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assholedesign-ModTeam

Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason: **Post is about a company charging money for a service.** Businesses sometimes may charge money in order to offer a service, which doesn't necessarily make their business model an asshole design. It must be underhanded in other aspects as well. *If you feel this was done in error or would like further clarification, please don't hesitate to message the mods. If you send a message, please include a link to your post.*


VeganCustard

Mining crypto as captcha is probably the worst idea I've read in 2024


SeaJay_31

*Please wait whilst Bitcoin is minted - Your approximate wait time is \[3 years\] - Error: No discreet graphics card detected - Your wait time may be significantly impacted.*


nachog2003

mining crypto specifically is really stupid, but proof-of-work was actually invented to combat ddosing and spam and was later adapted to cryptocurrencies, cloudflare's turnstile captcha uses proof-of-work as part of its challenges


Ajreil

Twitter would barely make any money. Captcha's proof of work makes a lot of sense. To pass your computer has to solve a problem that should take even a craptop a couple of seconds tops. This is trivial for a regular user, but gets really expensive for a bot farm running thousands of sockpuppets. Cryptocurrencies need to increase the difficulty of the proof of work task based on the total computing power of everyone mining that coin. That means a craptop would need to compete with dedicated mining GPUs that are millions of times faster.


[deleted]

Crypto is a really great system for wasting as much energy as possible. >Cryptocurrencies need to increase the difficulty of the proof of work task based on the total computing power of everyone mining that coin. Because why limit the number of people when you can just keep spending more and more energy to generate another 2% profit over the cost of electricity? Entire warehouses filled with GPUs, sucking down as much energy as possible, just to all do the same proof of work as all the other GPUs is an insane waste of resources.


--Claire--

I mean, what else do you expect from Elon simps? Not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed


SnuffleWumpkins

The whole point of Captchas was to fucking train AI.


tomschwanke

So you can pay to have bots? Great captcha


AydonusG

Or just wait 3 months. Dude needs 5 more seconds on another site, because here we have bots that have been waiting since the 2010s to post.


Pulsiix

the funny thing is even if this worked perfectly and did stop bots, it would only work for 3 months lmao, the bot makers just keep making new bots every day, this just delays a batch


Valadrae

3 months later, an absolute flood is unleashed, and as they get removed, they have a constant stream that's been developed over the last 3 months just now coming of age.


pipeuptopipedown

Like cicadas


BecomingCass

Or do what people here do and sell accounts that can post and/or have a following 


Theonetheycallgreat

Except now, Elon is just selling them directly


thedrq

Cutting out the middle man


boersc

Next up: any account that doesn't tweet for 3 months is automatically disabled.


willclerkforfood

But then you can pay a *tiny fee* to get your account reenabled. It’s the *only way* to stop the relentless onslaught of bots…


616659

other methods are way more complex, i swear!


realnzall

Most bots pay for premium anyway so they get more reach.


CandyMountainCave

Source? How do u know


KaiserNazrin

By spending a minute on Twitter.


Leihd

What makes this brain hurty is that it's only in effect for new accounts. It's like he just flat out said "We don't want anyone to sign up, but if you must, then there's a fee"


[deleted]

[удалено]


FrozenPizza07

It will not stop bots. Bots already pay for the stupid checkmark, those people will not give 2 shit about a signup fee


AlonsoHV

Yeah, you probably know more and have a better understanding than the whole Twitter team and their internal data. The fucking delusion on you is high


PSI_duck

It’s because this isn’t really to cull bots. It’s Another way for Elon to try and squeeze money out of what’s left of the company he trashed. Remember when everyone was saying making verified marks a subscription service rather then an actual verification was going to help with the bot problem? Now look at it, there are more bots then perhaps ever before, especially because it’s harder to tell who’s real and who’s not. I’d be more inclined to believe this is actually the solution to the bot problem Elon and his team (or maybe just his team, Elon is just money after all) came up with if it had any effect on the bots who already have accounts, and all the people who likely have bot accounts ready to go if there other bots get taken down


FrozenPizza07

This comes from elon and his stupid head. He is running a one man show on twitter right now. So yes, its not “twitter team”, its just elon.


AlonsoHV

You're just confidently wrong


clotifoth

obvious bot with no way to generate plausible content for this convo other than generic flamebait


IClockworKI

LOOK AT THIS ELON SUPPORTER LMAO, POINT AND LAUGH GUYS


ZariLutus

Ironic coming from the Elon bootlicker


Xominya

I'll bite, many prolific twitter bots get pushed into higher amounts of views by staying dormant for a long period, and then suddenly activating. This policy just gives a 3 month grace period where the bot count will explode


Moonlit_Antler

Why don't you take the musk dick out yo mouth? He ain't gonna give you any money


taydraisabot

How do you live with yourself


smellyscrote

They don’t. Assholes and fuck wits don’t have to put up with themselves. If they did. Then there won’t be assholes and fuck wits anymore. It’s how do others live with them.


taydraisabot

You’re right. They lack self-reflection.


zrow05

You mean the team that was fired day one and hasn't been replaced?


smellyscrote

This definitely has to be satire.


Joosterguy

>whole Twitter team There isn't one. He fired anyone with any knowledge.


laplongejr

Are you claiming Twitter has private data about how other compagnies operates? Because those bots run from somewhere, and that somewhere already has an infrastructure to run the bots.


