Elon Musk's Dream of An Onion-Like Media Empire (theverge.com) 55
"Elon Musk wanted The Onion; he got Thud," reports the Verge, telling the wacky story of how Elon Musk gave $2 million to two former editors from the Onion to create "an ambitious, offbeat satire startup" that would focus on the real world instead of online, "with fake brands, fake products, and fake museum installations."
To Musk, satire is almost a "public good," [former Onion/Thud leader Ben] Berkley said. It's something that can be used to nudge people in the right direction and make life a little more tolerable, and that may have been what really drew him to the project. "If it's on a global scale and it convinces people to change their mind about something or reconsider something," Berkley said, "it might have a small impact that could have a larger effect down the road...."
Unlike The Onion, Thud never planned to have a regularly updating homepage where all of its work came together -- its projects were all envisioned as being independent, floating out on the internet for you to stumble across. That's where part of the trouble lay. Thud came together in large part around the idea that it would have Musk behind it: both as a backer and a promoter. Berkley notes that Musk has a huge Twitter following of nearly 27 million people; losing him meant losing an enormous avenue for distribution.
Without a homepage for repeat visitors, Thud also lacked anything that could even begin to resemble a traditional business model. There was no subscription to sell and no articles to run ads on. Only one of Thud's first four websites -- for a fake, always-firing gun -- sold merch: T-shirts and hats that went for up to $30 a piece. The option to buy them was later removed.
Musk pulled his funding in December, the article reports, and by May, Thud had shut down for good. Though early on Musk at one point "floated the idea" of hiring former Onion editor Cole Bolton at SpaceX, towards the end Musk "was starting to get worried about how [Thud's projects] could reflect on him during critical times for Tesla and SpaceX," Bolton tells the site.
"You know, his companies that are obviously quite a bit more large and, I would say, important than Thud."
Unlike The Onion, Thud never planned to have a regularly updating homepage where all of its work came together -- its projects were all envisioned as being independent, floating out on the internet for you to stumble across. That's where part of the trouble lay. Thud came together in large part around the idea that it would have Musk behind it: both as a backer and a promoter. Berkley notes that Musk has a huge Twitter following of nearly 27 million people; losing him meant losing an enormous avenue for distribution.
Without a homepage for repeat visitors, Thud also lacked anything that could even begin to resemble a traditional business model. There was no subscription to sell and no articles to run ads on. Only one of Thud's first four websites -- for a fake, always-firing gun -- sold merch: T-shirts and hats that went for up to $30 a piece. The option to buy them was later removed.
Musk pulled his funding in December, the article reports, and by May, Thud had shut down for good. Though early on Musk at one point "floated the idea" of hiring former Onion editor Cole Bolton at SpaceX, towards the end Musk "was starting to get worried about how [Thud's projects] could reflect on him during critical times for Tesla and SpaceX," Bolton tells the site.
"You know, his companies that are obviously quite a bit more large and, I would say, important than Thud."
Re: (Score:2)
Whatever happened to Musk's other media "project", Pravda? Is it more or less successful than the Solar City?
I don't (Score:2, Interesting)
For again noting the fact that Tesla is at the very least a very shady operation. If not an outright fraud. Just like Theranos.
I like Elon Musk. SpaceX is a very good operation. It's biggest threat though is Tesla.
First, Tesla is a horribly managed company. A competent manger would have had that company profitable years ago. And with EVs becoming mainstream, Tesla is going to have a harder time with market share. In the luxury car market where brand awareness is quite important, Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW, and other brands like that have quite an edge over an upstart like Tesla - named after a brilliant scientist. But let's face it, Tesla doesn't have the cachet of "Jaguar".
Second, the purchase of Solarcity was idioti
Re: (Score:3)
But let's face it, Tesla doesn't have the cachet of "Jaguar".
You're old, like me.
Turns out that kids today are listening to Crap (pronounced with a silent 'c") music with many references to Tesla cars: Let's make a list of every time a rapper mentions a Tesla [reddit.com]
Re: (Score:1)
I disagree with your assessment of the Tesla brand. They have nailed the "high-performance" aspect beloved of supercar manufacturers. The $200,000 Tesla Model S P100D Ludicrous does 0-60 in 2.28 seconds, compared to the $3 million Bugatti Chiron's 2.4 seconds.
