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


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Imagine spending $44 billion just so you could be the most followed person on Twitter:

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23656153/elon-musk-twitter-most-followed-barack-obama

 

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Elon Musk has dethroned former President Barack Obama as the most followed person on Twitter. As of right now, the billionaire has 133,068,709 followers compared to Obama’s 133,042,819, according to the follower counts reported on their respective Twitter profiles.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter has undoubtedly helped skyrocket his follower count past Obama’s. The Twitter chief hit 100 million followers last June, and that number has only continued to grow in the months that followed.

 

 

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In between posting random and sometimes offensive memes, Musk uses his account to communicate various changes coming to Twitter. He has also polled followers about some major decisions, like letting Donald Trump back onto the platform and whether or not Musk should step down as CEO of Twitter.

Musk’s posting habits stand in stark contrast to Obama’s, who mainly uses his account for professional purposes, such as promoting an important cause or highlighting some of the work he did as president. The same goes for Justin Bieber and Katy Perry, who occupy the third and fourth most-followed spots, respectively.

 

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9 hours ago, Serak The Preparer said:

I was such a dork that I learned about "I have no mouth and I must scream" from playing the computer game. Yeah maybe my mom should have screened my games a little better when I was 10. Read it years later and it made much more sense.

Read it again now (it takes 15 minutes) and tell me what you think. It was kinda jarring for me.

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On 3/24/2023 at 9:09 PM, atomheartbevo said:

You know the company behind ChatGPT?  Elon was an investor, but gave up on them unless they would let him run the place.  He promised a billion, gave them $100 million and then when he left, stopped investing, so they had to turn to Microsoft, which eventually led to their massive success without Musk.

https://www.semafor.com/article/03/24/2023/the-secret-history-of-elon-musk-sam-altman-and-openai

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-with-kara-swisher/id1643307527

Everybody needs to encourage Musk to dump money into a new AI company.

elon to his yes men/meme team

0c725652-7da4-4191-9f7a-214bdf57c8a7_tex

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2 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Imagine spending $44 billion just so you could be the most followed person on Twitter:

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23656153/elon-musk-twitter-most-followed-barack-obama

 

 

 

 

Imagine thinking that internet rep points had any actual value or reflected your worth as a human being.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to like and subscribe!

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26 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Very good piece about how Twitter is quickly dying, with the new verification system maybe being the final blow.  Example below.  The blue checkmarks were always the most valuable piece but now they can be faked for $11.  Why stay if you're them?

https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/28/twitter-is-dying/

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We should also consider how the ‘rules based order’ we’ve devised seems unable to stand up to a bully intent on replacing free access to information with paid disinformation — and how our democratic systems seem so incapable and frozen in the face of confident vandals running around spray-painting ‘freedom’ all over the walls as they burn the library down.

The simple truth is that building something valuable — whether that’s knowledge, experience or a network worth participating in — is really, really hard. But tearing it all down is piss easy.

Let that sink in.

Dude.  Some of us have been telling you this shit for YEARS.  Elon is just one of the most visible iterations of it.

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https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1680146216808412620a28ac6/raw

 

Elon's Empty Promises

 

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Elon Musk's record on delivering on the deluge of pledges he has made as "chief Twit" is less than ideal. In fact, it's downright abysmal.

 

It was just about a year ago that it was revealed the capricious billionaire had become Twitter's largest shareholder. Weeks after that disclosure, Musk said that he would take the company private with a $44 billion purchase.

 

Since then, Musk has made a number of wild changes and promises pertaining to Twitter. Some of those promises have pertained to shiny new features that would supposedly roll out on the website. Others have pertained to how he will govern the platform. And still other promises have been to his employees. 

 

Under Musk's erratic ownership, the platform has seen its fortunes rapidly melt away. Advertisers have fled en masse, the site has suffered significant outages, hate speech has thrived, and thousands of employees have been forced to leave the company.

