I read through all of the Twitter drama when it was going on and even though I didn’t like Twitter, all of it was addictively terrible, like watching the world’s worst bad tech soap opera. I read Platformer when this was going on, and the author recaps all of the horrible drama moments we all lived through, while also showing behind the scenes thoughts of the poor staff members who were about to go out the door, no matter what they did or how “extremely hardcore” they tried to demonstrate that they were to Elon.
I liked how the author got various responses from ex-employees and the stories that were told, particularly from the people who really tried to buy into this crap, or thought it wouldn’t affect them, or if they really sucked up they’d be okay. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH NO. My favorite “character” was Yao Yue, who had the right attitude about things, got fired anyway. Randall Lin is the interviewee who bought into it all the most (and may somewhat still be in some denial?) and got fired anyway for supposedly ratting on Elon. I also had big sympathy for JP Doherty, who couldn’t quit until the end of the book due to needing health insurance for his disabled children. It was interesting to be able to track the thoughts of people as they were going through the special hell, something the Platformer list didn’t quite cover.
If you’re into watching something being ruined and trashed and people being abused in every possible work way short of actually being physically beat up, this topic is for you! If you like train wrecks, anyway. The author covers it very well, though all of the behavior in it is pretty sickening (and that’s even beyond the lack of janitorial staff). Hell, he's still doing that shit right now.
Four stars.
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