@Gargron because most users have a curated feed they've spent years you can still go there and not see all the worst garbage, so I think until he does something insanely dumb like make it paid access people will still maintain accounts there. At least until bluesky gets video and dms.

@Gargron Too many websites have the dead bird link on them to change quickly.

@Gargron Are there any recent numbers for Twitter's, or X's, current user base? It seems to have lost some cultural cashe. Maybe that's just from my POV.

@Gargron "As they say, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

At this point, wouldn't the market remaining irrational be the only hope for the bird place staying solvent?

@Gargron WHERE TF ARE THESE DEVELOPERS. FUCK ELON.

THIS IS THE CHEAPEST MOVES IVE EVER SEEN MADE BY BIG TECH

@Gargron Heh #Twitter = #Parler nice burn coming from Masto creator 🤣

@Gargron dude people were still using lastpass after 3 public hacks and leaks. So my faith in Twitter going down is minimal.

@Gargron I can see people are unwilling to leave that other site because they have such a large reach. Most everyone I follow there are climate scientists of which a few created accounts here but then abandoned them. I don't think they will jump ship over there until they can reach as many here.

@Gargron It’s actually evolving into Grindr for nazis

@Gargron #Threads is trending as a response to #ElonMusk hinting that #X will become a premium site.

I believe #Musk will do this around the same time he ditches the #Twitter domain for https://x.com (currently the latter redirects to Twitter).

My prediction: tens of millions (re)join Threads, & millions of others choose #Mastodon, #Misskey & #Pleroma.

Under #Elon, X becomes a smaller, profitable, conservative social hub for the world, catering mostly to politics.

@Gargron There is no alternative for the normal user. Mastodon? No. Bluesky? Too small, too uninteresting. Maybe when threads from Facebook arrive in Europe, but only maybe.

@Gargron well, nobody in your replies told you: that was misinformation based on a bad faith interpretation of something Elon said in an interview https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1703852502888644676

@Gargron WhatsApp just launched channels. And I'm already seeing some influential folks migrate from Twitter to WhatsApp.

@Gargron Something tells me he just wants a private club. The ability to manipulate markets and politics is what he is after. Power hungry. Large ego. I could be wrong, but what he has done makes no sense to the majority.

@Gargron There are similar comparisons in different areas. Sometimes makes you feel your optimism fools you.

@Gargron Also, he's lost a shit ton of advertising revenue. That's what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you.

@Gargron I think calling the market "irrational" is not the solution; I genuinely think this is how just the market for social media works

@Gargron Honestly, anyone still on Twitter at this point likes the shit they’re swimming in, so I don’t see it changing much.

@Gargron Who knows… I certainly won‘t pay but that will also mean that I‘ll lose some longtime twitter friends who just aren‘t capable to move to other platforms for various reasons. DMs and group chats via DM have been an integral part of my twitter experience. That cannot be replaced unfortunately.

@Gargron Is Unity holding his beer?

@Gargron It probably is, I have some data that suggests the network externalities of X have already started to unravel

A platform this big doesn’t collapse overnight. Even if its network externalities unravel catastrophically, it would still take a bit of time (a few months maybe?).

In my opinion, the data is consistent with what they would be if X were unraveling

@Gargron Speaking of solvency, maybe you're not the right venue for this but can you about imagine you're cremated, ashes in a balloon like a gender reveal. but also in your balloon are countless 'minis' of messages in bottles, if you will, for the alcoholic now afloat. okay but so you're ashes. minis of messages. and helium. so you're set out upon the sea to see. i fword love that right there, gus. Thanks for the prompt. <3 Messages to find. Later.

@Gargron
And Elon is one of the most unreliable announcers in CEO history.

Remember the experts panel that should've decided Trump's re-activation?

And how much he hates ads? Months later he hires a CEO whose one and only expertise is selling ads.

@Gargron Many users are deeply attached to their community and follower count. For them, size matters more than content, and they'd even pay to maintain their position as "influencers" of varying degrees, or to keep interacting with such influencers. No matter how irrational it may seem, many follow the herd, viewing determination and irrationality as signs of strength.

@Gargron

Too many people do not give a damn about the fascist owner as long as their own narcissism is catered, finding all kinds of excuses.

Doesn't bode well for the fight against fascism no matter where.

@Gargron with his ad revenue down, if he wants to claw back some of the money he's spent, he's going to have to do something like this. It's going to come down to the implementation. In my view he'd be better to apply a throttle, say 10/20/30 free messages or replies per day, and pay $1 for each thereafter. That may then catch commercial operators.

