The Elon Musk Movement = )

[OftenWrong]

3 hours ago, robosmith said:

So that's why they're running so many ads for careers at Amazon. LMAO

Did you apply?

[robosmith]

2 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

Did you apply?

I've sent them my resume a few times years ago, but never invited for an interview. I'm not willing to move from San Diego.

[BeaverFever]

3 hours ago, robosmith said:

Probably because he owns WAPO he is a favorite boogeyman of the right wing.

Musk makes Bezos look like a brilliant manager.

Nobody’s ever said Bezos was incompetent, erratic or impulsive….just heartless 

[Hodad]

2 hours ago, robosmith said:

I've sent them my resume a few times years ago, but never invited for an interview. I'm not willing to move from San Diego.

I don't think it's a good idea anyway. A friend of mine took a Director-level job with them a few years ago. At the time of the interviews they told him to expect a five-year relationship at most, because they would work him hard and burn him out by that time. He took it as bluster and accepted the job anyway because he wanted it on his resume. But true to their word, five years later he was fully burned out, divorced and with another company that has more respect for work-life balance. No thanks. 

[BeaverFever]

Right Wingers Fume After Musk Announces Shadowbanning Policy

Conservatives are watching their dreams of a libertarian, moderation-free utopia crushed, one Musk tweet at a time
 

…“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk tweeted. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.” 

“Shadowbanning” is, loosely, the artificial suppression of a user’s profile or content by a platform outside of established content regulation mechanisms and without the user’s knowledge. Twitter has previously stated that they do not engage in shadow banning, but conservatives ranging from internet trolls to federal lawmakers have repeatedly accused the platform of suppressing their views. Studies have disproved this notion, indicating that the opposite is true, and that conservative content performs better on major social media platforms.  

Musk’s new policy seems like it would effectively codify the practice into Twitter’s functionality.  

Conservative commentators have been flocking to Musk’s mentions since he announced his intent to purchase Twitter in the spring in the hopes of influencing the platform’s new direction. Musk has been trying to placate them, but there have been plenty of clues that he isn’t as committed to “free speech” as he wants them to believe. He quickly rolled out a plan to algorithmically prioritize paid subscribers, said it would take a while before bringing back banned users, and began firing employees who criticized him….

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-shadowbanning-policy-causes-right-wingers-fume-1234633498/

[BeaverFever]

Hmmm… Unstable megalomaniac “richest man in the world” or right-wing trolls hatemongers and fake news purveyors?  Which monkey would you back in a fight?

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by BeaverFever

[Contrarian]

An opinion from the Globe and Mail:  

It would be easy to characterize Elon Musk’s approach since taking over Twitter Inc. last month as rash, messy, destructive and unplanned.

While such descriptions would be accurate, they would certainly not be complete.

What we have been witnessing, in public and in real time, is a live demonstration of the way Mr. Musk runs a business. He has generally managed his other ventures very successfully – especially in terms of growth, if not always in terms of profit. Tesla Inc. continues to build factories and deliver cars and SpaceX rockets continue to supply the International Space Station with materials and astronauts.

It’s important to keep two things in mind while following the Twitter drama: The company was already in serious trouble and Mr. Musk’s style, though volatile, is well-matched to the problems at hand.

Since 2013, Twitter had fallen from the world’s third-largest social-media platform to the 17th. The company had barely innovated during that time, while its competitors had worked hard to reinvent themselves.

Eleven of the social-media platforms with more users are newer than Twitter. Even older incumbents are more innovative. Facebook, for example, has launched Marketplace and shifted its focus to the metaverse. In a fast-paced industry such as social media, it is vital to change and quickly to stay ahead.

If a company decides not to be innovative, as Twitter’s developers had openly acknowledged, the alternative is to be highly efficient. But Twitter, based on revenue per employee, was only 50 per cent as efficient as Facebook.

In 2016, rumours suggested another large corporation, possibly Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. or Walt Disney Co., was about to acquire Twitter, but that didn’t happen. The most-cited reason was that Twitter was paying its employees twice what the competition was paying and no one wanted to engage in messy layoffs and restructuring.

Today, even relatively efficient companies are cutting spending. Amazon.com Inc. is slashing 10,000 jobs, Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook’s parent) will cut more than 11,000 and HP Inc. will slash 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, to name just a few.

Twitter had to change to survive. Other owners might have studied efficiencies and signalled layoffs, but taken months to do it. Such efforts can send company morale and productivity into the gutter. When Mr. Musk fired half Twitter’s staff, he was doing what another owner eventually would have done.

