Musk offers to buy Twitter

[Eric]

Yeah a lot of people will probably leave knowing they'd end up banned anyhow.

I'd miss all the birdwatchers I follow, who post from all around the globe! With any luck most of them don't post political tweets and so will fly under Musk's radar? I can hope so anyway.

My impression is that he'll turn it into a Truth Social free for all where Conservatives can scream fire in a theater all day long without any repercussions. Of course, one could argue that Twitter is already a cesspool full of them anyway.

 

[lizkat]

My impression is that he'll turn it into a Truth Social free for all where Conservatives can scream fire in a theater all day long without any repercussions. Of course, one could argue that Twitter is already a cesspool full of them anyway.

There is a fascinating piece about the ins and outs, ups and downs of the Musk-Twitter deal (and about some people who have wanted in on it, and their reasons) in the Columbia Journalism Review. Especially for anyone really interested in the evolution of the deal in Musk's head --and the bizarre timing in his case of some of the usual elements of a dealmaking process-- the piece cites a number of texts and also some pieces in other media outlets

The apparent eagerness among Musk’s contacts to involve themselves in his vision for Twitter, while not exactly surprising, nevertheless suggests “something deeper about the brokenness of this investment ecosystem and the ways that it is driven more by vibes and grievances than due diligence,” Warzel writes [in a piece in The Atlantic, cited in the article.] It’s not just Musk’s inner circle that apparently haven’t spent much time thinking about the acquisition—Musk’s own texts sometimes give that impression as well. In an exchange with Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, Musk moved rapidly from “I’m not joining the board. This is a waste of time” to “Will make an offer to take Twitter private.” A month after he first announced his bid to acquire Twitter, Musk texted with Michael Grimes of Morgan Stanley about doing due diligence, something people typically do before making a bid.

Elon Musk, Twitter, and questions of diligence

In July, Twitter sued Elon Musk for his failure to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company, a process he formally initiated in April. Musk subsequently filed a countersuit in which he alleged that Twitter was not telling the truth about some aspects of its business, including the...

www.cjr.org

 

[ronntaylor]

This is more BS from Musty. I think he's trying to stall. The only question is whether or not Twitter is dumb enough to drop the suit (as called for in the letter) without any guarantees and possibly some compensation. After all, the deal was originally scheduled to close this month.

If...IF twitter falls into Musty's grimy-ass hands, I'll take a wait & see attitude. I don't post much on twitter, just repost and occasionally respond to mostly non-political tweets. At best I'll block a great deal of assholes or check in just a few times a week.

 

[lizkat]

This is more BS from Musty. I think he's trying to stall. The only question is whether or not Twitter is dumb enough to drop the suit (as called for in the letter) without any guarantees and possibly some compensation. After all, the deal was originally scheduled to close this month.

If...IF twitter falls into Musty's grimy-ass hands, I'll take a wait & see attitude. I don't post much on twitter, just repost and occasionally respond to mostly non-political tweets. At best I'll block a great deal of assholes or check in just a few times a week.

Well the pressure's pretty much on now since if there's no deal soon there's a court date October 17.

So --typically, right?-- Musk figures to buy what little time is left to think it all over again, so...

ok ok let's make a deal the first deal is fine no prob just let's deal.​

Meanwhile what's left of his brain-wheels spin trying to figure how he can unload it without taking a bath or getting a massive headache bc he doesn't really want it now despite all his BS.

He could land in real trouble having got all up in Twitter's books if he decides to start up a competing social media platform. Wonder if he has thought about THAT enough yet.

 

[Eric]

Looking pretty final. Now Elon can hold his head up high with the same pride Murdoch did after purchasing MySpace.

https://twitter.com/i/events/1577379178185269248

 

[Eric]

Poof. Just like that I'm gone, I had over 8000 followers. It's gone down hill over the years and I've all but stopped posting anyway but at least I'm leaving on my own terms. I've come to absolutely loathe Elon Musk, to the point that I even regret owning one of his cars now (which I love), I don't want to participate in giving that egomaniacal asshole one more cent from my pocket. Hopefully with the flood of new EVs I'll be able to find something comparable when it's time to buy again.

