Meanwhile, back on Twitter...

Yes, I am still on Twitter. I have noticed some changes, and there are some things that I know are happening that don't affect me directly.

For example, I am not a big account, and I am white, so I don't generally draw harassment. When I see it happening to others, I still report it, and they are not responding well. 

The result that I see more is that there are people moving away from Twitter whose input I value. That is a loss. There are still some great people, but they could go at any time, and there isn't a good reason to discourage them.

It would be surprising if Twitter were doing a good job of limiting racist or sexist harassment, because they have not only made a big deal of inviting the worst people back, but also they are doing things to push engagement with those terrible people. 

For example, I had to block Kyle Rittenhouse and Marjorie Taylor Green. I never followed them, or liked anything they posted, or felt anything but disgust for them, and yet there they were, showing up in my feed.

Of course the current CEO says this is important for free speech, but it is a very specific type of speech that he values.

I know a lot of people have been finding this amusing, some for believing it proves that Elon Musk is no genius. 

1. There was already enough evidence.
2. He still has weirdly obsessed defenders (which I believe is part of something else I will get to at another time).
3. That ignores the question of whether there is a greater purpose.

Now, if there is a greater purpose being served, that still doesn't make him smart.

Twitter has been important for raising marginalized voices, which is not something I would expect Musk to support. It has also been a valuable resource for organizing, especially in the Middle East. With Musk's relationship with Saudi Arabia, that might be more deliberate than incompetent.

Don't get me wrong; the Saudis could totally be harnessing his hubris without letting him onto the plan. Of course, they could also want it to succeed financially and have plans to murder and dissect him if they lose money.

I do not claim to know anything on that level; that's his problem. From a business point of view, Twitter's profitability was going to be in advertising, where a good user experience and competence in placing the ads was always going to be the key. Taking away the staff that was in charge of that, messing up ad roll-out and user experience, and attempting to compensate by asking your verified accounts -- who draw users and increase their satisfaction -- to pay for the privilege... that is not smart, and I believe Musk is not smart.

However, that can work well for taking away an important tool for organizers and a chance for people to tell their stories, especially the marginalized, while amplifying voices of hate... that is a completely separate goal. It has also been indicated that information will be turned over, even from direct messages, so reasonable expectations of privacy are gone. It's evil, but I believe Musk is evil as well (and still not smart).

Shortly after the transition, there really were thoughts that one day the servers would be down, and it would just be gone. That seems less likely now, but I remember sending messages to people I followed, mentioning things I liked or wishing them good luck... just whatever I remembered not wanting to leave unsaid.

I don't blame anyone who has left, but I have stayed. I am staying for the people.

So far I do not have any interest in switching to some other platform. Frankly, I'm a relic anyway; look at me blogging when even cool old people are doing vlogs and podcasts.

I've got to be me.

Part of being me means caring about people, and looking out for them. While I can do that on Twitter, I will. That is one way in which Twitter worked well for me. I may be doing that now with a more enhanced awareness of how finite some things can be. I hope I am using that awareness to be more thoughtful and open.

For the various things that Twitter did well, it was valuable. Its destruction via increased racism and incompetence is wrong. It is a loss.

Whether the incompetent guy is also being manipulated by smart people is interesting, but if it's sheer incompetence, that loss is no less real.