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Musk just tweeted that @paulg will be restored shortly: https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604616426114932737 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/statu

Musk just tweeted that @paulg will be restored shortly: https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604616426114932737 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046164261149327... And “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.” https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604616863673208832 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046168636732088... Edit: and now he’s asking if he should step down https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604617643973124097 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046176439731240...

sytelus 4y ago
Just voted using all of my 12 Twitter accounts. There is a huge startup opportunity to let customers buy poll outcome through human farms in Indonesia. They will need to compete with state sponsored bots but that's ok.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  What's the problem, money is just another form of free speech isn't it?
  - PartiallyTyped 4y ago
    One shouldn’t have more free speech by virtue of their net worth or disposable income.
    - nickthegreek 4y ago
      Ideally, but we would apparently need an amendment to the Constitution for that too be true.
542458 4y ago
This whole “Elon Musk polls Elon Musk’s followers and acts like it’s a) representative of the Twitter userbase in general and that b) the results of the poll are an infallible measure of which option is best” thing is just bizarre to me. The former is pretty clearly untrue, and the latter is untrue for most definitions of “best”.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Agreed, and it makes it doubly funny when he loses one.
SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
> Edit: and now he’s asking if he should step down https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046176439731240 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046176439731240... If it doesn't go his way how many times will he put up a new poll?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- elkos 4y ago
  What's his way though?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- fluidcruft 4y ago
  First, ban everyone who votes "Yes" because obvious bots are obvious and then re-issue the poll. So many birds killed with the same stone.
  - ALittleLight 4y ago
    Why would you say that? He honored previous polls, including the one to restore the banned journalists.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      Not on the first poll.
      - ALittleLight 4y ago
        He quickly realized one side had more options so it was unfair and redid it. On the original poll suspend for 7 days and ban combined had more votes that unban - how should you interpret that? Redoing the poll as yes/no was reasonable.
jstx1 4y ago
He's really making it up as he goes. I don't know how anyone can look at anything he's done recently and still think that he's competent at any of his roles.
andreyk 4y ago
"Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll." Wow. 50.9 opposed, 49.1 pro.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- paxys 4y ago
  I just voted no. Guy needs to stay in charge and completely obliterate Twitter.
  - orwin 4y ago
    You made me go on Twitter for the second time this weekend. Great idea, sir!
sph 4y ago
I honestly want him to stay because I enjoy the absolute shit show, I'm gonna be honest. It is interesting to see how the world would react if Twitter went in flames over a couple weeks. The news and corporate PR world are scared out of their mind, and I want to see the whole thing implode, even if for a little while. Same with the Musk cult of personality.
- 542458 4y ago
  I work in a news-adjacent industry. As far as I can tell nobody on the news side is “scared out of their mind”. There is concern over the whole “rich guy takes over town square” aspect, a bit of concern over the “increasingly arbitrary ban policy” bit, but nothing you couldn’t easily find as top-voted comments on HN or Reddit, and nothing I’d describe in anywhere near as strong terms as what you used. Maybe some of the smaller new media reporting outlets that are more likely to catch a ban they can’t fight for saying something Elon doesn’t like feel more vulnerable, IDK.
- prawn 4y ago
  I can appreciate the entertainment factor, but I don't think the news/PR world is in any way scared. For news, it's more clicks on articles talking about this. Look at how popular these stories are on HN. The news industry loves anything that creates more news. And Twitter is small enough that I'd be surprised if it's a factor for PR companies in any serious way. I looked at one of the biggest PR companies in my city and they've tweeted twice in six months. PR companies make money from retainers and the bulk of the work is pushing stories out to traditional news, new media (large blogs, etc) and then managing social media accounts. On the last point, they can make more money producing videos for YouTube and videos/photos for Instagram/Facebook than posting largely textual content on Twitter to a tiny audience. My wife worked in PR for years and is now in comms with a company. That company posts consistently on Instagram/Facebook, as one example, but has only posted on Twitter 2-3 times in 12 months.
tdaltonc 4y ago
Management by Twitter polls (dominated by bots) is crazy. But also, it's somehow not the craziest part of all of this.
EamonnMR 4y ago
Wonder if he's gonna ban anyone who voted yes.
themacguffinman 4y ago
@paulg's Twitter followers seem to have been wiped clean so his follower count is much lower now. Not really sure if that's part of the punishment or if that's an engineering failure.
- andromaton 4y ago
  Also his followees
- chimeracoder 4y ago
  > @paulg's Twitter followers seem to have been wiped clean so his follower count is much lower now. Not really sure if that's part of the punishment or if that's an engineering failure. This happens every time an account is restored from deactivation (voluntary) or suspension. It takes time to rebuild the cache - usually a few hours, though with very large accounts it can take a few days.
  - themacguffinman 4y ago
    Ah that makes sense, didn't realize that's how it works.
John23832 4y ago
“Should I resign” is just more attention getting. “Please tell me you want me.” I’d advise everyone to just leave Twitter. He can still be “Head” there will just be nothing underneath him.

sytelus 4y ago

Just voted using all of my 12 Twitter accounts. There is a huge startup opportunity to let customers buy poll outcome through human farms in Indonesia. They will need to compete with state sponsored bots but that's ok.

