Octopus Overlords

Max Peck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:32 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:29 pm Never heard of any company not purposefully paying bills.

It's Trump's one weird trick, for one example.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:31 pm If he sells it (or even if he doesn't), can he write off the loss for tax breaks?

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:23 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:32 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:29 pm Never heard of any company not purposefully paying bills.

It's Trump's one weird trick, for one example.

This.

And it's not that unusual. When you're a goliath, you can simply dare david to sue to get paid, knowing you can absorb the legal costs when the little guys often can't. Of course it's incredibly unethical and shitty, but at this point

Max Peck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:32 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:29 pm Never heard of any company not purposefully paying bills.

It's Trump's one weird trick, for one example.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:42 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:23 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:32 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 1:29 pm Never heard of any company not purposefully paying bills.

It's Trump's one weird trick, for one example.

This.

And it's not that unusual. When you're a goliath, you can simply dare david to sue to get paid, knowing you can absorb the legal costs when the little guys often can't. Of course it's incredibly unethical and shitty, but at this point

Sometimes David companies don't pay bills to Goliaths, too. There can be a variety of reasons, from simple liquidity issues to trying to gain some kind of leverage for a deal to a sincere belief that the bill is wrong.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:31 pm If he sells it (or even if he doesn't), can he write off the loss for tax breaks?

stessier wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:29 pm Also David companies can put Goliaths on credit hold and only ship when cash is in hand. Depending on what David makes, this can cripple Goliath. The business world can be really weird.

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:55 pm For instance, if David makes slings - Goliath is screwed.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 5:52 pm

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:55 pm For instance, if David makes slings - Goliath is screwed.

Goliath has a monopoly on local rock supply. Can David really afford to import from the next village over?

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 11:50 am All of the lawsuits that have been filed against Musk, related to Twitter X:

When Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, a fairly ordinary tech company was transformed into a most unusual private corporation. Many strange things have happened at the Musk-owned social network, but this article will focus on just one puzzling aspect of Musk's leadership: His apparent refusal to pay bills.

Over two dozen lawsuits alleged that Twitter—which rebranded itself as "X" in late July—refused to pay money owed to vendors who started providing services to the company before Musk bought it. In fact, suing X seems to be the most effective method of collecting on unpaid invoices. This article will provide a summary of each lawsuit and an update on each case's status.

X agreed to settle some of the allegations, allowing some vendors to recoup at least part of what they were owed. Settlement talks are proceeding in other cases, and at least one went to arbitration. But X has taken a hard stance in fighting some unpaid-bill lawsuits, and several could head to jury trials.

Not paying bills....reminds me of someone. I'm sure it will come to me.

Tesla had stopped making payments altogether since the spring despite numerous promises, another supplier said, adding, as the Journal put it, that he fears “insolvency for his own company if he continues to ship products to Tesla and not get paid.”

They’re all seeing what everyone else is seeing: An erratic CEO with at best a reckless Twitter habit, a company that is being kept afloat only by its sky-high market cap that, in theory, would allow the company to sell more shares to raise more money to pay the suppliers, assuming that the shares don’t collapse. That’s not a great security for a supplier operating in the real world.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 5:51 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:29 pm Also David companies can put Goliaths on credit hold and only ship when cash is in hand. Depending on what David makes, this can cripple Goliath. The business world can be really weird.

I feel like it should be obvious that if Goliath needs what David makes as part of a supply stream, then yes, if David stops providing the product and/or service, Goliath's strategy isn't going to work very well.

Of course then they can just hop around between suppliers as they fight for the scraps Goliath is holding out for them to salivate over. That can't go on forever, but it can certainly happen.

Lastly, I also think it should be obvious that this all occurs after David had provided his product and/or service. Goliath isn't going to order a new lobby for their hotel and immediately tell the contracting company they have no intention of paying.

