TeddyBeddyNov 18, 2022
Taylor Lorenz
Feeling sad as hell about twitter ending or whatever is happening rn. It’s been such an important platform for communication and culture it’s hard to think anything could even begin to replicate its role :( #tech #technology #twittermigrate #twitter #elon
Nov 18, 2022 at 6:04amMastodon for iOS
Show threadwilliam.maggosNov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz

why not this?

Show threadLevhita 🇲🇽🔨💻🐀Nov 18, 2022

@wjmaggos @taylorlorenz

"It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism"

Show threadKyle WilsonNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz 100% agreed. :(
Show threadBrian SnyderNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz do you really think twitter will go offline soon? And if so, do you think it will ever return?
Show threadJames WoglomNov 18, 2022

@bsniz @taylorlorenz with an incredibly insufficient number of engineers and infrastructure folks, the physical things which make up twitter dot com are likely to break ~soon. But exactly when that will be you can only guess.

All it could theoretically take is one normal-ish, run-of-the-mill failure to happen across a few machines and bad things will start happening. And even if Elon hires people to replace the engineers who left, they won’t know how the systems work or what needs fixing.

Show threadJames WoglomNov 18, 2022
@bsniz if something does break it can ~probably be eventually fixed even without enough engineers and/or passed-down knowledge from the people who built the systems in place, but at this point a multi-day twitter outage would probably kill the company entirely, anyway
Show threadDryer LintNov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz Bring more people here!

The FOSS aspects are better. Get the Twitter users over, and it will be similar. Who knows, maybe better.

Show threadTim Trautmann 📷Nov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz we felt sad when Usenet died. It's going to be fine. The internet has its ways.
Show threadEric G.Nov 18, 2022
@tim @taylorlorenz I'm still sad about Usenet! rec.aquaria, I hardly knew ye! 😎
Show threadJohn Skiles SkinnerNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz This is a new form of grief for our era, the first in which people have had the opportunity mourn the death of a social media platform. I didn't expect to feel it, but I do.
Show threadbcattNov 18, 2022
@skiles @taylorlorenz What is it you you’re feeling like is lost? I feel it too but I’m having a hard time nailing down why
Show threadJohn Skiles SkinnerNov 18, 2022
@bcatt @taylorlorenz
At it's best it was like a giant cocktail party that was always happening. There were so many fascinating characters with sparkling wit. You could go there and feel heard, and seen. Now they're tearing down the grand ballroom.
Show threadKit AdlingtonNov 18, 2022
@skiles @taylorlorenz guess you never used MySpace?
Show threadJohn Skiles SkinnerNov 18, 2022
@ILovePacMan @taylorlorenz
I didn't! But honestly I still feel the loss of Usenet newsgroups a bit
Show threadKit AdlingtonNov 18, 2022
@skiles @taylorlorenz I still miss Friends Reunited!
Show threadCPUManAZNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz you seem to be finding something. Plus there's lots of smart Devs out there and there's ad revenue with nowhere to spend.
Show threadSereno Casastorta Nov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz I'll do a hot take here:

You people should have never made Twitter even remotely as important and relevant culturally. I am lost as to why anyone sees that as some kind of public forum - it's a privately owned commercial platform.

I was also Twitter user almost whole of its existence, but mostly used it for sh*tposting and light trolling. Only the fact that bunch of k8s folks were there made it remotely useful.

Show threadL. Ron MuskNov 18, 2022
@casastorta @taylorlorenz your hot take is pretty bad. It’s widely used and disseminated a lot of valuable information. In many parts of the world it’s the only link to credible information. Why do you think the Saudis bailed out Musk? They are smart business men they know it’s not worth 44b. They do know it’s absence is worth 44 b.
Show threadRoss S  Nov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Hopefully Mastodon grows to fill that void over time.
Show threadBonnie EngleNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz flip the script, you never know with technology. Maybe something different even better comes along. I’m just not in your position so I maybe wrong and just trying to be optimistic.
Show threadRamontronNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz same. I joined in 2008 back when no one was on yet. It was kind of wild watching it grow from this niche site that internet nerds and weirdos used to something that nearly toppled democracy.
Show threadWillNov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz earthquake? open twitter. accident? open twitter. political news? open twitter.

it’s important. hopefully it can be recreated here or elsewhere. this seems a little more important than a myspace or a vine, so i’m hoping that’s the case.