 

In typical Musk fashion, he has made so many commitments that it can be difficult to keep track of them. And that's worked in his favor, given that he has failed to fulfill the mountain of pledges he has made. As we approach the one-year mark of Musk's foray into Twitter, here are some of the significant vows he has made and failed to live up to:

 

Decisions by poll: After Musk drew backlash for banning links to other social media platforms, he vowed, "Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won't happen again." Since then, he has implemented a host of policy changes without soliciting feedback from users.

 

Stepping down: Musk asked users in December whether he should step down as head of Twitter, vowing to "abide by the results" of the poll. Users voted Musk out, but he has declined to step down for now, saying that he doesn't believe anyone else can adequately run the company.

 

Maximal free speech: Musk repeatedly talked about Twitter being a home for free speech. But on a number of occasions, he has brazenly censored posts on his platform. Musk banned several prominent journalists late last year (he later restored their accounts, but forced them to delete the tweets that he didn't like) and removed content from the BBC after India's government demanded it. Musk has also kept a ban on Alex Jones and exiled Kanye West from the platform for rule violations, which really doesn't appear in the spirit of the maximal free speech he purports to support.

 

Digital town square: When Musk purchased Twitter he declared the platform a "digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated." But this week he announced that non-paying users won't even be able to vote on the site and will have their voices minimized. Musk also said that he will only promote the tweets of users who pay him.

 

Verification: Musk said that as Twitter owner he would work on "authenticating all humans" on the platform. But Musk has moved to do the opposite by stripping notable public figures who refuse to pay him of their verification badges, while also simultaneously verifying users who are impersonating others. 

 

Open-sourced algorithm: Musk has repeatedly promised that he would open source Twitter's algorithm. He did so when he announced his acquisition of the company. And on February 21, he said it would happen "next week." It has still yet to occur. Musk now claims it will happen on March 31. 

 

Moderation council: When Musk took over as Twitter owner, he said that he would appoint a content moderation council that would advise on all such decisions. The council was never appointed and Musk later indicated he would not actually create such a body.

 

Shadow ban feature: Musk promised in December that he would release a feature showing users whether they have been "shadowbanned." Months have gone by with no such feature available. 

 

Severance: Musk boasted about offering laid off employees three months of severance, which he said was more than what was legally required of the company. Months after being let go, many employees were only offered one month of pay in exchange for agreeing to various terms and conditions. 

 

When I reached out to Musk on Wednesday morning with questions about his failed promises, he didn't respond. But I did receive an auto-reply poop emoji from the press@twitter.com email address, a feature Musk recently said he would implement. 

 

It's perhaps one of the only pledges he has actually delivered on.

 

 

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See Space Karen rush to get FDA approval to put a chip in your brain so his company can use AI to "assist" human thinking.

See Space Karen cut costs in the so-called "auto pilot" function of his auto development by cutting the number of available intelligence inputs by 67%, because anything other than a camera was viewed by him as too expensive.

See Space Karen say he's going to develop his own AI because the industry leader is "too woke"

See Space Karen scream for a 6 month pause by the industry leader in AI.

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NYT and LAT say no to paying for twitter, for either their institutional accounts or for their reporters. Buzzfeed, Vox, and Politico are also No's. Buzzfeed's comment that "a blue checkmark no longer means the handle is verified," is an apt, direct, "fuck you" to space karen.

 

 

Edited by Chopper
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We’ve been bagging on Twitter so much it easy to forget other Musk failures

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/03/30/tesla-has-installed-3000-solar-roof-systems-in-the-us-study-finds.html

C3AEF67B-2643-4D0C-AFBB-A830A35905C4.thumb.png.401a4a879376772cc3dffc0024d0a4a4.png

 

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Tesla has only installed 3,000 of its Solar Roof systems in the U.S. since touting the technology seven years ago, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie.

That installation rate falls well shy of Tesla's guidance and ambitions for what it previously called its "solar glass" roof tiles. Wood Mackenzie notes that in late 2019 the company said it was aiming to manufacture 1,000 Solar Roofs weekly, and to install 1,000 per week in the first half of 2020.

