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By "social media" we mean any large computer network that allows people to interact in shared communities. The big ones of course are Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram, but we can't forget newer platforms like Discord and Slack.

Dedicated video sites are off-topic here and YouTube has its own separate thread.

What we should discuss in this OTC topic are news items, business operations, and activities by the networks themselves, not specific things posted by users. Those should go into threads appropriate to the subjects of those posts. For example, if an actor tweets about a film, we'd discuss that in the Media forum topic for the film, not here. If Facebook changes its policies, that could be discussed here.

The politics, motives, competency and wider business activities of the owners and leaders of social media companies (e.g. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg) are also off-topic — except in situations where they are directly making specific policy for the platform.

Talking about a particular Instagram policy change (or a high-profile ban on a specific user) directly announced by Mark Zuckerberg would be acceptable in this thread, speculating about Zuckerberg's wider motivations wouldn't be.

One exception is Truth Social, due to its connection to Donald Trump. As there is a forum ban on US Politics, all discussion of Truth Social is off-topic and posts about the platform may be thumped.

The thread's also not about "dumb thing [public figure] said on [social media platform]". If there isn't a specific thread related to the subject of the statement, then it's probably gossip and not worth talking about.


     Thread OP 
So, I was looking for a dedicated social media thread and apparently there was this one created back in 2020 that we never opened. Unfortunately, it's a little stale, so bumping it isn't going to work very well, but I would like to restart it. The reason I'm doing so is that the Computer Thread seems to have become the de facto place for this sort of talk, and it's a big tonal clash with talking about computer tech.

The hot topic of the day is Elon Musk's bid to acquire Twitter. We first discussed it in the Computer Thread, starting roughly here, and I am not going to rehash the entire discussion. Instead, I am going to resume from the last post:

CNBC: Twitter is reportedly taking another look at Musk takeover bid

Twitter's board is reportedly meeting with Elon Musk and may seek to negotiate on his buyout offer. Musk claims to have secured $46 billion in funding to buy the company at a valuation of $43 billion and is preparing to make a tender offer to its shareholders.

While the board has passed a poison pill, it could be facing resistance to that from groups of shareholders and will want to talk things out rather than face a hostile takeover. It's also possible that Twitter's stock could crash if the offer fails to go through.


Another possible topic was originally posted here.

Ars Technica: EU to unveil landmark law to force Big Tech to police illegal content

Following on from the recently passed Digital Markets Act, which requires large tech companies to unbundle first-party software from hardware platforms, the proposed Digital Services Act will require medium and large social media platforms and search engines to police hate speech and disinformation while adding additional protections for children against targeted marketing.

It also bans "dark patterns", which manipulate or trick people into clicking on ads or other content. The article doesn't explicitly say what that means, but I assume it includes things like disguising ads to look like parts of a site's user interface, hiding "close" buttons, and such.

For large companies, the requirements would go into effect immediately. For medium companies, they would have a grace period to implement the changes.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, has warned that Big Tech has become “too big to care.”

This phrase, "too big to care", intrigues me. It's an indictment of the idea that these companies have decided that growth and engagement metrics overwhelm any sense of social responsibility.

In my opinion, a law like this would be impossible in the United States, since it would be challenged (likely successfully) on First Amendment grounds.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 8th 2024 at 5:16:31 PM

OmegaRadiance Since: Jun, 2011
#4801: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:23:22 PM

Well I just learned there’s actual, legit gay erotica of a man rekindling his relationship with the dying embodiment of Social Media, Twiddor, and spending their last days together.

Twiddor has a fatal case of “Manbaby CEO”.

It’s even got an Isekai style title:

“The Physical Manifestation Of Twiddor’s Rapid Descent Into Chaos Thanks To Inept Management From A Manbaby Edgelord Pounds Me In The Butt”.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Nov 18th 2022 at 4:24:38 AM

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#4802: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:26:52 PM

Chuck Tingle is if nothing else, extremely fast on the draw.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#4803: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:26:59 PM

I really should have expected a Chuck Tingle book out of this.

Ghilz Perpetually Confused from Yeeted at Relativistic Velocities Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Perpetually Confused
#4804: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:27:29 PM

Sounds like something Chuck Tingle would write.

EDIT: Glad everyone thought the same thing.

Edited by Ghilz on Nov 18th 2022 at 4:27:53 AM

OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him)
#4805: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:30:28 PM

...those things are real?

I thought it was just a bunch of satirical covers!

El sexo es temporal. LA PENITENCIA ES ETERNA!
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#4806: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:30:50 PM

The best part of it is that they're all surprisingly coherent and thorough reads. They're shitposts, sure, but they're thorough and polished shitposts.

OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#4808: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:33:18 PM

Gotta admire the sheer effort of the trolling.

Wake me up at your own risk.
Ultimatum Disasturbator from The Wiggle Room (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#4809: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:33:45 PM

even a shit post can be hit post

sometimes.

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Reflextion from a post-sanity world (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
#4810: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:35:56 PM

Ok, I've learned a long time ago that this is not a universe where things like "logic" and "reason" exist as anything other than the setup for jokes, but seriously, there has got to be a limit to the insanity.

Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.
Resileafs I actually wanted to be Resileaf Since: Jan, 2019
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
#4811: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:36:01 PM

And even in poorly coded stuff you can get very critical code that makes no fucking sense.

Like the picture of a coconut in TF 2 that when you remove it the whole game crashes.

“I have no fucking idea who put this here, but when I deleted it the game wouldn’t start. Words cannot describe my fucking confusion.”

I actually brought this up earlier. Someone said that the commentary was fake.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#4812: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:38:36 PM

[up][up]The mistake is assuming that the universe is a coherent narrative written by a single writer.

It's more like a bunch of shit-slinging monkeys locked up in a room full of typewriters.

Disgusted, but not surprised
OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him)
#4813: Nov 18th 2022 at 4:38:38 PM

[up]With time, I have come to the unsettling conclusion that the God I pray to might just be completely mad.

[up][up]That was me.

As I said, the image and it's effects, however, are real.

It's really not as ludicrous as it sounds: it's probably just a function somewhere that needs to pick an image and the coconut is just there as a placeholder.

Mind, the entire code of TF 2 really is pure spaghetti, but as I understand it that's the rule more than the exception with video game code.

Especially because I don't think anyone at Valve expected the game to keep active for this long.

Edited by OrangeBun on Nov 18th 2022 at 9:42:19 AM

El sexo es temporal. LA PENITENCIA ES ETERNA!
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#4814: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:16:58 PM

Makes me wonder how well anyone really understands Tvtropes' code.

Resileafs I actually wanted to be Resileaf Since: Jan, 2019
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
#4815: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:21:26 PM

More likely to, in essence Tv Tropes is just a library of links. There's much less unusual coding involved there.

Edited by Resileafs on Nov 18th 2022 at 8:26:10 AM

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#4816: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:25:50 PM

Also, yeah, Redmess, you could argue that the single line of code that says "pull all of this stuff together, and then when the user presses a button, do this" is the most important one. But it doesn't do anything on its own.

It's been fun.
Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#4817: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:41:07 PM

I suppose Musk said "lines", as in multiple. I guess they could show off an entire function. Even then it's just not enough to evaluate.

Maybe he's just looking to get his engineers to talk about their code, and rate their enthusiasm/pride in their jobs instead?

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#4818: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:46:04 PM

What, is he expecting a speech about how linked arrays are way better than static arrays or something?

Disgusted, but not surprised
OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#4820: Nov 18th 2022 at 5:58:58 PM

[up][up]I don't know, man. I'm just trying to understand what a guy that supposedly knows how code works thinks he's going to glean from "salient" bits and pieces.

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#4821: Nov 18th 2022 at 6:01:18 PM

My actual bet is that if someone doesn't bring him ten screenshots he treats it the same as the whole "who wrote the most code" thing from earlier in the takeover.

It's been fun.
OrangeBun Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him) from The only sane region left in Brazil (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him)
#4822: Nov 18th 2022 at 6:07:17 PM

[up][up]He doesn't knows code, is the thing.

El sexo es temporal. LA PENITENCIA ES ETERNA!
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#4823: Nov 18th 2022 at 6:07:42 PM

What, is he expecting a speech about how linked arrays are way better than static arrays or something?

i would hope not, linked lists are terribly unperformant

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#4824: Nov 18th 2022 at 6:12:32 PM

Yeah, they've got disadvantages of their own such as worse search time.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#4825: Nov 18th 2022 at 6:19:31 PM

[up][up][up]Wasn't he supposed to have done parts of Paypal back in the day? I expect that's at least intermediate stuff.

[up]Yeah, pretty sure that linked lists are only good if you're under serious constrains and can't just copy a list into a larger block of memory you need it to be bigger. Soooooo, basically only in coding school when your assignment comes with dumb restraints.

EDIT: though perhaps I shouldn't be talking as if I know crap, since I never actually got very far in coding school. It's late, and my "shut up about shit you don't actually know about" filter is malfunctioning.

Edited by Kayeka on Nov 18th 2022 at 3:23:57 PM


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