To create a more innovative Twitter, Mr. Musk has already made, and retracted, product changes, as well as promising many more – including the potential for Twitter banking.

All this experimentation, of course, is happening publicly, rather than in a research lab or with limited groups of beta testers. The chaotic push and pull over Twitter’s verification badges, for example, has frustrated users, created massive reputational issues and provided much fodder for mischief, but it makes more sense if we regard this as an entrepreneur experimenting with different options in real time.

In business schools, we teach management as a very deliberate process in which action follows analysis, planning and deliberation. This is what most analysts would consider typical style. But there is another style of management entrepreneurs use, which is especially risky. Entrepreneurial management creates success through direct action and trial and error.

Mr. Musk is an entrepreneurial manager, and this style, which is destructive – and creative – is now on full display. Because we so rarely get to see this approach in action, it’s shocking; but it’s how Mr. Musk operates.

He starts working on a problem without knowing what the solution might be. He believes a solution exists and will emerge through trial and error.

At SpaceX he started strapping GoPro cameras to rockets and livestreaming every launch – even for experimental rockets that were likely to fail, hoping to gather useful information.

Other spacecraft developers would go to great lengths to prevent others from seeing a launch. The last thing they’d want was a prospective customer such as NASA seeing a version of the rocket they’re trying to sell being blown to pieces.

With Twitter, journalists, advertisers, politicians and users are all watching aspects of the business exploding in real time and using the platform itself to criticize what Mr. Musk is doing.

Every entrepreneurial venture has a greater chance of failure than of success, and Twitter is particularly risky. Mr. Musk himself said when he launched Tesla that it was probably going to fail. The same with SpaceX. At Twitter, he sent an e-mail to employees saying the company could be bankrupt by next year.

Mr. Musk could make horrible mistakes that kill the company, but it would likely have eventually failed regardless, and today he may be the only person who is interested in buying Twitter and has a shot at keeping it going.

For the public, witnessing this saga is like watching open-heart surgery on a very sick patient: It can be rough, dramatic, bloody and off-putting, but it may the only way to give the patient a chance to survive.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-twitter-was-an-unprofitable-mess-long-before-elon-musk-he-might-be-its/

Edited November 30, 2022 by Contrarian

[Rebound]

Twitter will no longer ban COVID misinformation.

Wanna post that COVID vaccine gives you herpes? Go to Twitter!  Whho cares if it's true?

[Contrarian]

Trending via Wall Street Journal: 

BRUSSELS—A top European official warned Elon Musk that Twitter Inc. would need to make significant changes to comply with a new European Union law governing social-media platforms and content moderation.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, held a video call with Mr. Musk on Wednesday to discuss the new legislation, called the Digital Services Act. He said Mr. Musk—who completed his purchase of Twitter in October—stated he planned to get the service ready for the new rules, but Mr. Breton added that more work would be needed.

“There is still huge work ahead, as Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech, tackle disinformation with resolve, and limit targeted advertising,” Mr. Breton said, according to a summary of the call provided by his office.

If a company is found in noncompliance with the new law, it can face orders to comply and fines of up to 6% of its annual revenue—and, potentially, blocking of services in the case of certain repeated infringements.

Following the call, Mr. Musk retweeted a company statement that said Twitter is continuing work to “keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior” and that it remains “committed to providing a safe, inclusive, entertaining, and informative experience for everyone.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-official-warns-elon-musk-changes-needed-at-twitter-11669833755

Edited November 30, 2022 by Contrarian

[Nationalist]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:47 PM, BeaverFever said:

Right Wingers Fume After Musk Announces Shadowbanning Policy

Conservatives are watching their dreams of a libertarian, moderation-free utopia crushed, one Musk tweet at a time
 

…“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk tweeted. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.” 

“Shadowbanning” is, loosely, the artificial suppression of a user’s profile or content by a platform outside of established content regulation mechanisms and without the user’s knowledge. Twitter has previously stated that they do not engage in shadow banning, but conservatives ranging from internet trolls to federal lawmakers have repeatedly accused the platform of suppressing their views. Studies have disproved this notion, indicating that the opposite is true, and that conservative content performs better on major social media platforms.  

Musk’s new policy seems like it would effectively codify the practice into Twitter’s functionality.  

Conservative commentators have been flocking to Musk’s mentions since he announced his intent to purchase Twitter in the spring in the hopes of influencing the platform’s new direction. Musk has been trying to placate them, but there have been plenty of clues that he isn’t as committed to “free speech” as he wants them to believe. He quickly rolled out a plan to algorithmically prioritize paid subscribers, said it would take a while before bringing back banned users, and began firing employees who criticized him….

