Twitter in April 2023 Has Become Pure Chaos

Remember when news involving Twitter was more about what people said on Twitter than the site itself? Yeah, those days weren't exactly good (Donald Trump's Presidential tweets were horrific) but at least were different than now when news involving Twitter is simply about Twitter. This all began when a man who is so rich in money but apparently so poor in getting the attention he craves--Elon Musk--took over the site. As soon as Musk assumed control, the entity we know as Twitter started imploding. Things have only gotten worse in the months since.

Musk introduced the idea that unless you pay him money you'll lose your blue checkmark. If you didn't have a blue checkmark, you can pay to get one. Blue checkmarks were never some kind of special status symbol beyond helping people who were known for something or the other to be able to prove the account was the person claimed and not some kind of impersonator. With the ability for anybody to pay $8 and get a blue check, it has already resulted in mayhem, especially as the celebs/politicians/organizations that had blue checkmarks refuse to pay. At this point, having a blue checkmark is now more embarrassing than it is proof of anything. Nicole Carpenter of Polygon has called it, "Twitter's de-verification debacle." I think that's honestly a little too kind. This is a status-mark shitshow, and boy is it getting messy. 

Musk, presumably plotting his next horrible idea.

Stephen King was a loud opponent of the blue checkmark costing money and randomly kept his for free as a backhanded, "Gift," from Musk. He's made it clear he doesn't need it and would rather the money go to a charity that helps Ukraine or such. Plenty of folks are now viewing a blue checkmark that's been paid for more as a sign someone is status-seeking than that they are actually a notable person. I've made it clear I will never give Twitter any of my money because they already get all our sweet, sweet data. Plenty of other social media sites are pleased to give us fun features in exchange for our privacy, and if those sites ain't charging me, why does Musk need a single cent? Twitter is imploding, TikTok is being targeted by Congress for various reasons, Facebook/Instagram had to settle a huge lawsuit for misusing data, and at this point, it seems more off-kilter social media networks like Fetlife are the least problematic. Who knew a site for people who want to make posts about behaving in a, "Naughty," manner would use data the least inappropriately?

Whether he's calling spaceships that blow up within minutes of launch a success or bragging about how much better he's making Twitter while it also finds itself falling apart, Elon Musk is clearly a man on a mission. What that mission is and why exactly it involves making so many people mock him in a hilarious manner is a mystery. Godspeed to him as he tries to get that $8 from folks, though.

I'm Never Giving Twitter a Dime of My Money, Even for the Blue Checkmark

Twitter is a cesspool. I use it to help promote my blog and read funny opinions on various reality shows, but it overall is a terrible place I still go to. It is like a restaurant that seems far too dirty to not get shut down yet inexplicably stays open and has that one tasty dish so you put up with going there even if the odds are alarmingly high you'll end up sick to your stomach by what you see. With all of that said, Elon Musk paid an absurdly high amount for this miserable restaurant/website after failing to weasel his way out of the initial offer to purchase Twitter. Now he's stuck and wants to figure out a way to make money from his awful investment. There has been pushback to some ideas.

Musk proposed charging people money to have the little blue checkmark next to their name that verifies they are who they claim to be. This is used by big public figures who he figures can afford to throw him $20 to assist him in...making Twitter better by fighting bots or something? I will admit I don't think I'm a big enough name to even have a blue checkmark, but if the opportunity ever arose to have one but I had to pay actual cash money for it? Hell nah. Stephen King agrees it isn't about the money but the principle, tweeting, “Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” Musk attempted to tweet at King his reasoning behind charging for a blue checkmark and that perhaps he would lower the price and incorporate it into the mostly-disliked premium Twitter option as a way to let anyone who wants to pay and who can prove who they are get a blue checkmark. 

As with a lot of things Musk does (electric cars, space travel, and so forth), there is a piece of a good idea in here surrounded by a bunch of dumb stuff. All I can tell you is I'm never giving Twitter any of my money because, unlike the metaphorical restaurant that I'd tip a bunch extra to clean their floors even once in a while, there ain't no cleaning-up Twitter.