Dear Elon... I owe you a debt of gratitude. I’ve been on Twitter since 2008, well before Twitter was Twitter. I’ve been on LinkedIn and Facebook for almost just as long, but Twitter became my primary go-to for news, ideas and online social engagement.
I've been reading you since the early 90s Herb and I even wrote you at the Chron thinking maybe my letter would be featured. Long time ago, before email was ubiquitous. My letter was not published, but you wrote me back a nice note basically telling me "if it seems to good to be true..." Great to see you on twitter or whatever platform we end up on 😁
The better test for fraud is: Am I getting something for nothing? Because if you believe that is the deal, the 9999/10000, you got the deal structure right, but you are the party getting the nothing for your something.
Thank you for being honest Herb: “I got Tesla (TSLA) wrong. I should've realized that when I saw that every other car I was squeezed between in San Diego was a Tesla. There's no doubting your brilliance, or your wealth.” - many people got TSLA wrong Herb. You’re not alone….
This is the Herb Greenberg that caused me every Saturday morning to (rip, well contend and get) the SF Chronicle from my Dad's hands growing up. This piece shows the investigative and the practical qualities that you Herb have given us for so many years. Maybe Twitter's folly will revive the Chron? B-)
p.s. small typo: "Life without Twitter is a still a life", probably want to keep the second, and nix the first "a" lest you want to imply that life without twitter is but a lithograph in the flow of lime...
I don’t see how you don’t value the free expression aspect? I suppose if one doesn’t care at all about censorship of Mail-in voting dangers, vaccine problems and all things Trump it is a worse place.
Nailed that one. Twitter is exhausting. Elon claimed to be a champion of free speech (unless you were critical of Elon), and in so doing removed any and all fact checking so its just a conspiracy mill with no reason. I just don't want to use Twitter anymore, I don't want to support what it has become.
Grear article, Herb. I use FB, but never grasped the import or the bizarre mechanics of Twitter. I never felt I was missing anything, and have no incentive to get more involved now.
Thanks, Jeff. It's kind of like the Nasdaq vs Berkshire Hathaway's stock during the 2020-2021 bubble.... Regardless of whether you used it, in the end you wound up at the same place in the end.
Yeah, arguably I know I'm 2 years too late for Substack or any platform, thanks to the throttling back. My Twitter/LinkedIn referral stats for SS are horrific. I still haven't figured out how to make Notes work. I get zero formal "recommendations" from the SS organization, but yet whatever "direct" or "the substack network" are have been very strong. SS is but a platform, one of many. Organically, I'm about to pass an important milestone in just several months here, and then we'll see if the flywheel effect works. My only loyalty, at this point, is to myself.
Twitter’s shadow banning of links to Substack is still so patently obvious, and I think the algo gets applied to even regular tweets by folks like you and me who have a record of posting Substack content.
Very very disappointing to see Elon stoop to hypocrisy the way he has.
Oh, yeah. But I think much of it is also tied to the blue check? I was a legacy, and lost mine. Now, unless something organically goes viral (driving engagement upon engagement) I get 2,000-3,000 hits, and that's with 340k or so followers. (At least last time I looked, which was quite awhile ago... so it has probably fallen.) The throttling back is very obvious.
As I wrote in my "letter," it means people like me engage less. I still "post" there but I scroll and engage considerably less. Twitter is now a considerably less part of my social media life, but I also am on social media in general less than I used to be.
Threads, it would seem, drives little.
Since being on SS it seems most of my engagement is driven via SS, even when I post the links elsewhere.
Yup. I hear you. I’m moving that way myself. I posted a Substack piece this am and it’s getting very little play on Twitter whereas the same piece a year ago in thread form would have gotten literally 50x more engagement.
Herb, I let this as a reply to your comments on my articles.
I'm not a big fan of PE or nonpublic REITS. I think they take advantage of the clients not knowing the value of their investment, leverage, and the lockup. If I were to lock investors up in the SPY for 10 years, with 50% leverage, my performance would probably come close to these nonpublic REITS. Should I take 2/20 too?
In the 1990's, I contacted you before the Super Bowl and pointed out the two teams in the SB were both original NFL teams locking in the the SB Theory. You quoted me in Chronicle because I was the first one to reach you. I still have a copy of that article.
If I'm not mistaken, soon after that you were going off with Jim Cramer to work on theStreet. You hit me up about that, but we lost contact.
I've been reading you since the early 90s Herb and I even wrote you at the Chron thinking maybe my letter would be featured. Long time ago, before email was ubiquitous. My letter was not published, but you wrote me back a nice note basically telling me "if it seems to good to be true..." Great to see you on twitter or whatever platform we end up on 😁
Great hearing from you, Owen. And FWIW - the rule still holds!!! ;-)
The better test for fraud is: Am I getting something for nothing? Because if you believe that is the deal, the 9999/10000, you got the deal structure right, but you are the party getting the nothing for your something.
