Social Media Discussion/Addiction

[downzy]

16 minutes ago, ssiscool said:

But would he let trump back in?

Probably, if Trump wanted to come back... 

If Trump returned to Twitter, he can say goodbye to the $1.3 billion that was coming his way via his SPAC (and his SPAC in general).  I believe he said he had no interest in ever coming back, but he's not someone who has a track record of consistency.

 

[downzy]

Now confirmed Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion in cash.

Will be interesting to see what changes Musk makes and whether any backlash from Musk's ownership results in a viable twitter competitor. 

[ssiscool]

4 minutes ago, downzy said:

Now confirmed Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion in cash.

Will be interesting to see what changes Musk makes and whether any backlash from Musk's ownership results in a viable twitter competitor. 

That's around 16% of his wealth. I see he wants to make it open source.  If so, then a competitor is more likely

[Basic_GnR_Fan]

These were the type of arguments I was making a couple of years ago. Surprised to see people like Reich come on board as soon as Musk buys Twitter...

 

[31illusions]

7 hours ago, downzy said:

Now confirmed Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion in cash.

Will be interesting to see what changes Musk makes and whether any backlash from Musk's ownership results in a viable twitter competitor. 

This is fantastic news! No more banning conservatives or Presidents of the United States. A man who believes in free speech, a democrats worst nightmare.

[downzy]

58 minutes ago, 31illusions said:

This is fantastic news! No more banning conservatives or Presidents of the United States. A man who believes in free speech, a democrats worst nightmare.

Christ you’re insufferable. 

Trump was banned because he fled the flames that led to Congress being overrun by knuckle dragging mouth breathers.

Sometimes speech has consequences.  It’s why this forum is no longer populated by assholes who want to waste their time and everyone else’s by shitting on everything. 

[Jakey Styley]

22 hours ago, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

These were the type of arguments I was making a couple of years ago. Surprised to see people like Reich come on board as soon as Musk buys Twitter...

 

 

What a total dickhead.

You have to be a fool (or just have your head up your political tribe's ass way too hard) to be upset about the Elon news. There is no drawback - I think some people are acting as if he is completely anti content moderation, which isn't the case. I'm pretty doubtful that he'll be able to improve it that much, but Twitter either gets slightly better or a lot better here.

If nothing else, Twitter's reputation (which has fallen especially after the Hunter laptop suppression) gets better, which is good in general.

 

[downzy]

 

[downzy]

On 4/25/2022 at 4:56 PM, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

These were the type of arguments I was making a couple of years ago. Surprised to see people like Reich come on board as soon as Musk buys Twitter...

 

It’s a dumb point.

They can go to Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, Truth Social (if it ever gets up and running).

Or someone will come along with a Twitter clone and everyone who likes Twitter the way it is can migrate to the new service.

[downzy]

Tesla's stock has dropped 10 percent (or roughly twice the value of what Musk is buying Twitter for).

Twitter's stock is also starting to dip as investors are starting to wonder if Musk will actually pull the trigger in light of the dramatic drop in his Tesla's holdings. 

The man does love to gamble.  

[ssiscool]

Since giving up facebook I've noticed how much of our day to day stuff is done on the platform. How many times do you see "find us on facebook" or "follow us on Facebook for exclusive offers" there's an author I like who's got new book coming out but they're releasing the dates as events on facebook. Really annoying.

[downzy]

It’s not often we get to watch the destruction of $44 billion in real time. 

Twitter looks like it could be worthless in a month at the rate things are going. 

[action]

Just now, Oldest Goat said:

Why do you think that? I reckon it'll be fine.

because twitter thrived on social justice looneys suffering from severe narcissism which were twitter's main source of income

obviously, that group is experiencing a massive meltdown since they can't handle freedom of speech. So they're out.

The rest of us, stable headed people with a life, don't care about twitter anyway.

[Rovim]

45 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Is a mass exodus happening or what? I suppose it is done for if everyone stops using it.

Yeah I don't give a fuck about twitter either way. Even so, I think it'll probably be fine.

Elon is on tour right now, making silly choices and posting a lot of shit but I agree. It will take much more imho for twitter to die and I think there is value in that platform. If not Twitter, something else must fill that space cause people are still interested in that function with that interface I think.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Rovim

[Rovim]

Just now, Oldest Goat said:

Yeah, I think either ultimately nothing will happen or maybe it'll do better.

Not a huge fan of Elon btw. Very mixed feelings about the guy. He's a marketing guy/bullshit artist and I watch those people very closely. It's weird how he has cultish followers lol.

honestly, I think he's an amusing scumbag with some nifty ideas. I like that he is motivated to do whatever he wants and he and his factory slaves have achieved impressive shit imo. The shit with the union thing is his latest cunt move.

[downzy]

5 hours ago, action said:

obviously, that group is experiencing a massive meltdown since they can't handle freedom of speech. So they're out.

