
Farewell for Now - rustcharm
https://seekingalpha.com/instablog/37229846-montana-skeptic/5190656-farewell-now
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dtornabene
Its really a shame this has been flagged off of the front page, seems kind of
important that Musk is personally calling bloggers _employers_ to threaten
them with litigation.

~~~
ovao
Allegedly. I personally find the story somewhat unconvincing, but there may be
some precedence here that gives the account more credence.

~~~
confounded
Musk does seem to be exhibiting increasingly insecure, threatening, and
chaotic behavior (e.g. Thailand).

Admittedly I know nothing about the conduct or credibility of the blogger, but
to me, “a guy on the Internet” is more credible than EM at the moment.

------
IBM
Excited for the Tesla episode of Dirty Money on Netflix when this story comes
to an end.

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sn41
Wow. So only positive hype about a company can be published.

What's next? Suing shareholders who sell stocks instead of buying them?

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n_t
Earlier, I use to admire Elon and companies like Google, FB, etc. But as I
learn more and as their behaviors are being exposed, I feel they are modern
villains of society. Elon particularly has been very disappointing. Anyone
willing to buy a pre-owned Tesla?

~~~
Diederich
> Anyone willing to buy a pre-owned Tesla?

Perhaps! Stats? Asking price?

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thephyber
Is there any competing reporting about what Musk said to the employer (not
summarized by a financial adversary of Musk)?

I read this as hearsay by a bitter rival who can get in one last parting shot
to help his short position.

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nubb
Looks interesting, wish i could read it on mobile without registering.

~~~
ubernostrum
In summary:

* Author wrote a number of articles analyzing Tesla from a financial perspective. Some of them critical of Tesla.

* Elon Musk contacted author's employer, threatening to sue if author continued to write.

* Author announces in response to this threat he will no longer write. Not just "no longer write about Tesla", no longer write, period.

* Author indicates this is in some ways a relief, as he has had poor experiences fielding "responses" and "critiques" from Musk and Musk's online supporters.

~~~
mistersquid
Noted elsewhere: [0]

* Author is director at company heavily invested in oil industry

* Author has published false stories regarding Tesla.

* Author has incited social media attacks on Tesla advocates, bulls, and fans.

Basically, the author was using pseudonymity and relative anonymity to
manipulate the market in which he and his employer are heavily invested.

I am not a lawyer. Given his company's position and his own personal position,
what he was doing is at least unethical and may even be illegal, exposing him
and possibly his employer to liability once his employer became aware of his
editorial moonlighting.

[0] [https://electrek.co/2018/07/24/tesla-troll-short-doxxed-
oil-...](https://electrek.co/2018/07/24/tesla-troll-short-doxxed-oil-industry-
musk-calls-boss/)

EDIT: formatting

~~~
ubernostrum
Whether you like what he says or not, he's got freedom of speech and shouldn't
be bullied into silence.

I think the standard response here is "the cure for bad speech is more
speech", yes?

~~~
fixermark
Freedom of speech is constrained regarding financial market manipulation. I
don't know of any laws this specific individual might be breaking by
criticizing a third-party they are market-bet against, but in the general
category of such law: there's all kinds of things I could say about my
employer that would be considered insider trading and put me at risk of fines
or jail time, my frozen peaches be damned. ;)

~~~
ubernostrum
_Freedom of speech is constrained regarding financial market manipulation_

Sure. But the Musk fanboys seem to be under the impression that if you're
shorting Tesla it should be illegal to say why, or even to write about Tesla.
Or if for some reason the SEC won't go after people for that, they think it's
OK for Musk to use the threat of well-funded litigation to shut up the
critics, and will endlessly spin justifications for that based on what they
perceive the critics' sins to be.

AFAICT the author discloses his short position and the short position of
whomever he represents. Which is... what responsible people do when writing
about companies. Bullying him into silence because Musk and his sycophants
don't like his writing is a horrible thing (especially given how much overlap
there is between Musk fans and people who think of/describe themselves as
free-speech advocates).

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zghst
Holy moly.

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ricardobeat
This is good news. I despise having my SA feed filled to the brim with TSLA
because of folks with an agenda like this guy. A sample of his latest
headlines:

    
    
        - Why are all these Tesla cars baking in the sun? 
        - I believe Musk is bluffing about Q3 profits
        - Munro's teardown spells big trouble
        - 'Hey, maybe the government will bail out Tesla'
        - I don't believe tesla's delivery report
    

A lot of drivel (and maybe libel?), multiple days a week. It's so vitriolic I
avoid reading SA just because of it. And there are others.

~~~
GW150914
It’s good news that because you don’t like what this guy has to say, Musk
threatened him through his employer to shut him up? Jesus.

~~~
ricardobeat
If he doesn’t believe Tesla’s official financial reports, I think it’s fair
for me to not believe this episode - there is no evidence of this profile
being a person.

I’m just glad to have less noise regardless, don’t have enough invested in
TSLA to really care.

~~~
GW150914
_there is no evidence of this profile being a person._

Sure there is, it’s in TFA and it was doxxed elsewhere. You’re welcome to
believe otherwise of course, especially if that makes you feel better, but
understand the difference between “no evidence of,” and “choosing not to
believe.”

~~~
ricardobeat
Sorry, what’s TFA?