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-shadowbanning-policy-causes-right-wingers-fume-1234633498/

And this is a guy who voted for Biden...if I'm not mistaken.

I don't know if I'd wanna work for the guy...I know someone who does and he gets paid very well, and always works long hours.

Anyway...letting the world know how the Democrats and MSM worked together to actually direct public beliefs, would be marvelous. And I expect there will be Republican heads exposed too...Mr. McConnell.

It would also provide a perfect prelude to the pending Congressional investigation into Ol' Joe and his...affairs...

[Nationalist]

6 hours ago, Contrarian said:

An opinion from the Globe and Mail:  

It would be easy to characterize Elon Musk’s approach since taking over Twitter Inc. last month as rash, messy, destructive and unplanned.

While such descriptions would be accurate, they would certainly not be complete.

What we have been witnessing, in public and in real time, is a live demonstration of the way Mr. Musk runs a business. He has generally managed his other ventures very successfully – especially in terms of growth, if not always in terms of profit. Tesla Inc. continues to build factories and deliver cars and SpaceX rockets continue to supply the International Space Station with materials and astronauts.

It’s important to keep two things in mind while following the Twitter drama: The company was already in serious trouble and Mr. Musk’s style, though volatile, is well-matched to the problems at hand.

Since 2013, Twitter had fallen from the world’s third-largest social-media platform to the 17th. The company had barely innovated during that time, while its competitors had worked hard to reinvent themselves.

Eleven of the social-media platforms with more users are newer than Twitter. Even older incumbents are more innovative. Facebook, for example, has launched Marketplace and shifted its focus to the metaverse. In a fast-paced industry such as social media, it is vital to change and quickly to stay ahead.

If a company decides not to be innovative, as Twitter’s developers had openly acknowledged, the alternative is to be highly efficient. But Twitter, based on revenue per employee, was only 50 per cent as efficient as Facebook.

In 2016, rumours suggested another large corporation, possibly Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. or Walt Disney Co., was about to acquire Twitter, but that didn’t happen. The most-cited reason was that Twitter was paying its employees twice what the competition was paying and no one wanted to engage in messy layoffs and restructuring.

Today, even relatively efficient companies are cutting spending. Amazon.com Inc. is slashing 10,000 jobs, Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook’s parent) will cut more than 11,000 and HP Inc. will slash 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, to name just a few.

Twitter had to change to survive. Other owners might have studied efficiencies and signalled layoffs, but taken months to do it. Such efforts can send company morale and productivity into the gutter. When Mr. Musk fired half Twitter’s staff, he was doing what another owner eventually would have done.

To create a more innovative Twitter, Mr. Musk has already made, and retracted, product changes, as well as promising many more – including the potential for Twitter banking.

All this experimentation, of course, is happening publicly, rather than in a research lab or with limited groups of beta testers. The chaotic push and pull over Twitter’s verification badges, for example, has frustrated users, created massive reputational issues and provided much fodder for mischief, but it makes more sense if we regard this as an entrepreneur experimenting with different options in real time.

In business schools, we teach management as a very deliberate process in which action follows analysis, planning and deliberation. This is what most analysts would consider typical style. But there is another style of management entrepreneurs use, which is especially risky. Entrepreneurial management creates success through direct action and trial and error.

Mr. Musk is an entrepreneurial manager, and this style, which is destructive – and creative – is now on full display. Because we so rarely get to see this approach in action, it’s shocking; but it’s how Mr. Musk operates.

He starts working on a problem without knowing what the solution might be. He believes a solution exists and will emerge through trial and error.

At SpaceX he started strapping GoPro cameras to rockets and livestreaming every launch – even for experimental rockets that were likely to fail, hoping to gather useful information.

Other spacecraft developers would go to great lengths to prevent others from seeing a launch. The last thing they’d want was a prospective customer such as NASA seeing a version of the rocket they’re trying to sell being blown to pieces.

With Twitter, journalists, advertisers, politicians and users are all watching aspects of the business exploding in real time and using the platform itself to criticize what Mr. Musk is doing.

Every entrepreneurial venture has a greater chance of failure than of success, and Twitter is particularly risky. Mr. Musk himself said when he launched Tesla that it was probably going to fail. The same with SpaceX. At Twitter, he sent an e-mail to employees saying the company could be bankrupt by next year.

Mr. Musk could make horrible mistakes that kill the company, but it would likely have eventually failed regardless, and today he may be the only person who is interested in buying Twitter and has a shot at keeping it going.

