<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 12:14 PM Chris Frey <<a href="mailto:cdfrey@foursquare.net" target="_blank">cdfrey@foursquare.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Ok, but none of that explains, at least to me, why people are jumping<br>
ship now. If people don't want to pay for blue checkmarks, they won't.<br>
As long as the service remains free, they can stay. So far, I haven't<br>
seen reports of the fail whale making a comeback, but it's early days.<br>
<br>
People seem to be panicking for other reasons than financial stability.<br>
<br>
Even so, let's follow the financial argument... if Twitter doesn't make<br>
money now, who was funding it before?<br>
<br>
In other words, why do people care if it is Elon Musk, massive debt,<br>
irrational exuberance, or the CIA that is funding their free Twitter<br>
experience, as long as they get to post?<br></blockquote><div><br></div>Here is what author Stephen King responded with, and his thread with Musk.</div><div class="gmail_quote">I don't imagine that King would be poor if he paid $20, but it is something</div><div class="gmail_quote">that has been free for a decade.</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-king-elon-musk-charging-twitter-verification_n_63625b7de4b046b39ca36f82" target="_blank">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-king-elon-musk-charging-twitter-verification_n_63625b7de4b046b39ca36f82</a></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">And Musk has been impulsive and erratic. He accused one of the Thai cave divers of <br></div><div class="gmail_quote">being a pedophile (without any evidence), and a few days ago, he amplified a conspiracy <br></div><div class="gmail_quote">on the Paul Pelosi attack (then deleted the tweet). <br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote">So more reasons for people to feel antsy (rightly or wrongly). <br></div></div>