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Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?


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8 hours ago, Chopper said:

If you compare that to twitter's revenues last year it's a drop in the bucket. Even more so now that he has added a billion dollars in annual debt service to worry about.

???  I was comparing that to annual revenues. It’s like 5B total over 4B of which (90+%) is ad revenue. What are you saying here?  

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6 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

Terra is a friend of mine, and an absolute rock star engineer. She knows what she's talking about. A good follow for some inside baseball stuff.

 

6 hours ago, F250 said:

She popped up on my timeline awhile back and is a follow.

Added. She’s at honeycomb, the cto there Charity Majors is also an interesting follow.

I’m at the right nexus of knowledge/ignorance to get bit by dunning Kruger in this area but I would also think trying to cut a huge chunk out of infra spend is going to be difficult if you’re on depreciating capex. I guess at the scale of Twitter you are constantly replacing infrastructure but for sure the flexibility would be lower and the institutional knowledge on how to even go about getting to bare bones would be critically important.

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Part of what cracks me up about Elon’s narcissist tantrum about advertisers is that he too is going down the nutbar rabbit hole, and ignoring Occam’s razor.
Advertisers are pausing their spend decisions on Twitter. Is that most likely because:
A - the company was just taken over in an LBO that way overpaid, is being micromanaged by an erratic tycoon who posts deranged and self-indulgent theories while also promising that he’s a “free-speech absolutist,” and the markets - particularly the big players with big ad dollars to spend - hate uncertainty?
Or
B - a conspiracy by a liberal cabal to make Twitter fail because Elon is a threat to…something?

For a crowd that is all about celebrating Elon as a hero of the free market, his fanbois and Elon don’t understand the first thing about the free market. Or Occam’s razor.

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3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Part of what cracks me up about Elon’s narcissist tantrum about advertisers is that he too is going down the nutbar rabbit hole, and ignoring Occam’s razor.
Advertisers are pausing their spend decisions on Twitter. Is that most likely because:
A - the company was just taken over in an LBO that way overpaid, is being micromanaged by an erratic tycoon who posts deranged and self-indulgent theories while also promising that he’s a “free-speech absolutist,” and the markets - particularly the big players with big ad dollars to spend - hate uncertainty?
Or
B - a conspiracy by a liberal cabal to make Twitter fail because Elon is a threat to…something?

For a crowd that is all about celebrating Elon as a hero of the free market, his fanbois and Elon don’t understand the first thing about the free market. Or Occam’s razor.

egotistical people become morons because being wrong is never the simplest explanation

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14 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Really hope he cuts back on the infrastructure and then publicly wonders why so many people and companies get pissed.  Motherfucker is opening the door for Facebook to put together a similar service,

Yeah, I was starting to think Twitter might become Parler with better infrastructure, but maybe it just becomes Parler.

This is fascinating.  On the one hand, his statements and actions make him look like a moron and a hate-enabler that is going to sow more societal discord.  On the other hand, he may be destroying Twitter altogether and that could wind up being a large net-positive contribution to humanity.

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Yeah, I was starting to think Twitter might become Parler with better infrastructure, but maybe it just becomes Parler.
This is fascinating.  On the one hand, his statements and actions make him look like a moron and a hate-enabler that is going to sow more societal discord.  On the other hand, he may be destroying Twitter altogether and that could wind up being a large net-positive contribution to humanity.

And some of this.
If the net result of this is the death of Twitter and the death of the cult of fanbois of tycoons with severe personality disorders….will Elon then be an unwitting savior?
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9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


And some of this.
If the net result of this is the death of Twitter and the death of the cult of fanbois of tycoons with severe personality disorders….will Elon then be an unwitting savior?

Twitter can’t die until there’s somewhere else for millions of these people to go. What are the new options out there? 

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Twitter can’t die until there’s somewhere else for millions of these people to go. What are the new options out there? 

“MySpace can’t die until….” and there were options that were underutilized…until that changed.
I’m sure there are options out there already, I’ve seen mention of a few. I’m not a big Twitter user, so I’m not really looking, but I’m sure the higher volume users already are.
One of the articles cited above was spot on: the “product” users consume is not “content.” It’s “moderated content.” If this site was full of spam ads, scat pics, and aggy trolls, most of us would leave, in spite of the witty, brilliant people who post here, and in large part because many of them would leave, too, creating a death spiral of poster exits. Perhaps you’ve heard of Shaggytexas?
Elon truly doesn’t realize that; he’s tied HIS brand to an impossible fantasy: a “total free speech zone” where the masses want to hang out. As we’ve seen over and over, both online and IRL, such “zones” are invariably taken over by the worst, most annoying people, and the masses avoid and ignore them. Yet Elon has tied his reputation to appeasing the worst, most annoying people. Something has to give; Elon has foolishly created a no-win situation (and in any case, Twitter may always have been a “no-win,” if the goal is real and sustainable profitability. His $8 fee, even if people bite, is literally a drop in the necessary revenue bucket. Without massive ad revenue, Twitter is a financial black hole.
Do you see a lot of likely wins here? Because I see likely L after L.
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2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:



I’m sure there are options out there already, I’ve seen mention of a few. I’m not a big Twitter user, so I’m not really looking, but I’m sure the higher volume users already are.
 

