12 ms·

Do people in the US still use X? If yes, why? What keeps you on the platform (so the owner is a tiny step closer to destroying your own country)?

stainablesteel 2y ago
i voted for that, i voted for the destruction of the federal government because it's bankrupting us by stealing our money
- __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
  Do you expect that money will be worth very much after the entity that issues it is destroyed?
- lolc 2y ago
  Then federated governments with local currencies, or what?
- whoitwas 2y ago
  the people who ensure government is broken and stealing from you are now in charge. they recently requested $4.3 trillion in deficit spending for tax cuts and the dissolution of medicaid.
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  I saw your comment and saw it getting downvoted or flagged but it is useful to have a discussion so that others similarly inclined can potentially learn something that they obviously don't already understand. I reproduce that comment here in case it somehow disappears. >i voted for that, i voted for the destruction of the federal government because it's bankrupting us by stealing our money If you're concerned about the federal government bankrupting "us" by stealing our money then ask yourself why one of the first things that happened was the firing of OIG personnel. The Inspectors General and their OIG employees are the federal employees with the mandate to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in every federal program regardless of size. They have the power to audit any recipient of taxpayer monies and to work with US Attorney federal prosecutors to prosecute those who steal, waste, or otherwise violate plan guidelines in disbursing money. US Attorneys will not even take a case to trial unless agency auditors can document in detail that a crime has occurred and that crime fits within prosecutorial guidelines and a conviction is nearly guaranteed. To take a case that has any weaknesses risks wasting public money prosecuting a case you might not win. The whole point is to make sure you have the evidence that forces the defendant to either make restitution or to spend some time in a federal lock-up. It's suspicious to me that the first thing they do is fire all the people who not only can watch, but who have the Congressional mandate to seek out waste, fraud, and abuse of federal programs that disburse money to individuals, small businesses, cities and other non-federal entities, non-profits, and corporations. Though I am not a doctor, I do think that you should seriously work on your mental health. Start by changing your diet to include less kool-aid as the sugar high you're on can cause metabolic changes that lead to seriously bad health outcomes. My spouse has spent a career in a federal department working to insure that the money Congress allocates to specific programs ends up being spent for purposes that are allowed under the guidelines of those federal programs. If you think the federal government is the one stealing your money you are sadly mistaken. Federal programs are full of fraud but the fraud occurs at the recipient end, not within the department. If you or anyone else are so concerned about where your tax money goes then the last agency entity that you would eliminate would be the one charged with insuring that all the monies in all the programs administered by the agency are disbursed lawfully according to plan guidelines which were approved by Congress. These people, as part of their job, have to read and internalize all the nuances, conflicts with existing programs, and contradictions in all the programs that they serve as watchdog over and it is their skills that allow federal prosecutors to take fraud cases to trial and to convict those who have abused federal programs for personal gain. You voted for someone who has a documented history of fraudulent use of federal money who made it a point in both of his administrations to remove the specific persons and agencies that would guarantee oversight so that they can do anything without worrying about accountability. Internalize that.
  - AntiquatedLunac 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - doodlebugging 2y ago
      You must be a redditor with this abbreviated, low quality reply. You didn't even include the part of the post that you consider to be the advice that I should take. I hope you're not a life coach because there is clear evidence here of a deficiency in your skillsets.
  - nailer 2y ago
    > The Inspectors General and their OIG employees are the federal employees with the mandate to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in every federal program regardless of size. There are more than 1 million 150-159 year old Americans that receive social security and America is funding trans comic books for children in Peru. Do you think the OIG was doing a good job?
    - lostdog 2y ago
      I'm sure you heard that from a trustworthy person who provided clear evidence? Perhaps you could share some of that evidence?
      - nailer 2y ago
        Yes, the head of the department of government efficiency published this earlier today.
        claudenm 2y ago
        Is it wise to credulousy believe everything your government tells you without source data?
        nailer 2y ago
- npteljes 2y ago
  = Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face
- pjc50 2y ago
  This aspect of America has always struck me as the most bizarre: the most vicious enemies of the American state are Americans.
  - enraged_camel 2y ago
    I don’t think this is true. The world has plenty of anti-American sentiment, most of it well-deserved. What is unique about the phenomenon you describe is that Americans are extraordinarily misinformed and misguided about their own government and everything it does for them. This makes them particularly cynical. We have Reagan to thank for it.
  - account42 2y ago
