Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

It’s a doggy dog world.

People are complicated. Love is not.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Cole is on a roll !

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams

Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams

by | 103 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

… According to CHEQ, a whopping 75.85 percent of traffic from X to its advertising clients’ websites during the weekend of the Super Bowl was fake.

“I’ve never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent,” CHEQ founder and CEO Guy Tytunovich told Mashable regarding X’s fake traffic data. “I’m amazed…I’ve never, ever, ever, ever seen anything even remotely close.”…

CHEQ monitors bots and fake users across the internet in order to minimize online ad fraud for its clients. Tytunovich’s company accomplishes this by tracking how visitors from different sources, such as X, interact with a client’s page after they click one of their links. The company can also tell when a bot is passing itself off as a real user, such as when a fraudulent user is faking what type of operating system they are using to view a website.

Most X users who are regularly on the platform can attest to a noticeable uptick in seemingly inauthentic activity in recent months. When a post goes viral on X, its now commonplace to find bots filling the replies with AI-generated responses or accounts with randomly generated usernames spamming a user’s mentions with unsolicited “link-in-bio” promotions. Now, there’s data which backs up that user experience.

Advertisers have also noticed X’s bot issues. In a recently published piece in The Guardian, Gene Marks, a small business owner shared his ad campaign results from X. After a small $50 advertising spend, X’s analytics shows that his website had received 350 clicks from approximately 29,000 views. However, according to Google Analytics, X wasn’t the source of any of the actual traffic his website had received during that time period…

When X’s Super Bowl traffic is compared to other social media platforms during the same time period, the bot issue on Musk’s platform appears even more stark. CHEQ also provided data to Mashable pertaining to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In terms of fake traffic, no other platform came close to X’s nearly 76 percent.

Out of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake…

CHEQ also provided Mashable with fake traffic data from the entire month of January 2024. TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram all had very similar stats to each platform’s respective Super Bowl weekend numbers. Slightly more than 2.8 percent of the 306 million visits sent from TikTok were determined to be fake. Out of the 90 million visits that came from Facebook, a bit more than 2 percent were fake. And Instagram’s traffic was only 0.96 percent fake, based on 749,000 visits.

But, X once again fared the worst. Of the 759,000 visits from X, 31.82 percent of that traffic was determined to be fake…

… X’s problems clearly go well beyond the type of content being posted by real human beings. Advertisers typically pay social media companies based on impressions and/or clicks on their advertisements. And based on this traffic data, advertisers could potentially be paying Musk and company for visits from an audience consisting mostly of bots.

From my own extreeemely limited & recent experience curating followers, a fake rate (mostly ‘nudes in bio’, with a smattering of bitcoin scams) of 30-35% seems correct.

Elsewhere in the Elonverse:
Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle of Broken Dreams

Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams

Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams 1

Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams 2

‘A car, but it doesn’t work’…
Low Stakes Late Night Open Thread: Vehicle(s) of Broken Dreams 3

Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    Keith P.

    I’ve always just assumed that Twitter uses bots to increase user engagement.  Its big problem right now IMO is ads and unrelated posts taking over threads.

  5. 5.

    Keith P.

    @Ten Bears: They should have just clear-wrapped the thing, but Musk is so obsessed with making vehicles faster and cheaper that he got his fanbase to buy into a $100k truck that’s unfinished on the outside and cheap on the inside

  6. 6.

    MattF

    This explains Musk’s worries about bots. He knows bots are prevalent on the site because he bought them.

  8. 8.

    sab

    @Keith P.: I thought his  [Muskrat’s] fanbase was wealthy ecofriendly drivers unaware of hs politics. Real mismatch on expectations. Be careful who you buy your car from.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In terms of fake traffic, no other platform came close to X’s nearly 76 percent.

