10 ms·

I think "More open Twitter" is a red herring. The bigger issue seems to be that people simply dislike and distrust Musk.

awestroke 4y ago
I think that's a vocal minority. The majority doesn't care, and two equally small, vocal minority groups love and hate him, respectively
- concordDance 4y ago
  In hackernews and reddit and my small RL sampling the haters outnumber the lovers about 3 to 1 atm. And about 1 in 4 or so care.
  - raspberry1337 4y ago
    I'd like to see a poll on hacker news for this
  - mikepurvis 4y ago
    In my friend group there were a handful of specific blunders that significantly changed the tide of opinion against him, all around the 2018 timeframe. "Pedo guy" was the biggest one mostly because of how stupid and unnecessary it was and his unwillingness to back down, but the "taking Tesla private for $420/share" drama was a close second. The increasingly pubic tawdriness of his love life was a factor too; prior to then he'd done a good job cultivating an image of a family man.
  - vultour 4y ago
    Specifically on Reddit I've never seen anybody support him anywhere near what one could consider "faboyism". They have this funny feedback loop where there's a (usually negative, or only marginally relevant) Musk post on the front page at least once a week, and the comments are all about how they hate Musk and how people need to stop giving him attention. Somehow everybody is completely oblivious to the fact that these posts are the only ones that most people ever see.
- AnonCoward42 4y ago
  For what I see from Twitter, I'd say Twitter is the vocal minority.
  - guywithahat 4y ago
    I've seen the exact opposite, everyone either doesn't care (specifically non-US citizens don't care) and people in the US are cheering him on. There was tremendous support for him when he reinstated the babylon bee and they haven't even posted anything yet
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - peterashford 4y ago
      I can tell you that New Zealand twitter cares a great deal and our main TV news media is covering it
  - neither_color 4y ago
    Around one-in-five U.S. adults (23%) say they use Twitter. The share of Americans who use the platform has remained consistent over the past several years and is similar to the share who use Snapchat (25%) and WhatsApp (23%). But a much larger share of U.S. adults use YouTube (81%), Facebook (69%) and Instagram (40%). Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-ab... Considering all the attention the acquisition received I was surprised to read that more people don't use Twitter. The idea that what gets posted on Twitter automatically becomes what the average Joe talks about is probably overstated.
    - Kye 4y ago
      It's indirect. Many of the people who influence what the average Joe talks about use Twitter, and few of them are self-aware enough to recognize Twitter is a fishbowl at a cafe by the ocean.
kukx 4y ago
I would rephrase it to "political propaganda machine dislikes and distrusts Musk". It is telling that Tesla was not invited to the EV summit or that or was removed from S&P 500 ESG.
- shapefrog 4y ago
  Yet the other political propaganda machine love and trusts Musk
- atoav 4y ago
  Depends which political propaganda machine you are talking about: the one that is outraged at their speakers husband being hit by a hammer or the one flately making stuff up to justify that attack. P.S. I am not an US citizen so I couldn't care less, but when "my" party over here would defend a guy who breaks into someone's home and hit an old man with an hammer because of — you name it — political propaganda I would pause for a moment and revaluate whether I am still who I think I was.
  - kukx 4y ago
    Why do you feel a need to defend political propaganda? Did you not just try to show that it is instrumental? If anything I guess you agree that there is this top down attack on Musk. Well, he became so influential that shady political interests are in play.
    - carschno 4y ago
      How do you imagine a "top down attack" on the richest man on earth?
      - kukx 4y ago
        If you are the richest man on earth and are attacked by political elites how would you defend yourself? Mind that they control, to some extent, media and institutions. There are things beyond money.
treeman79 4y ago
No. People don’t want Conservatives to have a voice.
- pron 4y ago
  I've always been curious about that. Does Twitter forbid discussing lowering taxes? Maybe demanding harsher immigration policies? Higher prison sentences? Bans on abortion? Shutting down the department of education? Reinstating a monarchy? Who is more conservative than The Federalist? Quillette posts "race science" articles, and even the Claremont Institute, which is so reactionary that it balks at the term "conservative," posts articles on Twitter calling for ending democracy. Margarita Simonyan, a chief spokesperson for an ultraconservative authoritarian regime that is currently engaged in one of the deadliest wars in modern history against a budding democracy, has an account with over half a million followers. You want pre-Hellenic conceptions of the world? You got it! So seriously, what specific conservative content does Twitter disallow?
  - mojzu 4y ago
    I'm not a big Twitter user but am often bombarded with right wing content on other sites like Reddit and Youtube no matter how often I try to tell the site/train the algorithm that it's not content I'm interested in seeing whatsoever, the idea that conservatives are being silenced when I (a left wing Brit) am constantly seeing their content is frankly ridiculous
    - stiltzkin 4y ago
      That depends the subs you are subscribed, I usually get bombarded with left content and big subs are astroturfed by leftist.
    - reitanqild 4y ago
      I think it is an algorithm thing: As a member of NAFO I get bombarded by Pro-Russian views every single time I refresh my timeline it seems, and I never like any of it or follow any of those genocidal maniacs or their cheerleaders :-/
stiltzkin 4y ago
*SOME people.
culi 4y ago
Musk is banning people who make fun of him... I don't think anyone is under any illusion that Twitter is somehow becoming more open lol Anyways I think the biggest concern is obviously that blue checkmark tweets will now be prioritized by the algorithm. Making it a pay-to-influence media platform. That's definitely why I quit (or at least unfollowed every single blue checkmark) and that seems to be the biggest concern amongst my friends
- jeswin 4y ago
  > Musk is banning people who make fun of him No. He's banning accounts which are impersonating others, and such accounts are now required to add "Parody" to their name to avoid confusing users. I welcome this policy change, as well as the democratization of verification marks.