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
What's the problem, money is just another form of free speech isn't it?
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  One shouldn’t have more free speech by virtue of their net worth or disposable income.
  - nickthegreek 4y ago
    Ideally, but we would apparently need an amendment to the Constitution for that too be true.

542458 4y ago

This whole “Elon Musk polls Elon Musk’s followers and acts like it’s a) representative of the Twitter userbase in general and that b) the results of the poll are an infallible measure of which option is best” thing is just bizarre to me. The former is pretty clearly untrue, and the latter is untrue for most definitions of “best”.

ceejayoz 4y ago
Agreed, and it makes it doubly funny when he loses one.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago

> Edit: and now he’s asking if he should step down https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046176439731240 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/16046176439731240... If it doesn't go his way how many times will he put up a new poll?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
elkos 4y ago
What's his way though?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
fluidcruft 4y ago
First, ban everyone who votes "Yes" because obvious bots are obvious and then re-issue the poll. So many birds killed with the same stone.
- ALittleLight 4y ago
  Why would you say that? He honored previous polls, including the one to restore the banned journalists.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    Not on the first poll.
    - ALittleLight 4y ago
      He quickly realized one side had more options so it was unfair and redid it. On the original poll suspend for 7 days and ban combined had more votes that unban - how should you interpret that? Redoing the poll as yes/no was reasonable.

jstx1 4y ago

He's really making it up as he goes. I don't know how anyone can look at anything he's done recently and still think that he's competent at any of his roles.

andreyk 4y ago

"Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll." Wow. 50.9 opposed, 49.1 pro.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
paxys 4y ago
I just voted no. Guy needs to stay in charge and completely obliterate Twitter.
- orwin 4y ago
  You made me go on Twitter for the second time this weekend. Great idea, sir!

sph 4y ago

I honestly want him to stay because I enjoy the absolute shit show, I'm gonna be honest. It is interesting to see how the world would react if Twitter went in flames over a couple weeks. The news and corporate PR world are scared out of their mind, and I want to see the whole thing implode, even if for a little while. Same with the Musk cult of personality.

542458 4y ago
I work in a news-adjacent industry. As far as I can tell nobody on the news side is “scared out of their mind”. There is concern over the whole “rich guy takes over town square” aspect, a bit of concern over the “increasingly arbitrary ban policy” bit, but nothing you couldn’t easily find as top-voted comments on HN or Reddit, and nothing I’d describe in anywhere near as strong terms as what you used. Maybe some of the smaller new media reporting outlets that are more likely to catch a ban they can’t fight for saying something Elon doesn’t like feel more vulnerable, IDK.
prawn 4y ago
I can appreciate the entertainment factor, but I don't think the news/PR world is in any way scared. For news, it's more clicks on articles talking about this. Look at how popular these stories are on HN. The news industry loves anything that creates more news. And Twitter is small enough that I'd be surprised if it's a factor for PR companies in any serious way. I looked at one of the biggest PR companies in my city and they've tweeted twice in six months. PR companies make money from retainers and the bulk of the work is pushing stories out to traditional news, new media (large blogs, etc) and then managing social media accounts. On the last point, they can make more money producing videos for YouTube and videos/photos for Instagram/Facebook than posting largely textual content on Twitter to a tiny audience. My wife worked in PR for years and is now in comms with a company. That company posts consistently on Instagram/Facebook, as one example, but has only posted on Twitter 2-3 times in 12 months.

tdaltonc 4y ago

Management by Twitter polls (dominated by bots) is crazy. But also, it's somehow not the craziest part of all of this.

EamonnMR 4y ago

Wonder if he's gonna ban anyone who voted yes.

themacguffinman 4y ago

@paulg's Twitter followers seem to have been wiped clean so his follower count is much lower now. Not really sure if that's part of the punishment or if that's an engineering failure.

andromaton 4y ago
Also his followees
chimeracoder 4y ago
> @paulg's Twitter followers seem to have been wiped clean so his follower count is much lower now. Not really sure if that's part of the punishment or if that's an engineering failure. This happens every time an account is restored from deactivation (voluntary) or suspension. It takes time to rebuild the cache - usually a few hours, though with very large accounts it can take a few days.
- themacguffinman 4y ago
  Ah that makes sense, didn't realize that's how it works.

John23832 4y ago

“Should I resign” is just more attention getting. “Please tell me you want me.” I’d advise everyone to just leave Twitter. He can still be “Head” there will just be nothing underneath him.