    Out of more than 40 million visits from TikTok, only 2.56 percent were determined to be fake. Facebook sent 8.1 million visits and 2.01 percent of the monitored visits were classified as inauthentic. And over on Instagram, only 0.73 percent of the 68,700 visits from the platform were fake…

    C’mon guys, fake news. It’s right there in the article, they admit it:

    CHEQ also provided Mashable with fake traffic data from the entire month of January 2024.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    Cybertruck owners Tesla bots rationalizing the rust problem have hit a new rock bottom among Musk nerds

    Just pulling the two parts of the OP together.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    Interesting reddit comment. No idea if this is accurate.

    For those wondering why the cybertruck rusts and a DeLorean doesn’t is because the DeLorean is made of top quality 304 Stainless, and the cybertruck is made of what looks like bargain bin 301. Its not the same stuff at all.

  13. 13.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Baud: So Elmo cheaped out on the quality of steel at the same time he was demanding sub-10-micron accuracy in construction?

  15. 15.

    sab

    My BIL turns 75 today. Yay!

    He  had a long illustrious career as a normal reporter in Baton Rouge Louisiane, where the voters are insane. He used to be normal. Lately he is one of their voters. Nutz!

  17. 17.

    sab

    Also too. Just woke up middle of the night and I have three critters asleep on my bed. One American Staffie (our very friendly sort of pitbull who loves children) and two cats, one friendly other wary.

    The wary cat  has improved a lot after years of us.  She was a semiferal and had had no idea that people could be okay and trustworthy. We are working on it, but every sneeze by me makes her think ” YIKES!!! I got this human stuff wrong!”

  18. 18.

    Dangerman

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: 10 micron? If I’m not mistaken, that is one hundredth of a millimeter. For a fucking car? Surely, he must have vendors (or line managers) that can tell him, yo Dude, eat shit.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    @sab: It’s a shame the local politics rubbed off on your BIL. I’ve never seen any data on this, but it seems harder for the young and/or impressionable to withstand lengthy immersion in wingnut culture without converting.

    In my dark red corner of Florida, the Democratic stalwarts who stage a (doomed) resistance against the deeply corrupt local GOP each election year are mostly older women from up North, many of whom have been here for decades. God love them, they are indefatigable!

  25. 25.

    Gvg

    @Baud: That’s why you shouldn’t have one (joke).

    It’s also why the homeschool movement is really about isolating their kids to protect them from societies common culture. It can also be a way to cover up child abuse.

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    Well if they’re turning into rust buckets that’ll just democratize their market potential to other socio-economic groups.  Not that Muskoids will appreciate that!

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In other NY courthouse news: New York jury begins deliberations in NRA civil corruption trial

    Jurors started deliberating a day after a lawyer with the New York attorney general’s office said on Friday that the NRA and LaPierre were caught “with their hands in the cookie jar”, summarizing accusations that the gun rights group’s executives wildly misspent millions of dollars on private flights, vacations and other lavish perks.

    An attorney for LaPierre, on the other hand, had dismissed the case as a political witch-hunt by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. And the NRA’s lawyer said it could not be held accountable for LaPierre’s actions.

    If that defense is good enough for trump…

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @Baud:

    That reddit post linked to another reddit post from 4 years ago talking about the rust problem. That older post said this.

    Note: A poster raised a good point that salt on roads in winter can also cause corrosion of the stainless steel. This will be a big problem IMO. Interesting to see what Elon does about this.

  32. 32.

    Sally

    @Baud: Car and paint manufacturers spend a lot of time, money, and research on paint coatings for cars. These are primarily there to prevent corrosion. Looking attractive is an aside. Well, the final couple of coats are designed to look good – shiny or metallic or pearlescent or latest trend. But the previous five or six or seven layers are there to protect the vehicle from its environment.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Speaking of hand in hand conservative governance, I read this and thought , “Duh…”

    Galicia, in the north-west of Spain, is one of the country’s poorest regions and one of its most conservative. It was the birthplace of Francisco Franco and has produced many of Spain’s most prominent, rightwing politicians, among them Franco’s right-hand man Manuel Fraga, and a former prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, as well as Feijóo himself – who could find his position weakened as he faces internal party disquiet over his comments supporting an amnesty for Catalan independence leaders.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: ​ Funny you should mention that. This being a full service blog, here’s a link to help poor little donny out:

    My name is Elena Cardone and I am a wife of Grant Cardone, mother and an ardent supporter of American values and an advocate for justice, I stand unwaveringly with President Donald Trump in the face of what I see as unprecedented and unfair treatment by certain judicial elements in New York. Throughout his presidency and beyond, Trump has fought tirelessly for this country, risking everything to preserve the freedoms and principles that define us as a nation.

