I didn't change my settings but one day X was blocked. I think a browser update changed the way it reacts.

I appreciate people like member LetMyPeopleVote who posts a screen capture.

in providing its own answer.

There is no real consensus. And a lot of people see it as exactly the mixed bag that you quite ably lay out.
Long and short, use your own judgement ... (while being at ease with that) And leave other people to theirs.
(I think there was an administrative post on the subject a little while back ... I'll try to do a little digging .. )

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I assume you've read one or two of my posts, or comments. Maybe, maybe not. If you did, you'd know how I feel about him. I have 19,543 posts under my belt. I swear on my parents' ashes that if you can find one POSITIVE comment from me in ANY of those posts, I'll send you $100 by Paypal. No kidding. Send me the link to ANY post I made PRAISING Musk and that money's YOURS.

You don't know me. I don't know you. You have NO insight into my intentions. And, given that, you accuse me of wanting to "put money in his pocket."

Maybe you were just looking for an excuse to slap someone. If so, and if I validated you and made you feel better about yourself, you're welcome.

I posted an honest and direct question about being the best member of this community that I can be.

I didn't say "could someone PLEASE comment on my thread and bitch slap me?"

Have a nice day.

My post has nothing to do with accusing anyone of anything or slapping anyone. It simply stated the fact that using twitter puts money in his pocket.

If you choose to take that as a personal insult, that's your problem, not mine. And if you don't want people's opinions, don't ask for them.

yes, rates r set by the amount of traffic the site gets, but most of his advertisers have fled. i’m sure he’s not getting the rates he used to.
sharing something here gives him nothing.

and eloon cd keep it chugging w/o s single ad for a long, long time.
it’s circling the drain. but there r still important voices there. it’s not supporting the loon, it’s supporting the ppl there. there’s still important news breaking there.

but whatever. dont go there. i dont post any more. but i still read what’s shared here w/o getting into a snit.

I'm sure DU doesn't pay him. Are you saying the ads that some see on DU get changed if there's a link to Twitter somewhere on the page, and that gets him money?

widely, and thus many think it's essential communication. If no one used it, it would stop being essential communication and go out of business.

Saying all the links and shares do not contribute to its bottom line is like saying Coca Cola ads don't contribute to its bottom line because people aren't giving money to the Coke company as they're watching those ads. But there's a reason Coke spends billions to keep their name in our minds.

If people stopped using twitter, stopped sharing and liking and linking as well as stopping writing tweets, it would fail. The writers are only writing because the readers are reading and the sharers are sharing. The readers, writers and sharers are the product. The eyes that view any given tweet are the product. Take away readers, writers OR sharers, and the whole thing falls apart, and Elons propaganda platform goes bust.

Using twitter in all those capacities creates financial benefit to musk.

I think DUers are more intelligent than to think "this interesting thing I saw on DU" (what someone said, a picture, a link to an article not on Twitter) "was surrounded by a box indicating it's hosted on Twitter - therefore I will go to Twitter and let them show me things". They look at the interesting thing. And to say "we must never show an interesting thing hosted on Twitter, even if it's only on Twitter, because we must have a total boycott of Twitter in any form for ideological reasons" is rather exhausting and pointless, because Twitter is kept going by any ads it can sell or subscriptions it can squeeze out of people, not "the eyes that view any given tweet".

You're asking people to do the equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and closing their eyes when a Coke ad comes on TV to avoid being contaminated with seeing their message. People can just ignore the ad that pays for the program they're watching.

Second, I think you are confused about where twitter's value comes from. The value of those ads or subscriptions you mention is completely dependent on the number of eyes viewing those tweets. Without the eyes, there is no point to the ads or subscriptions. And every tweet and every share acts as advertising that keeps twitter in people's minds as an essential read (which point is proven excellently by you in your post). Each viewing and each share adds value to those ads and subscriptions.

And third, now there are perfectly good alternatives. Ones that aren't owned by a white supremacist. And to continue with the Coke analogy, if Coke was dismantling our government, destroying our democracy, spreading the worst kinds of white supremacist racism and sexism, and really making people's lives miserable for no apparent reason, would you really ignore that and blithely continue to watch the program they were sponsoring? Or would you take a pass on that?

Yes, there are alternatives for those who are writing. But if they only write it on Twitter, then embedding a tweet here gets us the message (of the writer, not of Musk), without anyone going to the Twitter website.

Frankly, yes, I would continue to watch the program. I see ads for tourism in countries I don't like the authoritarian government of (eg Turkey), but that doesn't make me stop watching.

over the rule of law, I'm quite certain I wouldn't watch a program they were sponsoring.

But I guess that's me.

That's when I quit all advertising supported television.

Okay, maybe I've seen some product placement in DVD and streaming movies, I don't recall.

I rarely see any video advertising in my daily life. These days most of that seems to be on gas pumps when I'm traveling. Gas pump television has got to be one of those "innovations," like slab cell phones or shoes you can't run in, developed in hell.

I'm not sticking my fingers in my ears, I'm simply tuning out all the noise.

Avoiding X doesn't hurt Trump. Resistance posts need to be there. Otherwise, media becomes more silo'd.

I'm not giving clicks.

is that X/Twit links are fine. I'm not one of those to become petulant over the source that hosts information. It is the actual information that matters. X is still a good platform that serves a purpose. Even people I don't like are often correct. And I'm not afraid to call intelligent people intelligent, even if I can't stand their existence. It's all silly games if you ask me. Hell, I even watch Fox News on occasion just to see what the other side is up to. And GASP, sometimes they get it right.
Anyway, that's how I see it. If you find something of interest on X, definitely post it.

A lot of DU's favorite lawmakers, journalists, pundits, etc., still are on Twitter, though many are also on Bluesky. Some - a minority of them - are only on Bluesky. A lot of people with accounts on both platforms try to post the same messages on both, but often, if they post more messages on one site than the other, they'll post more on Twitter, because it's a much larger platform.

If they post on both sites, the same messages, I'll post the Bluesky version here.

If an especially important or interesting or funny message is only on Twitter, I'll post that tweet here.

It's all BUENO IMHO.

sharing a tweet here doesnt give him a penny. advertisers do. i dont know how much he is bringing in these days, but many have fled and the few that remain likely arent paying what they used to. i’m sure they can name their price.
meanwhile, there r important ppl there who refuse to b pushed out of the public square. i sorta have to respect that. i have zero issue w it.
but these days nary a tweet gets shared w/o someone chiming in to complain. dont let it get to u.

It's gone back to where I can't see X links.

Edit: Post above already mentioned Bluesky.

People can decide on their own to click through or not. It might be a good idea to give a short synopsis when. You do though so people have enough information about whether to click.

It should be wiped out.
It is unnecessary and evil.

That's why I blacklist it. My computers simply don't connect.

Here on DU I sometimes put people who obsessively repost tweets on "ignore," especially if they post without substantial comment.

If Musk won't sell the site formerly known as twitter to responsible or even somewhat responsible adults then it needs to die.

If I click on a post in DU that has a twitter screenshot I immediately leave that post. Depending on my mood I might set that users on ignore all posts. Using twitter supports Musk. I won’t do that.