Thomas Lord wrote: > This is an opportunity to greatly expand the number > of people who use free software, and to help them > learn why it - and why resisting untrustworthy > websites - is valuable. Thus, it is the FSF's reason > for existence, writ large.
--- Pretending that there is a distinct line between Twitter users and non-users distracts us from the anxieties certain people now harbor and what we should be doing to assist them. People who are officially registered, who have the right to send out tweets, are definitely Twitter users. However they are not the only users. Many of our contemporaries get information from tweets not directly from the official Twitter site, but in embedded form in blogs and media sites they visit. We must not ignore the fact that people who never sign up for the platform see the information conveyed in this manner as reliable and valuable and are in a position to be affected by policy changes. Twitter has spawned derivative sites and services beyond count. Numerous blogs are constructed around a collection of tweets by others, a common subject being "tweets of the week." Third-party service sites offer conveniences such as keyword search and thread unrolling, often alongside to and in competition with similar features available in the official Twitter site. News of Elon Musk's buyout plan has made people with a stake in these sites and services noticeably anxious. It appears to me that they are now waking up to the fact that the tweets were "free", but that was of the "free beer" variety rather than the "free thought" one. It should be possible to help them, not only by suggesting alternative platforms but also by introducing them to free software philosophy. Showing sympathy toward people's worries is likely to work better than promoting advocacy literature suggesting that they contain a good remedy. If we strike the iron while it is hot, our efforts will ultimately succeed and people will show interest in free software. We should be prepared for the question: "What does Elon Musk say about this?" --- Twitter No Longer Free: Elon Musk Will Charge for Features https://earlygame.com/entertainment/elon-musk-twitter-quote-embed Elon Musk suggests charging governments and corporations a `slight cost' to use Twitter https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/4/23056524/elon-musk-twitter-business-plans-charging-governments-corporations --- No dose of free speech can overturn reality. Many people consider Elon Musk's bid to purchase Twitter a fait accompli, but stock prices indicate otherwise. Musk claims he is willing to purchase all outstanding Twitter shares at $54.20. When such offers are made markets respond. Recently Twitter shares are trading at around $49. This indicates that many investors are not totally confident whether the offer will be honored. (*) Investors are aware that Elon Musk needs to borrow money for the purchase. As borrowed money carries interest Musk must find some way to make Twitter, once under his supervision, generate sufficient profit for payment thereof. We know that this is not simple: new restrictions intended to make members pay more are likely to shove them away into the welcoming arms of rival platforms. Thus the market people are watching attentively whether he can come up with a good plan. Musk has suggested reforms that may make certain people anxious, but most investors are standing by for now without stating faith in his designs with their money. --- (*) Whenever a purchase offer is made which market participants take as serious, the market price for that stock (or for that matter, any commodity) rises to the buyer's declared price. This is easy to understand. If someone (Elon Musk in this case) is soon to buy stock you happen to own at a fixed, favorable price ($54.20), you would not sell it to someone else at any lower price. _______________________________________________ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss