this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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I don't think it's a conspiracy. "Don't attribute to malice what could be explained by incompetence."
This ^^. It turns out that Elon is just a narcissistic idiot who doesn’t actually have good business sense, at least in the software world. The types of things he’s been trying are better explained as someone who wants Twitter to make more money but doesn’t understand how people actually think and behave and doesn’t realize that these decisions will alienate users and destroy the product. Spez decisions seem similar, although on the whole I think he’s less of a people idiot than Elon, and is probably just under tons of pressure to improve the financials right now and is making bad short-sighted decisions as a result.
The most level-headed take I've seen on both of these topics in long time.
Great take on this. Elon is a lot like the dog who caught the car. He has no idea what to do now.
He didn't even want to buy it, right? It started losing value and he tried to bail but was under contract.
I do think there were financial backers of Elon’s that are hoping to kill certain online platforms and see Elon as a useful idiot, though. I’m thinking specifically of people like Thiel and the Saudis
Either this ^^ or whatever has been lost is just a series of casualties in the search for money. There's not much money to be made by hosting free speech alone - that social media companies do what they do to enable free speech is a popular misconception. Above all they want to make money, and if you need to do that free speech thing at a net loss for a couple years before you start milking your users for all they're worth, then so be it.
As for Twitter, it could be argued that His Muskiness has been kind of a trial-and-error guy for his entire career - so far it's worked out pretty well for him. Twitter is just special in that his random 'let's just try this and see if it sticks' decisions instantaneously affect (and piss off) millions of people in a very public way. Maybe that's why Twitter is such a challenge for him.
As for Reddit, Spez doesn't exactly keep his admiration for Elon a secret. If Elon joked about improving Twitter's 'bottom' line by shoving a cucumber up his arse, Spez would probably be spotted in the closest supermarket's produce section within the hour.
I appreciate your sense of humor, regarding cucumbers.
I was never really under any illusion that they weren't in the business to try and make money but your pointing it out does really highlight that their motives are profit driven above all else and merely short-sighted and intended to improve quarterly gains Rather than actually being organized.
I guess it turns out that allowing profit to be the only motive it's just generally bad, right?
Edit: speech to text.
That helps. Thanks. Maybe I should drink less anxiety juice, ie coffee.
Edit: I had to look it up because I wanted to provide the link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
Add self interest, profit, and group think to incompetence as well. That is the problem with most conspiracy theories. Unless there is clear proof, there are usually many more likely explanations.