Anyway, I feel like Goliath has already thought of everything being mentioned here, and has taken it into account. If there are obstacles to screwing over David, then they'll have to either overcome those obstacles or not screw David. This time.

edit: Fixed quote attribution.

stessier wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 10:18 am

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 5:51 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 3:29 pm Also David companies can put Goliaths on credit hold and only ship when cash is in hand. Depending on what David makes, this can cripple Goliath. The business world can be really weird.

I feel like it should be obvious that if Goliath needs what David makes as part of a supply stream, then yes, if David stops providing the product and/or service, Goliath's strategy isn't going to work very well.

Of course then they can just hop around between suppliers as they fight for the scraps Goliath is holding out for them to salivate over. That can't go on forever, but it can certainly happen.

Lastly, I also think it should be obvious that this all occurs after David had provided his product and/or service. Goliath isn't going to order a new lobby for their hotel and immediately tell the contracting company they have no intention of paying.

Anyway, I feel like Goliath has already thought of everything being mentioned here, and has taken it into account. If there are obstacles to screwing over David, then they'll have to either overcome those obstacles or not screw David. This time.

edit: Fixed quote attribution.

You give Goliaths far too much credit. Maybe some of them think it through, but absolutely not all. It's amazing how dumb some Goliaths can be.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 2:42 pm Sometimes David companies don't pay bills to Goliaths, too. There can be a variety of reasons, from simple liquidity issues to trying to gain some kind of leverage for a deal to a sincere belief that the bill is wrong.

Not even 24 hours later, the company was embroiled in controversy. When users went to Threads to search for content related to “covid” and “long covid,” they were met with a blank screen that showed no search results and a pop-up linking to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meta acknowledged in a statement to The Washington Post that Threads is intentionally blocking the search terms and said that other terms are being blocked, but the company declined to provide a list of them. A search by The Post discovered that the words “sex,” “nude,” “gore,” “porn,” “coronavirus,” “vaccines” and “vaccination” are also among blocked words.

Elon Musk said Monday he's moving to require all users to pay a monthly fee to use his social media site X, previously called Twitter.

...

"The single-most important reason we're moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system is it's the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots."

Musk said adding a subscription would make it much more difficult for bots to create accounts, because each bot would need to register a new credit card. He added that the company plans to come out with "a lower tier pricing," than what it currently charges for its X Premium subscribers, which is around $8 monthly.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 10:41 am Ok, ok, THIS will finally kill the platform:

Elon Musk said Monday he's moving to require all users to pay a monthly fee to use his social media site X, previously called Twitter.

...

"The single-most important reason we're moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system is it's the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots."

Musk said adding a subscription would make it much more difficult for bots to create accounts, because each bot would need to register a new credit card. He added that the company plans to come out with "a lower tier pricing," than what it currently charges for its X Premium subscribers, which is around $8 monthly.

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:28 pm You can all now sign up to have a Neuralink device implanted in your brain. No word yet whether it includes a free subscription to Xitter Blue.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:55 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:28 pm You can all now sign up to have a Neuralink device implanted in your brain. No word yet whether it includes a free subscription to Xitter Blue.

This is actually super exciting. We've been working with a similar device, albeit not implanted at this point, with my son to allow him to communicate. It's potentially a game changer for people with paralysis or cerebral palsy to help them express themselves more easily and become more independent. We'll be keeping a close eye on this.

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:31 pm Who cares if bots are going to fall through the cracks? Is anyone actually going to pay for Twitter beyond those already paying for a blue check? I'll be cancelling my account if he actually implements this (although I doubt he will).

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:57 pm

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:55 pm

Zaxxon wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:28 pm You can all now sign up to have a Neuralink device implanted in your brain. No word yet whether it includes a free subscription to Xitter Blue.

This is actually super exciting. We've been working with a similar device, albeit not implanted at this point, with my son to allow him to communicate. It's potentially a game changer for people with paralysis or cerebral palsy to help them express themselves more easily and become more independent. We'll be keeping a close eye on this.

Yeah, I posted it in this thread specifically in a tongue-in-cheek manner, given the company's ownership and clickbait headlines over the past several months, but it is actually super-exciting in the longer term.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 10:41 am Ok, ok, THIS will finally kill the platform: