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I'm a huge fan of Elon Musk, and I really want him to be successful, but sometimes I feel that the overzealous tendency of his fans (and likely PR people) to au

I'm a huge fan of Elon Musk, and I really want him to be successful, but sometimes I feel that the overzealous tendency of his fans (and likely PR people) to automatically give praise for anything he does or says (here on HN or on reddit) is actually counter-productive. What if Elon starts doing something dumb some day and then when well-informed people try to provide meaningful criticism, they just get criticised and downvoted? I think that could actually undermine support from some of the people that Elon wants it from the most.

Clubber 10y ago
I think Elon Musk has a bit of the reality distortion field around him like Jobs did. If you take a step back and look what he tries to achieve vs. what just about every other business (tech or not) does, it's a stark comparison. Musk no longer represents himself and his companies, but he represents a future where we can do things we thought were just dreams (cheap space travel, electric cars that perform better than internal combustion types, ubiquitous solar power, etc). That's a lot of future from just one guy.
- noonespecial 10y ago
  >...he represents a future where we can do things we thought were just dreams He does more than just represent. He makes smart people believe that hard things are possible and that it's going to be worth it to try. A little bit of reality distortion can be a good thing, especially when reality is tending to suck.
  - AReallyGoodName 10y ago
    If there's a lot of financial analysts and engineers saying "this isn't feasible" and they are being ignored then that's a bad reality distortion field. Hyperloop One in particular comes to mind here. Some people say its feasible. Some say it isn't. Both have valid points. I like his work. I just don't want to see Musk fail due to lack of focus on one particular part of the dream and a lack of people on his team willing to say no.
    - kerbalspacepro 10y ago
      Fortunately, Musk isn't involved too deeply with the Hyperloop bubble.
    - busted 10y ago
      Unless he invested and I don't know about, Musk has nothing to do with any Hyperloop companies besides presenting the incomplete idea of a hyperloop and that it's worth pursuing.
- tgb 10y ago
  >...it's a [S]tark comparison. Subliminal shilling or decent understated joke?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
crdoconnor 10y ago
There's an equally overzealous tendency of the big three to knock him. E.g. the time when the New York Times reviewer John Broder (probably acting on behalf of some of their best advertiser-customers) wrote the review with ~9 coincidentally unfavorable inaccuracies described here: https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive I suspect more social media shilling is paid for by the big three than by Tesla.
- mehaveaccount 10y ago
  "Fake news" is a serious and honest criticism of today's media.
  - rhizome 10y ago
    "Today's media" feels like an overgeneralization to me.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    No it isn't. "Fake news" describes organizations that make up stories with no factual basis. It's been twisted to refer to organizations with bias or which don't cover the "right" stories, which is ridiculous.
rz2k 10y ago
There was the case of the unfavorable NY Times review. The Tesla was sensibly designed so that when the car was parked in an extremely cold garage, the batteries were actively heated to protect them from a damaging freeze. That all makes sense, but it wouldn't make sense to someone new to such a car why the battery shows less range when you get to it in the morning. The reviewer called support, and they guessed it was simply out of calibration or something, maybe because of the temperature, but without getting to the conclusion that the batteries had actually been used all night to keep themselves warm. Under that assumption, driving in circles for a couple minutes might warm up the system, then return accurate range estimates. Anyway, the reviewer went on to try to continue his driving trip, the readings never returned to what he thought they should be, and he drove without heat to try to maximize the range. He then wrote a review based on his experience, and without the knowledge of why the batteries has been drained overnight. Elon Musk ranted in response about a conspiracy to pan electric cars, and cited GPS readings of him driving in circles. There definitely had been instances of biased and rigged reviews against electric cars, but this was pretty clearly a misunderstanding, and Elon Musk never retracted his criticisms once it became obvious what had happened. Tesla's unconditional supporters didn't do much to quiet potential worries. What should a mild-mannered prospective buyer think? According to the letter of the contracts with Tesla, even having tires on your Tesla rotated could invalidate the warranty on the batteries that cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace. That gives Tesla a lot of leverage to "punish" customers, and the mob of supporters that would gang up on you if you say anything publicly about what seems unfair gives you less recourse and should make people wary.
- TwoBit 10y ago
  No, the NY Times reviewer faked the review and lied: https://www.slashgear.com/tesla-gets-nyt-apology-for-model-s-review-musk-approves-18269784/ https://www.slashgear.com/tesla-gets-nyt-apology-for-model-s...
  - andrewem 10y ago
    The response from the Public Editor does not say that the review was faked - it says the opposite, starting with the headline "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test". Later it says "I am convinced that he took on the test drive in good faith, and told the story as he experienced it." I have no interest in this dispute, but it's clear that the conclusion you drew about what the Times piece said is incorrect. https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/publiceditor/2013/02/18/problems-with-precision-and-judgment-but-not-integrity-in-tesla-test/ https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/publiceditor/2013/02/18/pro...