    This is hardly bizzare but how governments everywhere work. People in power are not benevolent out of the goodness of their hearts but because the people from whom they derive their power - the population in a democratic state - continuously fight against overreach of their powers. And it's not like this is a one-sided conflicts. Governments are actively working to suppress their citizens from standing up to them - by restricting free speech that would allow those citizens to organize, by trying to shape the thoughts of their citizens through various forms of propaganda and ultimately by doing everything they can to retain the state's monopoly on violence.
    - pjc50 2y ago
      The thing is, this kind of anarcho-libertarianism is barely recognizable in Europe, or belongs to fringe left movements. In the US, it's much more right-coded and also tied to nationalism, while not being anti-military or anti-police. "Defund the Federal government" is right-coded; "defund the police" is left-coded. No analysis connects the two. > retain the state's monopoly on violence Places like Italy know that when the state doesn't have a monopoly on violence, it gets messy ("years of lead").
- timacles 2y ago
  You think the US is bankrupting you by stealing your money? Specifically: USAID, FAA, Government Watchdog agencies, and whatever other group that has been dismantled by now? Those are the high priority agencies stealing our hard earned money? Not the guys who all of a sudden have a 100 billion dollars since 2010?
  - thehumanmeat 2y ago
    Yes, to clarify, I do believe that.
  - codeguro 2y ago
    I'm more concerned about the members of congress and senate that became multimillionares on a $174k/year salary.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- MyOutfitIsVague 2y ago
  You voted for a $4T increase in deficit as a tax gift for billionaires, to save you money? Please explain the logic.
- newdee 2y ago
  I’m reminded of this line from Stewart Lee, when talking about the disillusioned British working class voting for radical political parties/causes: “A protest vote for UKIP is like shitting your hotel bed as a protest against bad service, then realising you now have to sleep in a shitted bed.”
  - jzackpete 2y ago
    more like kicking out the staff after they convinced everyone that your house is a hotel that they own and operate
  - nailer 2y ago
    Yes, but that's talking about radical political causes.
  - account42 2y ago
    Still a better solution than to keep voting for parties that actively work against their constituents' interests. Unless those parties themselves change, the only alternative is violent revolution and and that is going to be a lot messier than a shitted bed.
kortilla 2y ago
> Do people in the US still use X? If yes, why? Are you seriously asking that question? If so, I suggest looking at the nov election results. The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election).
- culi 2y ago
  It's not just about Trump though. I jumped ship the second Musk pushed the change to increase the weight of tweets made by a paying account. Also the first thing he did when he took over was cut the entire a11y team. Then he login-walled Twitter and broke the API. Reddit communities went crazy when the Reddit team paywalled their own API. There's an incredibly long list of reasons to ditch x beyond musk's political activity
  - kortilla 2y ago
    No, I’m suggesting the political supporters of Trump/Elon are the reason people use X. If you are one of them or want to see the mainstream US right-wing zeitgeist, X is where it’s at. That alone is a massive reason for people to keep the app and an account. Otherwise I agree, all of its utility as a general platform is gone otherwise.
- timacles 2y ago
  quite frankly, your argument is dishonest, whether intentionally or not. I do not trust anyone repeating online, and no one else should. Especially since its repeated verbatim every time it comes up, its clear that this is "the play" and propaganda. > I suggest looking at the nov election results. What should we be looking at exactly? How the curiously 100% flipped swing states voted? I agree, theres much to look at there. > The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election That is an outright lie. No one knew Musk would be running amok dismantling government institutions like a rabid dog, while side stepping all government processes. Project 2025 had something like a 6% approval rating. What is being "implemented" right now is Project 2025. The US is in a constitutional crisis, and the saving money is a farce to permanently disable the US as a functioning body.
rapnie 2y ago
Even the European Union still has X as their primary platform: https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en
- p2detar 2y ago
  OP meant people though, not organizations, which I assume are not that easy to migrate. In the end it's a void question though. users will flock to where opinions resonate with theirs.
npteljes 2y ago
Same as every social platform, the network effect. The actual functionality really is secondary to the usage and culture of these. Very much affecting it, yes, but still secondary at the same time. Same with multiplayer games, hangout spots or third places, and the list goes on. There are many circles where xitter is a default platform. For example, many anime-style nsfw artists publish there as a primary outlet, and many companies publish their most instant news there (like a service outage, change in the opening hours, things like that). That and many other such things are plenty to keep people there.
righthand 2y ago
It’s propped up by media companies, who have become addicted to the quick quote that a tweet provides. Any topic distilled down into 140 characters is always going to have multiple ways to interpret it, thus feeding the click bait pipeline with sufficient reactionary data. It is a monument in the race to the bottom of “digestible/summarized content”.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