The Report can be found here:

https://www.woodmac.com/press-releases/tesla-solar-roof-deployments-miss-expectations/

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https://archive.ph/5e67T

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From September to October of last year, the top 10 advertisers on Twitter spent $71 million on ads, according to estimates from Pathmatics. In the past two months, that figure dropped to just $7.6 million, a decline of 89%, the research firm said. Twitter’s top ad customers historically have included marquee names like HBO, Amazon, IBM and Coca-Cola.

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Major media agencies like IPG and Horizon Media, which advised clients to pause or consider suspending their Twitter campaigns after Musk took over, have not yet encouraged marketers to return, according to people familiar with the situation. One media buyer said that their firm’s initial recommendation to clients after Musk took over was a “red light,” as in, stop spending. They’re still advising clients proceed with caution — the light has changed to “amber” — as the company still appears to be in a chaotic state.

this was new to me, now around half a dozen sales leaders report directly to Elon lol

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Musk seems to have taken more interest in Twitter’s sales organization in recent weeks, and changed the reporting structure so that around half a dozen sales leaders now report directly to the CEO, according to a person familiar with the move.

 

 
 
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10 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

A guy in the neighborhood next to mine put a tesla roof on his house. He told me he waited 18 months before they finally got around to his house. It took a crew of 12 to 15 guys at least 2 weeks to install it and some of them lingered for a full month before the project was complete.

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“Other products may take the lead in building-integrated solar roofing products. GAF Energy’s Timberline Solar roofing system is better positioned to achieve widespread adoption. The product is faster and easier to install, and the company captures customers when they are considering roof replacements.”

That's the context of the statement in bold from the Wood Mackenzie report. Tesla's roof is the solar roof you might purchase when your roof replacement is merely optional. And to make it worth the spend, at least here in Northern Colorado, in addition to patience and money to burn, you best have all-electric heating or the long-term payback would never work. Not many houses here have all-electric heating to begin with, and it's pretty rare to find that feature in high-end housing.

On an aesthetics basis, I don't love the tesla roof. It's very flat. People pay good money to upgrade to multi-dimensional roof shingles, or spanish-style tiles, so paying a premium for a totally flat room seems like an odd ask.

From the street, you wouldn't necessarily know it's a tesla roof. You just see a flat panel.

tesla roof

tesla-solarglass-solar-roof.jpg?w=1500&q

The gaf solar roof is much more architectural in appearance.

gaf roof

Timberline-Solar-B100_THP.jpg

Looks like another well-deserved L for Elron.

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Wait, if that top picture is the Tesla roof, I would rather have that than the one on the bottom.

 

You know this is where Musk really seems to blow it - he can make a cool product. But the need to ramp up production he just can't get it done. I know that isn't some simple task, but he really blows his horn before he is ready to do anything.

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It's clear that elon should start a PAC and lobby for legislation that makes it illegal to dislike him or view him as silly. He's a mysterious genius with a quirky edge and a brilliant sense of humor. Viewing him otherwise shouldn't be allowed. 

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13 minutes ago, Chooky said:

It's clear that elon should start a PAC and lobby for legislation that makes it illegal to dislike him or view him as silly. He's a mysterious genius with a quirky edge and a brilliant sense of humor. Viewing him otherwise shouldn't be allowed. 

He'll also accept "edge Lord" in a pinch, but only if the L is uppercase.

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23 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

Wait, if that top picture is the Tesla roof, I would rather have that than the one on the bottom.

Yes, you are correct and I just edited it so it's clear which is which. The Tesla aesthetic will cost you $20k or more above the competitor's price but you'll get the same 25 year warranty.

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GAF designed the Timberline Solar Energy Shingle to be easily installed by roofing contractors. This is the first nailable solar shingle in the global market, which means their installation can be completed with only a nail gun – no specialized tools and equipment are necessary.

GAF Timberline solar shingles have their electronic components on the front, which means they can be easily accessed for maintenance purposes.

I think the "tesla aesthetic" would look out of place on most houses. But obv it's personal preference. Here's more about the gaf roof from a WaPo article.
 

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The top half is nailed to the roof, while the bottom half overlaps the previous solar shingle and remains exposed. The outward-facing section of a solar shingle is made of photovoltaic cells, rather than asphalt. The panels collect energy and then transfer it through wires on the end of each shingle that daisy-chain together.

The goal is to lower the cost of rooftop solar by combining roofing and solar installation, said DeBono, who uses his own home as an example. His traditional roof, he said, cost around $28,000, and the solar panels he installed would be around $24,000, for a total price tag of around $52,000, or about $44,000 after rebates and incentives — which can include tax credits. In comparison, he estimated a GAF Energy solar roof would cost approximately $42,000 and drop to around $30,000 after incentives, saving about $14,000.

 

Anyway it seems quite valuable to be able to sell a solar roof that's available for install when the customer actually needs to replace a roof as opposed to when the customer can afford to lollygag for a couple years waiting for tesla to produce enough inventory and hire installers for their labor-intensive installs.

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2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

Wait, if that top picture is the Tesla roof, I would rather have that than the one on the bottom.

 

You know this is where Musk really seems to blow it - he can make a cool product. But the need to ramp up production he just can't get it done. I know that isn't some simple task, but he really blows his horn before he is ready to do anything.

You can't expect a man who has to respond to the complaints of Catturd to have enough time to make sure the production of his revolutionary solar roof is humming. 

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5 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

You can't expect a man who has to respond to the complaints of Catturd to have enough time to make sure the production of his revolutionary solar roof is humming. 

I just put in a new roof. Not solar. But I still feel incomplete about it without knowing Cat turd's opinion on the workmanship. Or Catturd. Or Cat's turd. Or Mr turd or whatever. 

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Fucking lulz.  You can't make this shit up:

https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/twitter-business-monthly-verified-status-fee-exempt-1235569966/

 

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Elon Musk-owned Twitter says that as of Saturday, April 1, it will begin removing “legacy” verified badges from individuals and organizations approved under the company’s previous criteria. Going forward, only paying customers will be granted the verified check-marks, which are now blue for individuals, gold for brands and companies, and gray for governmental organizations.

Twitter says it will charge businesses and organizations $1,000 per month (in the U.S.), including nonprofits and governments, to retain their verified status. In addition, the company will levy a $50 monthly charge for each affiliate subaccount (i.e., employees, brands or divisions).

 

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But apparently not all organizations will have to pay Musk for the privilege. Twitter will waive the $1,000 monthly fee for its 500 largest advertising clients and for the 10,000 most-followed brands, companies and organizations that have been previously verified, the New York Times reported, citing an internal Twitter document.

The most-followed companies, brands and organizations on Twitter include @Twitter itself, as well as YouTube, NASA, CNN, ESPN, the New York Times, the NBA and the BBC’s breaking news account. (Variety‘s Twitter account, with 2.9 million followers, currently ranks as the 2,739th most-followed account on the platform, per analytics firm SocialBlade.)

 

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A request for comment sent to Twitter’s PR account returned an automated reply with a poop emoji (a change Musk announced last week). Musk has previously blasted Twitter’s previous system of verification as “corrupt and nonsensical.”

On Thursday, Musk quote-tweeted the Twitter @verified account’s post about the Verified Organizations subscription plan, saying, “Important to establish whether someone actually belongs to an organization or not so as to avoid impersonation.” According to the Twitter post, “We’ve already seen organizations, including sports teams, news organizations, financial firms, Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits join Verified Organizations and list their affiliated accounts publicly on their profiles.”