 

There are.  As soon as Super70sSports* makes its move, I'm gone.

 

*Shoutout to you, Brisket.  You fellow Super70sSports fan.

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8 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

Terra is a friend of mine, and an absolute rock star engineer. She knows what she's talking about. A good follow for some inside baseball stuff.

She popped up in my feed before and I should have followed because now either

1) she actually blocked me, a person she does not know or has ever interacted with her posts or or

2) something else happened

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She popped up in my feed before and I should have followed because now either
1) she actually blocked me, a person she does not know or has ever interacted with her posts or or
2) something else happened

You probably shouldn’t have sent her a dick pic right off the bat. You should always work your way up to dick pics. Maybe after a couple of friendly tweets like “hey pretty lady” and “show tits plz.” Pro tip.
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45 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


And some of this.
If the net result of this is the death of Twitter and the death of the cult of fanbois of tycoons with severe personality disorders….will Elon then be an unwitting savior?

I could envision a metamorphosis, the outcome of which a namechange similar to Facebook>>>>Meta might be the result, but death? No. The dopamine(?) hit is too strong for many. Other than being paid to troll , I cannot imagine why one would keep returning once banned from a social media account (not related to work) or a message board unless they had leanings toward addiction (there is a fair amount of debate as to whether 'addictive personality' is legitimate/real) or another type of emotional need/dysfunction. The pull is too strong. I haven't studied Gab in awhile, but the owner was attempting to set up an alternate economy/broadcast media that included more than just the social account but again, with the strong RW bias and Twitter's availability the platform has struggled. Stats had it listed as 3% of Americans with registered accounts (stats for Twitter run at about 21% of US adults). I would visit occasionally to see what was what, but it wasn't/isn't a pleasant experience and I suspect that I am not the only one with that perspective. Twitter may list to one side, it may even sink, but someone is going to want to give those advertisers that reach. Additionally, the social media addiction crosses more than just the political arena, the influencers and their followers have a 'relationship' and severing that will cause those users discomfort especially if they have no desire to work through that.

 

Still have questions regarding the Saudis in all of this.

 

Oh, and it is rather amusing that after twenty pages of  'ha ha, only certain types of people are upset by Musk's ownership, ha ha ha' when someone states owning the libs in plain English that it finally gets a take it to the CR cry. A lot of it should be in CR but 'reasons' I guess.

 

Sorry for any redundancy of ideas, y'all type fast.

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9 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

I could envision a metamorphosis, the outcome of which a namechange similar to Facebook>>>>Meta might be the result, but death? No. The dopamine(?) hit is too strong for many. Other than being paid to troll , I cannot imagine why one would keep returning once banned from a social media account (not related to work) or a message board unless they had leanings toward addiction (there is a fair amount of debate as to whether 'addictive personality' is legitimate/real) or another type of emotional need/dysfunction. The pull is too strong. I haven't studied Gab in awhile, but the owner was attempting to set up an alternate economy/broadcast media that included more than just the social account but again, with the strong RW bias and Twitter's availability the platform has struggled. Stats had it listed as 3% of Americans with registered accounts (stats for Twitter run at about 21% of US adults). I would visit occasionally to see what was what, but it wasn't/isn't a pleasant experience and I suspect that I am not the only one with that perspective. Twitter may list to one side, it may even sink, but someone is going to want to give those advertisers that reach. Additionally, the social media addiction crosses more than just the political arena, the influencers and their followers have a 'relationship' and severing that will cause those users discomfort especially if they have no desire to work through that.

 

Still have questions regarding the Saudis in all of this.

 

Oh, and it is rather amusing that after twenty pages of  'ha ha, only certain types of people are upset by Musk's ownership, ha ha ha' when someone states owning the libs in plain English that it finally gets a take it to the CR cry. A lot of it should be in CR but 'reasons' I guess.

 

Sorry for any redundancy of ideas, y'all type fast.