Show threadPavol SalgariNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Elon just showed us that he is not the genius as every of his evangelist tried to make us believe. It much more seems like SpaceX and Tesla are not so successful thanks to him but rather despite of him.
Show threadAllison Chapman 🏳️‍⚧️Nov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz it won’t be fully gone but it won’t ever fully recover and be what it used to either. It’s the end of an age. Honestly see it as marking the end of social media in general as we know it
Show threadPeter SaulnierNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz is it bad I'm kind of glad in a way? Maybe we've been overly connected in a way that numbs us out to real connections? I've known a lot of people at this point who who effectively based their personality on internet culture. Aren't smaller communities where the real stuff happens?
Show threadAnagram ManNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz we'll get there, fast I'm guessing too. I think millions of people can build a better social network than Elon can.
Show threadAmy S ParkerNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Agree. I’ll forever hate Elon for doing this. But on the plus side: I’ll have a lot of time for doing other stuff now!! Silver linings! 🙃
Show threadRamsey HaddadNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz It is the last day of college. All your friends are going to different places scattered across the country. You hug them, take a final photo together. Your suitcases are almost packed but you don't feel like finishing it. "Remember that time when we..."
Show threadamyseekstruthNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz it’s a funeral there tonight
Show threadGroovy TasiaNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Twitter is the reason I was able to really force myself to be who I wanted to be. I will miss it, for all it's chaos, it brought some good things
Show threadMoliiiNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz yeah i'm in line with you
Show threadSam SokolNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz it’s incredibly depressing that this lunatic could take over such an important platform to our lives and destroy it in a fit of hubris
Show thread@PeasNov 18, 2022

@samuelsokol @taylorlorenz

last nite EM said Twitter was open sourced news…as he burns it down. 🥺

Show threadDomNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz hoping for the best on Twitter, personally twitter won’t be put to an end for a while but definitely good to have multiple media outlets
Show threadMichael BrownNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz you’re here though and we see you!
Show threadMediaBaronNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Twitter is like your favorite uncle showing up at Thanksgiving, and suddenly he can’t stop talking about some political or religious thing. You’re still connected but you sit across the room wondering if they will eventually come to their senses. You know it won’t happen soon but you hold out hope. #twitter #musked
Show threadLucy InghamNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz agreed, it is genuinely astonishing and heartbreaking to see something that has played such an important role be so callously trashed
Show threadJason SandersNov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz yeah, I’m grieving. Twitter showed me that there were other people out there interested in the weird stuff online. It’s been host to friendships and feuds and now all that’s gone.

I complained a lot about how shitty and toxic it was but I realize it was bc I care(d) about it and the people on it.

I feel like I’m saying goodbye because the place I knew doesn’t exist any more. And it won’t ever again. At least in the same way.

Show threadxendistarNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz It like watching a friend or relative with a terminal illness. You know what the outcome will be just not very pleasant watching it happen
Show threadYuri SagastumeNov 18, 2022
@xendistar @taylorlorenz I mean this site looks better already, I’m growing quite fond of it
Show threadWrenNov 18, 2022

@taylorlorenz
I have mixed emotions.

I’m angry on behalf of friends and family and all their colleagues who worked so hard to build the world’s largest social networking platform, only to have it blown-up by a Super Villain in one fell temper tantrum. Years of dedication disrespected and ridiculed. It’s infuriating.

I’m also sad because none of this had to happen. My heart especially goes out to H1B folks.The cruelty of it ALL is unconscionable.