Stopped using X when Elon took over, and then finally deleted my account (which I had had for many years, was an early adopter of Twitter before it was highly popular) when Elon went full MAGA-nazi. No regrets.
bdcravens 2y ago
Ironically, it's still the best platform in terms of reach for countering the propaganda of Elon and those like him.
Vixel 2y ago
Garbage platform run by garbage people.
93po 2y ago
its the only social media platform that isn't image and video heavy, can consistently have non-bot and non-fake and non-clickbait material of substance (if you curate who you you follow well), provides awesome filtering options out of the box for stuff like keywords (i literally had to make a browser extension to filter reddit crap out better), and has a lot of interesting people posting entertaining non-image stuff caveat: i completely stay off anything political, i filter the absolute hell out of anything political, i block people constantly i don't care that elon owns it because i don't buy into the outrageous hyperbole of him literally being the next hitler. i think elon is a deeply problematic person not especially more so than a million other business leaders and billionaires, his bullshit is just a lot more visible, and he accomplishes a lot of cool shit despite the bullshit. not interested in debating people wanting to scream about elon and wont respond to comments about him, im just offering my unfiltered opinion about why I use X
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  > i think elon is a deeply problematic person not especially more so than a million other business leaders and billionaires, his bullshit is just a lot more visible I don't disagree with you. But the big problem -- and the reason why people like me are so upset -- is that Elon is now in a much more powerful position than any of those other business leaders, a position in which he is directly impacting the lives of Americans whether they use his products or not. That's quite different than Bezos, Zuck, and all the rest. If he had stayed out of politics I wouldn't have much issue (I can choose not to use X, drive a Tesla, etc.)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- moneywoes 2y ago
  mind sharing your feed?
  - 93po 2y ago
    i dont want to tie identities, basically just go follow actual researchers at frontier AI labs and close to nothing else and it'll be a close approximation
handoflixue 2y ago
> If yes, why? Some people are smart, insightful, and for some reason insist on only posting on X. I don't see the harm in continuing to follow them, even if I do wish they'd choose a different site to post on (I expect a lot of people also have less techie friends and family that only post on a single social media site - I've had accounts all over the place trying to keep track of some old friends)
- philipdavis 2y ago
  I guess those smart, insightful people are staying on X because - their targeting audience are on X - they are rich and do not really care what the platform owner does - they will be very happy to join the owner when offered such opportunities For people who are the target audience of those people, I guess - they voted for this, and they are happily watching the federal gov falling apart - they convinced themselves that X is the place to grow / learn from smart and insightful people (I don't think one has to be on it for more than 10 min a day to grow & learn, unless one is a crypto trader) - they convinced themselves that it is really nothing political about using X
  - handoflixue 2y ago
    Are you actually curious, or did you just want an excuse for your pre-scripted soap box rant? It's a mix of indie artists, old friends, and a few people who still think it's worthwhile to try and do outreach, fight against disinformation, etc.. I'm really not sure why you feel such an urge to insult people you've never met, but it's extremely rude and does nothing productive. > nothing political about using X I use an ad-blocker, don't have a paid account, and have 0 followers. What benefit do you think Elon Musk is getting here? I dare say your grocery bill is responsible for supporting far more evil than anything I'm engaged in here.
    - crusty 2y ago
      "I use an ad-blocker, don't have a paid account, and have 0 followers. What benefit do you think Elon Musk is getting here?" This is basically my interaction from the beginning - a lurker account if you will, with occasional comments. And I rarely used it because I could just add easily pull up a profile and see a user's posts. But then the profile page presentation changed. Often, it seems to force a login, and if it doesn't, it randomizes the post order, so the latest posts are buried, and some random posts from the Twitter era are at the top. So now we have to be logged in just to lurk. We're not seeing ads or driving conversations, but if I'm following users, I'm a point of incentivizing for them to stay. Small point? For sure, but I'm part of the aggregate. And even without following anyone, we're also a userbase metric for Twitter. We add to the daily active user count, monthly active user count, and now that everyone has to have an account to even view a profile's posts in chronological order, we're all are in that artifically grown general claim of user count. No, we are not actively shoveling ad revenue at Musk, but our continued presence is definitely useful for him and X when they pitch the platform to advertisers or try to get a better ad rate. More active users > more ad reach, even if we'll never actually see the ad > more money for X > more money for Elon. I haven't deleted that X account, but i don't visit on my own or log in anymore. I refuse to give him even the value of my interaction metrics.
bufferoverflow 2y ago
I use it because it's one of a few platforms that's not censored to hell. Sure, it results in some unpleasant crap sometimes, but generally the feed is good.

stainablesteel 2y ago

i voted for that, i voted for the destruction of the federal government because it's bankrupting us by stealing our money

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago
Do you expect that money will be worth very much after the entity that issues it is destroyed?
lolc 2y ago
Then federated governments with local currencies, or what?
whoitwas 2y ago
the people who ensure government is broken and stealing from you are now in charge. they recently requested $4.3 trillion in deficit spending for tax cuts and the dissolution of medicaid.
doodlebugging 2y ago
I saw your comment and saw it getting downvoted or flagged but it is useful to have a discussion so that others similarly inclined can potentially learn something that they obviously don't already understand. I reproduce that comment here in case it somehow disappears. >i voted for that, i voted for the destruction of the federal government because it's bankrupting us by stealing our money If you're concerned about the federal government bankrupting "us" by stealing our money then ask yourself why one of the first things that happened was the firing of OIG personnel. The Inspectors General and their OIG employees are the federal employees with the mandate to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in every federal program regardless of size. They have the power to audit any recipient of taxpayer monies and to work with US Attorney federal prosecutors to prosecute those who steal, waste, or otherwise violate plan guidelines in disbursing money. US Attorneys will not even take a case to trial unless agency auditors can document in detail that a crime has occurred and that crime fits within prosecutorial guidelines and a conviction is nearly guaranteed. To take a case that has any weaknesses risks wasting public money prosecuting a case you might not win. The whole point is to make sure you have the evidence that forces the defendant to either make restitution or to spend some time in a federal lock-up. It's suspicious to me that the first thing they do is fire all the people who not only can watch, but who have the Congressional mandate to seek out waste, fraud, and abuse of federal programs that disburse money to individuals, small businesses, cities and other non-federal entities, non-profits, and corporations. Though I am not a doctor, I do think that you should seriously work on your mental health. Start by changing your diet to include less kool-aid as the sugar high you're on can cause metabolic changes that lead to seriously bad health outcomes. My spouse has spent a career in a federal department working to insure that the money Congress allocates to specific programs ends up being spent for purposes that are allowed under the guidelines of those federal programs. If you think the federal government is the one stealing your money you are sadly mistaken. Federal programs are full of fraud but the fraud occurs at the recipient end, not within the department. If you or anyone else are so concerned about where your tax money goes then the last agency entity that you would eliminate would be the one charged with insuring that all the monies in all the programs administered by the agency are disbursed lawfully according to plan guidelines which were approved by Congress. These people, as part of their job, have to read and internalize all the nuances, conflicts with existing programs, and contradictions in all the programs that they serve as watchdog over and it is their skills that allow federal prosecutors to take fraud cases to trial and to convict those who have abused federal programs for personal gain. You voted for someone who has a documented history of fraudulent use of federal money who made it a point in both of his administrations to remove the specific persons and agencies that would guarantee oversight so that they can do anything without worrying about accountability. Internalize that.
- AntiquatedLunac 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - doodlebugging 2y ago
    You must be a redditor with this abbreviated, low quality reply. You didn't even include the part of the post that you consider to be the advice that I should take. I hope you're not a life coach because there is clear evidence here of a deficiency in your skillsets.