For the public, witnessing this saga is like watching open-heart surgery on a very sick patient: It can be rough, dramatic, bloody and off-putting, but it may the only way to give the patient a chance to survive.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-twitter-was-an-unprofitable-mess-long-before-elon-musk-he-might-be-its/

Interesting take. Elon certainly is...different. his successive successes suggest what he does works.

Theorize...experiment...analyze...adjust.

Science.

[sharkman]

It’s being reported that Elon has said that he’s got the evidence that Twitter has interfered with elections.  Anyone else see this?  
It’s a shocking revelation if true.

[Hodad]

1 hour ago, sharkman said:

It’s being reported that Elon has said that he’s got the evidence that Twitter has interfered with elections.  Anyone else see this?  
It’s a shocking revelation if true.

Trump: "A lot of people are saying..."

 

[sharkman]

13 hours ago, Hodad said:

Trump: "A lot of people are saying..."

 

No, it’s not Trump, or a lot of people.  Try to focus.

Its Elon Musk, here’s a link:

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-says-twitter-interfered-in-elections-and-failed-in-trust-and-safety-3568103/amp/1

[robosmith]

EU and US turn up the heat on Elon Musk over Twitter

Quote

The EU has threatened Elon Musk’s Twitter with a European ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social network, the Financial Times reports.

 

[Contrarian]

Twitter suspends Kanye West or "Ye" for incitement to violence: Musk.  (AFP)

[Hodad]

16 hours ago, sharkman said:

No, it’s not Trump, or a lot of people.  Try to focus.

Its Elon Musk, here’s a link:

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-says-twitter-interfered-in-elections-and-failed-in-trust-and-safety-3568103/amp/1

It was a light joke about your rhetorical style. "It's being reported that..." Which is a classic way, much loved by Trump, of raising an issue that doesn't merit raising while disavowing responsibility. 

It's right up there with "just asking questions," as a way to push unfounded rumor and innuendo into the public spotlight. A nice way to smear someone or something without evidence of accountability. Made me chuckle.

[sharkman]

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/11/30/elon-musk-meets-tim-cook-says-apple-never-considered-removing-twitter-app-.html
 

"Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store," Musk tweeted. "Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so."

[WestCanMan]

On 11/18/2022 at 5:47 PM, BeaverFever said:

Right Wingers Fume After Musk Announces Shadowbanning Policy

Conservatives are watching their dreams of a libertarian, moderation-free utopia crushed, one Musk tweet at a time

Conservatives aren't fuming over that policy.

We've been angry for a long time that terrorist groups and their religious bigotry always had a home in Twitter even while conservatives were getting kicked off of Twitter just for saying reasonable things like "Maybe the virus came from the BSL4 lab" that turned out to be true.

NYPost was kicked off of Twitter for posting actual, proven facts about Hunter's laptop. 

Thats what conservatives are mad about.

The policy of shadow-banning was reviled by conservatives because it was applied in a politically biased manner, not to slow the spread of hate. 

As an example, someone could tweet that "Trump called all immigrants animals" and Twitter could blast that around the earth a bajillion times and pop it up at the top of everyone's feed, even while knowing it was a lie, meanwhile comments attached to that tweet which proved it was false would be invisible to the rest of the world. 

We don't "love Musk because we think he's a conservative", as the OP and some others have opined, I personally admire the man for standing up for free speech and for having real opinions.

It's the same reason why people like listening to Jeremey Roenick, Charles Barkeley, Don Cherry, etc. All of those guys will say stupid things or things that we disagree with from time to time, but at least they have opinions and they throw them out there. There's no bigger waste of time than listening to the virtue-signalling competition that mainstream TV has become. 

[robosmith]

Elon Musk Slashed Twitter's Safety Team. Then A Chinese Spam Campaign Ran Rampant

Quote

The global implications of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, in which Twitter’s staff has dwindled from roughly 7,500 to 2,000, was on full display Sunday, as Chinese spam accounts—suspected to be connected to the government—seemingly manipulated the platform to obscure reports of protests against the country’s COVID policies. For hours on Sunday, users who searched in Chinese for major Chinese cities on Twitter were inundated with links for escort services, porn, and gambling, a flood of content from numerous Chinese-language accounts, some dormant for months or years that researchers said was aimed at reducing the flow of news about the escalating protests,  according to the Washington Post. Twitter was aware of the problem by midday and was working to resolve it, per the Post.

