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> Twitter, despite being a toxic place the majority of people avoid, brought in over 5 billion dollars last year. If elon removes bots, welcomes non-extremists

> Twitter, despite being a toxic place the majority of people avoid, brought in over 5 billion dollars last year. If elon removes bots, welcomes non-extremists back on, gets comedians and entertaining accounts back on board and lets people say what they want instead a bot army of shills repeating verbatim over and over and over... Elon Musk is absolutely not the right person for this job though. Indeed, he's one of the main forces hell-bent on making Twitter a toxic place. Look at this tweet for example (I'm not cherry-picking something from way back in the past; this is the third most recent thing he's tweeted): https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517707521343082496 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517707521343082496 The quality of that post is significantly below the quality of anything that routinely makes it to my own personalized feed. And in case you don't understand the context of that post, it's because Bill Gates may have shorted Tesla or something. So in retaliation for that, Elon is making fun of Bill Gates's appearance on the largest platform he has, and countless of his followers will take up this mantle and run with it. It's actually hard for me to think of a worse person to come along and try to improve the quality of Twitter, except for maybe Trump.

bombcar 5y ago
But this kind of low-grade humor is exactly what people want to see. Look at how popular this tweet is compared to any of Elon’s about actual Tesla or Rocket things.
- CydeWeys 5y ago
  There's very little value in elementary-grade humor, though. It's not advertiser friendly. If Twitter turns into primarily shit posts of this caliber then it ends up being worth a lot less money than it is now.
  - solenoidalslide 5y ago
    Shit posts are incredibly advertiser friendly. Most popular memes that define our current internet culture started out as juvenile shit posts.
    - CydeWeys 5y ago
      > Shit posts are incredibly advertiser friendly. Show me advertisers who are happy to monetize on this exact content then.
      - glenstein 5y ago
        The current wave of it started with Old Spice TV commercials and Dennys Tumblr. From there it has spread to numerous other brands like Moon Pies, Sunny Delight, etc. Many snack and food brands were highly visible early adopters of this iteration of internet culture as a way to rep their brands.
        CydeWeys 5y ago
        There's a huge difference between mean-spirited user-generated shitposts and quirky advertising campaign. You're talking about the latter. Crucially, an advertising campaign is carefully crafted and gets approval, whereas millions of shitposts you might potentially advertise online are not and do not, and many of them pose a brand risk to be associated with. So I ask again, show me examples of advertisers that enthusiastically advertise on shitposts.
        glenstein 5y ago
        Sure, and no true scotsman puts sugar on his porridge. Your own chosen example was Elon Musk recent twitter history. Debating the difference between your chosen example and Dennys to identify an obvious principle that distinguishes them is asking people to play calvinball with you.
      - solenoidalslide 5y ago
        You mean advertisers who would be willing to target consumers who dislike how the incredibly rich have disproportionately large control of the economy? You also have advertisers willing to target the outrage crowd, so they would also stand to gain from the post. Not all advertisers care about the things that advertisers from companies like Disney or the NFL care about.
  - EricE 5y ago
    What an utter joy you must be to live with. The utter lack of any sense of humor is something I seriously hope Elon can continue to reverse. People seriously need to get over themselves and stop seeking out infinite ways to be offended. Live and let live! Life is too short to have sticks so firmly implanted so deeply.
    - nullc 5y ago
      That's an unnecessarily personal reply. I've met the person you're responding to and think he's a lot of fun. ... and I say this as someone who agrees with the argument that twitter is deeply toxic, that it systematically rewards, promotes, and monetizes toxicity, and that in this case Elon was behaving in a manner which within the abhorrent norms of the overall platform. [Though, I'm sure Mr. Gates will be fine, and that ultimately the comment mostly just makes Mr. Musk look bad...] But having a different opinion on that doesn't make someone a killjoy. Someone isn't humorless because they think that mocking someone's appearance like that-- particularly outside of special context like a comedy club-- is gross.
    - CydeWeys 5y ago
      None of this is relevant to whether changing the nature of Twitter in this manner will make it worth more than $43B. (And I'm just gonna ignore your ad hominems.) Humor is very hard to monetize.
- lm28469 5y ago
  The "people want to see me eat shit on live TV so I'll eat shit on live TV" mentality. Exactly what this world needs indeed
- raxxorraxor 5y ago
  Rocket enthusiasts rarely look up content on Twitter. It is the worst platform for that. The character limits enforces some kind of hot take, so I don't really understand the complaint. Elementary grade humor is still more funny than advertiser friendly, because the latter means safe. And safe hot takes don't really work. I use Twitter to be redirected to other sites or topics, but not recently anymore because they banned anonymous users. And it is still far better than some corporate consultants shilling for new rules for speech.
evandale 5y ago
>Indeed, he's one of the main forces hell-bent on making Twitter a toxic place Twitter _is_ a toxic place with or without him. He had thousands of replies to that tweet with people posting pictures of Musk looking even worse. Sure he posts low quality garbage on Twitter but so does everyone else. The entire point of the site is to post low quality 140 character zingers every waking second of the day.
- CydeWeys 5y ago
  > He had thousands of replies to that tweet with people posting pictures of Musk looking even worse. Sure he posts low quality garbage on Twitter but so does everyone else. You're missing the cause-and-effect here. People are stooping to his level. He's serving as a prime example of the worst kind of behavior to emulate, and emulate they are.
  - evandale 5y ago
    >People are stooping to his level I disagree. Musk is stooping to the level of Twitter. Musk's shitposts generate way more activity than any of his SpaceX or Tesla posts.
Karunamon 5y ago
I don't think a sophomoric jab at a billionaire (ha ha he looks like an emoji) is what most people think of when they hear the word "toxic". I reserve that term for hate, discrimination, and so forth.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  The joke was he looks like a guy that's pregnant. That's funny.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
shawn-butler 5y ago
It’s a joke, yes? Clearly identifiable as such. In bad taste? Probably. Sort of like baldness jokes about women with health conditions? You’re saying it’s ok for an “algorithm” to slap the comedian off the stage but not Will Smith? Your definition of “toxic” should be made explicit. I imagine you believe “offensive == toxic” which is naïve. Not an easy problem, but if you’re a public figure then the rules surrounding satire / humor are different.

bombcar 5y ago

But this kind of low-grade humor is exactly what people want to see. Look at how popular this tweet is compared to any of Elon’s about actual Tesla or Rocket things.

