4 ms·

Say what you will about Elon, but this wouldn't have happened without him. Thanks! And thank you to everyone at Twitter who helped organize this release. Open

Say what you will about Elon, but this wouldn't have happened without him. Thanks! And thank you to everyone at Twitter who helped organize this release. Open sourcing something like this is no small effort.

zachnwhite 4y ago
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- hutzlibu 4y ago
  Politicans and companies all over the world are using it. Controlling that information space, is real power. And I am not yet clear, how much that release will bring needed transparency. As the algorithm in production, can have major tweaks.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  I'd be nothing without Twitter. It's had more impact on my life than any other platform. I got lucky, but luck was only part of it. Being able to DM people is incredible. It's the AOL Messenger of 2023. If it went offline, it'd be a terrible loss.
  - zachnwhite 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      This isn't /g/, you have to employ a minimum level of politeness here.
    - sillysaurusx 4y ago
      I did. Your mother sends her regards. (Joking aside, you’ll find HN to be a wonderful place to hang out, but only if you get into the right mindset. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.)
      - zachnwhite 4y ago
        [flagged]
  - jytechdevops 4y ago
    its literally led to the complete change of my future due to the ability to follow the interactions of successful people who are active on the platform. I've learned from them as if they were my direct mentors and made huge life decisions based on some of their talking points / motivational mindset. Without it, my life would've been a bubble in Virginia with my nearest network being 5 friends who love cranking out bottle on the weekends.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  The importance of Twitter was it being the primary posting location for a lot of things. A number of the artists and other creatives I know have gotten absolutely gutted by this.
  - nicky0 4y ago
    Gutted about what exactly? Twitter is still there and pretty much works like before.
    - culi 4y ago
      > pretty much works like before ... did you see the source code? Blue checkmarks are weighted 4x as much as non-checkmarks. That's just one example of a major change that wouldn't have happened were it not for Elon
    - kaba0 4y ago
      Except when it doesn’t because somebody was so competent and fired more than half of the engineers.
  - nonethewiser 4y ago
    By open sourcing the algorithm? Or what?
- JSavageOne 4y ago
  [flagged]
hutzlibu 4y ago
Judging by the many "issues" already, it might have been a bad idea to release on a friday, though.
- dawnerd 4y ago
  This is 100% not their working copy.
  - hutzlibu 4y ago
    Well yes, but I am pretty sure, elon envisoned warm welcome by the OS community and help for free and now that is off to a bad start.
    - sebzim4500 4y ago
      I doubt he thought he'd get any help for free, given I don't think you can run this code there isn't a meaningful way to contribute. It's just about transparency or PR, take your pick.
      - undersuit 4y ago
        He literally tweeted: "No doubt, many embarrassing issues will be discovered, but we will fix them fast!"
        dmix 4y ago
        People noticing stuff is free work but it’s still different than getting PRs and actual solutions like a real OSS project. And that’s fine, people are doing it because they care or like the attention or outrage and all the other personal/social motivations.
      - hutzlibu 4y ago
        "given I don't think you can run this code there isn't a meaningful way to contribute." Hm, there is lots of code released, I would think that some of it, can be run and might be forked and useful in other context, but mainly it is a PR move, sure.
anigbrowl 4y ago
I am not sure about that. Twitter has open sourced a lot of stuff in the past. There were certainly people there who would run the site as a nonprofit public service if they had the choice.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  Twitter contributed a lot to Map-Reduce, ETL and Scala communities: IMO they punched above thier weight. Sadly, I think their best open-source contribution days are behind them with all the hardcore engineering they now have to do with fewer engineers. Edit: I forgot about Bootstrap! That projects saved the world from millions of ugly web apps and dashboards built by clueless backend engineers.
  - culi 4y ago
    On the other hand, I kinda loathe Bootstrap. I started web dev a bit after it peaked so maybe that's why but I'm so sick of the look and find it hard to think people ever thought it was good. Another trend Twitter popularized that I can't wait to die: absurdly large border-radiuses
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- robopsychology 4y ago
  But they haven't open sourced their recommendation engine in the past
- BryantD 4y ago
  This release seems less immediately valuable than their other contributions, but historically more significant. It’s a pity we don’t have commits although that would be a huge privacy issue. But yeah, while I would never work for Elon I’m glad he did this.
- drexlspivey 4y ago
  Twitter had 18 years to publish their algorithm under the previous management and they didn’t.