Social media is still really young.  In many ways, you could think of Twitter as a proof of concept that has shown promise and challenges that must be overcome.  Yes it can absolutely attract users.  But can it monetize those users in a moral and ethical way so as to make it a successful business that endures?  The jury is still out on that.

I agree that something will serve the needs of advertisers, influencers and affirmation addicts.  But is it going to be Twitter?  Maybe.  Or maybe it will be some social media 2.0 company that looks at Twitter as a proof of concept and starts day 1 tackling the challenges that Twitter has surfaced with near real-time information sharing at scale.

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18 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

just on the topic of good ops nerds to follow

foone is great if you want a 70 tweet thread where he takes apart a tiger electronics handheld game from the late 80s so he can extract its font

lol and of course he set up a livestream for "will this lettuce outlast twitter"

https://lettuce.wtf/

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Someone upthread mentioned they tried to relocate an article about elo's resent for government handouts for anyone other than himself. Just came across it.

Spoilered because it's long

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-list-government-subsidies-tesla-billions-spacex-solarcity-2021-12

Elon Musk is speaking out against government subsidies. Here's a list of the billions of dollars his businesses have received.

Spoiler


    Elon Musk's companies have received billions in government subsidies over the last two decades.
    In 2021, Musk has opposed higher taxes for the rich, and said the government shouldn't control "capital."
    He recently said he opposes government subsidies. One of his companies accepted them as recently as April.

The richest person in the world says he doesn't want any help from the US government, but his companies have actually gotten billions of dollars worth.

Like many other wealthy Americans, Musk has spoken out against a proposed "billionaires' tax" from Sen. Ron Wyden, writing on Twitter in October that "eventually, they run out of other people's money, and then they come for you."

More recently, he spoke out against government subsidies and tax incentives for US businesses. In a recent interview with TIME, he said the government was not a good "steward of capital."

And at a Wall Street Journal summit this month, Musk said the government should "just delete" all subsidies from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill President Joe Biden recently signed into law. Biden's bill included $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which would seem to help one of Musk's companies, Tesla Motors.

However, over the years, Musk's companies — Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity — have received billions of dollars from government loans, contracts, tax credits, and subsidies. According to a Los Angeles Times investigation, Musk's companies had received an estimated $4.9 billion in government support by 2015, and they've gotten more since.

Here's a look at some of the federal and state-level government subsidies that have contributed to building Musk's empire.

SPACEX

In April, NASA selected Musk's aerospace company SpaceX for a $2.89 billion contract to work toward landing "commercial" humans on the moon. Musk beat out Jeff Bezos's aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin for the contract, which gives NASA use of Musk's Starship spacecraft to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon. Musk's company has been developing the spacecraft with the intent of taking the first humans to Mars.

The US Air Force has joined in on the SpaceX action as well. In 2020, Musk's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance won two contracts for National Security Space "launch services" worth a combined $653 million, which they will provide between 2022 and 2027. The competition started from a US endeavor to replace Russian rocket technology. 

COVID handout

Tesla accepted some of the $600 billion that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin offered corporations early in the pandemic. As Insider reported in July 2020, Tesla did so while Musk was tweeting against government aid for individuals.

"Another government stimulus package is not in the best interests of the people imo," Musk tweeted.

In Tesla's July 2020 regulatory filing, it mentioned that the company received "certain payroll related benefits," but did not specify any dollar amounts.


New York State put $750 million toward a SolarCity plant in Buffalo in 2016

In 2016, New York state put $750 million towards Musk's planned solar-panel plant in Buffalo. About $350 million of those state funds was allocated for the construction of the facility, and $400 million was given for equipment. This was in exchange for the company's pledge to spend $5 billion on SolarCity, which promised the creation of 5,000 new jobs.


SolarCity receives $497.5 million in grants, in addition to tax credits, by 2015

Musk's SolarCity reported in 2015 that it had received $497.5 million in direct grants from the US Treasury Department. The Los Angeles Times estimated SolarCity's total receipts to be higher — $1.5 billion — based on the price of a solar panel and the company's reported sales.

Additionally, the federal government provided tax credits that covered 30% of the cost of solar photovoltaic systems, such as the ones SolarCity installed, before 2020. That credit currently covers 26% of the cost of such systems for consumers.


As of 2015, Tesla had sold $517 million in environmental credits to competitors per a federal mandate. Tax credits for consumers also helped them sell more cars.

Tesla has also collected more than $517 million from competing car manufacturers by selling them environmental credits, The Los Angeles Times estimated in 2015. In states like California, car manufacturers need to buy the credits if they don't sell the amount of zero-emissions cars required by mandates.

