It's instructive to contrast what other billionaires did with media properties they owned:<p>- Jeff Bezos personally bought Washington Post but he left it alone and let the editors run it. What Jeff did do was invest some money into the IT department to modernize the workflow tools (metrics dashboards, etc) for journalists. He stayed out of the decisions of what stories get run on the front page.<p>- Rupert Murdoch owns Wall Street Journal but when Elizabeth Holmes asked him to squash negative stories about Theranos, he refused and stayed out of it. He let his editors run the stories even though it embarrassed him because he was a big investor.<p>Both those guys are more detached from those media outlets and don't meddle in it day to day.<p>What tech people like Paul Graham and others were hoping was for Elon to apply his <i>scientific first principles</i> type of thinking that he demonstrated previously at SpaceX+Tesla to Twitter. E.g. Tesla A.I. competency to clean up the bots and make the platform better.<p>Instead, Elon let the Twitter monster abuse his ego and his reputation as a savior is ruined.<p>Best thing Elon should have done was to focus only on the technical aspects of Twitter and let some more level-headed less-emotional people manage the editorial aspects.<p>Hopefully, Elon notices that we don't have endless HN and reddit front page articles about Rupert Murdoch's jet.
I would love Elon Musk to stay.<p>So he can accomplish his mission of destroying Twitter for good, take down BlueSky and all the associated crypto crapware with it, and take down his own other businesses in the process.<p>Two birds with one stone:<p>1. The whole idea of social media owned by large private companies that make money out of ads and surveillance will get a big hit, and open ActivityPub-based social media can fill the void left by Twitter (like it should have happened already a decade ago). If only Zuckerberg could also make the same embarrassing mistakes that Musk is making...<p>2. This arrogant buffoon whose only talent is to exploit people will get out of the way for a while.<p>So go Elon. Hold on and stay on the sinking ship like a good captain. I'm enjoying both the show and the popcorn.
I think he only posts polls when he believes he knows the outcome already. Yesterday he posted a poll about unsuspending the journalist accounts and when the outcome wasn't what he wanted instead of following the majority vote he posted it again with different options (with the same result, which he did abide by the second time).<p>I think this indicates he's tired of Twitter already. But he still owns it, so who will he put in his place? Or maybe he is expecting a landslide "no" result?
Elon Musk posted "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" on 19 Oct and 19 Nov.<p>Today is 19 Dec, and in 12 hours he'll post again that the people have spoken. He's playing some sort of game.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1582778449583693836" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1582778449583693836</a><p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593769469741932544" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593769469741932544</a>
He's realised it's not in his best interests to be there, but can't mentally tolerate the idea of supporters thinking he's quitting or there against his will. Which is why I think he frames these decisions as a vote. If the vote doesn't go the way he wants, he'll try it again later, come up with another reason or whatever. It's easier to ascribe blame for something that goes wrong if it was a popular vote rather than a personal decision.<p>I suspect his personality means that he gets a lot of satisfaction from fawning fans, but at some point the reality hits of the Twitter saga's impact on Tesla and more. Like he's trying to kick some sort of addiction.
The fact that he can’t lead without doing these idiotic polls shows that he’s not fit to lead twitter.<p>The whole point of being an exec is that you make the big difficult decisions, not defer them to a mass of people who couldn’t possibly understand the nuance of any one decision.
Can you even turn Twitter around at all, even if he steps down and finds a replacement?<p>It was burning money before Elon, after buyout it is technically in even bigger loss. Advertisers and many influencers have basically fled from it. Politicians are also looking into regulating or outright ban it due to recent headlines of suspending journalists and more.<p>I still can't help but think that 40+ billion dollars probably could of built a twitter competitor with cleaner sheets and hopefully with better quality from lessons learned of previous social networks.
Now that the poll is leaning toward "yes", Elon is adding conditions, namely, you have to invest your life savings. Lex Fridman volunteered to do it for free, and Elon replied:<p>> One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604626103326253056" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604626103326253056</a>
Am I cynical in thinking that if you vote yes, it’s a permanent record on your Twitter account, which he can then use later to mete out anti-musk retaliation punishments?<p>I mean, it’s not like he’s used the platform to do punish anyone who opposes him or his views before.<p>Maybe I’m reading by too much into it.
If this is originating from Qatar, I would speculate this poll is the result of a bet. The Emir, or another royal family member offers to make Elon whole on his $40B investment if he is willing to put his future in the hands of his users/subjects. If Elon wins, the Emir pays out, maybe for a small equity stake, and if Elon loses, the Emir gets to pick the new CEO of Twitter, and probably buys a significant equity stake.<p>Entirely speculative, but in terms of what could make this poll a rational choice right now, that's the only rational one I could think up in the moment. Maybe I'm absurdly wrong, but it's more interesting to treat people as rational and intelligent than as cartoon villans.
