I agree that this is probably not the bug at the root of it all. But I also don't believe the story that Musk is selling for why he's in effect shutting down the site. But both could be true and I'm still thinking about other potential reasons, a complete waste of my time, but it's a weird mental honeypot.
The book "Nothing is true and everything is possible" describes Putin's use of misinformation to maintain control of the populace and eliminate democratic types of politics, but it really feels like it applies here too. There will always be Musk fanbois who will parrot whatever he wants them to say, but most know it's just self-serving BS. And anybody trying to get to the root of everything gets easily sidetracked into narratives that feel right but have zero data backing them, like this bug.
Anyway, highly recommend this book if you want to see a likely path for the future of the US:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Is_True_and_Everything...
I will note that the few times I investigated claims of Elon lies they were not proper lies, either being misunderstood, misleading (which IS unethical, don't get me wrong), of indeterminate truth value (he said, she said type stuff), delusional optimism or actually true.
Like journalists, Musk rarely outright knowingly makes literally false statements, but this does not mean you should take what he says at face value.
"Nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted"
An assumptions of good faith was once a well-held principle on this website, and it's too bad legacy media has led so many astray.
Hatred for Musk has truly captured many otherwise very logical minds.
I prefer to assume the best out of people, but when someone is that obviously wrong that many times with that much personal gain to come from it, I can't believe that man as smart as he is would also be that misled.
Is it a lie if you don't know or even care if it's true or what it means? That's where we are with Elon Musk.
My favorite is when things are claimed to be impossible, that Elon's lying because the thing is impossible, but then it happens anyway.
Where Elon gets in trouble is he's wildly over-optimistic on a few things, such as AI. He predicted an AGI would take over in 5 years around 2015 or so (so we're 3 years off), and I think he really believed it. That's why he's always claiming things like self-driving, and doing it without sensors or whatever. His paranoia of AGI and his over-confidence on self-driving have exactly the same root cause (believing AI will conquer all). Elon has had so many instances of overcoming status quo expert predictions (whether on solar energy, battery-electric vehicles, reusable launch vehicles, or whathaveyou), that I think it makes him increasingly unable to very effectively listen to experts.
And he's also incredibly gullible and easily taken in by all sorts of scammers, including rightists and just plain sycophants telling him what they think he wants to hear. Which is increasingly what he's left with as everyone else who is sick of his bull has left.
The media is flawed. Journalists are flawed. The Verge in particular has some atrocious coverage of tech.
But the problem with Elon is that in his world, we must rely on him for true information. As if the direct source is inherently true. He’s just as full of it as anyone else with interests.
Or Google "Elon Musk conspiracy" and click the top link. I don't know if you'll be able to read the tweets they reference though.
He should have lost that libel case imo as I do think he meant it.
Saying "he really believes his lies" is not excuse, because most habitual liars are exactly the same. They have prioritized their own narcissism so far above reality, but that doesn't make them any less of a liar. They are just lying to themselves and everyone else.