Message Boards and Forums like RAWK were the original social media platforms, and much of the debate around content moderation that plays out on twitter and Facebook was discussed in the RAWK staff room and the Sandon car park about twenty years ago. Managing 40k stroppy RAWKites takes a team of mods to keep check, and the burn out rate over the last twenty five years (ish) has been pretty high.
Most users of message boards have no idea of what goes into moderating a space like this, or the problems of recruiting (and retaining) suitable moderators. I run a forum - the Admins understand that they should be on the lookout not just for new Moderators, but replacements for themselves too (as you say, churn and burnout).
I don't think that Musk has really got any clue what he is taking on - his politics are extremely questionable and his own personal behaviour leaves much to be desired. He thinks he's the messiah but he's just a naughty boy with an extremely over exaggerated sense of his own intellectual capacity. He should stick to making things (that work properly).
I think Musk buying Twitter was an accident. He seriously underbid for Twitter (given its much higher stock price price only a few months prior) and was not expecting the Twitter Board to come back with a straight 'yes'. The general consensus at the time was that the lower Twitter stock price (as with Big Tech in general) was a blip, and prices would recover. I wonder, though, if the Twitter Board were more astute in their assessment of the market and expected prices to take another dramatic drop in short order? In any case, they accepted his offer (when just everyone assumed a straight 'no' or a counter-offer). Musk was left overbidding for Twitter stock which subsequently tumbled in price shortly after the board accepted his offer in which Musk was locked and could not simply withdraw. Hence all his highly questionable complaints as 'legitimate reasons' for withdrawing his offer.
Musk was on the hook for 1 billion dollars if he backed out of the deal without good cause. Perhaps worse than this, his backing out might have seriously impacted his creditworthiness with investors and banks. And worse still, it was looking increasingly likely that the Delaware Courts of Chancery would force him to complete the deal as promised. In those circumstances, going through with the purchase 'by choice' might have looked like the least painful option.
Musk is now the owner-CEO of a company he seems to little understand or want. There are inherent problems with moderating at scale, and he is unlikely to have some radical fix for this. He also
seems to genuinely believe (or consistently espouse at least) that platforms such as Twitter should be open to pretty much anything. But that was his view as a user and someone who is always looking to court controversy, not as owner-CEO. Since taking ownership, he has already made comments how 'Twitter will not become a free-for-all' or some such. He might be already realising that what he wanted as a user is not a practicable operational model. But, he sold the idea of Twitter being open to everyone (and everything) and his ego will not easily stand being corrected by reality. I don't think he can stand the idea of large numbers of his 'followers' turning around and saying,
Musk is just another establishment figure. On the other hand, there will be a lot of pressure from other investors for Musk to make Twitter a commercial success (it has historically under-performed given its reach).
Where Twitter ends up between the reality of the situation and Musk's ego is anyone's guess. But it could be delicious to watch. There may be a greater push for Twitter to turn to a subscription model for the Blue Check brigade - more specifically, politicians, media companies and larger 'influencers'. Certainly, the likes of
Scott Galloway (professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business), and
Roger McNamee, certainly think so. (Twitter would remain free to use for ordinary users).
If twitter does become unusable (and I see Britain First are back on the site today) there will be a mass departure, which might see some RAWK users return from the twitter wilderness...now, where did I put that ban hammer? 🤔
It is possible that some might return to RAWK and other message boards. Twitter, Facebook and other large platforms have had very large negative effects upon old-school social media (forums). We could see a partial reversal in the fortunes of message boards. Or maybe existing large platforms will realign their products and adapt to absorb some of the Twitter diaspora. As with what Musk might do next, it is anyone's guess where disaffected Twitter users might go.