 

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After William Shatner complained about Twitter’s plan to rescind legacy blue check-marks unless users pay for them, Musk responded, “It’s more about treating everyone equally,” Musk tweeted Sunday evening in replying to Shatner. “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities imo.” Last fall, after Stephen King also griped about Twitter’s switch to paid verification, Musk said, “We need to pay the bills somehow!”

The Times’ report published Thursday focused on Musk’s alleged attempt to meet with Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to discuss the agency’s investigation into Twitter’s privacy and data-security practices. According to the report, Musk’s request to meet with Khan “was rebuffed.” The Times article noted that it’s unusual for CEOs of companies being investigated by the FTC to meet with any of its commissioners.

 

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6 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The Times’ report published Thursday focused on Musk’s alleged attempt to meet with Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to discuss the agency’s investigation into Twitter’s privacy and data-security practices. According to the report, Musk’s request to meet with Khan “was rebuffed.” The Times article noted that it’s unusual for CEOs of companies being investigated by the FTC to meet with any of its commissioners.

lulz

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46 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Fucking lulz.  You can't make this shit up:

https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/twitter-business-monthly-verified-status-fee-exempt-1235569966/

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But apparently not all organizations will have to pay Musk for the privilege. Twitter will waive the $1,000 monthly fee for its 500 largest advertising clients and for the 10,000 most-followed brands, companies and organizations that have been previously verified, the New York Times reported, citing an internal Twitter document.

...

Musk has previously blasted Twitter’s previous system of verification as “corrupt and nonsensical.”

 

Blaming Spider-Man GIF

 

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3 hours ago, NoName said:

his entire business model, literally, is to jump in on what he thinks is cool. muscle his way into being a founder, typically with $$$, then push out or fire the other founders, then take over if it works

It's got to burn him up that ChatGPT is the belle of the AI ball, and they had rejected him taking over.

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1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

 

L oh fucking l.

What a weak, pathetic, fragile little man.

And this guy is a hero and role model to a not-small swath of humanity.....they fucking knob-slob for a pathetic man who is blowing literally billions of dollars to be "liked" by the worst of the worst.

If this were happening in a vacuum with no effect on other people, it would simply be one of the saddest, most pathetic things I've ever seen.

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6 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

That is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen 

 

And the beauty of it?  He has boasted for some time now that this would be "open-source".  It never occurred to him that once it was released, people would find this shit out and call him on it.

 

I mean, "author_is_Elon" and "DDDGStatsFeatureElonFeature"?  What other things are hidden within Twitter's code base just for Elon? He owns the place, so he can have it tweaked to his heart's content, but still.   Hell, by now I figure not only has he read Grimes DM's, but those of anyone else he wants.  Shit, he might get DM's from certain users routed directly to his inbox.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Chopper said:

to save a click - it says "except respect on twitter, it's the only thing we have the power to deny them."

 

 

Fuck off dickhead.  Fucker is spending his time on this bullshit while he wastes a generational talent. 

Asshole.

 

 

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27 minutes ago, Chopper said:

he also wrote "After I started asking around about this yesterday Twitter said it is “actively working” to get the money to the NGOs" but twitter's formatting sucks now so it doesn't show up.

Are we honestly surprised that twitter would take money out of employee paychecks and then keep it instead of passing it on to the charity organizations?  Or if it's a fuckup, are we surprised since he probably laid off a lot of the payroll/accounting people?

11 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Fuck off dickhead.  Fucker is spending his time on this bullshit while he wastes a generational talent. 

Asshole.

I doubt Cuban spends much time thinking about this, I bet it's more that he's trolling Musk a bit, and/or trolling the whole blue checkmark concept.

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3 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

I mean, "author_is_Elon" and "DDDGStatsFeatureElonFeature"?  What other things are hidden within Twitter's code base just for Elon? He owns the place, so he can have it tweaked to his heart's content, but still.   Hell, by now I figure not only has he read Grimes DM's, but those of anyone else he wants.  Shit, he might get DM's from certain users routed directly to his inbox.

Fgml0BIWIAAnRZ0?format=jpg&name=small

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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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