zachnwhite 4y ago

hutzlibu 4y ago
Politicans and companies all over the world are using it. Controlling that information space, is real power. And I am not yet clear, how much that release will bring needed transparency. As the algorithm in production, can have major tweaks.
sillysaurusx 4y ago
I'd be nothing without Twitter. It's had more impact on my life than any other platform. I got lucky, but luck was only part of it. Being able to DM people is incredible. It's the AOL Messenger of 2023. If it went offline, it'd be a terrible loss.
- zachnwhite 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    This isn't /g/, you have to employ a minimum level of politeness here.
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    I did. Your mother sends her regards. (Joking aside, you’ll find HN to be a wonderful place to hang out, but only if you get into the right mindset. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.)
    - zachnwhite 4y ago
      [flagged]
- jytechdevops 4y ago
  its literally led to the complete change of my future due to the ability to follow the interactions of successful people who are active on the platform. I've learned from them as if they were my direct mentors and made huge life decisions based on some of their talking points / motivational mindset. Without it, my life would've been a bubble in Virginia with my nearest network being 5 friends who love cranking out bottle on the weekends.
kayodelycaon 4y ago
The importance of Twitter was it being the primary posting location for a lot of things. A number of the artists and other creatives I know have gotten absolutely gutted by this.
- nicky0 4y ago
  Gutted about what exactly? Twitter is still there and pretty much works like before.
  - culi 4y ago
    > pretty much works like before ... did you see the source code? Blue checkmarks are weighted 4x as much as non-checkmarks. That's just one example of a major change that wouldn't have happened were it not for Elon
  - kaba0 4y ago
    Except when it doesn’t because somebody was so competent and fired more than half of the engineers.
- nonethewiser 4y ago
  By open sourcing the algorithm? Or what?
JSavageOne 4y ago
[flagged]

hutzlibu 4y ago

Judging by the many "issues" already, it might have been a bad idea to release on a friday, though.

dawnerd 4y ago
This is 100% not their working copy.
- hutzlibu 4y ago
  Well yes, but I am pretty sure, elon envisoned warm welcome by the OS community and help for free and now that is off to a bad start.
  - sebzim4500 4y ago
    I doubt he thought he'd get any help for free, given I don't think you can run this code there isn't a meaningful way to contribute. It's just about transparency or PR, take your pick.
    - undersuit 4y ago
      He literally tweeted: "No doubt, many embarrassing issues will be discovered, but we will fix them fast!"
      - dmix 4y ago
        People noticing stuff is free work but it’s still different than getting PRs and actual solutions like a real OSS project. And that’s fine, people are doing it because they care or like the attention or outrage and all the other personal/social motivations.
    - hutzlibu 4y ago
      "given I don't think you can run this code there isn't a meaningful way to contribute." Hm, there is lots of code released, I would think that some of it, can be run and might be forked and useful in other context, but mainly it is a PR move, sure.

anigbrowl 4y ago

I am not sure about that. Twitter has open sourced a lot of stuff in the past. There were certainly people there who would run the site as a nonprofit public service if they had the choice.

sangnoir 4y ago
Twitter contributed a lot to Map-Reduce, ETL and Scala communities: IMO they punched above thier weight. Sadly, I think their best open-source contribution days are behind them with all the hardcore engineering they now have to do with fewer engineers. Edit: I forgot about Bootstrap! That projects saved the world from millions of ugly web apps and dashboards built by clueless backend engineers.
- culi 4y ago
  On the other hand, I kinda loathe Bootstrap. I started web dev a bit after it peaked so maybe that's why but I'm so sick of the look and find it hard to think people ever thought it was good. Another trend Twitter popularized that I can't wait to die: absurdly large border-radiuses
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
robopsychology 4y ago
But they haven't open sourced their recommendation engine in the past
BryantD 4y ago
This release seems less immediately valuable than their other contributions, but historically more significant. It’s a pity we don’t have commits although that would be a huge privacy issue. But yeah, while I would never work for Elon I’m glad he did this.
drexlspivey 4y ago
Twitter had 18 years to publish their algorithm under the previous management and they didn’t.