Lauren Weinstein
One gets the feeling that all these limits Musk is suddenly throwing on #Twitter have a lot less to do with data scraping per se and much more to do with trying to run the entire operation on a dozen Raspberry Pis to save money.
Jul 1, 2023 at 5:20pmWeb
Show threadC.Jul 1, 2023

@lauren

Pi's have been stupidly-expensive [1] since before he bought Twitter.

It's probably a #rack full of Timex-Sinclair ZX81's. [2]

[1] Compared to before the pandemic.

[2] That'd be the #Sinclair Research #ZX81 for those outside N.A.

Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 1, 2023
@cazabon Replace those pricey fiber lines with 103 dialup modems.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 1, 2023
@cazabon I think they're starting to come down now, by the way.
Show threadC.Jul 1, 2023

@lauren

They're lower than six months ago, but (at least here) still twice the "regular" price before the pandemic.

At least you can actually find them in stock occasionally now.

Show threadDan SugalskiJul 1, 2023
@lauren I suspect he’s seeing the huge amount of traffic hitting Twitter and badly misdiagnosing what’s going on. (They have apparently rolled out a very bad release and are DDOSing themselves, according to some folks who are watching their browser devtools and laughing)
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 1, 2023
@wordshaper Oh, I'm not kidding about it being an excuse. I don't for a minute buy his "hundreds of AI companies are suddenly scraping us blind!" claim. On the other hand, as you know, I am very concerned about the unfettered use of website data for GAI without much or anything being given in return.
Show threadDan SugalskiJul 1, 2023
@lauren it is certainly true that multiple stupid things can be happening simultaneously :)
Show threadCheshire FātōrumJul 1, 2023

@wordshaper
@lauren
From what I've read, the rate limit is actually *causing* the self-DDoS.

Even if you just keep the home page open, it keeps requesting new tweets, which are never send because you're rate limited, so your browser tries again… and again… and again…

Also, he apparently didn't renew a contract with Google for cloud servers for July, so that was probably the original reason for the rate limits - no Google cloud backend to carry the load any more.

Show threadDan SugalskiJul 1, 2023
@Cheshire @lauren I think Twitter self-hosts, so not paying their Google cloud bill is unlikely to take the site down. Though Elon is a Galaxy Brain so who knows?
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 2, 2023
@wordshaper @Cheshire My understanding is that several years ago significant portions of the Twitter infrastructure were moved to GCP, and that indeed the bill was unpaid, was recently paid, and that after that it's been claimed that G and Twitter were in "discussions" of more joint activities.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 2, 2023
@wordshaper @Cheshire https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/data-analytics/how-twitter-modernized-its-data-processing-with-google-cloud
Twitter modernized its approach to data processing using Google Cloud services like Big Query. | Google Cloud Blog

Twitter transformed its approach to data processing using Google Cloud services. In this blog, Pradip Thachile, cloud adoption lead at Twitter, shares how BigQuery and Dataflow helped the team modernize the way they process data, uncover insights, and develop offerings that delight advertisers and customers.

Google Cloud Blog
Show threadCysio ​Jul 1, 2023
@lauren listening to the Behind the Bastards episode on his shenanigans, I'm just completely and fully convinced that he bought Twitter specifically so that he can destroy it, causing as much collateral damage as he can in the process.
Show threadPeter HicksJul 1, 2023
@lauren Are you suggesting he's taking the pi-ss?
Show threadArturo R. GarciaJul 1, 2023
@lauren Fwiw I've seen people come to the conclusion that Twitter's behind on cloud service payments so that's why they're reducing usage
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJul 1, 2023
@aboynamedart Supposedly they finally caught up with their GCP payments.
Show threadmaxsec-2022Jul 1, 2023
@lauren or they've sacked all the engineers so can't cope with the shoddy abuse they've opened themselves up to
Show threadRick MycroftJul 1, 2023

@lauren I run my fediverse instance on one RPi3.

His goblins just have to nerd harder.

Show threadMark HughesJul 1, 2023
@lauren I suspect that the issues are not separate. See my last toot.
Show threadMartin HamiltonJul 1, 2023
@lauren Finally, the great Raspberry Pi shortage explained!
Show threadDavid CohenJul 1, 2023
@lauren @ianbetteridge I think he saw the mess over at Reddit and felt that his “King of Crazy Techbros” crown was under threat, so he had to move the needle
Show threadMattJul 1, 2023
@lauren I just went to Twitter for the first time in a long while to post this pic comment on every tweet complaining about this
Show threadStarry DynamoJul 1, 2023
@lauren If the real goal was to get rid of these bots (it's not), rate-limiting is a well-known method. Musk is known to have been a massive user of bots for many years.
Show threadTripl3_PointJul 1, 2023
@lauren where the hell would he find that many Pi’s!?
Show threadKris SamselJul 1, 2023
@lauren Hey?…👍🏼🚫🤡
Show threadDavid W. JonesJul 1, 2023
@lauren Have you priced a Raspberry Pi lately? Twitter can't afford them!
Show threadLisa Mann - White CroneJul 1, 2023

@lauren

A billionaire who can't pay his bills...

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/twitter-fails-to-pay-bills-due-to-oracle-for-months-report/

Twitter fails to pay bills due to Oracle for months – report

Musk takes on his friend Larry Ellison, who owns a stake in the social media firm

Show threadVasya SovariJul 2, 2023

@lisamann @lauren Musk has very little actual spendable cash. The overwhelming majority of his ‘value’ is grossly over-leveraged stock that he can’t sell cos the value would immediately collapse, *and* lose him control over ‘his’ companies.

It’s an ongoing source of deep puzzlement that people don’t understand this. He isn’t remotely close to being the ‘worlds richest man’ - that’s painfully lazy reporting.

Show threadNorman WilsonJul 1, 2023
@lauren I thought he'd invented his own, called the Tant Pis.
Show threadQ.H. StoneJul 1, 2023
@lauren Is that why all the Pis are sold out?
Show threadJeff BambergerJul 2, 2023
@lauren @5ciFiGirl I also really wonder and hope someone can say what constitutes “reading” a tweet? Scrolling past or clicking in? Either way, so silly. So happy to be here in the Fediverse.
Show threadSci-Fi GirlJul 2, 2023

@robspodcastmug @lauren

I suspect it's just scrolling? So dumb! 🙀 🙄

It is almost certainly just because stuff broke at months end! 😜

Show threadJeff BambergerJul 2, 2023
@5ciFiGirl @lauren so dumb
Show threadMike KnellJul 2, 2023
@lauren Raspberry Pi 2B, I presume? Maybe the problem is that he can’t get hold of more Pi 4s.