@Gargron

New start up from Ukraine
https://mastodon.social/@RHCVarenyks/111058773319061694

Author: @RHCVarenyks

@Gargron Algunos rondamos ya casi los 200€ por la línea de Internet, hacer pagar a la gente que crea su propio contenido es un robo. Ayer elimine mi cuenta de X. Es el clavo y al fondo del mar.

@Gargron you should have Mastodon say something funny abt it on X again

@Gargron

It is almost a year since X is under new RWNJ management.

If they didn't leave by now, with the horrific things we've read about Elmo and his actions, then they will gladly continue to support him for a few bucks a month.

@Gargron are they making people pay 13 years of my lifes work on refugees and war zone monitoring is over i got banned for having the same conversations i had for 13 years about the value of human life sadest thing every record wiped away

@Gargron I left twitter to join mastodon yesterday because there's no way I'd pay to be on social media. Elon is delusional.

@Gargron I understand your frustration with X’s decision to charge all users for accessing the platform. You may feel that this is unfair and limits your freedom of expression.

@Gargron if there's a view for messages from a list of users that I can create, and share for others to follow, I can get the best benefit of Twitter over here itself.

@Gargron the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent, is a great saying. I'm going to start saying it more often.

@Gargron at this point it isn't a nail in the coffin anymore it's sealing the coffin shut, cementing it, and mummifying it

@Gargron To be fair, though, it's two very different "final nails" - one is about content, the other is about people's wallets. It's one thing to accept rubbing butts with literal nazis & people are apparently willing to bear the social & conscience costs for it - but it's another entirely when doing so costs actual money that you have to work to earn...

@Gargron There was a time when I would agree about being the nail in the coffin, but now I am not so sure. Subscription is around the cost of video streaming subscription...not like to break the bank for fans.

@Gargron Personally, I'd like to go back to a world where when someone says "I'm on X," the proper response is to hand them some water and see if they know where to get some shrooms.

@Gargron

"Would you have been a resister in Germany or France during WW2?"

"What are you doing on or about Twitter? Are you still on it? We you permanently banned? Yeah you wouldnt have done shit"

@Gargron
It does make me wonder how this, specifically, would precipitate quitting…what sort of people would be like “I can tolerate sharing this platform with Nazis, but I draw the line at paying a buck a month”?

@Gargron well, if you want to get banned from Twitter, better do it now. I suggest @-ing Elon Musk repeatedly with what you really think about him.

@Gargron about half the people I used to follow on twitter don’t want to move to mastodon, and I can’t stand being on an algorithmic platform like threads. Some corners of twitter are still great and probably will be until the service completely implodes.

@Gargron this mixed with being unable to block people I think will be the end of the whole thing. It's crazy people can watch what Musk is doing and then still say he's smart with a straight face.

@Gargron
#EvilElon will keep his new toy afloat until he gets bored with it, or after the next American Presidential Election whichever comes last.

@Gargron

@Gargron
No one said people on Twitter are rational and sane people. Also, recent history shows conservatives on Twitter are neither intelligent nor sane considering their party's hero gets more popular as he collects more criminal charges and indictments.

@Gargron it’s the hassle of moving that’s kept it going so far. Charging will kill it, but which rival service will take the crown, as Highlander said there can be only one!

@Gargron I think until BlueSky is open access, Twixxer will still be able to get away with things like user fees. Mastodon is just not “mass” user friendly yet.

@Gargron done with X, I'm on Mastadon now with my little gaggle of 42 followers but I feel much cleaner and no nagging feeling to shower or wash my hands after posting

@Gargron #Twitter :birdsite: is now #Xitter 🚽, a 'pay toilet' to be precise. Seems legit 🤷‍♂️

@Gargron I suspect the issue is that nobody posts their breaking news on any of the other platforms. All the exciting news posters that break some special thing in a thread still only use twitter.

@Gargron I suspect that the next eccentric #Musk maneuver, when this monthly subscription/blame it on the bots fails, will be "pay per tweet".

@Gargron
Here's a nice picture of the nail ;-)

@Gargron I heard a lot of people telling me: They are not affected by all the fascists and nazis in the slightest, since their community isn’t part of “general twitter” (whatever this means). But I cannot believe they’d be willing to pay Musk directly, would they?

@Gargron

I was permanently suspended from Twitter/X merely because I repeated some bad things about Tesla cars I'd seen in the news & Consumer Reports; & in the same post I quoted the price of Dogecoin which Musk is fond of.