More Evidence Elon Musk is Losing His Flippin’ Mind

[Tyeeking]

Nope. It’s true. Everyone’s For You feed is being flooded with Elmo’s tweets. I’m not a Twitter user, but my wife is, and she showed me her feed, and his tweets are at the top. She does not follow Musk and has never seen a Tweet of his in her feed until now.

Well there you go, the wife of a guy that goes by Thirsty Barbarian says it’s true. ;-)

 

[Bowman]

I think it’s more likely that being “the richest man alive” has screwed up his head.

I don't get the impression that he is motivated by being the richest.
He is just an odd bird, like the other odd bird that he is sometimes compared to.
And I bet he could not care less that anyone finds him objectionable.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Well there you go, the wife of a guy that goes by Thirsty Barbarian says it’s true. ;-)

Nope, the wife told the guy. Then the guy named ThirstyBarbarian looked it up and actually posted a link to one of many news stories on the topic for your reading pleasure. Elon has tweeted about the change to the algorithm and has tweeted a meme joking about force feeding Twitter users Elon tweets. It’s real, guy named Tyeeking.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I don't get the impression that he is motivated by being the richest.
He is just an odd bird, like the other odd bird that he is sometimes compared to.
And I bet he could not care less that anyone finds him objectionable.

I agree he’s not motivated by being the richest. I’m saying that being the richest or even just very rich can help turn an odd bird into an odd turd.

 

[boatgeek]

I'd say Jack Dorsey is good reference. People with his kind of knowledge. Elon would simply supervise less and less as time goes by. He wouldn't be the only person owning a media company run by a CEO. He's sort of like Bezos now actually, with Amazon (= Tesla), Origin (= Space X) and WaPo (=Twitter).

Apple is doing better than ever now, even without Jobs. Tim Cook came out of no where as far as I'm concerned (certainly not, but I wasn't following).


I just go by how he casually says he should find someone by the end of the year, stays positive about it, and keeps working 80-hour weeks or so apparently.

Oh, there are plenty of people who are qualified. I just don't believe that there is any evidence that Elon will back off and stop micromanaging. It's not in his DNA. And Elon's micromanaging is what will drive away almost anyone who's qualified.

It doesn't help anyone think that someone is serious when they post this kind of stuff:

It's a joke, you'll say. Sure, and it will also drive off qualified leaders who want to lead instead of responding to whatever Elon is tweeting today.

 

[Tyeeking]

Nope, the wife told the guy. Then the guy named ThirstyBarbarian looked it up and actually posted a link to one of many news stories on the topic for your reading pleasure. Elon has tweeted about the change to the algorithm and has tweeted a meme joking about force feeding Twitter users Elon tweets. It’s real, guy named Tyeeking.

You posted a “news story” with unnamed sources. BTW Elon’s tweet was sarcasm making fun of the fools that believed the “news story”. LOL

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Oh, there are plenty of people who are qualified. I just don't believe that there is any evidence that Elon will back off and stop micromanaging. It's not in his DNA. And Elon's micromanaging is what will drive away almost anyone who's qualified.

It doesn't help anyone think that someone is serious when they post this kind of stuff:
View attachment 563536
It's a joke, you'll say. Sure, and it will also drive off qualified leaders who want to lead instead of responding to whatever Elon is tweeting today.

I‘m going to tell my wife I just saw the Fat Ugly Face!

I agree, tweets like this are doing much to boost Elmo’s credibility . And they aren’t going to do much to attract top talent. Maybe he could smooth things over by referring to himself as a Very Stable Genius.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

You posted a “news story” with unnamed sources. BTW Elon’s tweet was sarcasm making fun of the fools that believed the “news story”. LOL

It makes no difference to me what you believe about this pretty inconsequential news story. But it is true, even if you don’t believe it.

 

[Funkworks]

… She also cannot STAND Elon Musk. That’s the main reason she dialed back her time on Twitter. She was sick of hearing about him …

I was on Twitter for a few years and left because I was pushed to follow “some guy I didn’t understand”. I came back a few months ago, the day of the purchase.

He is just an odd bird, like the other odd bird that he is sometimes compared to.
And I bet he could not care less that anyone finds him objectionable.

Much of what he says is exactly what you’d expect from someone who aced physics and economics and likes video games. His business success is why he stands out. Otherwise, there’s plenty of people thinking like him behind he scenes.

Oh, there are plenty of people who are qualified. I just don't believe that there is any evidence that Elon will back off and stop micromanaging. It's not in his DNA. And Elon's micromanaging is what will drive away almost anyone who's qualified.

It doesn't help anyone think that someone is serious when they post this kind of stuff:
View attachment 563536
It's a joke, you'll say. Sure, and it will also drive off qualified leaders who want to lead instead of responding to whatever Elon is tweeting today.