The federal government offers a $7,500 tax credit that car buyers can use to shave off some of the higher cost of purchasing an electric vehicle, which benefits Tesla as the industry's pioneer. This made buying the cars at Tesla's price points more feasible, before it hit the threshold of 200,000 cars sold.

Nevada provides $1.3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives for a new Tesla "Gigafactory" in 2014

The state of Nevada signed a package of bills in 2014 providing $1.3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives for Tesla. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval wanted the electric car company to build a $5 billion lithium-ion battery factory in his state, called the "Gigafactory." The deal also included tax credits and other incentives for 20 years. Reuters estimated this aspect of the deal was worth $725 million.

Reuters also projected that the company would save more than $300 million in payroll taxes, among other taxes, through 2024.

SpaceX receives $15 million from the state of Texas in 2014

SpaceX also received $15 million in economic development subsidies from Texas, in exchange for building the world's first commercial rocket launchpad in the state. State and local officials granted Musk his additional requests as well: they also changed laws to close a public beach during launches, and provided legal protection from noise complaints.

The Energy Department loans Tesla $465 million in 2010

In 2010, Tesla received a $465 million loan from an Energy Department program that offered funding to car companies making fuel-efficient cars. Tesla repaid the loan in 2013, about a decade earlier than it was required to.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

???  I was comparing that to annual revenues. It’s like 5B total over 4B of which (90+%) is ad revenue. What are you saying here?  

Just agreeing the red ink is going to pile up and there's no way selling blue check marks and pivoting to video is going to stem it. Also their ad revenue appears to be dissolving even quicker than I could have imagined. But honestly I could have been clearer.

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21 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Just agreeing the red ink is going to pile up and there's no way selling blue check marks and pivoting to video is going to stem it. Also their ad revenue appears to be dissolving even quicker than I could have imagined. But honestly I could have been clearer.

Gotcha

you could convince me, based upon the existence of Orangebloods, IT, Substack, tree fiddy members here, Texags, etc., plus about a billion other nickel and dime services that exist, that there is a robust market for a subscription based model in social media. I don’t know that to be true, but I could imagine a world where it is true. 
the numbers they need to garner to make that work, however, seem too big to make happen. I would be a skeptic on that model but wouldn’t dismiss the idea out of hand. I have no idea how much/what kind of flair and special access would be necessary to make that happen. 
I wonder if there is some sort of play with power users to split the revenue generated on the system with them (if you can actually generate revenue on that system with content creators) and still keep a subscriber base. 
absolutely no idea what any of that would look like if it actually succeeded (and to be fair I’d bet against success), but ad revenue is clearly the easiest and least creative way to monetize a system, but doesn’t necessarily need to be the only way to do it. 

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1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

just on the topic of good ops nerds to follow

foone is great if you want a 70 tweet thread where he takes apart a tiger electronics handheld game from the late 80s so he can extract its font

If this is true that person deserved to be laid off because they are beyond worthless. This is not a real thing at real companies. This is a thing at companies without sophisticated deployments. 

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2 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

She popped up in my feed before and I should have followed because now either

1) she actually blocked me, a person she does not know or has ever interacted with her posts or or

2) something else happened

You might have accidentally liked some anti-trans post or something. I think she has a setup for automatically blocking anyone that likes stuff like that. She aggressively curates her timeline.

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19 minutes ago, immamac said:

If this is true that person deserved to be laid off because they are beyond worthless. This is not a real thing at real companies. This is a thing at companies without sophisticated deployments. 

You aren’t wrong, but I’ve seen some shit.  Big companies are often an amalgamation of acquisitions and standards can vary greatly across their constituent silos.  Institutional knowledge is generally undervalued and when it’s gone, you see a lot of butterfly effect problems as people who don’t know what they don’t know are pressured to deliver.

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9 minutes ago, Goredho said:

You aren’t wrong, but I’ve seen some shit.  Big companies are often an amalgamation of acquisitions and standards can vary greatly across their constituent silos.  Institutional knowledge is generally undervalued and when it’s gone, you see a lot of butterfly effect problems as people who don’t know what they don’t know are pressured to deliver.

Tech companies don't run like this. And especially not Twitter. There is extensive documentation for all of this and they don't run on "bare metal" in an unmanaged way they run without virtualization because their capacity needs far exceed what single servers demand. They are doing stuff at the scale of hundreds or thousands of servers in a distributed system. 

Thy are automatically deployed and managed. Big companies, sure. Not bona-fide tech companies.

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  • immamac changed the title to Elon Musk: [Fraud] Official or unofficial piece of shit?
  • blacklab changed the title to Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

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