You can buy a Jaguar if you want comfy seats and soft suspension, but if you want to never get beaten off the lights, you buy a Tesla.
Re: (Score:3)
No mod points.
He's moving space stuff forward, way past anyone.
He's moving electric cars forward, way past anyone.
I can't speak to the solar stuff, limited bandwidth for research.
Boring Co is boring, it's a no go (but he's got the cash to try).
I'm not a fan boy, I just see a visionary.
Regarding Tesla, they are everywhere on the road now, in St. Louis, MO. Used to be occasional, but now it's common.
Re:Here comes a -5 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Musk has lied about capabilities, prices, production numbers, projections, you name it. All to inflate the stock price. That is fraud, the same as Theranos.
Awesome (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
It's going to be awesome reading story after story about being attacked by pedos and fighting them with flamethrowers.
During WW1, both sides tunneled underneath each others' lines and planted explosives . . . to hurl their trenches to heaven.
Has anyone seen Elon Musk . . . or O.J. Simpson . . . in the last couple of days . . . ?
I think that the Boring Company might have something to do with the earthquakes in California . . .
Re: (Score:1)
You don't know the whole story. He built a giant drill to save a dozen scrawny kids from pedo frogmen in a jungle cave. Then he chased them on Mars in an electric car, but the autopilot fucked up. The twist is that he has a frog face himself.
Remeber the 90's? (Score:3)
When you friend told you how amazing his home page was going to be, but he never got around to making it?
Re: (Score:2)
I did finish one. Was really pretty, too, yellow background, ten or fifteen animated gifs, and a marquee tag that said "Under construction".
Re: (Score:3)
What, no <blink> tags. Amateurs.
Re: (Score:2)
Blink? Savage heathen.
Re: (Score:2)
<marquee> Awww yisssss ... </marquee>
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone did that? I thought I was just a slacker. I retroactively feel better about my entire 20's.
Now you're going to tell me... (Score:2, Insightful)
Even "The Onion" is effectively dead (Score:2)
They were the first to do that kind of humor on the internet (at least, in a big way), but now it's everywhere, and nobody cares.
As for "Thud"...never heard of it. Ever.
Re: (Score:2)
I still peruse the Onion occasionally, but prefer the Oatmeal (he's making movies now though). It's more nostalgia now, the 4,096 team NCAA tourney video, HP's Cloud video (How much cloud will everyone get? 1,000). 30 liter Coke. Chevy's neckbelts.
Short story: We subscribed to the physical newspaper version in the 1990s. My mom is visiting, there's a copy on the table. She picks it up and reads the headline aloud: Area Man Goes and Gets Himself Hit by a God Damned Bus. She thought it was real. Here
Thud is a good name for the project (Score:2)
It perfectly describes the sound the would-be humor made when it hit the floor.
Couldn’t compete with Trump (Score:1, Flamebait)
Even the Onion never came up with something as ridiculous as taking over the airports during the war of independence. Trump clearly has dementia and will be removed under article 25 - a convenient way to avoid an impeachment trial by the senate, since he won’t be mentally fit to stand trial.
How can satire keep up with, never mind compete, with the idiocracy of Washington?
Thud may be a dud, but Musk was to something... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Thud may be a dud, but Musk was to something.. (Score:1)
My favorite satire site is Babylon Bee. Not every posting hits the spot, but overall is very good
https://babylonbee.com/
Re: (Score:2)
"Local woman and self-described feminist Ruby Alexis decided to temporarily shelve her firmly held belief that gender is nothing but a social construct while her boyfriend changed her car's flat tire on the side of the road, sources confirmed Tuesday."
http://babylonbee.com/news/woman-shelve-belief-gender-social-construct-minutes-boyfriend-changes-flat-tire-side-road/
Working as it was meant (Score:1)
Name says it all. (Score:2)
It was set up to fail. Why? Musk needed a loss for his balance sheets so he could get the tax write-off he needs. Things like this are done all the time by the rich. That's the charitable interpretation. The uncharitable one is money laundering. Prove me wrong.
MAD Magazine (Score:2)