CydeWeys 5y ago
There's very little value in elementary-grade humor, though. It's not advertiser friendly. If Twitter turns into primarily shit posts of this caliber then it ends up being worth a lot less money than it is now.
- solenoidalslide 5y ago
  Shit posts are incredibly advertiser friendly. Most popular memes that define our current internet culture started out as juvenile shit posts.
  - CydeWeys 5y ago
    > Shit posts are incredibly advertiser friendly. Show me advertisers who are happy to monetize on this exact content then.
    - glenstein 5y ago
      The current wave of it started with Old Spice TV commercials and Dennys Tumblr. From there it has spread to numerous other brands like Moon Pies, Sunny Delight, etc. Many snack and food brands were highly visible early adopters of this iteration of internet culture as a way to rep their brands.
      - CydeWeys 5y ago
        There's a huge difference between mean-spirited user-generated shitposts and quirky advertising campaign. You're talking about the latter. Crucially, an advertising campaign is carefully crafted and gets approval, whereas millions of shitposts you might potentially advertise online are not and do not, and many of them pose a brand risk to be associated with. So I ask again, show me examples of advertisers that enthusiastically advertise on shitposts.
        glenstein 5y ago
        Sure, and no true scotsman puts sugar on his porridge. Your own chosen example was Elon Musk recent twitter history. Debating the difference between your chosen example and Dennys to identify an obvious principle that distinguishes them is asking people to play calvinball with you.
    - solenoidalslide 5y ago
      You mean advertisers who would be willing to target consumers who dislike how the incredibly rich have disproportionately large control of the economy? You also have advertisers willing to target the outrage crowd, so they would also stand to gain from the post. Not all advertisers care about the things that advertisers from companies like Disney or the NFL care about.
- EricE 5y ago
  What an utter joy you must be to live with. The utter lack of any sense of humor is something I seriously hope Elon can continue to reverse. People seriously need to get over themselves and stop seeking out infinite ways to be offended. Live and let live! Life is too short to have sticks so firmly implanted so deeply.
  - nullc 5y ago
    That's an unnecessarily personal reply. I've met the person you're responding to and think he's a lot of fun. ... and I say this as someone who agrees with the argument that twitter is deeply toxic, that it systematically rewards, promotes, and monetizes toxicity, and that in this case Elon was behaving in a manner which within the abhorrent norms of the overall platform. [Though, I'm sure Mr. Gates will be fine, and that ultimately the comment mostly just makes Mr. Musk look bad...] But having a different opinion on that doesn't make someone a killjoy. Someone isn't humorless because they think that mocking someone's appearance like that-- particularly outside of special context like a comedy club-- is gross.
  - CydeWeys 5y ago
    None of this is relevant to whether changing the nature of Twitter in this manner will make it worth more than $43B. (And I'm just gonna ignore your ad hominems.) Humor is very hard to monetize.
lm28469 5y ago
The "people want to see me eat shit on live TV so I'll eat shit on live TV" mentality. Exactly what this world needs indeed
raxxorraxor 5y ago
Rocket enthusiasts rarely look up content on Twitter. It is the worst platform for that. The character limits enforces some kind of hot take, so I don't really understand the complaint. Elementary grade humor is still more funny than advertiser friendly, because the latter means safe. And safe hot takes don't really work. I use Twitter to be redirected to other sites or topics, but not recently anymore because they banned anonymous users. And it is still far better than some corporate consultants shilling for new rules for speech.

evandale 5y ago

>Indeed, he's one of the main forces hell-bent on making Twitter a toxic place Twitter _is_ a toxic place with or without him. He had thousands of replies to that tweet with people posting pictures of Musk looking even worse. Sure he posts low quality garbage on Twitter but so does everyone else. The entire point of the site is to post low quality 140 character zingers every waking second of the day.

CydeWeys 5y ago
> He had thousands of replies to that tweet with people posting pictures of Musk looking even worse. Sure he posts low quality garbage on Twitter but so does everyone else. You're missing the cause-and-effect here. People are stooping to his level. He's serving as a prime example of the worst kind of behavior to emulate, and emulate they are.
- evandale 5y ago
  >People are stooping to his level I disagree. Musk is stooping to the level of Twitter. Musk's shitposts generate way more activity than any of his SpaceX or Tesla posts.

Karunamon 5y ago

I don't think a sophomoric jab at a billionaire (ha ha he looks like an emoji) is what most people think of when they hear the word "toxic". I reserve that term for hate, discrimination, and so forth.

nemo44x 5y ago
The joke was he looks like a guy that's pregnant. That's funny.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

shawn-butler 5y ago

It’s a joke, yes? Clearly identifiable as such. In bad taste? Probably. Sort of like baldness jokes about women with health conditions? You’re saying it’s ok for an “algorithm” to slap the comedian off the stage but not Will Smith? Your definition of “toxic” should be made explicit. I imagine you believe “offensive == toxic” which is naïve. Not an easy problem, but if you’re a public figure then the rules surrounding satire / humor are different.