User:Iamchinahand/sandbox

TSLAQ
$TSLAQ
Nickname	TESLAQ
Named after	Tesla Ticker Symbol + "Q" which is the NASDAQ notation for bankruptcy
Type	Anti-Tesla, Networked advocacy, Pro-Shorting
Origins	Twitter
Website	https://www.tslaq.org

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$TSLAQ is a cashtag used by a loosely-collected group of largely anonymous^[1] Tesla stock short sellers who are critical of Elon Musk and Tesla, Inc.. The group primarily organizes on Twitter^[2] and Reddit^[3].

The group at times exchanges verbal hostilities with Tesla fans^[3], and Tesla CEO Elon Musk had once engaged a prominent member on Twitter.^[4]

Crowdfunding Campaign

In April 2019, Tesla filed a lawsuit and a request for a restraining order against a short seller. In response to the allegations, using GoFundMe, $TSLAQ members ran a campaign for and contributed to the defense fund, which accrued in excess of US$100,000. ^[5]

Beliefs

As per Business Insider, members "exchange research, news articles, and sometimes outlandish conspiracy theories about the company" and "[are] betting on the company’s death and have found much success in irritating the billionaire executive."^[6]

According to the LA Times, members believe Tesla is a fraudulent company and its stock will eventually crash. Their self-reported main goal is to "change the mind of Tesla stock bulls and the media." Unsubstantiated claims against Elon Musk and Tesla include that Tesla has reached a cliff in demand, and that Tesla is distorting its sales numbers of cars.^[2]

References

^ Kolodny, Lora (February 1, 2019). "Anonymous Tesla short sellers who fly over its parking lots taking pictures of cars have a new web site". CNBC. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Mitchell, Russ (April 8, 2019). "Must Reads: The crowd-sourced, social media swarm that is betting Tesla will crash and burn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ ^a ^b Katwalla, Amit (May 5, 2019). "Inside the obsessive Twitter turf war over Elon Musk's Tesla tweets". Wired. Retrieved December 19, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Musk, Elon (June 17, 2018). "How big is your short position? Just curious". twitter.com/elonmusk. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
^ O'Kane, Sean (July 22, 2019). "Tesla drops lawsuit against critic after judge asks for evidence". The Verge. Retrieved November 29, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Ungarino, Rebecca (April 17, 2019). "Inside Tesla Twitter". Market Insider. Retrieved December 9, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Category:Social movements Category:Internet activism

Change Explanations

(1) $TSLAQ is a *cashtag*

The references mainly refer to a group using the cashtag $TSLAQ. Let's state a fact and call it what it is. The reality is that anyone and everyone can add the cashtag $TSLAQ to their tweets to become a "member" of $TSLAQ.

(2) Added "short sellers" to first line

Every reference calls them a group of short sellers and just look at the title of each reference. No need to hide this fact in the small print.

(3) Removed "in order to share news, openly discuss matters concerning the company and its stock, and coordinate efforts."

This is conjecture.

(4) Removed "Edward Niedermeyer...money."

This unreliable source is promotional (stating unknown author's full name and book title when it can just be referenced like other citations). The e-book is published by a small boutique publishing house called BenBella. Further, it is unverifiable unless book is purchased.

Also, this (https://www.tesla.com/blog/grain-of-salt) claims that Niedermeyer fabricated damaging news about Tesla and he previously ran a blog called "Tesla Death Watch".

(5) Removed "The group...@paulXXXX"

Real Vision is not a reliable source. The wording in this sentence is also questionable. "Profiled" in a "mini-documentary" are inappropriate words that are trying to add importance. For reliable sources, a neutral way to write this would be something like "Some group members were interviewed on a financial website XXXX (name of website) video."

(6) Changed "Tesla officials such as CEO Elon Musk have actively engaged prominent members"

Changed this to more accurately reflect the reference. According to the reference, Elon Musk had one time engaged a prominent member.

(7) Removed "In the latest in a series of communications between the two, sarcastic open-letters were exchanged between Musk and CEO of Greenlight Capital David Einhorn (a noted Tesla bear whose company shorts $TSLA) in early November 2019, with Einhorn directly referencing a website from the TSLAQ community."

Not sure why this would be included in the article. The only weak relevance to the subject is that David Einhorn referenced a website, while the article is written as if David Einhorn is a $TSLAQ member.

Nowhere is it mentioned that every short seller is $TSLAQ

(8) Changed "Hothi Allegations & Crowdfunding" to "Crowdfunding Campaign"

The references cited do not mention anything about Hothi being a member of $TSLAQ. They call him a "short seller". There is no need to prominently include the details of this case. The only relevance to the article is the crowdfunding campaign.

Nowhere is it mentioned that every short seller is $TSLAQ

(Questionable why article left out Tesla's rationale for not providing footage as stated in referenced article)

(9) Removed "Some members short Tesla stock as they believe it will lower in value in the future; Tesla is currently the most shorted stock in 2020, with over $14.3 billion in shorted share value at its peak."

According to referenced articles, $TSLAQ is a cashtag used by a group of short sellers and this is stated in the first line of the article.

Removed "Tesla is currently the most shorted stock..." since this is not accurate anymore. If this is to be included in a historical form, then another line including that short sellers lost $5 billion over two days should also be included. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/tesla-shorts-lost-billions-in-two-days-as-elon-musks-net-worth-climbed.html

I think both should be excluded to avoid warring.

(10)Infobox

Removed "Fraud deterence" - No reference includes any mention of the group uncovering any fraudulent activity. Short sellers like to publicly claim that they are fraud deterrence to give the impression that the companies (stocks) they are shorting are somehow committing fraud and scare investors to make the stock price drop so short sellers can profit.

Removed "Key People" - It is inappropriate to include Twitter usernames as key people. These users could be one person, many people, or entire organizations. Lawrence Fossi was a doxxed $TSLAQ. I didn't see anything in the references that would make him a "key person".

[1] Kolodny, Lora (February 1, 2019). "Anonymous Tesla short sellers who fly over its parking lots taking pictures of cars have a new web site". CNBC. Retrieved November 7, 2019.

[mitchell-2] Mitchell, Russ (April 8, 2019). "Must Reads: The crowd-sourced, social media swarm that is betting Tesla will crash and burn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[wired-3] Katwalla, Amit (May 5, 2019). "Inside the obsessive Twitter turf war over Elon Musk's Tesla tweets". Wired. Retrieved December 19, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[4] Musk, Elon (June 17, 2018). "How big is your short position? Just curious". twitter.com/elonmusk. Retrieved September 7, 2019.

[5] O'Kane, Sean (July 22, 2019). "Tesla drops lawsuit against critic after judge asks for evidence". The Verge. Retrieved November 29, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[businessinsider-6] Ungarino, Rebecca (April 17, 2019). "Inside Tesla Twitter". Market Insider. Retrieved December 9, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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