Twitter has in the past dealt with foreign interference, and a former Twitter employee told the Post that this specific technique by accounts thought to be tied to the state is a known problem that our team was dealing with manually, aside from automations we put in place. But Sunday’s campaign comes as Twitter’s content-moderation capacity is particularly weak. Musk has wreaked havoc on the Trust and Safety team since taking over late last month, ushering in massive layoffs and attempting to overhaul the company's approach to content moderation. What happened Sunday, the former employee said, was another exhibit where there are now even larger holes to fill, because all the China influence operations and analysts at Twitter all resigned. All of which leaves Twitter in a much different position to take on misinformation campaigns than, say, in 2020, when it found and removed thousands of state-linked accounts spreading pro-China content regarding coronavirus and protests in Hong Kong. In 2021, Twitter again removed thousands of accounts tied to Chinese propaganda campaigns, this time regarding the human rights abuses that China has been accused of committing against the Uyghur population. Musk hasn’t commented specifically on the Chinese activity around the protests, tweeting early Monday, The amount of pro psy ops on Twitter is ridiculous! At least with new Verified they will pay $8 for the privilege haha.

Stanford Internet Observatory Director Alex Stamos tweeted Sunday that his team was still working on our own analysis while sharing a thread suggesting the Chinese actions were an intentional attack to throw up informational chaff and reduce external visibility into protests in China. He added: Looks like we might have the first major failure to stop gov interference in the Musk era.  

 

[robosmith]

Elon Musk’s engagement with the far right on Twitter is out of control

Quote

So far, Musk hasn’t shown any awareness of the damage caused by his behavior to the platform he spent $44 billion — including more than $33 billion of his personal fortune — to acquire. That’s a problem, because the only way to bring advertisers back into the fold and protect Twitter’s role in public discourse is for Musk to disappear — to appoint a chief executive with credibility in the social media field with users and advertisers, and to stop tweeting himself.

If that were to happen today or tomorrow, the restoration of Twitter to trustworthiness could begin immediately.

But Musk already has made it impossible for that recovery to happen quickly. And the signs are pointing to his becoming even more arrogant and more intemperate in his behavior. Just in the last day or two he has tweeted an image of Pepe the Frog, a meme the Anti-Defamation League identifies as having racist and antisemitic connotations.

He has also picked a fight with Apple, which he says has threatened to “withhold” Twitter from its iPhone and iPad App store, though he says the big company “won’t tell us why.” He tweeted that Apple has mostly dropped its advertising on Twitter and asked, “Do they hate free speech in America?” He followed up with a tweet directed at Apple’s CEO: “What’s going on here, @tim_cook?”

(Actually, the reason Apple might be concerned about Twitter is obvious: Apple carefully screens apps it offers users to ensure they’re clean and hate-free.

Musk’s policies may not guarantee those qualities.)

Put it all together, and things are likely to get worse before they get better, on Twitter ... if they ever do get better. 

 

[Contrarian]

46 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Elon Musk Slashed Twitter's Safety Team. Then A Chinese Spam Campaign Ran Rampant

 

For me, I will give him 1 year from my OP (October 29/2023), short term damages do not interest me, they are often exaggerated by the side that lost power. I met people like Musk, they have almost zero emotion and no ideology. Business only. 

Some damages will happen, yes, is the job of the intelligence services to watch, politicians to make the laws, and us users to filter and think about some of the garbage that is posted there, if it's a free for all. If you want to take the advice of so called "doctors" on Twitter go right ahead, I will call my real one.

"YE" is first, many will follow on the right in my opinion, still, if his idea of a platform is people posting pictures of him as a superhero then is good news for boards such as these. Things that were old become new. I remember back in the day it was trendy to have the smallest cellphone, now the bigger the screen, the better. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Contrarian

[Contrarian]

Apparently in about 40 minutes, Musk is due to release information about Hunter Biden's "story suppression", a laptop and will feature "Q & A too".

The transmission was due to happen at 5 PM, but it has been delayed due to "double-checking facts."

Probably some lawyers are nervous.

I don't have a Twitter account but don't think that will prevent one from seeing what transpires today: 

https://twitter.com/elonmusk

Story trending only on a few right wing sources (press). 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Contrarian

[Contrarian]

44 minutes ago, Contrarian said:

Apparently in about 40 minutes.

1 hour in, still no tweeting, can you imagine being a lawyer in that room now 😅

14 minutes delay. This is the second delay. 

[CrakHoBarbie]

7 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

for saying reasonable things like "Maybe the virus came from the BSL4 lab" that turned out to be true.

 

Ummm...... Citation please.

 

7 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

 

It's the same reason why people like listening to Jeremey Roenick, Charles Barkeley, Don Cherry, etc. All of those guys will say stupid things or things that we disagree with from time to time, but at least they have opinions and they throw them out there. 

Repeating conspiracy theories and/or saying divisive commentary for profit is only performed by morally and ethically bankrupt trash.