio. https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/15/23512113/twitter-blockin... I don't see PG reacting to that news on twitter. Is there a reaction anywhere?
I just tested a few mins ago and I wasn't able to tweet a link to a post on hachyderm (not even just my profile) because it was "harmful".
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#175Maybe it is time for Google to fan their Social Network ambitions. They have enough brainpower to get a functional/scalable Mastodon server by Christmas. They may get the traction and later EEE it.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#176Amazing 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…
For sure. Given that Musk was fired from [deleted, see note 1] and PayPal, you'd think they might have had more questions. But people look at failure much more carefully than they look at success. I think the next wave of interesting questions is around the extent to which Musk contributed the apparent successes, SpaceX and Tesla. We won't know for a long time, as a lot of the people in the know have a strong incenti…
Musk is a celebrity. Celebrities start successful companies all the time. Is Rihanna a brilliant business woman for starting a successful beauty line? Is she a business genius, which is what Musk gets labeled so often? Maybe she really is, but I don't see her get that label, I think her value add is very clearly "she is famous, people will buy shit that she puts her name on".
What they have in common is that they have fame and money, and it turns out you can do a lot with that.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#177It's interesting to see these tech influencers and their lag time on giving Elon the benefit of the doubt before they've had enough. Will Elon ever have a "coming to jesus moment" and realize that he's alienated so many of his peers that he is, in fact, in the wrong? Or is he so delusional that he really does believe he has the answers?
Quoted post unavailable.
It's simple to realize 1. People have finite capabilities to master subjects. 2. Elon is a master in hardware engineering businesses. 3. Twitter is not about hardware engineering.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#178It's news to me that that users are not allowed to mention other social networks' accounts on Twitter anymore. Seems short sighted, how many users is Twitter losing to Instagram/Discord/Mastodon?
>It's news to me that that users are not allowed to mention other social networks' accounts on Twitter anymore. Isn't that a mischaracterization though? The new policy they announced, as far as I've seen, only applies if the account is "solely" promoting other brands. [0] > Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usern…
"At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms"
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I disagree with someone, I do not necessarily think they're stupid. That's a needlessly polarizing mindset.
What sort of decisions or behavior would lead you to believe that somebody is stupid?
Just because somebody does something different than us doesn’t mean they are stupid, how ridiculous and reductive is that?
They might just be evil.
Re: Paul Graham is leaving Twitter for now
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right? Mass random firings of employees in multiple incompetent waves, blocking and expelling journalists and activists, re-enabling known hate-speech accounts, walking out of press conferences when questioned, spreading QAnon adjacent conspiracy theories... none of this annoyed Paul Graham enough to leave.. and in fact he defended the guy... But blocking links to Mastodon? That makes him leave? Like, uh, fine, but..…
> re-enabling known hate-speech accounts “Hate speech” is left-wing code for “someone with an opposing point of view”. Having those accounts unbanned, if nothing else, is a healthy sign. What this thread is about though (banning outbound links to other platforms), not so much. That plain reeks of desperation.
Conversely, "an opposing point of view" is right-wing code used to mask hate speech, when it occurs.
Does hate speech exist? Yes. Are we in danger of overusing the term? Yes.