    The recent legal battles he faces are not just an attack on him, but an attack on the very ideals of fairness and due process that every American deserves. It’s a moment that calls into question the balance of justice and the application of law, disproportionately aimed at silencing a voice that has been at the forefront of advocating for American strength, prosperity, and security.

    In standing with Trump, we’re not just supporting an individual; we’re upholding the cause of every patriot who believes in the fight against a system that increasingly seeks to penalize dissent and curb our freedoms. This is more than a legal fund; it’s a clarion call to all patriots to rally in defense of a man who has never hesitated to stand in defense of us.

    This fundraiser, therefore, is not merely about raising the settlement. It’s about making a stand. It’s about showing that when one of us is targeted for championing the values that make America great, he does not stand alone. We stand with him, shoulder to shoulder, ready to support, defend, and fight back against a system that threatens to undermine the very foundations of our republic.

    Now, more than ever, it’s time for patriots to unite, to show our collective strength and resolve. Let’s stand with Trump, as he has stood with us, to ensure that justice prevails and that we continue to fight for a country that respects freedom, honors courage, and rewards the unwavering spirit of its people.

    I know you are most anxious to see this injustice revered for all time I mean, reversed once and for all. So you are most welcome to contribute to the Cardone Retirement Plan I mean the chosen one’s unpaid lawyers… legal defense fund.

    PS: interesting that she described herself as “a wife”. Makes me wonder how many wives he has?

  46. 46.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    So what I’m reading here is that cybertrucks in winter will have the rusted out holes in the body of the cars of my youth, especially the classic “Flintstones” hole in the floor of the backseat that you could watch the road through.

    Nostalgic! I’m in!

  47. 47.

    Betty

    @Baud: Recycled steel from China using trashed US vehicles is my guess. Like the galvanized bucket I bought a year ago. Rusting away.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Heh. I had a Bronco with the driver side floorboard rusted out. Came in handy once when I accidentally locked my keys inside it. Driving in the rain kinda sucked tho, especially if I hit a big puddle.

  49. 49.

    m.j.

    I’m hoping something or someone in Hollywood is buying a few of these monstrosities to display in future comedic roles.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Hey incels, I have found the sure cure for your involuntary celibacy:

    A striped hyena is caught by a camera trap in Turkey, where it is in danger of extinction. With their diet of rubbish, dirt and corpses, hyenas have not traditionally endeared themselves to humans, but they have had a presence in folklore: the ancient Greeks believed that a man who wore an amulet made of a hyena anus would become irresistible to women.

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: He’s a national treasure.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    @OzarkHillbilly: That was discussed a bit last night in Cole’s open thread.

    Whether it’s a personal grift or actually in support of Trump, it seems to violate the terms of service of Go Fund Me (as a fundraiser for financial crimes) and should be reported to Go Fund Me.  Alison Rose did send a report to Go Fund Me.

    Another commenter also pointed out that Laura Loomer announced that if the fundraiser really wanted to support Trump, she should not use Go Fund Me because that service typically takes down conservative fundraisers (grifts). (As they should!)

    So if anyone has a few moments, go ahead and report the scam or legal fund as a violation of the terms of service of Go Fund Me.

  54. 54.

    scav

    Elon’s next big project will be specially crafted concrete blocks for the cybertrucks to rest upon.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @Dangerman: ​

    10 micron? If I’m not mistaken, that is one hundredth of a millimeter. For a fucking car? Surely, he must have vendors (or line managers) that can tell him, yo Dude, eat shit.

