6 ms·

> fantastic in some ways, but I think they've massively oversold it Seems like par for the course for most Musk ventures

ItsTooMuch 4y ago
Could we please tone down these comments about Musk? Literally every thread about SpaceX/Tesla/etc has dozens of them. It's not interesting at all anymore, and adds nothing to the discussion. Everybody has already heard this opinion dozens of times.
- kenny_r 4y ago
  I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think it's interesting that this reached the front page of HN at all, and I have to think it's _because_ of the cult of personality around Musk. Some of these comments suggest that having satellite internet onboard a cruise ship is a new thing. It's certainly not. After some quick googling it looks like the current provider is O3b Networks (now part of SES), using modem equipment manufactured by ST Engineering iDirect. I somehow doubt that when O3b Networks won that contract in 2013 it made the front page of HN. But now, there's "SpaceX's Starlink" in the title and it sits on #7 on the front page with 130+ comments.
  - throwawaylinux 4y ago
    I don't venture too far on the internet, but the only thing like a cult of personality around Musk I've seen is the anti-Musk cult going on and on about how he is a "garbage human", he's a fraud, not a real engineer, and how annoying his cult followers are, when it comes to any vaguely related topic. This story for example, of the comments where Musk is first mentioned in a thread, 3 (including the dead one) are anti-Musk, and 1 is neutral (using Musk as shorthand for Musk's businesses), and zero are positive. Nothing rabidly pro-Musk. So I rather think stories like this are being upvoted because people like hearing about travel, internet and comms, rockets, satellites, and the like. I don't think it's very charitable to think it's only due to some vapid Musk fan club.
cloutchaser 4y ago
Funny you should say that - how much does Tesla spend on marketing vs other car companies? How much does spacex spend on marketing? Just because some people (excluding you) think his products are awesome, doesn't mean he oversold it.
- tsimionescu 4y ago
  Tesla launched a car into space. That's significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns. Also, Elon constantly oversells his products every chance he is given - Tesla shows, any interview, I think he managed to do it even when he went on SNL.
  - gridspy 4y ago
    > Tesla launched a car into space. It was a dummy payload. Sure the car was more expensive than a block of concrete, but not by much. Elon claims SpaceX was started because he couldn't inspire people with a martian greenhouse photo. So it is "in character" for him to do inspiring things if possible along the way.
    - tsimionescu 4y ago
      The point is that it was a marketing stunt for Tesla. It was inspiring alright - inspiring people to associate Tesla with cool space stuff, and hopefully buy one.
      - LightG 4y ago
        A shame his mouth counterbalanced much of the value from those fantastic stunts.
      - caf 4y ago
        Sure, but the cost to Tesla was one car, one camera, one video transmitter and probably the most expensive part, a license for David Bowie's Starman. Perhaps that's "significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns", but only because the vast majority of ad campaigns are not very costly at all (I guess the dominant ad campaign by number is a limited online or local print one for a small business, costing in the low 4 figures). Certainly it wouldn't be significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns for car manufacturers, though.
samhuk 4y ago
I would agree with the main sibling comment here. Pithy remarks about Elon Musk, about anyone really, generally don't add anything to the discussion and are very tired topics, particularly when they aren't even humorous in any way. You actually make a fairly decent point (FSD being forever "soon" is one example), however in most of the businesses that Elon Musk operates in, delays or outright failures are extremely common (Tesla made electric cars appealing. Basically was impossible. SpaceX developed rockets in a "few years". Basically unheard of since Apollo-era. And so on). So I would probably lean on the side of "give the dude some slack"?
dang 4y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32658796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32658796.

ItsTooMuch 4y ago

Could we please tone down these comments about Musk? Literally every thread about SpaceX/Tesla/etc has dozens of them. It's not interesting at all anymore, and adds nothing to the discussion. Everybody has already heard this opinion dozens of times.

kenny_r 4y ago
I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think it's interesting that this reached the front page of HN at all, and I have to think it's _because_ of the cult of personality around Musk. Some of these comments suggest that having satellite internet onboard a cruise ship is a new thing. It's certainly not. After some quick googling it looks like the current provider is O3b Networks (now part of SES), using modem equipment manufactured by ST Engineering iDirect. I somehow doubt that when O3b Networks won that contract in 2013 it made the front page of HN. But now, there's "SpaceX's Starlink" in the title and it sits on #7 on the front page with 130+ comments.
- throwawaylinux 4y ago
  I don't venture too far on the internet, but the only thing like a cult of personality around Musk I've seen is the anti-Musk cult going on and on about how he is a "garbage human", he's a fraud, not a real engineer, and how annoying his cult followers are, when it comes to any vaguely related topic. This story for example, of the comments where Musk is first mentioned in a thread, 3 (including the dead one) are anti-Musk, and 1 is neutral (using Musk as shorthand for Musk's businesses), and zero are positive. Nothing rabidly pro-Musk. So I rather think stories like this are being upvoted because people like hearing about travel, internet and comms, rockets, satellites, and the like. I don't think it's very charitable to think it's only due to some vapid Musk fan club.

cloutchaser 4y ago

Funny you should say that - how much does Tesla spend on marketing vs other car companies? How much does spacex spend on marketing? Just because some people (excluding you) think his products are awesome, doesn't mean he oversold it.

tsimionescu 4y ago
Tesla launched a car into space. That's significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns. Also, Elon constantly oversells his products every chance he is given - Tesla shows, any interview, I think he managed to do it even when he went on SNL.
- gridspy 4y ago
  > Tesla launched a car into space. It was a dummy payload. Sure the car was more expensive than a block of concrete, but not by much. Elon claims SpaceX was started because he couldn't inspire people with a martian greenhouse photo. So it is "in character" for him to do inspiring things if possible along the way.
  - tsimionescu 4y ago
    The point is that it was a marketing stunt for Tesla. It was inspiring alright - inspiring people to associate Tesla with cool space stuff, and hopefully buy one.
    - LightG 4y ago
      A shame his mouth counterbalanced much of the value from those fantastic stunts.
    - caf 4y ago
      Sure, but the cost to Tesla was one car, one camera, one video transmitter and probably the most expensive part, a license for David Bowie's Starman. Perhaps that's "significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns", but only because the vast majority of ad campaigns are not very costly at all (I guess the dominant ad campaign by number is a limited online or local print one for a small business, costing in the low 4 figures). Certainly it wouldn't be significantly more costly than the vast majority of ad campaigns for car manufacturers, though.

samhuk 4y ago

I would agree with the main sibling comment here. Pithy remarks about Elon Musk, about anyone really, generally don't add anything to the discussion and are very tired topics, particularly when they aren't even humorous in any way. You actually make a fairly decent point (FSD being forever "soon" is one example), however in most of the businesses that Elon Musk operates in, delays or outright failures are extremely common (Tesla made electric cars appealing. Basically was impossible. SpaceX developed rockets in a "few years". Basically unheard of since Apollo-era. And so on). So I would probably lean on the side of "give the dude some slack"?

dang 4y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32658796 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32658796.