- nailer 2y ago
  > The Inspectors General and their OIG employees are the federal employees with the mandate to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in every federal program regardless of size. There are more than 1 million 150-159 year old Americans that receive social security and America is funding trans comic books for children in Peru. Do you think the OIG was doing a good job?
  - lostdog 2y ago
    I'm sure you heard that from a trustworthy person who provided clear evidence? Perhaps you could share some of that evidence?
    - nailer 2y ago
      Yes, the head of the department of government efficiency published this earlier today.
      - claudenm 2y ago
        Is it wise to credulousy believe everything your government tells you without source data?
        nailer 2y ago
npteljes 2y ago
= Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face
pjc50 2y ago
This aspect of America has always struck me as the most bizarre: the most vicious enemies of the American state are Americans.
- enraged_camel 2y ago
  I don’t think this is true. The world has plenty of anti-American sentiment, most of it well-deserved. What is unique about the phenomenon you describe is that Americans are extraordinarily misinformed and misguided about their own government and everything it does for them. This makes them particularly cynical. We have Reagan to thank for it.
- account42 2y ago
  This is hardly bizzare but how governments everywhere work. People in power are not benevolent out of the goodness of their hearts but because the people from whom they derive their power - the population in a democratic state - continuously fight against overreach of their powers. And it's not like this is a one-sided conflicts. Governments are actively working to suppress their citizens from standing up to them - by restricting free speech that would allow those citizens to organize, by trying to shape the thoughts of their citizens through various forms of propaganda and ultimately by doing everything they can to retain the state's monopoly on violence.
  - pjc50 2y ago
    The thing is, this kind of anarcho-libertarianism is barely recognizable in Europe, or belongs to fringe left movements. In the US, it's much more right-coded and also tied to nationalism, while not being anti-military or anti-police. "Defund the Federal government" is right-coded; "defund the police" is left-coded. No analysis connects the two. > retain the state's monopoly on violence Places like Italy know that when the state doesn't have a monopoly on violence, it gets messy ("years of lead").
timacles 2y ago
You think the US is bankrupting you by stealing your money? Specifically: USAID, FAA, Government Watchdog agencies, and whatever other group that has been dismantled by now? Those are the high priority agencies stealing our hard earned money? Not the guys who all of a sudden have a 100 billion dollars since 2010?
- thehumanmeat 2y ago
  Yes, to clarify, I do believe that.
- codeguro 2y ago
  I'm more concerned about the members of congress and senate that became multimillionares on a $174k/year salary.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
MyOutfitIsVague 2y ago
You voted for a $4T increase in deficit as a tax gift for billionaires, to save you money? Please explain the logic.
newdee 2y ago
I’m reminded of this line from Stewart Lee, when talking about the disillusioned British working class voting for radical political parties/causes: “A protest vote for UKIP is like shitting your hotel bed as a protest against bad service, then realising you now have to sleep in a shitted bed.”
- jzackpete 2y ago
  more like kicking out the staff after they convinced everyone that your house is a hotel that they own and operate
- nailer 2y ago
  Yes, but that's talking about radical political causes.
- account42 2y ago
  Still a better solution than to keep voting for parties that actively work against their constituents' interests. Unless those parties themselves change, the only alternative is violent revolution and and that is going to be a lot messier than a shitted bed.

