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Friday, October 28, 2022

Maybe It's Just Me

Now that Elon Musk has finalized his takeover of Twitter, maybe it's time to open an account.  I've quoted from Twitter or posted screen captures of tweets innumerable times, but I've never felt the need to open an account.  How they treat us visitors is only moderately annoying.  Depending on things I don't know about, sometimes I can read screen after screen of tweets and sometimes the screen freezes and I get a "sign up to see more" message.  I've avoided social media for a few years since I shut down my Facebook account, and, yeah, I know blogging is considered social media by some, but when things like this happen, story on Twitchy, it's tempting. 

The mere fact that a random person who calls himself ‘Catturd’ can talk to the richest person on the planet is mind-boggling. It’s also possibly the biggest reason the Twitter platform has become the force it has.

One side effect of that openness is that self-important media elitists appear to be just a bit jealous when people who are actually doing important things pass them over.

We’re looking at you, Keith Olbermann. Seriously, if you had the choice between reading something Catturd said or something Keith Olbermann said, who wouldn’t choose Catturd?

Look at this masterpiece by Olbermann. If we’re parsing his tweet correctly, Keith is willingly tweeting from the ashes of urine-soaked dumpster fire. You could just leave, Olby?

Catturd had this to say in reply.

I have URLs bookmarked for a few Twitter accounts; Elon Musk, SpaceX, and a couple of others.  About all I can see is the most recent couple of posts.  I've got to assume that having an account would allow more.  Plus, I've got to like someone who uses this as their title to the world. 

EDIT TO ADD at 10:45AM on 10/29:  Judging by the first bunch of comments, I didn't emphasize my reasoning well enough.  The point of starting a Twitter account isn't to follow Olbermann (not in a billion years), or even Catturd (who I usually find funny).  The point is to get more access to twitter feeds that I'd find useful, like SpaceX, Musk himself, NASA Spaceflight and lots more without giving credit to the previous stack of morons and liars who were in charge.  It's also to reinforce that selling to Musk was a good move to get more people involved with Twitter.  If a bunch of people who have stayed on the sidelines out of a desire to not support Twitter now sign up, financial analysts will say it was a good move.  



14 comments:

  1. Be nice to see open communication rather than "someone" punishing people who think wrong.

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  2. I still have a Twitter account from my AMSAT days. I'll have to see if I can access it.
    BTW....bought a nanoVNA to play with. Got the one with the big screen and metal enclosure. Under $150, shipped. "I Remember When...." this much capability cost $150k or more.

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    1. I'm really impressed with the one I picked up at the Orlando Hamcation. It's an H4 model with a bigger screen, although I'm most often using it on the shack computer with NanoVNA-App - which is a much, much bigger display. The SW on the H4 itself has some annoyances.

      We should probably go to email if you want to chat or compare notes.

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    2. I'll drop you a line once it gets here. Bought it Monday morning, it didn't ship until Wednesday afternoon, and it's still a no-show.

      Delete
  3. He isn't known as Keith OlberMoron for no reason....

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  4. Olbermann was nothing but a local L.A. sportsball reporter, he sucked at even that weak field, and clearly started even lower on the urinalistic totem pole, but when fortune smiled and they unaccountably moved him to NYFC, he suddenly thought he was important, wise, and politically savvy. He's 0 for 3 on that score, and he's spent the balance of his career proving it.

    The problem with Twitter isn't that it elevates Catturd to the same status as Olbermann; it's that they elevate Olbermann's rants to the same status as Catturd.

    If Musk burns it to the ground (and not just metaphorically), fires and roots out every deranged woketard down to janitors, eliminates everything prior to his takeover except the carpeting and the wall paint, and starts over from scratch ex nihilo, it would be a good start. Give a holler if that happens.

    Until he does at least that much, everything on it is from the cat litter box, and bears no further notice except utility for target practice.

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  5. I'm never returning to twitter. There are alternatives and I'm not going to abandon them just because Elon Musk said it's safe to come back again. Plus he's already showing signs of wanting to reassure advertisers (spit), and for me that's a bad omen.

    I have more confidence in gab and the fediverse social media instances than some centralized overgrown monstrosity like twitter.

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  6. You might like it, but don't take it seriously.

    I'm @snarkyposters Twitter.

    Gun Law Twitter is pretty good and some of Gun Twitter is too.

    I mostly just use it to Point and Laugh™ at idiots with the occasional educational post.

    If you do make an account, only supply the minimum of information, ie. don't give them a phone number.

    Also, don't use the app it's got way too much tracking and other garbage in it.

    In browser works just fine on mobile.

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  7. Keith Olbermann has been certifiable for a couple of decades now. It's a wonder that anyone still bothers with him. But chacun a son gout, I suppose.

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  8. Tempted to sign up here as well, but probably only to share brutal memes and to follow Elon.

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  9. Literally everything we see happening today reinforces the choice to remain anonymous while posting anything on the internet. The problem with twitter is that you can choose a catchy tag name you cannot remain anonymous.

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  10. Don't forget that despite the media attention it gets, Twitter has less than 400 million users, which is a small fraction of what even Facebook has.

    Even fewer of those users are active; I've read claims that 10% of users post over 80% of tweets.

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    1. I believe that's true as well. A few loud mouths create the national news, with assistance of a lazy media that doesn't need to do any actual work but just reports the tweet.

      It's much like the Pareto rule in so many things: 20% of the work produces 80% of the results; 20% of the defects produce 80% of the failed products and on and on.

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  11. I have never been on any social media platform. However, I will certainly consider Elon's Twitter 2.0 if the promises ring true.

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