back to article Musk sows more Twitter chaos, now with Official policy snafu

The Twitter "Official" label that showed up on the platform yesterday as a way to fix an arguably unbroken verification system has apparently disappeared from many accounts in less than 24 hours. Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn't. — Elon Musk (@ …

  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Ahh!

    So that's what Paul Kelly was singing about.

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: Ahh!

      Have you seen the A.B. Original version featuring Mr Paul Kelly himself? It's bit old now so has lost some of its relevancy. But his performance is still great. Definitely stay for the harmonica solo and the wolfish grin at the end, and the sheer of joy of people have fun making music.

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Ahh!

        I had not! Thanks. It's still as relevant as ever though, not much has changed...

  2. MajorDoubt
    Stop

    just dump this useless platform

    freedom is dead

    1. Steve Button Silver badge

      Re: just dump this useless platform

      I agree it's probably best to dump the useless platform, but "freedom is dead" ?

      Freedom on this useless platform meant saying things that libtards agreed with. Anything that didn't match the narrative was shadowbanned, or simply banned. That's not freedom of speech either, so it was already a bit shite before Musk came along.

      Hopefully once things have settled down, it will become a place where a sensible discussion can be had.

      (but I won't be holding my breath).

      1. Snake Silver badge

        Re: just dump this useless platform

        "Freedom on this useless platform meant saying things that libtards agreed with."

        Oh BOO HOO! I'm a conservative VICTIM of the evil libtard agenda! I can't say horrible, evil, vile, vicious, hateful, hurtful, bigoted things on a privately owned website without being MODERATED!!

        My permanent Social Victimhood Cardtm will be revoked unless I go everywhere and complain about my "freedom" being violated!!

        What ever am I supposed to do??!!! [twists pearls in a knot]

    2. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

      Re: just dump this useless platform

      "Freedom is dead"

      You're free to not use it.

      There; fixed it for you.

      1. TRT

        Re: just dump this useless platform

        Freedom isn't free?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Move fast and break things

    Never great from a security/payments PoV

    “The Tesla tycoon had previously threatened to name and shame advertisers leaving the platform over content moderation concerns.”

    Bullying your revenue stream - another dumbass move

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brandon

    You don't know how to do proper tabloid journalism.

    Please remember that this formerly was a UK site and it still has some UK readership who appreciate a red top approach to IT news. What we don't necessarily want is the journalistic version of a Hollywood "remake". Cheers.

  5. lglethal Silver badge
    FAIL

    Whilst the whole "Move fast and Break things" mantra might be du jour with tech companies at the moment. When it comes to traditional companies, they tend to look at chaos, or more specifically public facing chaos, as being something to avoid touching, even with a 20ft barge pole.

    Turning Twitter into a hodge podge where features appear and disappear every few days, and where Twitter itself is the topic of conversation rather than what's happening on Twitter, is very likely to drive all of those advertisers running and screaming to the nearest exit wagon.

    I guess someone has been spending far too much time in the Silicon Valley Bubble...

  6. Dan 55 Silver badge

    I wonder when Esther Crawford pinned that tweet to the top of her timeline.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      With twitter.com and twing.com script blocked, all I see is a blue bird logo. View page shows 152 lines of code. I don't feel I'm missing anything. I really ought to remember to look at where a link is going before I click it :-)

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Trollface

    "Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months"

    Well duh, with His Muskness at the helm, we're expecting that.

    1. chivo243 Silver badge

      Re: "Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months"

      Well duh, with His Muskness at the helm, we're expecting that.

      I'm growing tired of pulling popcorn seed husks out of my teeth... I need a new snack. What do you snack on during a disaster film?

      1. Anonymous South African Coward Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: "Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months"

        What do you snack on during a disaster film?

        Biltong, crisps and Coke.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Grey is the New Blue

    And anyone now paying for Blue is a Mug.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Grey is the New Blue

      "a Mug."