For people sick of this shit I recommend changing the hacker news link to this<p><a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=last24h&page=0&prefix=false&query=-twitter%20-musk&sort=byPopularity&type=story" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=last24h&page=0&prefix=fals...</a>
Let me just point out the obvious, as it seems to be completely escaping many people on here. Now that Musk owns Twitter, he can make the results of this poll anything he wants them to be.
Here is where I'm confused. A couple of months ago Elon stated that the network was lousy with bots. Now we are taking polls. Polls that presumably have real results for the network. But it seems to me we need some evidence and some trust built to take these polls seriously. Am I crazy? where is the flaw in my thinking here?
After stepping down as CEO, he should sell the company (even if it means accepting a heavy loss), then delete his Twitter account, then hire an image consultant to try and repair the damage done to his personal brand.<p>To see how far he has fallen, watch this emotion-filled video [1] as a reminder of what a nice guy he used to be. After he became the richest man in the world it is as if he flipped the "evil bit" of his personality. Time to flip that bit again.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOMcCNNdSl0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOMcCNNdSl0</a>
Let's not forget that it's 3 in the morning Qatar time after an insane World Cup that Elon was live tweeting from the stands.<p>Definitely adds some flavor to this!
Damn, I just tried to create a twitter account just to say 'no' so I can settle down with some popcorn and watch the world burn. My signup failed with an error, I guess they must have sacked the poor admins responsible for signups :(
I voted No because this is the most interesting content to come out of Twitter in years and the spice must flow.<p>It would've been fine if he published planned policy changes and asked the community for feedback before putting it in place. But actually making random policy changes and then rolling it back hours later is such bad form. The latest policy changes were so half-assed and dumb that it makes me wonder what's going through his head. Doesn't he have anyone helping to bounce ideas around?<p>If he steps down, who do you think he'll chose as his successor?
Can we <i>please</i> stop falling for this obvious tactic? How many days in a row does he have to do something seemingly-unhinged, and then follow it with some spectacle of a poll to shift the narrative? Is it <i>really that easy</i>?
I think if the poll says 'yes' and he does truly abide by it, I think it will show some honesty around the whole 'public town square' and 'for the people' rhetoric he has espoused. I'd be quite impressed.<p>However, he has a history of noble intents on Twitter (eg the 'end world hunger' thing) followed by lack of follow-through, so I can imagine a scenario where the poll comes out 'yes' and he doesn't abide by the results by calling foul play somewhere (bot accounts, multiple user accounts etc.)
Am I the only one who doesn’t know Paul Graham is today, cause everyone is talking about him as if they personally know the guy. Is he particularly famous or something?<p>And I bet Elon Musk is praying people vote for him to step down. So if you can, vote for him to stay as head. It’s not everyday you see 40-odd billion dollars as well as Tesla stocks plumetting - it’s quite fascinating so little it seems to bother him.<p>But in all fairness, I think it would be better for his mental health if he gave social media a break for a while!
Just when you think it can't get any crazier, it does.<p>Going to be interesting to see what this does to the price of TSLA stock when the market opens on Monday
> Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.<p>Does he mean a twitter poll?<p><a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604616863673208832" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604616863673208832</a>
He really needs to get out of there and back to work at Tesla. Nobody's driving over there, the stock is tanking, and all the other auto manufacturers now have electric car lines.<p>Usually, CEO contracts have a clause that the person will devote substantially all of their work time to the business. Not spending time on side projects.
This is gaslighting from Elon. He posts shambolic polls to remove responsibility for his intent if the decision backfires. Remember the “Should I sell TSLA shares” poll? Turns out it was already done.<p>The plan is damage control to save Tesla’s spiral. Investors are clamoring the board to do something.
I put zero stock in this. He's on a continuum, capricious to liar. I would not be surprised if the poll goes against him, he orders a minion to fake votes in his favor. I also wouldn't be surprised if people who vote against him get banned. <i>shrug</i> It's his fief.
If he steps down <i>now</i> his sycophants will just be able to claim that as the cause for the company further collapsing after he leaves, and not the braindead management decisions he's been making up to this point.
Violating competition law with their new "no mention of competition" policy was a really dumb move.<p>Does Elon Musk always do such stuff without consulting with anyone who can tell him it's a legal disaster?
The guy has become polarizing even to those who don't give a damn about Twitter but share his ideas on other things.
So, what if the the purpose is to attract on Twitter those supporters of him who still don't have an account there, so that essentially he'll build a monocultural echo chamber ready to be used for politics when time comes?<p>"Hey, everyone sign up on Twitter right now! Elon is having a poll to decide if he should resign from head of Twitter!"
I would not be surprised if he snaps like Howard Hugues.<p>He should never have spent so much time on Twitter, the interactions with his fans and his haters are not good for his mental health.
Elon owning Twitter is the most public accountability Twitter has ever had. Him owning Twitter, the way he's currently operating, will force a critical eye toward a lot of bad behaviors that we all experience but nobody really talks about on every network.<p>I say bravo. Twitter is dead. Long live Twitter.
Twitter and Facebook could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't care at all. Folks should rediscover the personal empowerment of blogging, and the joys of the early days of the 'net when the power was much more widely distributed. When Twitter came out it was called microblogging for a reason. I never really got Twitter and always considered myself to be a doof as a result, but maybe there's something to it. Decentralized blogging and microblogging is where it's been and is at if you want to own your own voice. Of course it's not the same megaphone as these concentrated centers of media power are, but then again, you trade off control for amplification. Those two things should be loosely coupled.
The phrasing of this is... weird. What does it mean to "step down as head of Twitter?" Is he going to sell the company? Is he going to hire someone else as CEO to make decisions?<p>What are people actually voting on here... it feels simultaneously obvious, and completely unclear to me.
Yes. Please. Build starships. Build Teslas.<p>We just had a quarter of a trillion dollars of federal spending earmarked for the EV supply chain; why are you calling retiring politicians’ spouses pedos and giving Kanye West life advice when you could be corralling all of that.<p>Elon, please come home.
Watching Twitter has been like watching a country get taken over by a dictator. You insult me? Ban. You track my personal movements (jet)? Ban. Share better alternatives? Ban. New horrible law here, new horrible law there, I don't like this so it's now law. At least it's not a country and just a useless sandbox, but it's surreal to watch the despot simulator live.<p>If I vote yes, do I get banned later? Is he going to leave and then blame/rewrite history to make it looks like the new leader is at fault? I'm afraid to post anything to the platform for fear of losing my account and premium handle to a ban from an insane leader.
He cleared out all the non-believers, leaving just those who want to stay for the cult of personality. What happens the the personality is gone?<p>The last few months _have_ to pop the bubble that Elon is a master of anything other that self-promotion.
I’m indifferent as to his position at Twitter, so could have voted no without internal conflict.<p>However, I voted yes because I want to see if he’ll honour his word, it’s more that yes is the active choice rather than any comment on his leadership.
Heads I win, tails you lose.<p>If the poll result says he should step down, he'll say "I'll be stepping down once I've found a suitable replacement" - which is exactly the same sort of thing he's been saying since the acquisition [0]<p>It sure generates massive amounts of publicity for Twitter and Musk though.<p>0: <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593084628709314560" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593084628709314560</a>
It occurs to me that voting the "wrong" way (or maybe even commenting here on HN) might lead to getting booted. Despite all the nonsense, I've continued to derive value from twitter, by:<p>- following accounts that share interesting things<p>- refusing to engage in arguments<p>- choosing "Not interested in this ad" for every ad<p>- avoiding "doom-scrolling"<p>I'd be sad to lose my account, given I don't have a way to recreate the "feed" of my curated following list, let alone easily interact w/ those people.
<a href="https://twitter.com/AlexCoventry4/status/1604638025497157632" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/AlexCoventry4/status/1604638025497157632</a><p>> The only way this makes sense is if you sell it to someone with the taste, restraint and democratic values you've proven yourself to lack by your recent policy changes. As long as you own it, twitter is untrustworthy as a platform for public discourse.
Pull the plug Elon, just shut it down and write it off and get back to meaningful work. Please turn it off, it would be the best thing you’ve ever done for humanity.
Oh goddamnit. I was starting to get hopeful that twitter would actually fucking die, if he isn't in charge it will probably be someone less absolutely insane
I am getting bored of this childish man needing to be top of the news 24/7/366. Seriously a 1:1 copy of Trump in terms of narcissistic behaviour.
Elon might be playing a very simple game.<p>Does this action cause outrage? Shock? Yes? Send it.<p>Is it a coincidence that this is an avenue for revenue for Twitter? Maybe.
Have you ever felt like there's a trap surrounding that oh-so-desirable "i can vote on a Twitter poll to make Twitter's private owner Elon Musk lose influence over Twitter" bait?<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/sZGTW2H.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/sZGTW2H.png</a>
I find myself in the unusual position of not having an opinion on this question (and thus I have not voted). I'm neither an Elon hater nor an Elon lover. I think he's done some good things since taking over twitter and some dubious things. I do think he's been unwise to involve himself so directly in 'moderation'.
"oh yeah, I have plenty else going on. I'm the head of other innovative companies. I don't need this crap over at twitter."<p>At this point, twitter's goal (whether headed by Elon or someone else) should be to join the fediverse, and be accepted by other large instances for federation with them.
Controversial leader, a vote that isn’t anonymous, and the Twitter privacy policy (<a href="https://twitter.com/en/privacy" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/en/privacy</a>) doesn’t mention the word “vote”.<p>I don’t think this is the way to gauge public opinion.