He’s not micromanaging Tesla and Space X these days. It might be annoying for employees but not a problem overall as I see it. The memes and jokes are straight from the software engineering “culture”. Not politically correct, but common in the coding world largely occupied by guys spending endless hours debugging. I think it’s a way to keep in touch with the developper teams he wants to attract and keep.

Just trying to make sense of it all.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Just trying to make sense of it all.

The thing that makes the most sense to me is it’s a rich guy narcissist thing, not a savvy businessman thing.

 

[jderimig]

Big if true, well interesting if true. Actually so what if true?

 

[boatgeek]

Big if true, well interesting if true. Actually so what if true?

It kind of goes against all of his stated principles of unencumbered free speech, ideas surviving by their worth in the marketplace, etc. It certainly sounds like rules for thee and not for me. Does it really matter? Probably not, except that it may drive more people away from the platform.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Big if true, well interesting if true. Actually so what if true?

In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not important, like almost everything we discuss in the Watering Hole. But I think it’s another interesting glimpse into the psychology of an important person who has a lot of power over the lives and livelihoods of thousands of employees, millions of product users, and the investors and customers of all the companies he has a hand in. You would think he has better things to do than assign engineers to artificially boost his Twitter engagements. What kind of person does that?

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

It kind of goes against all of his stated principles of unencumbered free speech, ideas surviving by their worth in the marketplace, etc. It certainly sounds like rules for thee and not for me. Does it really matter? Probably not, except that it may drive more people away from the platform.

I hear that instead of leaving the platform, some people are just muting Musk’s account, and then blocking him. That way they don’t have to see his Fat Ugly Face in their feed, and they can drive his engagement numbers down to mess with his fwagile widdle ego.

 

[jderimig]

In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably not important, like almost everything we discuss in the Watering Hole. But I think it’s another interesting glimpse into the psychology of an important person who has a lot of power over the lives and livelihoods of thousands of employees, millions of product users, and the investors and customers of all the companies he has a hand in. You would think he has better things to do than assign engineers to artificially boost his Twitter engagements. What kind of person does that?

The person that might buy The Verge next? At least he is not working with the government to supress information in order to influence an election, yet. Of which I have not heard any outrage from the usual actors here.

 

[jderimig]

It kind of goes against all of his stated principles of unencumbered free speech, ideas surviving by their worth in the marketplace, etc. It certainly sounds like rules for thee and not for me. Does it really matter? Probably not, except that it may drive more people away from the platform.

No it doesn't, its an example of extra-cumbered free speech.

 

[boatgeek]

The person that might buy The Verge next? At least he is not working with the government to supress information in order to influence an election, yet. Of which I have not heard any outrage from the usual actors here.

Which debunked conspiracy theory are we talking about now?

 

[jderimig]

Which debunked conspiracy theory are we talking about now?

The one with about the same source veracity as this one.

 

[H_Rocket]

Twitter is a tool developed to enable teenage girls to tell their friends about their shopping purchases and evolved from there into a civilization-ending bullhorn for misinformation, bigotry, and hate.

But only if we tune in.

 

[Raythain]

I hear that instead of leaving the platform, some people are just muting Musk’s account, and then blocking him. That way they don’t have to see his Fat Ugly Face in their feed, and they can drive his engagement numbers down to mess with his fwagile widdle ego.

I bailed on Twitter when the “hardcore or go elsewhere” email stuff broke. Seemed clear to me that he never actually wanted to buy it and got boxed in, and the place was going to hell. Well, even more hell than the hellsite had been.

When this news broke, I logged back in and blocked him. It’s his site, he can be small and petty if he wants to. But as long as I’m allowed, I can be small and petty on his site too.

 

[Huxter]

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

No it doesn't, its an example of extra-cumbered free speech.

Is that the word for when you have your own messages exempted from the algorithms that apply to all other users’ posts and just have yours pushed directly to the top? Extra-cumbered?

 

[boatgeek]

Is that the word for when you have your own messages exempted from the algorithms that apply to all other users’ posts and just have yours pushed directly to the top? Extra-cumbered?

That's his cue. Cue-cumber, that is.

 

[NateB]

Can't we get MySpace back. It could save social media and the music industry. It was the best platform for independent bands and fans of independent music.

 

[Bravo52]

I think it’s more likely that being “the richest man alive” has screwed up his head.

You don't get to be the "richest man alive" by having a "screwed up head". I think he'll come out of twitter richer by likely going public with it. Once he finds the right person to run it, he can just sit back and soak up all the dineros. I wonder if he convinced Congress to get rid of TikTok, a pseudo competitor...

 

[cls]

Something I noted from his tweets is that since Apple suggested they might stop advertising on Twitter, and he had a meeting with Tim Cook, his tweets seem to be more restrained.

