Jim Parkin @ParkinJim@social.cleverlibre.org

Caption this 👇🏼

Presented without comment.

@gergelyorosz and this thread from @eliothiggins on Twitter about the huge contribution people were able to make through Twitter to enrich open source investigation for Bellingcat.

If nothing else the whole sorry Melon débacle has highlighted the necessary debate regarding public good, purposes and limitations/ constraints/ free speech v responsible speech, truth v lies and control.

https://twitter.com/eliothiggins/status/1593508571563581440?s=61&t=tCodMgHNWc9Wl4mVJSjQXA

If you want to keep track of Twitters disaster unfolding, have a look at https://twitterisgoinggreat.com/

Clean & compact summary of the many events that happen currently.

According to @gergelyorosz

“90% of Twitter’s eng staff is gone vs 3 weeks ago, incl those who maintained key infra.

Outages will be incoming. The best case scenario is they’ll be temporary.”

I cannot see how the website is sustainable without drastic reversals

“10% of the 3,700ish remaining employees deemed critical were called to a meeting an hour before the 5PM deadline today. The invite was sent around midnight but got cancelled by noon.(US time).”

What an utter shit show.

But it does beg the very serious question about whether there should be state controls over who should be allowed to buy platforms like Twitter.

Millions rely on it for news and comms.

Think of Ukraine’s ability to communicate its desperate plight.

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Per NYT Given the choice between Melon O’Clock hours + irrational sackings by the thousand (half the personnel has already been sacked) and 3 months pay “ resignations started to roll in. By the deadline, 5 p.m. Eastern time, hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay, the people said”

Twitter ‘closes offices’ after Elon Musk’s loyalty oath sparks wave of resignations https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/17/elon-musk-twitter-closes-offices-loyalty-oath-resignations?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“Mr. Musk’s team also held meetings with undecided employees who are key to Twitter’s operations to try to persuade them to stay, three people said. In his pitch, Mr. Musk said that he knew how to win and that those who wanted to win should join him”

How very Trumpy

“As the 5 p.m. deadline passed, some who had called in (on Melon’s conference call) began hanging up, seemingly having decided to leave, even as Mr. Musk continued speaking, two people familiar with the meeting said.”