Honestly I'd be disappointed if he stepped down. Watching this slow motion train wreck has been more entertaining than anything on Netflix. Cutting his losses and running would be like canceling the third season of some particularly compelling garbage drama show.
I don't think he can quit. What does it say about you if you behave this way then flake out. People are going to start looking at Tesla and SpaceX and thinking, Jeez will this guy continue to deliver into the future. Elon is starting to become a risk, generally.
Excellent, that way either one of two things happens: Twitter gets saved and Elon looks like a genius or Twitter goes down and someone else takes the blame. Is MM looking for a job? This seems to be ideal.<p>For those tempted to vote 'yes': Elon can see your votes.
Oh yes, please. The past weekend seems to have firmly cemented the idea he shouldn’t be running it, as well as burning down any bridges he still might have left regarding trust.<p>I have never seen such a spectacular use of a footgun.
A lot of the changes he wants to make will upset a lot of users and advertisers. Better that hate it targeted at a puppet err CEO than himself. This is his version of bullet time.
In the six weeks he's been CEO, he totally gutted Twitter, and chased away who knows how many advertisers.<p>There's no reasonable way to right that ship.<p>I think he knows he's on the Titanic. I think he's looking for a pretense to get out, to stop this from taking TSLA down with it even further. TSLA is down -50% in three months, whereas the S&P500 is flat.
I'm a little stunned that there's a non-zero number of people in this thread who actually consider the possibility that this poll isn't rigged (or riggable).
A true display of acumen in how to make business decisions… (y)<p>Corollary: from the beginning, popularity is driving the Twitter venture rather than anything else.
I'm sorry, can someone with serious business acumen please eli5:<p>What is it again CEOs do? Because I thought they got paid the big bucks to <i>make decisions.</i><p>/s
OK, fine, I'll do it.<p>I've been discussing Twitter for a very long time at newslettr.com . If you want to go down that rabbit hole, beware.
Honestly, I think that being Twitter CEO could really be what Lex Friedman was put on Earth to do.<p><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1604627087385661440" rel="nofollow">https://mobile.twitter.com/lexfridman/status/160462708738566...</a>
In one hand, he is horrible at it. On the same hand, he should pay more attention to SpaceX and rest.
On the other hand, a world with Musk is better than one without.
I'm expecting one of the following:<p>(A) A sudden last minute huge influx of "No" votes. Either caused by bots or by Musk putting his finger on the scale. (Yes, I think this voting will be rigged.)<p>(B) He already has someone in mind for running Twitter. That person will be as bad or worse than he is. (What's DJTJ doing these days?)<p>(C) He will claim that 'liberals' and 'bots' forced a "Yes", so he'll remove those votes.
Hopefully if he steps down he does not change the mandate to continue to allow journalists access to expose the conspiracy with the government to spread misinformation and censor critics.
Can anyone explain me one thing? Is it some kind of special American sickness to place 51% on top of the 49% continuously? It's obvious to me that this is SEPARATION, and it leads to nowhere but a split. Every poll like this, it is a rocket strike to the commUNITY, essentially splitting it in half, forget about the unity. How come in thew modern world 51% prevail over 49%? How come it is a golden standard in a modern world to decide something by segregating people into Option A supporters and Option B supporters?
Every day I mourn a little bit more the timeline where Twitter really does turn into 8chan.<p>Elon could have done it. It would have been stupid and glorious.<p>People keep on clutching pearls, saying you need moderation. You don't need more than what's legal, many websites are doing fine being wild jungles. Arguably, more than fine if you count creativity.<p>Really the only downside is that the advertisers and uninteresting people would fuck off. Neither would have mattered if instead of this pay for blue system they started charging accounts depending on how many followers they have.
I do wonder if Elon has some ulterior, smarter motive, and his antics are just for show.<p>Like for instance, convincing people to move to Mastodon (a decentralized service) so that it becomes mainstream and censorship becomes harder.<p>Also that, words are cheap, so what Elon is doing isn't catapulting his net worth and reputation <i>that</i> much. The concrete actions he took (50% layoffs, Twitter Blue, suspending journalists but then unsuspending them) aren't too unhinged.<p>That being said, it's common to form long-winded conspiracies around the obvious truth. Extreme wealth, extreme recognition, and an army of yes-men have a really strong influence, maybe Elon is becoming insane.
I voted no, because, well the world will be more interesting if he's at the helm of Twitter. Also it's good to have one more media outlet run by a right leaving individual in a world where most lean left. Maybe he's the chosen one who will bring balance to the force. Hopefully not by killing off the Jedi first.<p>He's losing the poll, and I don't actually think he'll abide by the results. But then he seems kind of unhinged lately, so what do I know.