Yep...  Musk is such a champion of free speech:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/25/elon-musk-and-free-speech-track-record-not-encouraging.html

https://globalnews.ca/news/9257099/elon-musk-twitter-impersonation-accounts-verification-system/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/elon-musk-free-speech-absolutist-is-silent-about-his-saudi-partners/

Also hilarious how he is threatening legal action against those who are promoting boycotts against Twitter.  Boycotts are a form of free speech.  Oops!

[downzy]

6 hours ago, Oldest Goat said:

Why do you think that? I reckon it'll be fine.

Twitter will likely exist, as how MySpace still exists.

But I don't see how Elon, save for some form of massive inflation that juices the prices and valuations of everything, will ever recover the $44 billion he sunk into a platform that he seems now hell bent on destroying.

His management of firing half the staff was atrocious.  Few top tech workers are going to want to work at Twitter going forward.

His attempts to retain advertisers via threats is the kind of logic that only morons could explain. 

Not soon after the deal closed, he personally helped to promote the kind of nonsense that the largely liberal crowd that uses Twitter finds deplorable.  Even if someone were to think posting gross conspiracies and nonsense about  an 82 year old man who was just brutally attacked by a hammer okay (which says a lot about that person), no one would suggest that such a move is a great opening salvo at helping to keep current users calm and happy.

Finally, his belief that he can somehow overcome losses in advertising via subscription is ludicrous.  There are numerous other social media companies where using the platform (and being verified) are free.  Charging the content creators to generate content by which you make money is a dumb, dumb, dumb idea.  I know many might point out the apparent hypocrisy of me making this point since this forum offers $15 lifetime club memberships.  But we're not trying to make money here; it's a charitable service that helps me to keep the lights on.  The forum won't live or die based solely on club memberships (since it's a one time fee); nor do we spurn our responsibilities for decency and content moderation to ensure the forum remains a viable place for advertisers.  

The reality is Musk grossly overpaid for Twitter.  It won't fold today, tomorrow, or years from now.  But he's never going to recoup the money he spent on it.  Moreover, I expect we'll see a viable alternative in the next three to five years.  Or Musk gives up, takes the company public again, eats his loss, and Twitter returns to what it use to be.

[SoulMonster]

I don't get the business decision on getting in on a social platform that is old. You have to be ahead of the curve, identy future platforms, the next Facebook, the next TikTok, etc, to see value growth. Just like kids don't use Facebook, kids will soon not use Twitter. 

[downzy]

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

I don't think too much will change in the end regarding moderation etc and the vibe for advertisers,

They've already gutted their moderation department. 

It takes a lot of people to moderate a social media company like twitter. 

And it wasn't less than a week that we began to see the results of Musk's ownership on hate speech: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-twitter-caused-measurable-spike-hate-speech-study/

This is the reason why advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves.  No reputable brand wants their ads to be associated or placed in proximity to discriminating and offensive content. 

It's why Musk has been mulling putting the entire service behind a paywall: https://www.platformer.news/p/musk-discusses-putting-all-of-twitter

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

not that many people will leave if anything the user numbers will rise

Anecdotally I know of seven people who have quit Twitter in the last week.  I've read several op-eds about why the crowd that uses the service the most (journalists) are leaving the platform.  There are reports that Twitter is losing its most active users.

Granted, maybe the loss of the liberal crowd gets replaced by the right-wing crowd.  But if Twitter is to become nothing more than a larger version of Gettr or TruthSocial, then it will likely lose any and all advertisement support and will have to rely on mostly subscription fees.  And I'm not sure how many people would actually pay to use Twitter.  

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

Some of the things he does baffles me, threatening the advertisers when he apparently has no leverage. Remember when he randomly baselessly called that rescue worker "pedo guy"? Wtf was that?

The man is a promoter who understands software and where it needs to go to make a product successful (Tesla, SpaceX).  He's very good at that.  But it's not exactly rocket science to figure out that because you're good at one thing that it means you'll be good at everything else.  Musk has never owned an advertisement based company.  The idea he takes over a company like Twitter and continues to act the way he does is nuts.

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

Pretty fucking nuts some lunatic broke in with a hammer and surprising, I'd think they'd have security. What was that about what was the reasoning behind the attack? Is it true the Pelosis may be doing insider trading or something, is that BS?

Not really within the scope of this thread but quickly, it was just another QAnon nutter believing the garbage spewed by people like Trump and Tucker Carlson and decided to make to use violence to achieve a political end.  It's further escalation and an extension of what we saw on Jan 6th.

1 hour ago, Oldest Goat said:

As I've said before you should bring the store back and offer cool limited unofficial stuff or maybe reach out to GNR and have them pay you a fee to cover expenses in exchange for featuring their official store here.

The economics of it doesn't work out.  The previous owner produced a bunch of shirts just prior to me buying the forum in the hopes of making money to fund the forum.  About 40 percent sold, 20 percent were given away, and the rest sit in a crawl space.  The margins are too slim and the interest is too small.  

GNR would rather this forum go away.  They don't see the value.  And frankly, I can see why.  They're making millions at every show, this forum isn't even a blip on their radar.  I keep it open and independent of GNR to give it the autonomy it needs.  