    When I first saw that figure from Muskrat, my response was “not in this galaxy.” Having designed stuff (metal enclosures , structures, and bracketry for electronic products) that actually needed to be built in a cost-effective manner, I thought his 10 micron bullshit was about as realistic as their “near infinite towing capacity” bullshit.

    @Baud: ​
     
    Not sure about the 301 Stainless (vis-a-vis its corrosion resistance), but yes, there ARE “stainless” grades which will rust.

  57. 57.

    SFAW

    @scav: ​

    Elon’s next big project will be specially crafted concrete blocks for the cybertrucks to rest upon.

    “And I can guarantee that the concrete blocks will not rust. Most of the time. Under certain highly-controlled conditions. In your clean-room-level-sterile garage. As long as you use a dehumidifier.”​

  58. 58.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Just pulling the two parts of the OP together.

    It’s like most of us dislike of pants. We believe in full discloser.

  59. 59.

    Brit in Chicago

    I’m really surprised to hear about the rust problems of Elon’s trucks. I know that autos used to die from rust but I thought that some advance in steel or paint had fixed that long since. I drive a 2006 Honda which has lived its life in Chicago and in Boston, and there’s no sign of rust. A Honda hardly goes for not DeLorean prices, so whatever the secret sauce is it can’t be anything that expensive.

  60. 60.

    eclare

    So with the news about road salt corroding the Cybertruck and the news about Teslas not charging well in cold weather, did Elmu not consider that some customers might live in the north?

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    @eclare: ​
     

    did Elmu not consider that some customers might live in the north?

    He did: “Screw them, they’re all woke LIE-berals!”

  63. 63.

    Ken

    I read a few of Google’s suggested “cybertruck rusting” news reports. The stories from CBS, Road & Track, and Wired are as you would expect, noting that stainless steel isn’t stainless, the insane care instructions, and a $5000 plastic wrap Tesla will sell you to take the place of the paint that every other car manufacturer uses.

    Then there’s Motor Trend’s reporter, who I guess is trying for a more balanced report by emphasizing a comment in the “cybertruck owners forum” thread blaming trains. See, train wheels grind tiny particles of steel off the tracks, which drift through the air and settle on cars. Those particles rust, giving the illusion that the car is rusting. I’m sure we’ve all noticed this on our cars, right?

  66. 66.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @OzarkHillbilly: If Li’l Mikey don’t hurry up ‘n’ vote in a budget, the gubmint checks for all those idjits won’t arrive in their mailboxes so they won’t be able to turn them over to Hair Fervor’s gofuckme grift.

  68. 68.

    jimmiraybob

    The really surprising thing to me about the Tesla Oxyhydroxide Mobile is that someone actually bought one.  Then there’s the thing about people reporting ownership.

    Fascinating.

  71. 71.

    artem1s

    @Brit in Chicago:

    so whatever the secret sauce is it can’t be anything that expensive.

    it’s pretty simple, a lot of the parts are now made of or covered in heavy plastic. only dumbass edgelord genius techboy failed to notice that the rest of the industry stopped using chrome for bumpers a really, really long time ago for a reason.

  77. 77.

    gene108

    @Ken:

    Stainless steel shouldn’t rust easily and should be durable.

    So far the reports seem to be repeating what a couple of people wrote about their Cybertrucks on a CT user forum.  I haven’t seen any other reports besides those two complaints.

    Im not saying Cybertrucks will or will not rust easily, but this story hasn’t expanded beyond the two people posting on the CT forum. Not enough anecdotal evidence for me to jump to a conclusion.

    Personally, I don’t want Tesla to fail. It made people realize EV’s can be sporty and fun to drive. Helped boost the acceptance of EV’s beyond the “granola eating tree hugging hippies”.

    Edit: Musk, on the other hand, needs to go away. He should be fired from the companies he runs, and just go the fuck away never to be heard from again.

  79. 79.

    frosty

    @Ken: Wow, that takes my “Uh oh. … what’s the cheapest explanation for this funny new noise?”  to another level.

    Well, here it is: the microscopic bits of steel wheels and rail don’t adhere to paint . But since they’re *magnetized* they stick to the Cybertruck. Yeah, that’s the ticket!!

