I mostly disagree with Doctorow's opinions on how platforms die, and I don't really hate Elon as much as I could. I do think Twitter is bound to fall off if it hasn't already, though. The value it provides is too easily copied by others in my opinion, and the actual incentive to participate in it is dwindling. I've never made a Twitter account, and today it has never looked less appealing from the outside-in. Even if the premium features were free!

I can believe that certain people are bought-in on Twitter for the long-haul. But social networks are dynamic, and after a while we're going to see the effects of a worse client, less dependable web app and weaker hosting architecture. Even if Elon isn't a destructive force internally (ha ha), the changes have already soured it for a lot of people. Twitter's existence is based on a delicate precipice of advertising and free content. You can't change the deal and expect everyone to be on board going forward.

Imagine if Hacker News made the same changes, do you think it's audience would stick around? I certainly wouldn't. Maybe I'm wrong though, I don't really see the inside story.