 

[downzy]

This is a pretty good take as to where things stand with Twitter:

https://www.axios.com/2022/11/08/elon-musks-acquisition-exceptionalism

 

[action]

social media is a disease, it causes brain rot

lately, I'm stocking up on books about the social topics that interest me.

I don't participate in conspiracy theories.

What I do is, I read a couple of books from different authors on a subject, then I synthesize this and form my own opinion.

this has the disadvantage, I can not "link" to my information. Also, the books I read mostly are in dutch so there's no use in referring to the source.

So when people ask me; "source", then I answer the source is me. My synthesized opinions are, by nature, original products. It's therefore pointless to ask someone, "what is the source of your opinion". The source is the one you're talking to.

[action]

4 hours ago, Oldest Goat said:

I'm quite busy and just nuked myself at the gym so may ramble, sorry. Also I'm aware this stuff makes peoples eyes glaze over haha so I'll try to be brief. I'm speaking to you and generally to whoever is reading, especially those who leisurely, baselessly, believe I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist.

The reality is conspiratorial behaviour is unfortunately part of human nature/society. Always has been and most likely always will be. So keep that in mind and also this; the terminology "conspiracy theories/theorists" was directly created by the CIA for the purpose of social conditioning, to smear, dismiss and silence people or topics they want left alone - there are archived declassified CIA documents covering this, I think they're kept in the congressional library.

You(action and whoever else) and I, have little to no power. We are never going to know all the ins and outs of all the goings on of this world. So having some self-preservation and not wanting to delve into dark, miserable 'conspiracy theory' stuff is understandable and at a certain point it's essential, otherwise you'll get paranoid and depressed. I get it. But spare a kind thought for those of us who, to our merit and peril, often try casting our net a little wider.

Life is both more simplistic and more complicated than our decisions. Navigate it carefully without becoming too biased or skewed, regardless of what your primary focus may be. Balance. Balance. Balance.

 

all too easy a phenomenon is being labeled a conspiracy when in reality, sociological processes are at work, mass formation and sheep mentality

take corona for example.

you have scientists, working for academia, working with colleagues. Corona happens, science needs to take a stance. There is zero knowledge on this new virus, so it takes some time to formulate a position, and most scientists arent sure what stance to take. First and foremost, always, most scientists want to follow the consensus. This is not the result of a "conspiracy", but as a result of otherwise being ridiculed, marginalised and ultimately losing their job (jobs were lost over taking "the wrong" position). So when over time, the consensus becomes clearer and clearer, mass formation is happening and most scientists support the consensus. They couldn't care less if the consensus is the truth or not. That's deplorable behaviour, but it is entirely natural and characteristic to a social creature like humans. It is also detrimental to progress, but it's not a conspiracy.

Edited November 10, 2022 by action

[SoulMonster]

5 hours ago, Oldest Goat said:

So keep that in mind and also this; the terminology "conspiracy theories/theorists" was directly created by the CIA for the purpose of social conditioning, to smear, dismiss and silence people or topics they want left alone - there are archived declassified CIA documents covering this, I think they're kept in the congressional library.

Ah, the "conspiracy theory conspiracy theory"! Hilarious 

It's not correct, though: 

Tinfoil hats not needed to repel CIA 'conspiracy theorist' creation claim - Australian Associated Press (aap.com.au) 

There's a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term 'conspiracy theory' – here's why (theconversation.com)

[action]

conspiracy theories are an instrument to suppress the population, and a medium of disinformation and diversion

in modern times, all that is known, trusted and loved, is deconstructed. Social and cultural rules are changed with unprecedented speed.

this leads to disillusion and disorientation. it's fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Undefined fear and conspiracy theories go hand in hand.

Meanwhile, the people lose track of the real problems in life.

[SoulMonster]

55 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Not everything is a conspiracy yeah. Sorry mate I really can't be bothered trying to have proper discussions about serious topics on the forum anymore because I find SoulMonster's incessant, passive aggressive behaviour nauseating. He is obsessed with me, following my every word, watching, waiting, for any chance to slight me and interact with me. To me it's like trying to converse at a dinner party where there's an ugly only-child goblin skulking around following me, shooray for tolerance!ing and flinging peas and nothing is done about it - so I will just bow out and leave.

@SoulMonster

You are such a saddo. I'm not bothering to check those links but assuming I am mistaken, then okay, I'm mistaken about that but I'll live and my overall point which is healthy and positive btw, still stands.

Going forward I'm going to just let the internet dwelling losers who have a problem with me get their way and from now on other than following GNR I'm just not going to bother posting. It's simply beneath me and not worth my time. I'm going to deny them my essence

Oh, you are such a drama queen  

I don't have a problem with you at all, I actually like you. But when you post bullshit I will call you out on that. What do you want me to do? Not correct you when you spread bullshit? Correct you but pay lip service to the other points you made that I happened to agree with but where I felt no comment form me was necessary? "What a great post you wrote but I am sad to say this part here is incorrect"? I can do that if you are so delicate. No problem.