Thank you for being honest Herb: “I got Tesla (TSLA) wrong. I should've realized that when I saw that every other car I was squeezed between in San Diego was a Tesla. There's no doubting your brilliance, or your wealth.” - many people got TSLA wrong Herb. You’re not alone….
Re Tesla - the Fat Lady hasn't started singing yet. I suspect she is warming up however.
This is the Herb Greenberg that caused me every Saturday morning to (rip, well contend and get) the SF Chronicle from my Dad's hands growing up. This piece shows the investigative and the practical qualities that you Herb have given us for so many years. Maybe Twitter's folly will revive the Chron? B-)
p.s. small typo: "Life without Twitter is a still a life", probably want to keep the second, and nix the first "a" lest you want to imply that life without twitter is but a lithograph in the flow of lime...
Thanks, Glenn. And actually I meant it to read just like that! ;-) Glad it resonated.
I don’t see how you don’t value the free expression aspect? I suppose if one doesn’t care at all about censorship of Mail-in voting dangers, vaccine problems and all things Trump it is a worse place.
Nice post. Not full of today's standard vitriol / anger / self importance. Thank You.
Nailed that one. Twitter is exhausting. Elon claimed to be a champion of free speech (unless you were critical of Elon), and in so doing removed any and all fact checking so its just a conspiracy mill with no reason. I just don't want to use Twitter anymore, I don't want to support what it has become.
Thattaway Herb✅And I have been reading you since the mid 90’s Herb… good job✅
Grear article, Herb. I use FB, but never grasped the import or the bizarre mechanics of Twitter. I never felt I was missing anything, and have no incentive to get more involved now.
Thanks, Jeff. It's kind of like the Nasdaq vs Berkshire Hathaway's stock during the 2020-2021 bubble.... Regardless of whether you used it, in the end you wound up at the same place in the end.
Yes, well said! I miss the old twitter playground badly.
Well said!
Yeah, arguably I know I'm 2 years too late for Substack or any platform, thanks to the throttling back. My Twitter/LinkedIn referral stats for SS are horrific. I still haven't figured out how to make Notes work. I get zero formal "recommendations" from the SS organization, but yet whatever "direct" or "the substack network" are have been very strong. SS is but a platform, one of many. Organically, I'm about to pass an important milestone in just several months here, and then we'll see if the flywheel effect works. My only loyalty, at this point, is to myself.
Twitter’s shadow banning of links to Substack is still so patently obvious, and I think the algo gets applied to even regular tweets by folks like you and me who have a record of posting Substack content.
Very very disappointing to see Elon stoop to hypocrisy the way he has.
Oh, yeah. But I think much of it is also tied to the blue check? I was a legacy, and lost mine. Now, unless something organically goes viral (driving engagement upon engagement) I get 2,000-3,000 hits, and that's with 340k or so followers. (At least last time I looked, which was quite awhile ago... so it has probably fallen.) The throttling back is very obvious.
As I wrote in my "letter," it means people like me engage less. I still "post" there but I scroll and engage considerably less. Twitter is now a considerably less part of my social media life, but I also am on social media in general less than I used to be.
Threads, it would seem, drives little.
Since being on SS it seems most of my engagement is driven via SS, even when I post the links elsewhere.
Yup. I hear you. I’m moving that way myself. I posted a Substack piece this am and it’s getting very little play on Twitter whereas the same piece a year ago in thread form would have gotten literally 50x more engagement.
The one thing w/social media is that you never do know what among whatever it is you write will go viral. So there's that.
Herb, I let this as a reply to your comments on my articles.
I'm not a big fan of PE or nonpublic REITS. I think they take advantage of the clients not knowing the value of their investment, leverage, and the lockup. If I were to lock investors up in the SPY for 10 years, with 50% leverage, my performance would probably come close to these nonpublic REITS. Should I take 2/20 too?
In the 1990's, I contacted you before the Super Bowl and pointed out the two teams in the SB were both original NFL teams locking in the the SB Theory. You quoted me in Chronicle because I was the first one to reach you. I still have a copy of that article.
If I'm not mistaken, soon after that you were going off with Jim Cramer to work on theStreet. You hit me up about that, but we lost contact.
Here is my website:
https://loubcpa.com/
I kinda remember that, Lou! I left in 1998.
Very well said and couldn't agree more Herb.
Never been the same since the Deactivation Rebellion a couple of years ago. You got to deactivate for your right to party.
https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14614508
Getting Tesla wrong not good.
Lots of people get lots of things wrong. I'm willing to admit it.