Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[The Brain]

Troy had some OK stuff mixed in with the rest IIRC.

[Savonarola]

Daily is pushing it, but at least once a week? Definitely.

That sounds like a poll...

[grumbler]

Alba Longa was descended from the Trojans. The only Roman descended from the Trojans was Romulus himself, and he had no children IIRC.

Alba Longa's populous was absorbed into Rome, and several patrician families claimed descent from the Trojans, notably the Julii from Aeneas himself.

[Syt]

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/4/23903859/x-elon-musk-headlines-links-image-twitter

X stops showing headlines because Elon Musk thinks it will make posts look better

X, formerly Twitter, is no longer showing headlines on articles shared on the platform. Instead, X is only showing the article's lead image and the domain it will link you to.

You can see the differences between the new version of link previews in the X iOS app and the old version on the web in this comparison image I stitched together:

[His screenshot sucks, I add other below]

I also made a post on X to demonstrate what's going on.



After I first published this article, I also saw the new format on the web.

This change, while very annoying, doesn't come as a total surprise. Fortune reported in August that this change was in the works, and X owner Elon Musk confirmed that the switchover was "coming from me directly" and would "greatly improve the esthetics [sic]." I don't have an Android device to test with, but if the change hasn't already appeared on the Android version of the app, I'd guess it will show up there eventually.

Musk has recently been encouraging users to post more content to X directly in an effort to help boost engagement on the platform (and perhaps also because he "almost never" reads "legacy news anymore"). He's also said that the platform's algorithm "tries to optimize time spent on X," meaning that "links don't get as much attention" and that the "best thing is to post content in long form on this platform."

In my opinion, removing headlines makes X harder to use — posts are less easy to parse at a glance — so I'm not sure if this change is going to lead to people posting more often like Musk hopes.

Update October 5th, 1:02AM ET: The change has appeared on the web, too.

[Josquius]

Those poor UX designers.

[Syt]

Seems he's doubling down ...

[garbon]

And yet millions keep using. 

[Syt]

Which is baffling. I was quite reluctant to leave because I had curated my feed and mostly got relevant content/discussion in it, and most people I was following hadn't left, either..

But when it was switched to showing paid sub comments at the top of all responses ... nah, not gonna scroll through all that. And none of the "improvements" since were exactly enticing.

Also seeing conflicting reports on platform usage. I think login by unique users per month are up, but interactions are away down?

[Josquius]

Im not so sure people keep using it... A lot of prominent figures have left.
I suppose a lot keep wanting to watch the flames and there's a lot happening in the world now.
Also the drop off in usage by the sane will be somewhat counter balanced by the shit eaters coming back.

[Syt]

I mean ... I guess it's worth a try.

[Zanza]

I suspect the EU will not use Twitter to serve notice on regulatory infractions. 

[crazy canuck]

I wonder if Elon understands that regulator has the authority to order X to suspend its operations until they come within compliance.


And am I correct that there is essentially a reverse onus?

[Hamilcar]

I wonder if Elon understands that regulator has the authority to order X to suspend its operations until they come within compliance.


And am I correct that there is essentially a reverse onus?

Also the burden of proof for compliance lies with X. This isn't the US legal system.

[Hamilcar]

My guess is Elmo fired all the compliance people so he couldn't produce evidence of compliance with the DSA even if he wanted to.

Also the DSA fine is up to 6% of global turnover. Enjoy!

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

My guess is Elmo fired all the compliance people so he couldn't produce evidence of compliance with the DSA even if he wanted to.

Also the DSA fine is up to 6% of global turnover. Enjoy!

He didn't fire them all, but the ones he didn't quit within a couple weeks anyway.