 

[Cmaier]

Poof. Just like that I'm gone, I had over 8000 followers. It's gone down hill over the years and I've all but stopped posting anyway but at least I'm leaving on my own terms. I've come to absolutely loathe Elon Musk, to the point that I even regret owning one of his cars now (which I love), I don't want to participate in giving that egomaniacal asshole one more cent from my pocket. Hopefully with the flood of new EVs I'll be able to find something comparable when it's time to buy again.

we’ll both be better off - now the cheapskate is removing the ultrasonic parking sensors.

 

[lizkat]

Poof. Just like that I'm gone, I had over 8000 followers. It's gone down hill over the years and I've all but stopped posting anyway but at least I'm leaving on my own terms. I've come to absolutely loathe Elon Musk, to the point that I even regret owning one of his cars now (which I love), I don't want to participate in giving that egomaniacal asshole one more cent from my pocket. Hopefully with the flood of new EVs I'll be able to find something comparable when it's time to buy again.

Well if Musk starts trying to weed out lefties from Twitter by looking at post histories and not just interactions from time of his takeover, I won't have to quit, I'll just be banned!

 

[lizkat]

What the heck does this mean I wonder.. from an AP piece quoting a recent Musk tweet:

Musk remained mum about the turn of events on Twitter until late Tuesday afternoon, when he tweeted that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” without further explanation.​

​

This guy sometimes just sounds bipolar to me and flirts with ditching his meds.

 

[DT]

What the heck does this mean I wonder.. from an AP piece quoting a recent Musk tweet:

Musk remained mum about the turn of events on Twitter until late Tuesday afternoon, when he tweeted that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” without further explanation.​

​

This guy sometimes just sounds bipolar to me and flirts with ditching his meds.

It's nonsense-speak.

I've worked with/around people/companies that use the same style: be vague, assertive and assume you have enough audience that will just nod their head so as not to appear "dumb".

I literally got an email today, and one of the earlier CCs had a guy, who I am not a fan of, saying this:

What we are working on is transformational , "it just makes sense".

Yet the "it" is not scoped, hell, it's not even vaguely outlined, so no effort is known, yet they want commitment to some fixed T&E. This guy has said worse things that are totally in the same vein as that Musk quote.

 

[Deleted member 215]

I tried Twitter for about five minutes a couple years ago. I hated it instantly and never looked back. I don't think Musk's ownership is going to make much of a difference, but there is part of me that wants to see Twitter fail.

 

[lizkat]

I tried Twitter for about five minutes a couple years ago. I hated it instantly and never looked back. I don't think Musk's ownership is going to make much of a difference, but there is part of me that wants to see Twitter fail.

Waahhhh... I would have to switch to Instagram or else scout around and find out where other fans of global birdwatching --at least those who have left Facebook already-- plan to go (TikTok??).

But who knows if the current filtering options will be maintained. Right now with those, the problems one can encounter still seem manageable with a little effort to cull out the herd now and then:

Musk's targets for cost-cutting will not likely align with what a lot of Twitter members might suggest and I know I'm not going back to Facebook, I left that in the dust in 2010 and don't feel like starting all over with exploration of how to filter most of it out and avoid becoming even more of a "product for sale" than one still is on any social media platform today.

Just sorta hope Twitter birdwatchers and others with particular interests or expertise can merely continue to interact under the radar of obnoxious political posters and trolls in general.

 

[DT]

Yeah, I'm pretty passive on Twitter, I mostly use it to follow a few things, where I want a little more up to the minute info, but I don't engage very much. To be honest, even the people who I have alignment with from a political perspective are kind of on my last nerve, you can only post "Hands up, who thinks trump is an idiot!" so many times a day before you're just generating noise ...


