5 ms·

I’m calling it now. Elon will push Twitter to allow users to determine their algorithmic feeds. A market for algos to compete with what content to serve you wil

I’m calling it now. Elon will push Twitter to allow users to determine their algorithmic feeds. A market for algos to compete with what content to serve you will be unstoppable. Everyone gets what they want.

fallat 5y ago
Optimal ad placement for each user.
CWuestefeld 5y ago
That's a pretty wonderful thought. I hope/wish you're right.
bpodgursky 5y ago
Far more likely he wants to drastically curtail the moderation and account banning. He's basically a free-speech absolutist.
- memish 5y ago
  He'd do both. He'd bring back free speech and open source the algo.
- the_doctah 5y ago
  I prefer that over the current "Arbiters of the definition of misinformation" censorship style they and every other social media platform has adopted.
- eric_cc 5y ago
  > a free-speech absolutist You don't need to be an absolutist to be pretty disgusted with Twitter censorship.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    I agree entirely, I was just being clear about his perspective.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  He's a "free speech for Elon" absolutist. I've never seen him defend the right of anyone to say something he didn't like on principle.
  - bhouser 5y ago
    He did just that a week ago: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1508566912845766656 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1508566912845766656
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      You need to provide more context. A tweet isn't news. Who is this guy, what did he say, how did that impact Musk?
    - awb 5y ago
      The next tweet: > Haha fine, I probably don’t disagree with you, but even if I did then still!! Not a great example.
  - bhouser 5y ago
    Here's a much more salient example: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 Musk is clearly pro-Ukraine, but apparently refused to block Russian news sources on Starlink when asked to.
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      > Here's a much more salient example:[refusing to block Russian sites] Starlink doesn't run their own DNS, so they're not going to block them there. And I would guess that such a simple site is hard to block by IP address - it's probably on shared hosting. > Musk is clearly pro-Ukraine, He is? He supported Ukraine giving a high profile plug to his project. If Kim Kardashian wanted to plug my product on her social media I'd do a ton to make it happen, but it doesn't make me a fan.
- status200 5y ago
  Free speech absolutist, unless you're tweeting the location of his jet or something else he disproves of, in which case he will attempt to stop you.
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    by stop you, you mean offer to pay you thousands of dollars?
- awb 5y ago
  > He's basically a free-speech absolutist. What does that mean? Every country and every person I know advocates for at least some restriction on speech. Spam, fraud, violence, NDAs, national security, libel all come to mind. I don’t know of any country or platform that has been successful with “absolute free speech”.
woah 5y ago
Elon will make every user follow him by default. He will be the new MySpace Tom
Pxtl 5y ago
Doubt it. He's made it very clear his biggest concern about Twitter is the censorship. More likely Musk will simply demand looser moderation because he's been annoyed by the lack of Free Speech on Twitter, and as a result the platform will decay into 4chan. Any platform that embraces free speech will gradually become /b/. If you treat signal and noise as equivalent value, the noise will overwhelm the signal.
- awb 5y ago
  For people wondering why, it’s because the majority of people consume content and a small minority create content. A small minority can easily be inundated by another small minority, especially when the barriers are close to 0 (creating a free account). Anyone who’s ever tried to run a subreddit quickly understands why some level of active moderation is necessary if you care about quality.
- hans1729 5y ago
  >Any platform that embraces free speech will gradually become /b/ I don't like this absolutism, because from my POV, this assumes that the audience has zero culture. /b/ is what happens when the participants are embracing the wild-west nature of our cyberpunk-era, which is exactly the design concept of 4chan itself. Good system design carefully examines the interfacing feedback-loops and focuses on the positive ones, not the negative ones. Free speech on its own is a positive loop, censorship is a negative loop. A system that embraces its nodes flourishes when the nodes also embrace the system, which includes the _design and intent of that system_. The sentiment of the design and intent behind 4chan is "do whatever you please". That's not free speech, that's laissez-faire-social-boogaloo. Those are not the same. It should be entirely possible to design a platform with culture to it. Negative feedback-loops are not a symptom of bad culture, but of the _absence_ of culture. A cultivated audience can both express and consume any actual thought. Look no further than HN, I don't feel censored here at all (although I haven't given this example too much thought, maybe I'm overlooking something right now). And an audience can be cultivated through the design/intent of the platform itself, as perception and dataflow of humans is always relative to their context, their local space.
  - 5y ago

fallat 5y ago

Optimal ad placement for each user.

