16 ms·

> so Elon can use a domain he's sat on since '99 seems exceedingly foolish. As far as I can tell, it's the domain of the company he co-founded (X.com), that me

by ethbr0 3y ago

> so Elon can use a domain he's sat on since '99 seems exceedingly foolish. As far as I can tell, it's the domain of the company he co-founded (X.com), that merged with the company that became PayPal (Confinity), that led to him briefly being CEO before Thiel took over and pivoted to focus on the PayPal service. 2000 - 2017, X.com was property of PayPal. Musk then buys it back in 2017... and then here we are. Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#X.com_and_PayPal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#X.com_and_PayPal

danso 3y ago
> 2000 - 2017, X.com was property of PayPal. Musk then buys it back in 2017... and then here we are. I was just wondering how in the world did Elon manage not to sell "x.com" to a porn company for shits and giggles. It being in the custody of PayPal explains that.
- afiori 3y ago
  Likely he just has a fetish for the letter x
  - ben_w 3y ago
    I think nerd culture in-jokes seem to be his thing, so in this case XCOM the video game series.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - pclmulqdq 3y ago
    Remember that his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X" because he thinks the letter is cool.
    - kgwgk 3y ago
      > his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X” That’s the son - the daughter is “Y” https://news.yahoo.com/grimes-says-she-changed-her-095553857.html https://news.yahoo.com/grimes-says-she-changed-her-095553857...
      - frob 3y ago
        Feels like he got that one backwards
        ethbr0 3y ago
        Maybe that's the joke?
        slim 3y ago
        it's not funny. those children are sentient beings
        ethbr0 3y ago
        Plenty of children are given less interesting names. Or, in the US, phonetically-mispelled names.
        justcool393 3y ago
        phonetically misspelled names, while kinda weird, aren't really on the same level as this tbh. I guess my point is naming someone isn't really the place for wacky creativity.
        ahahahahah 3y ago
        idk, dude is pretty anti-trans and his current trans child hates him (at this point, who knows which direction that causality goes). the joke is one that might hit too close to home for that bigot.
  - dehrmann 3y ago
    Everyone did circa 2000. You've got Generation X in the news, FFX came out, Xbox, X Games, ActiveX.
    - ohashi 3y ago
      XxXElonXxX
    - derjames 3y ago
      Timex, AMEX
    - KingMob 3y ago
      > You've got Generation X Finally! Someone remembered us!
      - phlakaton 3y ago
        This is not the context for which I wish to be remembered.
      - gerikson 3y ago
        Also an OK novel by Douglas Coupland.
    - simongray 3y ago
      Mac OS X
    - afiori 3y ago
      I was good marketing indeed, but microsoft is not rebranding to Xsoft or xSoft
    - slim 3y ago
      x files
    - vGPU 3y ago
      Xerox did it first. And don’t forget google’s X department.
    - 3y ago
hef19898 3y ago
Everything Musk does looks a lot like some of my high-level, successful, Mary-Sue-like RPG characters I had. Including desogn rooted in what influenced my childhood, in Musks SpaceX case it seems to be th 50s SciFi. Well, I never had the money to try that in real life, and anyway I outgrew it before I got my drivers liscense. Looking at it from that perspective, it is borderline pathetic and just sad.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  Elon Musk is what happens when an 8-year-old boy is the richest man in the world. He builds cars and trains and tunnels and flamethrows and rockets.
  - ethbr0 3y ago
    The last time might have been Louis XIV, who would have been 8 and 3 years into his reign in 1646. He staged mock naval battles in the lake/canal behind Versailles. Which, admittedly, sounds pretty awesome.
    - hef19898 3y ago
      In his defence, Louis XIV turned into one of the most successful kings, one doesn't earn the moniker Roi de Soleil, the sun king, for nothing.
      - abdela 3y ago
        Exactly, Louis XIV had a great reign and was a politically gifted ruler who kept relative peace for 50 years.
        ethbr0 3y ago
        Well, relative peace within France. With-out, France was involved in a lot of wars.
      - philistine 3y ago
marcusverus 3y ago
X.com now redirects to Twitter. As recently as June 4, the website just displayed a plain text 'x'.
- Lolaccount 3y ago
  I swear to the Gawd, this morning it was redirecting to GoDaddy and I had a good belly-laugh
  - melvinmelih 3y ago
    It still does for me. I guess the DNS changes haven't propagated fully yet...
  - joegahona 3y ago
    I saw it too. There were ads for sectional couches on the page.
- jklinger410 3y ago
  Redirects to a GoDaddy landing page for me.
- wyclif 3y ago
  That happened yesterday. I checked and as of then it was still parked.
nealmueller 3y ago
Malcolm X, X-Ray, AMEX, Timex, Xerox, X-Men, X Files, X-Factor, X Games, X Prize, Direct-X, ActiveX, Mac OS X, Xbox, SpaceX, Google X, S3XY, X.com
turquoisevar 3y ago
That section was a rollercoaster ride. Founded in 1999, ousted as CEO within a year, within a year after the merger with Confinity becomes CEO again. Insists on using Windows instead of Unix based systems, which causes tensions and Thiel (founder of Confinity) nopes the fuck out of there. Technical issues ensue and so, again, within a year of becoming CEO, gets kicked out only for Thiel to replace him as CEO. All in all, sounds about like what I expected from Musk. I’m sure he’s got a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder about Thiel.