FWIW, I joined Twitter in July 2007, riding the Metro into DC from National

 

[lizkat]

Yeah, I'm pretty passive on Twitter, I mostly use it to follow a few things, where I want a little more up to the minute info, but I don't engage very much. To be honest, even the people who I have alignment with from a political perspective are kind of on my last nerve, you can only post "Hands up, who thinks trump is an idiot!" so many times a day before you're just generating noise ...


FWIW, I joined Twitter in July 2007, riding the Metro into DC from National

Well I for one would certainly miss random hits like this that pop into my feed now and then.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1577328516969947138/

 

[Eric]

What the heck does this mean I wonder.. from an AP piece quoting a recent Musk tweet:

Musk remained mum about the turn of events on Twitter until late Tuesday afternoon, when he tweeted that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app” without further explanation.​

​

This guy sometimes just sounds bipolar to me and flirts with ditching his meds.

The moment he came up with the idea for the app and decided to tweet it, basically.

 

[KingOfPain]

The day he takes over without a second thought.

For some reason I at first interpreted this as Elon Musk accidentally deleting the whole of Twitter.
Given his erratic behaviour that wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.

 

[Runs For Fun]

This sucks because I've recently been really getting into Twitter. I know people like to bash it because it can be toxic, but it's not bad if you watch where you step. I guess I mostly follow stuff that tends to not attract the shitposters. I'll wait to see what happens when this prick takes over before I decide to jump ship, but I don't have high hopes he won't turn it into a dumpster fire.

 

[Edd]

I may have posted this here before but what I like about Instagram is it’s very easy to dodge politics there. With Twitter, it feels impossible. At one point I deleted my account to wipe all my follows and made a new one. I was very picky about who I followed but the algorithm just dumps piles of shit into your feed.

And asking it to stop showing you posts from certain accounts it’ll say “we’ll show this less often” which seems to mean “fuck you, we’ll show you whatever we want”. It defies curation.

 

[Eric]

This sucks because I've recently been really getting into Twitter. I know people like to bash it because it can be toxic, but it's not bad if you watch where you step. I guess I mostly follow stuff that tends to not attract the shitposters. I'll wait to see what happens when this prick takes over before I decide to jump ship, but I don't have high hopes he won't turn it into a dumpster fire.

For me the entire thing has turned into a total dumpster fire with shitposting every other tweet, to the point it just wasn't pleasant anymore. So removing my account wasn't hard.. I think they only go downhill from here anyway, Musk is buying a dying platform that's going the way of MySpace.

I may have posted this here before but what I like about Instagram is it’s very easy to dodge politics there. With Twitter, it feels impossible. At one point I deleted my account to wipe all my follows and made a new one. I was very picky about who I followed but the algorithm just dumps piles of shit into your feed.

And asking it to stop showing you posts from certain accounts it’ll say “we’ll show this less often” which seems to mean “fuck you, we’ll show you whatever we want”. It defies curation.

Instagram is the one platform I baby with care for my photography, growing a genuine audience is not easy and takes time but once you're in and both the algorithms and users accept you it actually becomes a really pleasant experience. I never (ever) dabble in politics there, in fact I'm trying to avoid that on all platforms anyway.

 

[Pumbaa]

I may have posted this here before but what I like about Instagram is it’s very easy to dodge politics there. With Twitter, it feels impossible. At one point I deleted my account to wipe all my follows and made a new one. I was very picky about who I followed but the algorithm just dumps piles of shit into your feed.

And asking it to stop showing you posts from certain accounts it’ll say “we’ll show this less often” which seems to mean “fuck you, we’ll show you whatever we want”. It defies curation.

That’s been my experience too. I had to actually block Kevin Sorbo for Twitter to stop recommending me his turds. Still get lots of other US far-right extremist tweets recommended. No idea why.