Before that, though, was the soccer world cup. He was hosted in the Saudi box. I think he got a stern talking to from one of the biggest Twitter investors, because he really put a lid on the craziest stuff after that.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

You don't get to be the "richest man alive" by having a "screwed up head". I think he'll come out of twitter richer by likely going public with it. Once he finds the right person to run it, he can just sit back and soak up all the dineros. I wonder if he convinced Congress to get rid of TikTok, a pseudo competitor...

I agree it’s not really a good idea to bet against him. He has definitely beat expectations many times and did things many people thought were impossible. That’s why I had so much respect for him.

But people can change. I think he’s gotten weirder and pretty erratic in recent years. I think he lost something like $200 billion last year. He may be losing his boy genius mystique which is a really useful thing to have intact in business.

This Twitter deal never made any sense to me. This is different from his past companies. Twitter is not a straight engineering challenge like most of his other ventures. Twitter deals with messy humans and their weird behaviors, communications, emotions, psychology, values, passions, etc. These are not things Musk seems to understand very well. He does not appear to have much emotional intelligence. So far, it doesn’t look to me like his management of Twitter has been a success.

And what’s with wasting company resources boosting his own Twitter engagements? That doesn’t seem like a business genius at work.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

Is that the word for when you have your own messages exempted from the algorithms that apply to all other users’ posts and just have yours pushed directly to the top? Extra-cumbered?

If... if thats what he did. I dont doubt he has an over inflated ego. And said and did some really mind boggling stupid ignorant things. But we are saying things about somebody we have never personally met. We are hiding behind a forum and saying things "we think in our own mind." He's putting it out there for all to see. I dont know that I could do that. Take a beating every day?

 

[Bravo52]

Twitter deals with messy humans and their weird behaviors, communications, emotions, psychology, values, passions, etc.

Ahhh...but just think how cutting edge AND profitable it will be once he and his engineers master the eccentricities of the common folk. Doing this by considering it an "engineering challenge" may be needed to contend with all the nut-jobs that establish the first few colonies on Mars (or something like that). In reality, it isn't anything different than the "AI" work that is going on by other engineering consortiums out there...

Twitter is financially better off today than yesterday. Lots of reasons why and this could be a "bow wave" before the crash considering all the changes made over the last year since he bought it. Twitter was bloated. It was corrupt. Now, arguably, it's neither and the question that has to be answered is, is that a better direction to go in or was the former what the coddled "masses" really wanted.

Perhaps "boosting his own Twitter engagements" is nothing more than the typical efforts of a "focus group" but with a much wider audience.

 

[boatgeek]

I agree it’s not really a good idea to bet against him. He has definitely beat expectations many times and did things many people thought were impossible. That’s why I had so much respect for him.

But people can change. I think he’s gotten weirder and pretty erratic in recent years. I think he lost something like $200 billion last year. He may be losing his boy genius mystique which is a really useful thing to have intact in business.

This Twitter deal never made any sense to me. This is different from his past companies. Twitter is not a straight engineering challenge like most of his other ventures. Twitter deals with messy humans and their weird behaviors, communications, emotions, psychology, values, passions, etc. These are not things Musk seems to understand very well. He does not appear to have much emotional intelligence. So far, it doesn’t look to me like his management of Twitter has been a success.

And what’s with wasting company resources boosting his own Twitter engagements? That doesn’t seem like a business genius at work.

Professionally, I've worked on exactly one yacht job that went well. Many others went badly, mainly because the owners wouldn't listen to expert advice or wouldn't get out of the design process and let people build their boat. Likewise, as authors get more famous, their books get longer. My theory is that editors have less power to tell them to cut unnecessary stuff.

The longer you're the richest person in the world, running companies where nobody can tell you no, the more messed up you get in the head.

Ahhh...but just think how cutting edge AND profitable it will be once he and his engineers master the eccentricities of the common folk. Doing this by considering it an "engineering challenge" may be needed to contend with all the nut-jobs that establish the first few colonies on Mars (or something like that). In reality, it isn't anything different than the "AI" work that is going on by other engineering consortiums out there...

Hoo boy. Technology to fix messy humans? All hail our Skynet overlords!

Twitter is financially better off today than yesterday. Lots of reasons why and this could be a "bow wave" before the crash considering all the changes made over the last year since he bought it. Twitter was bloated. It was corrupt. Now, arguably, it's neither and the question that has to be answered is, is that a better direction to go in or was the former what the coddled "masses" really wanted.

Perhaps "boosting his own Twitter engagements" is nothing more than the typical efforts of a "focus group" but with a much wider audience.

Do you have any public evidence that Twitter is in a better financial position than when he bought it? Granted, it had never (or nearly never) made money before, so being in the black at all would be an achievement. However, having all of Europe's regulators sharpening their knives for you isn't a great way forward either.