awestroke 4y ago

I think that's a vocal minority. The majority doesn't care, and two equally small, vocal minority groups love and hate him, respectively

concordDance 4y ago
In hackernews and reddit and my small RL sampling the haters outnumber the lovers about 3 to 1 atm. And about 1 in 4 or so care.
- raspberry1337 4y ago
  I'd like to see a poll on hacker news for this
- mikepurvis 4y ago
  In my friend group there were a handful of specific blunders that significantly changed the tide of opinion against him, all around the 2018 timeframe. "Pedo guy" was the biggest one mostly because of how stupid and unnecessary it was and his unwillingness to back down, but the "taking Tesla private for $420/share" drama was a close second. The increasingly pubic tawdriness of his love life was a factor too; prior to then he'd done a good job cultivating an image of a family man.
- vultour 4y ago
  Specifically on Reddit I've never seen anybody support him anywhere near what one could consider "faboyism". They have this funny feedback loop where there's a (usually negative, or only marginally relevant) Musk post on the front page at least once a week, and the comments are all about how they hate Musk and how people need to stop giving him attention. Somehow everybody is completely oblivious to the fact that these posts are the only ones that most people ever see.
AnonCoward42 4y ago
For what I see from Twitter, I'd say Twitter is the vocal minority.
- guywithahat 4y ago
  I've seen the exact opposite, everyone either doesn't care (specifically non-US citizens don't care) and people in the US are cheering him on. There was tremendous support for him when he reinstated the babylon bee and they haven't even posted anything yet
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - peterashford 4y ago
    I can tell you that New Zealand twitter cares a great deal and our main TV news media is covering it
- neither_color 4y ago
  Around one-in-five U.S. adults (23%) say they use Twitter. The share of Americans who use the platform has remained consistent over the past several years and is similar to the share who use Snapchat (25%) and WhatsApp (23%). But a much larger share of U.S. adults use YouTube (81%), Facebook (69%) and Instagram (40%). Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-ab... Considering all the attention the acquisition received I was surprised to read that more people don't use Twitter. The idea that what gets posted on Twitter automatically becomes what the average Joe talks about is probably overstated.
  - Kye 4y ago
    It's indirect. Many of the people who influence what the average Joe talks about use Twitter, and few of them are self-aware enough to recognize Twitter is a fishbowl at a cafe by the ocean.

kukx 4y ago

I would rephrase it to "political propaganda machine dislikes and distrusts Musk". It is telling that Tesla was not invited to the EV summit or that or was removed from S&P 500 ESG.

shapefrog 4y ago
Yet the other political propaganda machine love and trusts Musk
atoav 4y ago
Depends which political propaganda machine you are talking about: the one that is outraged at their speakers husband being hit by a hammer or the one flately making stuff up to justify that attack. P.S. I am not an US citizen so I couldn't care less, but when "my" party over here would defend a guy who breaks into someone's home and hit an old man with an hammer because of — you name it — political propaganda I would pause for a moment and revaluate whether I am still who I think I was.
- kukx 4y ago
  Why do you feel a need to defend political propaganda? Did you not just try to show that it is instrumental? If anything I guess you agree that there is this top down attack on Musk. Well, he became so influential that shady political interests are in play.
  - carschno 4y ago
    How do you imagine a "top down attack" on the richest man on earth?
    - kukx 4y ago
      If you are the richest man on earth and are attacked by political elites how would you defend yourself? Mind that they control, to some extent, media and institutions. There are things beyond money.

treeman79 4y ago

No. People don’t want Conservatives to have a voice.

pron 4y ago
I've always been curious about that. Does Twitter forbid discussing lowering taxes? Maybe demanding harsher immigration policies? Higher prison sentences? Bans on abortion? Shutting down the department of education? Reinstating a monarchy? Who is more conservative than The Federalist? Quillette posts "race science" articles, and even the Claremont Institute, which is so reactionary that it balks at the term "conservative," posts articles on Twitter calling for ending democracy. Margarita Simonyan, a chief spokesperson for an ultraconservative authoritarian regime that is currently engaged in one of the deadliest wars in modern history against a budding democracy, has an account with over half a million followers. You want pre-Hellenic conceptions of the world? You got it! So seriously, what specific conservative content does Twitter disallow?
- mojzu 4y ago
  I'm not a big Twitter user but am often bombarded with right wing content on other sites like Reddit and Youtube no matter how often I try to tell the site/train the algorithm that it's not content I'm interested in seeing whatsoever, the idea that conservatives are being silenced when I (a left wing Brit) am constantly seeing their content is frankly ridiculous
  - stiltzkin 4y ago
    That depends the subs you are subscribed, I usually get bombarded with left content and big subs are astroturfed by leftist.
  - reitanqild 4y ago
    I think it is an algorithm thing: As a member of NAFO I get bombarded by Pro-Russian views every single time I refresh my timeline it seems, and I never like any of it or follow any of those genocidal maniacs or their cheerleaders :-/

stiltzkin 4y ago

*SOME people.

culi 4y ago

Musk is banning people who make fun of him... I don't think anyone is under any illusion that Twitter is somehow becoming more open lol Anyways I think the biggest concern is obviously that blue checkmark tweets will now be prioritized by the algorithm. Making it a pay-to-influence media platform. That's definitely why I quit (or at least unfollowed every single blue checkmark) and that seems to be the biggest concern amongst my friends

jeswin 4y ago
> Musk is banning people who make fun of him No. He's banning accounts which are impersonating others, and such accounts are now required to add "Parody" to their name to avoid confusing users. I welcome this policy change, as well as the democratization of verification marks.