Clubber 10y ago

I think Elon Musk has a bit of the reality distortion field around him like Jobs did. If you take a step back and look what he tries to achieve vs. what just about every other business (tech or not) does, it's a stark comparison. Musk no longer represents himself and his companies, but he represents a future where we can do things we thought were just dreams (cheap space travel, electric cars that perform better than internal combustion types, ubiquitous solar power, etc). That's a lot of future from just one guy.

noonespecial 10y ago
>...he represents a future where we can do things we thought were just dreams He does more than just represent. He makes smart people believe that hard things are possible and that it's going to be worth it to try. A little bit of reality distortion can be a good thing, especially when reality is tending to suck.
- AReallyGoodName 10y ago
  If there's a lot of financial analysts and engineers saying "this isn't feasible" and they are being ignored then that's a bad reality distortion field. Hyperloop One in particular comes to mind here. Some people say its feasible. Some say it isn't. Both have valid points. I like his work. I just don't want to see Musk fail due to lack of focus on one particular part of the dream and a lack of people on his team willing to say no.
  - kerbalspacepro 10y ago
    Fortunately, Musk isn't involved too deeply with the Hyperloop bubble.
  - busted 10y ago
    Unless he invested and I don't know about, Musk has nothing to do with any Hyperloop companies besides presenting the incomplete idea of a hyperloop and that it's worth pursuing.
tgb 10y ago
>...it's a [S]tark comparison. Subliminal shilling or decent understated joke?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

crdoconnor 10y ago

There's an equally overzealous tendency of the big three to knock him. E.g. the time when the New York Times reviewer John Broder (probably acting on behalf of some of their best advertiser-customers) wrote the review with ~9 coincidentally unfavorable inaccuracies described here: https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive I suspect more social media shilling is paid for by the big three than by Tesla.

mehaveaccount 10y ago
"Fake news" is a serious and honest criticism of today's media.
- rhizome 10y ago
  "Today's media" feels like an overgeneralization to me.
- mikeash 10y ago
  No it isn't. "Fake news" describes organizations that make up stories with no factual basis. It's been twisted to refer to organizations with bias or which don't cover the "right" stories, which is ridiculous.

rz2k 10y ago

There was the case of the unfavorable NY Times review. The Tesla was sensibly designed so that when the car was parked in an extremely cold garage, the batteries were actively heated to protect them from a damaging freeze. That all makes sense, but it wouldn't make sense to someone new to such a car why the battery shows less range when you get to it in the morning. The reviewer called support, and they guessed it was simply out of calibration or something, maybe because of the temperature, but without getting to the conclusion that the batteries had actually been used all night to keep themselves warm. Under that assumption, driving in circles for a couple minutes might warm up the system, then return accurate range estimates. Anyway, the reviewer went on to try to continue his driving trip, the readings never returned to what he thought they should be, and he drove without heat to try to maximize the range. He then wrote a review based on his experience, and without the knowledge of why the batteries has been drained overnight. Elon Musk ranted in response about a conspiracy to pan electric cars, and cited GPS readings of him driving in circles. There definitely had been instances of biased and rigged reviews against electric cars, but this was pretty clearly a misunderstanding, and Elon Musk never retracted his criticisms once it became obvious what had happened. Tesla's unconditional supporters didn't do much to quiet potential worries. What should a mild-mannered prospective buyer think? According to the letter of the contracts with Tesla, even having tires on your Tesla rotated could invalidate the warranty on the batteries that cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace. That gives Tesla a lot of leverage to "punish" customers, and the mob of supporters that would gang up on you if you say anything publicly about what seems unfair gives you less recourse and should make people wary.

TwoBit 10y ago
No, the NY Times reviewer faked the review and lied: https://www.slashgear.com/tesla-gets-nyt-apology-for-model-s-review-musk-approves-18269784/ https://www.slashgear.com/tesla-gets-nyt-apology-for-model-s...
- andrewem 10y ago
  The response from the Public Editor does not say that the review was faked - it says the opposite, starting with the headline "Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test". Later it says "I am convinced that he took on the test drive in good faith, and told the story as he experienced it." I have no interest in this dispute, but it's clear that the conclusion you drew about what the Times piece said is incorrect. https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/publiceditor/2013/02/18/problems-with-precision-and-judgment-but-not-integrity-in-tesla-test/ https://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/publiceditor/2013/02/18/pro...