Elon Musk now owns 9.2% of twitter...update.. will soon be the sole owner as Board of Directors accepts his purchase offer

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Jan 25, 2011
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It's insane that "verified" people can change their name to anything. Seems like a bug you'd see in a teenage created website in 1996.
Anyone can change their display name. It doesn't change your @ which is what the site is anchored by.
 

Pens1566

Lifer
Oct 11, 2005
12,314
9,170
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The Elmo trolling on twitter right now is hilarious. I'm sure it's doing quite a number on his fragile little ego ...
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
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Anyone can change their display name. It doesn't change your @ which is what the site is anchored by.
I get that, except the blue check is supposed to mean your name has been verified to be you, meaning it should be locked down. Otherwise I could get verify as me and then pretend to be you and it'll like Twitter has verified that I am you.
 

Dave_5k

Golden Member
May 23, 2017
1,925
3,681
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I get that, except the blue check is supposed to mean your name has been verified to be you, meaning it should be locked down. Otherwise I could get verify as me and then pretend to be you and it'll like Twitter has verified that I am you.
Musk changed that, the blue check has been updated to mean that you paid him $8 this month, verification no longer required
 

Dave_5k

Golden Member
May 23, 2017
1,925
3,681
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That hasn't actually gone into effect yet, has it?
It was announced/advertised as going into effect Saturday, then Musk later stopped it & delayed further implementation until after the election (about the time he was getting lampooned by imitation Musks), but I believe it was active for much of the day Saturday
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,282
10,879
136
It was announced/advertised as going into effect Saturday, then Musk later stopped it & delayed further implementation until after the election (about the time he was getting lampooned by imitation Musks), but I believe it was active for much of the day Saturday
Regardless that isn't why verified people have been allowed to change their name.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,105
674
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I get that, except the blue check is supposed to mean your name has been verified to be you, meaning it should be locked down. Otherwise I could get verify as me and then pretend to be you and it'll like Twitter has verified that I am you.

no, the blue check means the account is verified. The display name doesn't have to be your actual name. You could have be whatever you like. Whether it is ok to change your name to someone else's is a different matter. It is pretty obvious who is who as the account name is directly under the display name.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,282
10,879
136
no, the blue check means the account is verified. The display name doesn't have to be your actual name. You could have be whatever you like. Whether it is ok to change your name to someone else's is a different matter. It is pretty obvious who is who as the account name is directly under the display name.
And that is stupid, and not everyone that is verified has an obvious account name. I think it's just a sign of how stupid Twitter has been long before Elon showed up.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,105
674
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And that is stupid, and not everyone that is verified has an obvious account name. I think it's just a sign of how stupid Twitter has been long before Elon showed up.

What do you mean? elon musk's account name is @elonmusk. If someone changes their display name to "Elon Musk" but their account name is @someyahoo, it is pretty damn obvious that this is not the real Elon Musk. Other verified accounts have their account name as their youtube channel, or they are famous enough that it is well known what their account name is.

The only real criticism I have about the check system is that it is next to the display name. They should move the check to the account name.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,282
10,879
136
What do you mean? elon musk's account name is @elonmusk. If someone changes their display name to "Elon Musk" but their account name is @someyahoo, it is pretty damn obvious that this is not the real Elon Musk. Other verified accounts have their account name as their youtube channel, or they are famous enough that it is well known what their account name is.

The only real criticism I have about the check system is that it is next to the display name. They should move the check to the account name.
Account name isn't on an ID. And as you said, the check mark is next to the name. The entire point of the check mark system was so that people knew if "Elon Musk" was actually Elon. If everyone was expected to have everyone's account names memorized there would literally be no point to the verification.

I'm sure if before this weekend most twitter users didn't know that check marked people could change their name to be someone else's on the fly with no verification. That is high school project level of security/identity verification.
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
23,155
21,281
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I read a New York times article yesterday where Elon had said he would let parody accounts stand, but is thin-skinned ego couldn't take it when so many people parodied him.

He's as fragile as Trump
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
2,709
136
I keep thinking a Musk-run Mars colony might end up like those Red Faction games where the workers revolt against an exploitative corporation. Well, that or the space station in the movie Elysium — a haven for the wealthy while Earth goes down the tubes.
well, DOOM takes place on Mars also so maybe he's planning on opening a demon portal.
 
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pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
13,674
8,578
136
well, DOOM takes place on Mars also so maybe he's planning on opening a demon portal.

The warnings from fiction are plentiful. Doom 3, Total Recall, Ghosts of Mars, Red Faction...anyone who wants to establish (and rule over) a Mars Colony is not to be trusted. You just know he'll cut off your oxygen if you don't fulfill your mining quota.
 

Tsinni Dave

Senior member
Mar 1, 2022
559
1,378
106
The warnings from fiction are plentiful. Doom 3, Total Recall, Ghosts of Mars, Red Faction...anyone who wants to establish (and rule over) a Mars Colony is not to be trusted. You just know he'll cut off your oxygen if you don't fulfill your mining quota.
Or because he randomly fired the engineers and maintenance staff.
 
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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
97,031
16,248
126
Or because he randomly fired the engineers and maintenance staff.
Elon Musk's Mars colony Twitter One suffered a catastrophic failure today. Anonymous sources indicated Musk fired all the sanitation engineers and put them on a rocket back to earth. The sewage treatment plant failed and Musk drowed in raw sewage.
 
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