12 ms·

Twitter will open source all code used to recommend tweets on March 31st

55 points by hammock 4y ago

cypress66 4y ago
Do people generally use the recommended tab? I'm genuinely curious. Whenever I check it out (instead of "following"), it's abysmal. I don't know why somebody would prefer it.
- hammock 4y ago
  If you don’t actively use it, it’s hard for it to get better
- starkd 4y ago
  I haven't noticed much difference. Maybe a little less restricted to what I get under 'following'. The experience gets much better when you set up Lists.
alligatorplum 4y ago
Different way to tweet the tweet > After firing half of Twitters employees, the few that do remain do not fully understand the overly complex recommendation algorithm. I am hoping that we can crowdfund development work by making it open source. As an aside, it'll be interesting to see what license he open sources it under.
- _-david-_ 4y ago
  I don't think he is doing it strictly because the remaining team can't handle the development. He talked about open sourcing the recommendation algorithm before he even bought Twitter. Back in November 2022 he said: >One of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open-source the algorithm. >Any changes to people's tweets -- if they're emphasized or de-emphasized -- that action should be made apparent ... so there's there's no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually.
- starkd 4y ago
  He also said the code base was very fragile. Such that any changes tended to induce many errors. Hinted that it will probably be easier to just rebuild from scratch. It is always more fun to just rebuild. There's probably someone on the team already setting it up.
- jpeter 4y ago
  Maybe the 50000 Token Version of ChatGPT can understand it.
- corbulo 4y ago
  You have a very optimistic view of the people who worked at twitter.
tonetheman 4y ago
[dead]
e28eta 4y ago
There’s no way the code is sufficient to understand the behavior, right? There has to be a bunch of configuration / state involved too.
- hammock 4y ago
  Under consumer data laws, that kind of data ought to be released perhaps
stbenjam 4y ago
I don’t think Elon understands open source. It’s very difficult to build a community and the only reason you’re going to get outside contributors is if they too have a need for the project. I’m sure the current implementation is very Twitter focused. Maybe a generic recommendation framework could be useful?
- cbeach 4y ago
  What makes you think he wants to "build a community" or attract outside contributors? Elon spotted the rot and bias within Twitter. From day 1 he's been exposing and expunging it. Same with the recommendation algorithm. This is about transparency and trust. It's not a traditional OSS play.
  - SpikeDad 4y ago
    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. He's an evil megalomaniac. His every action has only one goal - attempting to demonstrate he's the most brilliant person on Earth. Psst. He's not succeeding.
  - lillecarl 4y ago
    Is this how people who don't follow Elon got notifications about his tweets?
  - starkd 4y ago
    Exactly right. It is about transparency. After exposing all the censorship games in the Twitter Files releases, he knows he needs to gain trust in the product. A better idea of how the feeds are generated would go a long way. The only way he can turn it into an open source project is if he rewrites the entire project. He has hinted at possibly doing this, since the code is very fragile and breaks whenever they try to add features. It would be great if he could turn the whole enterprise into a non-profit like wikileaks, but that is probably too optimistic.
- roflyear 4y ago
  Not true. Plenty of people will contribute because they like Elon. I know small private communities of commercial product that put in countless hours of free work to a software that is only ever to be used for that product. I'm sure people will contribute
leros 4y ago
I can't imagine this code being in a place to open source. Surely it's tied to various internal libraries and services.
quantified 4y ago
That's an early April 1st joke, y'all.
genman 4y ago
Yes, Elon is the best, Elon tweets are the best. This is the reason we see them bloody all the time.
d23 4y ago
Has anyone compiled a list of every promise this guy has made with a date attached and whether it actually was delivered?
- mtmail 4y ago
  Yes, at https://www.elonmusk.today/ https://www.elonmusk.today/
  - mandis 4y ago
    I hope the parent commenter would comment now
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
solarkraft 4y ago
That's really cool, actually. I'm pretty interested in the dynamics of recommendation algorithms and one of the few people that think that open source solutions have too little of them.
UniqueUsername0 4y ago
Early April Fools maybe?

55 points by hammock 4y ago

Do people generally use the recommended tab? I'm genuinely curious. Whenever I check it out (instead of "following"), it's abysmal. I don't know why somebody would prefer it.

hammock 4y ago
If you don’t actively use it, it’s hard for it to get better
starkd 4y ago
I haven't noticed much difference. Maybe a little less restricted to what I get under 'following'. The experience gets much better when you set up Lists.

alligatorplum 4y ago

Different way to tweet the tweet > After firing half of Twitters employees, the few that do remain do not fully understand the overly complex recommendation algorithm. I am hoping that we can crowdfund development work by making it open source. As an aside, it'll be interesting to see what license he open sources it under.

_-david-_ 4y ago
I don't think he is doing it strictly because the remaining team can't handle the development. He talked about open sourcing the recommendation algorithm before he even bought Twitter. Back in November 2022 he said: >One of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open-source the algorithm. >Any changes to people's tweets -- if they're emphasized or de-emphasized -- that action should be made apparent ... so there's there's no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually.
starkd 4y ago
He also said the code base was very fragile. Such that any changes tended to induce many errors. Hinted that it will probably be easier to just rebuild from scratch. It is always more fun to just rebuild. There's probably someone on the team already setting it up.
jpeter 4y ago
Maybe the 50000 Token Version of ChatGPT can understand it.
corbulo 4y ago
You have a very optimistic view of the people who worked at twitter.

tonetheman 4y ago

[dead]

e28eta 4y ago

There’s no way the code is sufficient to understand the behavior, right? There has to be a bunch of configuration / state involved too.

hammock 4y ago
Under consumer data laws, that kind of data ought to be released perhaps

stbenjam 4y ago

I don’t think Elon understands open source. It’s very difficult to build a community and the only reason you’re going to get outside contributors is if they too have a need for the project. I’m sure the current implementation is very Twitter focused. Maybe a generic recommendation framework could be useful?

cbeach 4y ago
What makes you think he wants to "build a community" or attract outside contributors? Elon spotted the rot and bias within Twitter. From day 1 he's been exposing and expunging it. Same with the recommendation algorithm. This is about transparency and trust. It's not a traditional OSS play.
- SpikeDad 4y ago
  Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. He's an evil megalomaniac. His every action has only one goal - attempting to demonstrate he's the most brilliant person on Earth. Psst. He's not succeeding.
- lillecarl 4y ago
  Is this how people who don't follow Elon got notifications about his tweets?
- starkd 4y ago
  Exactly right. It is about transparency. After exposing all the censorship games in the Twitter Files releases, he knows he needs to gain trust in the product. A better idea of how the feeds are generated would go a long way. The only way he can turn it into an open source project is if he rewrites the entire project. He has hinted at possibly doing this, since the code is very fragile and breaks whenever they try to add features. It would be great if he could turn the whole enterprise into a non-profit like wikileaks, but that is probably too optimistic.
roflyear 4y ago
Not true. Plenty of people will contribute because they like Elon. I know small private communities of commercial product that put in countless hours of free work to a software that is only ever to be used for that product. I'm sure people will contribute

leros 4y ago

I can't imagine this code being in a place to open source. Surely it's tied to various internal libraries and services.

quantified 4y ago

That's an early April 1st joke, y'all.

genman 4y ago

Yes, Elon is the best, Elon tweets are the best. This is the reason we see them bloody all the time.

d23 4y ago

Has anyone compiled a list of every promise this guy has made with a date attached and whether it actually was delivered?

mtmail 4y ago
Yes, at https://www.elonmusk.today/ https://www.elonmusk.today/
- mandis 4y ago
  I hope the parent commenter would comment now

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

solarkraft 4y ago

That's really cool, actually. I'm pretty interested in the dynamics of recommendation algorithms and one of the few people that think that open source solutions have too little of them.

UniqueUsername0 4y ago

Early April Fools maybe?