The drama is the point

This isn't about a couple of journalists being banned from Twitter. Those folks will be perfectly fine. There's a nuanced debate that could be had about the news value of sharing real-time location data. There are a lot of legitimate journalistic uses of flight tracking.

All of that is beside the point. The point is this is all he has left to offer. The drama, the attention, poking the people who will reflexively give him what he wants: amplify the chaos on his platform to stir up interest in his platform. It's monetizing a car crash. Twitter was famously described as a clown car that fell into a gold mine. Someone bought the car, and the only viable idea is to find more ridiculous ways to flip it over and hope people come to watch.

In my last post, I said that Twitter still provides so much value from a news-gathering standpoint. I think I also foolishly assumed too much good faith any decisions were in the service of providing a platform worthy of our attention and contributions. The truth is, it's someone's toy. Don't expect rationality. Don't overthink it. Don't overanalyze it.

My decision is to start spending time elsewhere, on here and here. Neither are perfect or easy to use, but the current place isn't ideal either. Time to try something else. Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant. It was inevitable, especially in the technology space, that something else would eventually come along and replace what came before it. That's the natural order of things. We evolve and grow and hopefully become better.

The real path forward is what makes sense for you and me, what's in your best interest. Where should you use your valuable time and provide your valuable contributions?

Everything else is just noise and spectacle. Don't allow yourself to be manipulated.