kortilla 2y ago

> Do people in the US still use X? If yes, why? Are you seriously asking that question? If so, I suggest looking at the nov election results. The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election).

culi 2y ago
It's not just about Trump though. I jumped ship the second Musk pushed the change to increase the weight of tweets made by a paying account. Also the first thing he did when he took over was cut the entire a11y team. Then he login-walled Twitter and broke the API. Reddit communities went crazy when the Reddit team paywalled their own API. There's an incredibly long list of reasons to ditch x beyond musk's political activity
- kortilla 2y ago
  No, I’m suggesting the political supporters of Trump/Elon are the reason people use X. If you are one of them or want to see the mainstream US right-wing zeitgeist, X is where it’s at. That alone is a massive reason for people to keep the app and an account. Otherwise I agree, all of its utility as a general platform is gone otherwise.
timacles 2y ago
quite frankly, your argument is dishonest, whether intentionally or not. I do not trust anyone repeating online, and no one else should. Especially since its repeated verbatim every time it comes up, its clear that this is "the play" and propaganda. > I suggest looking at the nov election results. What should we be looking at exactly? How the curiously 100% flipped swing states voted? I agree, theres much to look at there. > The votes for Trump were for this (his relationship to Elon and intention of “having him make the government efficient” were well known in advance of the election That is an outright lie. No one knew Musk would be running amok dismantling government institutions like a rabid dog, while side stepping all government processes. Project 2025 had something like a 6% approval rating. What is being "implemented" right now is Project 2025. The US is in a constitutional crisis, and the saving money is a farce to permanently disable the US as a functioning body.

rapnie 2y ago

Even the European Union still has X as their primary platform: https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

p2detar 2y ago
OP meant people though, not organizations, which I assume are not that easy to migrate. In the end it's a void question though. users will flock to where opinions resonate with theirs.

npteljes 2y ago

Same as every social platform, the network effect. The actual functionality really is secondary to the usage and culture of these. Very much affecting it, yes, but still secondary at the same time. Same with multiplayer games, hangout spots or third places, and the list goes on. There are many circles where xitter is a default platform. For example, many anime-style nsfw artists publish there as a primary outlet, and many companies publish their most instant news there (like a service outage, change in the opening hours, things like that). That and many other such things are plenty to keep people there.

righthand 2y ago

It’s propped up by media companies, who have become addicted to the quick quote that a tweet provides. Any topic distilled down into 140 characters is always going to have multiple ways to interpret it, thus feeding the click bait pipeline with sufficient reactionary data. It is a monument in the race to the bottom of “digestible/summarized content”.

insane_dreamer 2y ago

Stopped using X when Elon took over, and then finally deleted my account (which I had had for many years, was an early adopter of Twitter before it was highly popular) when Elon went full MAGA-nazi. No regrets.

bdcravens 2y ago

Ironically, it's still the best platform in terms of reach for countering the propaganda of Elon and those like him.

Vixel 2y ago

Garbage platform run by garbage people.

