“To the extent that people remain active on Twitter, they preserve the viability of Musk’s gambit. The illusory sense of community that still lingers on the platform is one of Musk’s most significant assets. No matter which side prevails, the true victor in any war is the person selling weapons to both sides.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-i-quit-elon-musks-twitter

Why I Quit Elon Musk’s Twitter

Jelani Cobb writes about his recent decision to quit Elon Musk’s Twitter, a social-media platform that once represented the new frontier of digital democracy.

The New Yorker
@Jelaniya @Chanders I think this will be a core issue in the coming weeks. The migration is happening. The first transaction costs were met by many. But going full in and leaving twitter feels like a risk and potentially a real loss to many who spent time building a community. The long game is the real challenge.
@claesdevreese @Chanders Yeah but it’s like a rental community. The emotional attachment to the place may be significant but you’re really subject to the prerogatives of the landlord. In this case the new landlord is a real genital. Eventually the place will get so run down you’ll have to move on.
@Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders And if it doesn't fall apart? We need a game plan for if it succeeds, grows, and many ordinary people now find it easier or better to use without the crabby, vindictive, identity-driven left on it, you know? I would be careful how you play this. Of course if you want it to be part of a growing civil war, understood, just be clear about where the front line is and whose lives will be sacrificed.
@prokofy @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders it’s owned by Musk and priced out of anyone else ever taking over. His intentions are very very clear
@Chimaera @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders The question is whether he deliberately breaks it utterly so that it is entirely destroyed as an organizer around everything from unions to the war in Ukraine - but useless even to follow Eurovision or NYC subway stalls while AI takes over -- or instead to bang it to shake out the leftists along with the bots and use it as a political organizing tool for the GOP to prevail. EG define break and takeover. His intentions are manifest yet not known.
@prokofy @Chimaera Already I can’t search for news on the sick vulture without the results being overrun with neo-Nazis and genocide apologists and people cheering war crimes. The date Twitter became unusable has in my view already arrived. @Jelaniya @claesdevreese @Chanders
@Sea_Dragons Yes, I realize. My TL goes like this now: [SL thing] [Other SL thing] [AI thing] [tech thing] [My friend John's backyard] and then all of a sudden: DOES YOUR SPAGHETTI HAVE PLUTONIUM IN IT?! and FOLLOW ME I'M A ORBAN GROUPIE. So I get it. I didn't follow these people. They just appeared out of nowhere. I think the breakage method is to inject streams of this into people's regular TLs so they go wild. I block a bit of it, or just log off. The vulture has me blocked on one acct, helps
@prokofy Since confronting bullshit at the sick vulture causes the bullshit to be boosted: "engagement" drives up visibility under the algorithm, which values volume over melody. It's no wonder the result is the promotion of outrageous and offensive content. It's just diametrically opposed to the interests of those who want information and to connect to people interested in exchanging facts.
@Sea_Dragons I think there are times, places, and manners when you should confront the bullshit and other times it is counterproductive. Can you really change the nature of a machine with all its complex parts so quickly? I guess you can.