      Tea or coffee? I've run out of popcorn :-)

  9. Peter Prof Fox
    Facepalm

    Promise of slapstick comedy

    'Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.' is a trailer for those of us who like to watch incompetents get hurt by a never-ending series of self-induced calamities. Ha Ha. "Hey! Hey! Lookout a billion dollar banana skin!" Whoops! There he goes again. Oh dear. Drilling some 'freedom' holes in his boat is letting more water in. Splash! Splash! Whoops! Ha ha. Now he's trying to stop the rats leaving by blocking their exits with money.

    More ludicrous antics next week!

    1. breakfast

      Re: Promise of slapstick comedy

      General perception, ten years ago: Elon Musk is a genius inventor who will change the world.

      General perception now: Elon Musk is Frank Spencer.

  10. Howard Sway Silver badge

    Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months

    This really means "I've already done some very dumb things such as sack loads of staff and change my mind about how things should work on a daily basis, so I'm now offering a pre-emptive excuse for all the disruption that those stupid decisions are going to cause. Hopefully lots of people will be wrongly persuaded that this is some kind of experimental business genius at work, rather than me having damaged the company".

  11. breakfast
    Trollface

    Jumping into a field of rakes

    One of the nice things about being a Twitter user at this moment is watching the former richest man in the world losing money at a catastrophic rate thanks to our endeavours. At the moment you can spend $8 to get a verified account, alienate another advertiser and lose him millions - for a lot of people that is a worthwhile proposition. He seemed to be enjoying the sowing part of his purchase, but this reaping phase doesn't appear to be working quite the way he hoped.

    It's hard to judge whether the site will survive his ownership - and if you look at who provided the money for his purchase, there are a good number of organisations who would be happy if it doesn't - but it looks like his fortune probably won't either and his reputation has gone through tarnished to the point it's entirely lost in a layer of verdigris.

    Either way, the age of Twitter is ending and that's no bad thing. It has been fun to use, but it's influence on the wider world has been broadly dystopian.

    1. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

      Re: Jumping into a field of rakes

      Yes. Now if we could just get him interested in buying Faecesbook. That would be awesome.

  12. Arthur the cat Silver badge

    Not quite naming and shaming

    The Tesla tycoon had previously threatened to name and shame advertisers leaving the platform over content moderation concerns.

    Naming sure, but shaming? "This advertiser has no wish to be connected with pandemonium, chaos and inappropriately aged temper tantrums" isn't exactly shaming.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not quite naming and shaming

      "This car manufacturer refuses to buy any ads on a site owned by one of its direct competitors. Appalling!"

      "This mobile network has decided not to give any money to support a company owned by the boss of Starlink. It's a disgrace I tell you!"

  13. TRT

    What was that Amy Winehouse song again?

    Back in Beta?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Blue check will be the great leveler"

    It's genius: Everyone gets the same chance to pay $8 per month for an icon (or $130k for a Tesla, to name a random example).

    Inequality solved!

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: "Blue check will be the great leveler"

      Isn't that how shops mark the goods in the (fire) sale?

      The one with the 30% discount on it ----------------->

  15. DS999 Silver badge

    How in the world is this supposed to get advertisers back on board?

    Why would they trust a platform that makes major changes at the whim of a pot smoking owner dragged in several other directions by Tesla, SpaceX and whatever weird 'hype of the minute today forgotten tomorrow' schemes like Hyperloop and stupid stunts like the flamethrower and cologne?

    If he screws up verification so less well known celebrities and 'influencers' have to compete with imposters who can buy the same/similar name for $8/month and impersonate them, they will give up on Twitter for other social media, and the more you shrink the base of content creators the less content consumers will visit and the less interest advertisers would have in coming back even if the chaos stopped.

    Its as if he's trying to destroy Twitter just to prove he is so rich he can light $44 billion on fire, or so he can adopt Trump brand right wing victimhood and blame liberal conspiracies for the fall of Twitter instead of his own stupid self.

  16. Anonymous South African Coward Silver badge

    PS: It didn't take long for people to buy blue ticks for $8, via Twitter Blue, and then impersonate Nintendo of America and other brands.

    *surprise musk face*

    1. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge
      Pirate

      https://d2j6dbq0eux0bg.cloudfront.net/images/16858510/1542881554.jpg

      Just a picture, something to see here, just click on the link, nothing to worry about...

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