4 ms·

I Watched Elon Musk Kill Twitter’s Culture from the Inside

14 points by clouddrover 4y ago

pinewurst 4y ago
https://archive.ph/RSl7g https://archive.ph/RSl7g
johng 4y ago
Some may argue that it was a culture that needed changing. Imagine feeling high and mighty and justified in thinking it was your job to silence things you disagreed with. That’s what the culture was doing.
- seymourhersh 4y ago
  As opposed to manually amplifying a single voice above all others? The culture did need changing, but not like this.
mdmglr 4y ago
> After my team’s audit of the image-crop feature was published, Twitter recognized the need for constructive public feedback, so we hosted our first algorithmic-bias bounty. We made our code available and let outside data scientists dig in—they could earn cash for identifying biases that we’d missed. Would it not be cheaper, faster and easier to just remove the auto crop feature entirely at let users decide what they want to see as they view the post? It seems to me if Twitter has major outage issues then money and attention should best be directed to fixing that rather than these other features of dubious value.
labrador 4y ago
I listen to Democrats (I am one) struggle to understand what the word "woke" means to Republicans. It's really simplified for the average socially conservative voter - Woke means teaching children about gender/identity while also teaching children that African-Americans may deserve some form of reparations. The fear is that teachers graduate from "woke" universities and start teaching kids these concepts. That being said, Twitter is much less "woke" these days and I think it's a shame because I think both sides need to be heard. It's not all Musk's fault - many trans activists left voluntarily - but it's still mostly his fault (and perhaps goal?) Also, legendary Democratic strategist James Carville says "wokeness" is a stupid hill for Democrats to die on.
- aquarium87 4y ago
  I like your definition of woke. It should probably elaborate that being woke is generally something that is virtuous yet harmful. A self defeating, short term position. Equity = wealth destruction and no equity. Transgender = mutilation and social group becomes perverts obsessed with sex. Doesn't generally solve problems of self esteem or bodily sex mismatch. Diversity = institutionalized racism and quotas. Self defeating as everyone automatically becomes a racist, looking only at skin color, and everyone else suspiciously looks at minorities and wonders if they have any skills, or are just pawns to check boxes in HR.
  - labrador 4y ago
    > I like your definition of woke My kids are grown adults (no grand kids) so I can look at it more objectively perhaps from a conservative parent's point of view. We've been dealing with what to teach our kids for a long time and the issue will never go away. I can remember adults complaining that their kids had to pledge allegiance to God every morning when in elementary schools in the 60's. Then there were battles over sex education when I was in junior high. I was given a failing grade on a paper in High School by a teacher who told me my paper on plate tectonics (a new discovery at the time) was contradicted by The Bible. The conflict will never end as long as we have public schools in America. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." "Woke" is just a shorthand for education in public schools that are liberal interpretations of religious (esp creationism vs evolution), sex and civil rights matters.
    - azinman2 4y ago
      I think a better definition of woke is that it’s about being aware of others struggles, and recognizing how those struggles have manifested.
      - labrador 4y ago
        That's the liberal understanding. My definition is the conservative understanding. Who ever can reconcile the two will have a better chance of being elected.
seymourhersh 4y ago
The article’s argument doesn’t follow. Why do we need regulation if Musk’s intervention is killing Twitter and getting people to leave? It seems like better alternatives are now being built, and regulation would likely stifle them.
aurelius83 4y ago
This is a pretty clever PR ad for her nonprofit.

14 points by clouddrover 4y ago

https://archive.ph/RSl7g https://archive.ph/RSl7g

Some may argue that it was a culture that needed changing. Imagine feeling high and mighty and justified in thinking it was your job to silence things you disagreed with. That’s what the culture was doing.

seymourhersh 4y ago
As opposed to manually amplifying a single voice above all others? The culture did need changing, but not like this.

mdmglr 4y ago

> After my team’s audit of the image-crop feature was published, Twitter recognized the need for constructive public feedback, so we hosted our first algorithmic-bias bounty. We made our code available and let outside data scientists dig in—they could earn cash for identifying biases that we’d missed. Would it not be cheaper, faster and easier to just remove the auto crop feature entirely at let users decide what they want to see as they view the post? It seems to me if Twitter has major outage issues then money and attention should best be directed to fixing that rather than these other features of dubious value.

labrador 4y ago

I listen to Democrats (I am one) struggle to understand what the word "woke" means to Republicans. It's really simplified for the average socially conservative voter - Woke means teaching children about gender/identity while also teaching children that African-Americans may deserve some form of reparations. The fear is that teachers graduate from "woke" universities and start teaching kids these concepts. That being said, Twitter is much less "woke" these days and I think it's a shame because I think both sides need to be heard. It's not all Musk's fault - many trans activists left voluntarily - but it's still mostly his fault (and perhaps goal?) Also, legendary Democratic strategist James Carville says "wokeness" is a stupid hill for Democrats to die on.

aquarium87 4y ago
I like your definition of woke. It should probably elaborate that being woke is generally something that is virtuous yet harmful. A self defeating, short term position. Equity = wealth destruction and no equity. Transgender = mutilation and social group becomes perverts obsessed with sex. Doesn't generally solve problems of self esteem or bodily sex mismatch. Diversity = institutionalized racism and quotas. Self defeating as everyone automatically becomes a racist, looking only at skin color, and everyone else suspiciously looks at minorities and wonders if they have any skills, or are just pawns to check boxes in HR.
- labrador 4y ago
  > I like your definition of woke My kids are grown adults (no grand kids) so I can look at it more objectively perhaps from a conservative parent's point of view. We've been dealing with what to teach our kids for a long time and the issue will never go away. I can remember adults complaining that their kids had to pledge allegiance to God every morning when in elementary schools in the 60's. Then there were battles over sex education when I was in junior high. I was given a failing grade on a paper in High School by a teacher who told me my paper on plate tectonics (a new discovery at the time) was contradicted by The Bible. The conflict will never end as long as we have public schools in America. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." "Woke" is just a shorthand for education in public schools that are liberal interpretations of religious (esp creationism vs evolution), sex and civil rights matters.
  - azinman2 4y ago
    I think a better definition of woke is that it’s about being aware of others struggles, and recognizing how those struggles have manifested.
    - labrador 4y ago
      That's the liberal understanding. My definition is the conservative understanding. Who ever can reconcile the two will have a better chance of being elected.

seymourhersh 4y ago

The article’s argument doesn’t follow. Why do we need regulation if Musk’s intervention is killing Twitter and getting people to leave? It seems like better alternatives are now being built, and regulation would likely stifle them.

aurelius83 4y ago

This is a pretty clever PR ad for her nonprofit.