Show threadhowdeeNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Maybe oneday #twitter will support decenterlized protocols. The reason why I'm leaving twitter is I don't want my privacy controlled by those big companies.
Show threadJames JennerNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz World's richest man buys social platform for billions so he can saboutage it, simply because it doesnt align with his own political leanings. Its like a cautionary tale. I bet his lenders are panicking right about now.
Show threadstevenfuzzNov 18, 2022
@jamesjenner @taylorlorenz I mean, if his lenders didn't see this coming...
Show threadRonnieWNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz it's changing. Into what it's too early to say. But even Musk wouldn't have stumped up the cash to buy Twitter to then destroy it
#Twitter
Show threadWendy for Human Rights 🇨🇦Nov 18, 2022
@RonnieW @taylorlorenz I disagree. I think that’s exactly what he did.
Show threadRonnieWNov 18, 2022
@AtlanticCanuck @taylorlorenz
Why? It makes no sense. He may well destroy it by trying to change it but his actions seem based more on his oversized ego then anything else
Show threadmuhua33Nov 18, 2022
@RonnieW @AtlanticCanuck @taylorlorenz I agree I think his trashing of Twitter is more from his hubris and buying into his own BS. I don’t think he did it on purpose. I think this is going to hurt him outside of Twitter. The curtain has been pulled back for all to see who Musk really is. I hoping the myth of musk can finally be laid to rest.
Show threadRonnieWNov 18, 2022
@muhua33 @AtlanticCanuck @taylorlorenz
Agree. Its unfortunate that he's taking those who work at Twitter down with him. Events over the 24 hours attest to that
Show threadWendy for Human Rights 🇨🇦Nov 18, 2022
@muhua33 @RonnieW @taylorlorenz Oh no. He’s become a hero of the white supremacist fascist patriarchy. Decent people will reject him but millions of people have no decency, as we discovered over the last 7 years.
Show threadmuhua33Nov 18, 2022
@AtlanticCanuck @RonnieW @taylorlorenz I’m hoping that goes away also but I doubt it will. Even looking the all the hero worshipping replies that follow his tweets, its easy to see he’s still got and will continue to have a large following just like trump still has. I’m more hoping not makes investors loose confidence so his public presence is greatly reduced because he’s no longer the CEO of anything.
Show threadWendy for Human Rights 🇨🇦Nov 18, 2022
@RonnieW @taylorlorenz He is a fascistic billionaire. His goal from the beginning was to turn it into a right-wing extremist hellscape, and if he couldn’t succeed at that, burn it to the ground. He knew it was reaching it’s potential for sharing information, and was banning hate speech at the same time. He knew it was a tool for fighting fascism, and if he couldn’t change that, he was more than willing to destroy it.
Show threadWendy for Human Rights 🇨🇦Nov 18, 2022
@RonnieW @taylorlorenz It makes no sense to sensible people. It makes perfect sense to sociopathic billionaires with fragile egos.
Show threadHalie LorenNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz me too. Sad, and stressed out while scurrying through my Twitter timeline to check for Mastodon handles, Instagram @‘s, or any other ways to follow everyone I can… this is all so surreal.
Show threadOmeletTheDanishNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Usenet. Prodigy. CompuServe. AOL. Yahoo Groups. MySpace. Facebook. Twitter. The arc of technology is long, but it bends toward something something techy.
Show threadspellweaverNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz Twitter going down is a huge step forward to getting back to public sanity. It's become ridiculous how politician twitter their personal opinions as if they were the law, bots influencing public (and politicians') opinions. Twitter, Youtube, facebook becoming the ministry of truth, curating and censoring at the will of the rich & powerful. Welcome to 1984. Twitter going down is at least a small step in the right direction. Moving towards decentralization the next.
Show threadPatrickNov 18, 2022
@spellweaver @taylorlorenz yes and no. I remember when curated web service was a thing.
Show threadspellweaverNov 18, 2022
@patrick @taylorlorenz Right. And nowadays they are used to create binary narratives and push political agendas.
Show threadJohn LuskNov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz
I think we're gonna try.
Show threadMasa 🙇🏻‍♂️Nov 18, 2022
@taylorlorenz just remember that people have effectively used the Internet to communicate for decades before and during the existence of Twitter. It's just one channel.