by ethbr0 3y ago

danso 3y ago

> 2000 - 2017, X.com was property of PayPal. Musk then buys it back in 2017... and then here we are. I was just wondering how in the world did Elon manage not to sell "x.com" to a porn company for shits and giggles. It being in the custody of PayPal explains that.

afiori 3y ago
Likely he just has a fetish for the letter x
- ben_w 3y ago
  I think nerd culture in-jokes seem to be his thing, so in this case XCOM the video game series.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- pclmulqdq 3y ago
  Remember that his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X" because he thinks the letter is cool.
  - kgwgk 3y ago
    > his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X” That’s the son - the daughter is “Y” https://news.yahoo.com/grimes-says-she-changed-her-095553857.html https://news.yahoo.com/grimes-says-she-changed-her-095553857...
    - frob 3y ago
      Feels like he got that one backwards
      - ethbr0 3y ago
        Maybe that's the joke?
        slim 3y ago
        it's not funny. those children are sentient beings
        ethbr0 3y ago
        Plenty of children are given less interesting names. Or, in the US, phonetically-mispelled names.
        justcool393 3y ago
        phonetically misspelled names, while kinda weird, aren't really on the same level as this tbh. I guess my point is naming someone isn't really the place for wacky creativity.
        ahahahahah 3y ago
        idk, dude is pretty anti-trans and his current trans child hates him (at this point, who knows which direction that causality goes). the joke is one that might hit too close to home for that bigot.
- dehrmann 3y ago
  Everyone did circa 2000. You've got Generation X in the news, FFX came out, Xbox, X Games, ActiveX.
  - ohashi 3y ago
    XxXElonXxX
  - derjames 3y ago
    Timex, AMEX
  - KingMob 3y ago
    > You've got Generation X Finally! Someone remembered us!
    - phlakaton 3y ago
      This is not the context for which I wish to be remembered.
    - gerikson 3y ago
      Also an OK novel by Douglas Coupland.
  - simongray 3y ago
    Mac OS X
  - afiori 3y ago
    I was good marketing indeed, but microsoft is not rebranding to Xsoft or xSoft
  - slim 3y ago
    x files
  - vGPU 3y ago
    Xerox did it first. And don’t forget google’s X department.
  - 3y ago

hef19898 3y ago

Everything Musk does looks a lot like some of my high-level, successful, Mary-Sue-like RPG characters I had. Including desogn rooted in what influenced my childhood, in Musks SpaceX case it seems to be th 50s SciFi. Well, I never had the money to try that in real life, and anyway I outgrew it before I got my drivers liscense. Looking at it from that perspective, it is borderline pathetic and just sad.

dehrmann 3y ago
Elon Musk is what happens when an 8-year-old boy is the richest man in the world. He builds cars and trains and tunnels and flamethrows and rockets.
- ethbr0 3y ago
  The last time might have been Louis XIV, who would have been 8 and 3 years into his reign in 1646. He staged mock naval battles in the lake/canal behind Versailles. Which, admittedly, sounds pretty awesome.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    In his defence, Louis XIV turned into one of the most successful kings, one doesn't earn the moniker Roi de Soleil, the sun king, for nothing.
    - abdela 3y ago
      Exactly, Louis XIV had a great reign and was a politically gifted ruler who kept relative peace for 50 years.
      - ethbr0 3y ago
        Well, relative peace within France. With-out, France was involved in a lot of wars.
    - philistine 3y ago

marcusverus 3y ago

X.com now redirects to Twitter. As recently as June 4, the website just displayed a plain text 'x'.

Lolaccount 3y ago
I swear to the Gawd, this morning it was redirecting to GoDaddy and I had a good belly-laugh
- melvinmelih 3y ago
  It still does for me. I guess the DNS changes haven't propagated fully yet...
- joegahona 3y ago
  I saw it too. There were ads for sectional couches on the page.
jklinger410 3y ago
Redirects to a GoDaddy landing page for me.
wyclif 3y ago
That happened yesterday. I checked and as of then it was still parked.

nealmueller 3y ago

Malcolm X, X-Ray, AMEX, Timex, Xerox, X-Men, X Files, X-Factor, X Games, X Prize, Direct-X, ActiveX, Mac OS X, Xbox, SpaceX, Google X, S3XY, X.com

turquoisevar 3y ago

That section was a rollercoaster ride. Founded in 1999, ousted as CEO within a year, within a year after the merger with Confinity becomes CEO again. Insists on using Windows instead of Unix based systems, which causes tensions and Thiel (founder of Confinity) nopes the fuck out of there. Technical issues ensue and so, again, within a year of becoming CEO, gets kicked out only for Thiel to replace him as CEO. All in all, sounds about like what I expected from Musk. I’m sure he’s got a boulder-sized chip on his shoulder about Thiel.