CWuestefeld 5y ago

That's a pretty wonderful thought. I hope/wish you're right.

bpodgursky 5y ago

Far more likely he wants to drastically curtail the moderation and account banning. He's basically a free-speech absolutist.

memish 5y ago
He'd do both. He'd bring back free speech and open source the algo.
the_doctah 5y ago
I prefer that over the current "Arbiters of the definition of misinformation" censorship style they and every other social media platform has adopted.
eric_cc 5y ago
> a free-speech absolutist You don't need to be an absolutist to be pretty disgusted with Twitter censorship.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  I agree entirely, I was just being clear about his perspective.
HWR_14 5y ago
He's a "free speech for Elon" absolutist. I've never seen him defend the right of anyone to say something he didn't like on principle.
- bhouser 5y ago
  He did just that a week ago: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1508566912845766656 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1508566912845766656
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    You need to provide more context. A tweet isn't news. Who is this guy, what did he say, how did that impact Musk?
  - awb 5y ago
    The next tweet: > Haha fine, I probably don’t disagree with you, but even if I did then still!! Not a great example.
- bhouser 5y ago
  Here's a much more salient example: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 Musk is clearly pro-Ukraine, but apparently refused to block Russian news sources on Starlink when asked to.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    > Here's a much more salient example:[refusing to block Russian sites] Starlink doesn't run their own DNS, so they're not going to block them there. And I would guess that such a simple site is hard to block by IP address - it's probably on shared hosting. > Musk is clearly pro-Ukraine, He is? He supported Ukraine giving a high profile plug to his project. If Kim Kardashian wanted to plug my product on her social media I'd do a ton to make it happen, but it doesn't make me a fan.
status200 5y ago
Free speech absolutist, unless you're tweeting the location of his jet or something else he disproves of, in which case he will attempt to stop you.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  by stop you, you mean offer to pay you thousands of dollars?
awb 5y ago
> He's basically a free-speech absolutist. What does that mean? Every country and every person I know advocates for at least some restriction on speech. Spam, fraud, violence, NDAs, national security, libel all come to mind. I don’t know of any country or platform that has been successful with “absolute free speech”.

woah 5y ago

Elon will make every user follow him by default. He will be the new MySpace Tom

Pxtl 5y ago

Doubt it. He's made it very clear his biggest concern about Twitter is the censorship. More likely Musk will simply demand looser moderation because he's been annoyed by the lack of Free Speech on Twitter, and as a result the platform will decay into 4chan. Any platform that embraces free speech will gradually become /b/. If you treat signal and noise as equivalent value, the noise will overwhelm the signal.

awb 5y ago
For people wondering why, it’s because the majority of people consume content and a small minority create content. A small minority can easily be inundated by another small minority, especially when the barriers are close to 0 (creating a free account). Anyone who’s ever tried to run a subreddit quickly understands why some level of active moderation is necessary if you care about quality.
hans1729 5y ago
>Any platform that embraces free speech will gradually become /b/ I don't like this absolutism, because from my POV, this assumes that the audience has zero culture. /b/ is what happens when the participants are embracing the wild-west nature of our cyberpunk-era, which is exactly the design concept of 4chan itself. Good system design carefully examines the interfacing feedback-loops and focuses on the positive ones, not the negative ones. Free speech on its own is a positive loop, censorship is a negative loop. A system that embraces its nodes flourishes when the nodes also embrace the system, which includes the _design and intent of that system_. The sentiment of the design and intent behind 4chan is "do whatever you please". That's not free speech, that's laissez-faire-social-boogaloo. Those are not the same. It should be entirely possible to design a platform with culture to it. Negative feedback-loops are not a symptom of bad culture, but of the _absence_ of culture. A cultivated audience can both express and consume any actual thought. Look no further than HN, I don't feel censored here at all (although I haven't given this example too much thought, maybe I'm overlooking something right now). And an audience can be cultivated through the design/intent of the platform itself, as perception and dataflow of humans is always relative to their context, their local space.
- 5y ago