  80. 80.

    lowtechcyclist

    @different-church-lady:

    “President Trump is a billionaire, but he needs you to pay his fines.” The man knows his marks.

    It’s times like these that make me wish I had a heart for larceny. Has there ever been a time when there’s been millions of people who are so easily separated from their money?
     

    @Baud:

    It’s also a grift.

    These days, I’d imagine very few RW fund-raising appeals are merely ‘also’ a grift, if you get my drift.

  83. 83.

    Scout211

    @OzarkHillbilly: Figures, I’m always behind the curve.

    My comment was definitely not a criticism.  Different times, different set of commenters.  Repeating a topic for a new set of commenters is always okay.

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @gene108: ​

    Edit: Musk, on the other hand, needs to go away. He should be fired from the companies he runs, and just go the fuck away never to be heard from again.

    Henry Kloss, an actual inventor, and (presumably) a much better person, would often leave or get fired. [Kloss started a number of audio/speaker companies, then moved on (or was booted) when they got bigger than what he could run/handle.]​
     
    ETA: Probably a bad analogy. I thought of CEOs getting fired, and Kloss came to mind. I should not have put him in anything close to the same galaxy as Muskrat.

  88. 88.

    Hoodie

    @Baud: 301 has a higher tensile strength than 304 but is less corrosion resistant. It might be a trade off dictated by mechanical requirements for the panels, eg, to prevent warping and other issues. Of course, this is a self created problem caused by not using more conventional body panels like the other manufacturers.

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: @Hoodie:

    Yeah, all stainless steel isn’t alike, and all 304SS isn’t alike.  As with anything, there is crap stainless even if it has the nominal 301 or 304  or 316 alloy composition.

    [ Insert anecdote about rusty SS parts from country X bought on eBay ]

    Supposedly Melon had trouble finding a decent alloy that could be bent and hold its shape in their presses, but DeLorean figured that out about 45 years ago (though to be fair, the DMC-12 isn’t a unibody).

    Contrary to what Melon wants people to believe, bending rust-resistant stainless steel isn’t some super-high-tech magic technology. UHV system vendors have been doing it for a very long time, there’s the Gateway Arch from 1963, etc., etc…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Scout211: ​
     My comment was definitely not a criticism.

    Trust me, wouldn’t have bothered me if it was. Besides, I’m married. I’m used to it.

    ducks and runs out the door…

  91. 91.

    sdhays

    @Brit in Chicago: I know that autos used to die from rust but I thought that some advance in steel or paint had fixed that long since.

    They have, but when you actively avoid all lessons learned by industry over the past 50 years…

  92. 92.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Advertisers typically pay social media companies based on impressions and/or clicks on their advertisements. And based on this traffic data, advertisers could potentially be paying Musk and company for visits from an audience consisting mostly of bots.”’

    Wouldn’t Twitter hiring or creating fake bot accounts and directing them to click on their advertiser’s posts so that they can later charge the advertiser’s more to post them be considered…oh, I don’t know…FRAUD?

  96. 96.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​A central role in one of the great stories from my family history involves a jalopy with front floorboards so rusted out that its owner (my future father) had put down layers of cardboard to prevent the feet of driver and passenger from crashing through to the pavement beneath. Just FTR.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    They are different.

    I made many things out of metal over the 60 yrs of my working life, using many different types of metal and the range of what any type of metal will stand up to – or not is wide. I’ve made things out of metals that we HAD to wear masks to machine because the metal causes cancer in humans. There are many, many, many alloys of steel, way beyond any discussion possible here, and as well there are many alloys of aluminum. The range of properties of various metals and their alloys is a lot more than many expect or would believe. A lot more.

    And I’d bet that in the just over 2 yrs since I’ve retired and no longer machine metal, there are more.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One possibility is that the forming of the panels using other stainless steels might be a lot more difficult. And it’s stainless steel – right? That word, stainless, is doing a lot of work for him, and he likely really didn’t have a clue because that really should be 2 words, stain and less. It’s not stain impossible – it’s stain less.

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