93po 2y ago

its the only social media platform that isn't image and video heavy, can consistently have non-bot and non-fake and non-clickbait material of substance (if you curate who you you follow well), provides awesome filtering options out of the box for stuff like keywords (i literally had to make a browser extension to filter reddit crap out better), and has a lot of interesting people posting entertaining non-image stuff caveat: i completely stay off anything political, i filter the absolute hell out of anything political, i block people constantly i don't care that elon owns it because i don't buy into the outrageous hyperbole of him literally being the next hitler. i think elon is a deeply problematic person not especially more so than a million other business leaders and billionaires, his bullshit is just a lot more visible, and he accomplishes a lot of cool shit despite the bullshit. not interested in debating people wanting to scream about elon and wont respond to comments about him, im just offering my unfiltered opinion about why I use X

insane_dreamer 2y ago
> i think elon is a deeply problematic person not especially more so than a million other business leaders and billionaires, his bullshit is just a lot more visible I don't disagree with you. But the big problem -- and the reason why people like me are so upset -- is that Elon is now in a much more powerful position than any of those other business leaders, a position in which he is directly impacting the lives of Americans whether they use his products or not. That's quite different than Bezos, Zuck, and all the rest. If he had stayed out of politics I wouldn't have much issue (I can choose not to use X, drive a Tesla, etc.)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
moneywoes 2y ago
mind sharing your feed?
- 93po 2y ago
  i dont want to tie identities, basically just go follow actual researchers at frontier AI labs and close to nothing else and it'll be a close approximation

handoflixue 2y ago

> If yes, why? Some people are smart, insightful, and for some reason insist on only posting on X. I don't see the harm in continuing to follow them, even if I do wish they'd choose a different site to post on (I expect a lot of people also have less techie friends and family that only post on a single social media site - I've had accounts all over the place trying to keep track of some old friends)

philipdavis 2y ago
I guess those smart, insightful people are staying on X because - their targeting audience are on X - they are rich and do not really care what the platform owner does - they will be very happy to join the owner when offered such opportunities For people who are the target audience of those people, I guess - they voted for this, and they are happily watching the federal gov falling apart - they convinced themselves that X is the place to grow / learn from smart and insightful people (I don't think one has to be on it for more than 10 min a day to grow & learn, unless one is a crypto trader) - they convinced themselves that it is really nothing political about using X
- handoflixue 2y ago
  Are you actually curious, or did you just want an excuse for your pre-scripted soap box rant? It's a mix of indie artists, old friends, and a few people who still think it's worthwhile to try and do outreach, fight against disinformation, etc.. I'm really not sure why you feel such an urge to insult people you've never met, but it's extremely rude and does nothing productive. > nothing political about using X I use an ad-blocker, don't have a paid account, and have 0 followers. What benefit do you think Elon Musk is getting here? I dare say your grocery bill is responsible for supporting far more evil than anything I'm engaged in here.
  - crusty 2y ago
    "I use an ad-blocker, don't have a paid account, and have 0 followers. What benefit do you think Elon Musk is getting here?" This is basically my interaction from the beginning - a lurker account if you will, with occasional comments. And I rarely used it because I could just add easily pull up a profile and see a user's posts. But then the profile page presentation changed. Often, it seems to force a login, and if it doesn't, it randomizes the post order, so the latest posts are buried, and some random posts from the Twitter era are at the top. So now we have to be logged in just to lurk. We're not seeing ads or driving conversations, but if I'm following users, I'm a point of incentivizing for them to stay. Small point? For sure, but I'm part of the aggregate. And even without following anyone, we're also a userbase metric for Twitter. We add to the daily active user count, monthly active user count, and now that everyone has to have an account to even view a profile's posts in chronological order, we're all are in that artifically grown general claim of user count. No, we are not actively shoveling ad revenue at Musk, but our continued presence is definitely useful for him and X when they pitch the platform to advertisers or try to get a better ad rate. More active users > more ad reach, even if we'll never actually see the ad > more money for X > more money for Elon. I haven't deleted that X account, but i don't visit on my own or log in anymore. I refuse to give him even the value of my interaction metrics.

bufferoverflow 2y ago

I use it because it's one of a few platforms that's not censored to hell. Sure, it results in some unpleasant crap sometimes, but generally the feed is good.