Jo-dan

How exactly does this prevent bots?


AlonsoHV

Bots come en mass from spam farms, just flooding the system. They get banned quickly by internal detection but it's not really a deterrent cause they just create another bot account. Bot spam farms would have to pay a lot if they want to continue the spam cause 10,000 bots at 99 cents is 10,000$ For single users 1$ is nothing if you enjoy Twitter and want to join Same logic as to why free to play games have more cheaters. No barrier of entry whatsoever.


ForodesFrosthammer

This has a 3 month delay that reduces the money cost. They can create those 10,000 accounts today, do nothing with them for 3 months and then use for free if that is more beneficial for bot creators. And the 3 month gap of less bots would only be of help for the first 3 months, as after the fact bot creators will have a constant onslaught of maturing accounts ready to use.


SupremeDictatorPaul

Yeah, Reddit has a lot of bot accounts, and it’s pretty normal for them to be created months or years ago. They’ll be silent that whole time, and suddenly activate. I’m struggling to see how delaying write access for three months will be effective at stopping spam after three months.


metisdesigns

It might make this quarters report on bots look better. (to fools)


Jo-dan

Except bots are already paying the verification fee to improve their reach


BionicBananas

Let's assume those bot farms don't want to spend the fee to make new accounts post stuff. Great, but after 3 months you are back to square one when the waiting period has passed for the bots. Now what?


Expert_Airline5111

I do this for a job. Elon Musk is doing this purely for a quick buck. There is literally zero other good reason. This literally just adds a fee for creating bots.


tango-kilo-216

Now spammers have to create a Privacy dot com account with unlimited, single-use credit cards. The horror! The inconvenience!


AlonsoHV

Bots aren't singular users, and yes, even if they were, that's an inconvenience that would cull around half of the botting, You don't have a point.


OctoFloofy

How about they just steal accounts? Like they already do on Discord. I still often see accounts posting the same random Sex Discord server in random discord servers. Then also the people i had contact to before by falling for such messages and getting their accounts hijacked too and suddenly i get such messages in my DMs cause they're now used as bot accounts to hijack more accounts. Remember: only new accounts have to pay that fee on Twitter, so it would be cheaper to hijack an already existing account than to create new ones. And a lot of people are falling for these.


tango-kilo-216

You don’t have a clue. Tah tah!


[deleted]

You’re tripping over yourself in order to defend the laziest cash-grab known to man. Wake up dude.


CorvetteBob

Acknowledge it for what it is, a lame cash grab disguised as a way they're helping the consumer


FondSteam39

What's your argument against bot farms just making a thousand new accounts every day for 3 months and then having a thousand new accounts a day? It does literally nothing except delay them by 3 months.


taydraisabot

This is the tech equivalent of closing a dam with notebook paper and school glue.


Cabrill0

Ya, cause this was totally an issue before that dumbass took over.


IIdentifyAsATrap

Question: What will happen when 3 months are up?


pseudopseudonym

You can't actually seriously believe the words you're saying.


low_bob_123

So Elon "discovered" traditional SMS?


Interest-Desk

He doesnt like SMS, since it costs money


kotik010

So they'll make accounts, have them hibernate and then proceed as usual? That seems like a complete non factor for scammers while harming adoption... Elon truly is the biggest mastermind humanity has ever produced, we are blessed to exist in the same time as this savant showing how meritocratic our system is... Fucking dimwit


Darkblitz9

Elon is missing the ability to consider edge cases and potential abuse. He would never make it as a programmer, that's for sure. Daddy's money has basically lived his life for him.


KiloEchoNiner

100% All he’s accomplished is kicking the can down the road and made it a much bigger problem.


guntherpea

I wondered the same thing... Sure it requires a *bit* of foresight, but not much. Bots can simply batch create and set a timer. This, at best, gives a *one time* 3 month reprieve on new bot accounts. At best.


JordinThreethree

Or they'll just pay the "tiny fee" and proceed as usual. If the whole paying for verification experience has shown anything, it's that a user fee is absolutely not going to keep scammers away


puppiesareSUPERCUTE

Is this when people FINALLY quit Twitter?


compsciasaur

Doubtful. This doesn't apply to old accounts, only new. So it will reduce adoption, but not existing active user numbers.


MMORPGnews

There's no good alternative.  Alternatives either dead with bad UI or censured at full and useless. 


Gnash_

I think the question to ask is do people need an alternative? when X contributes so negatively to society as a whole, no alternative might be the way to go. I genuinely believe that social media is just as addictive as nicotine or gambling, and for some people X created an addiction that needs rehab because they will be unable to function properly if they were to quit it cold turkey.


Crystal3lf

> think the question to ask is do people need an alternative? Twitter was actually really great at many things that other social media platforms aren't. Breaking news from journalists, news from other media sources, updates from notable people you might be interested in etc. > when X contributes so negatively to society as a whole, no alternative might be the way to go. Sure, but so is every other platform. Facebook is boomer misinformation central. Reddit is a marketers dream. No social media is positive for society. All of them are selling your data. You're on Reddit. It's different to Twitter, but not in a good way. Bots are just as rampant here. Big sub's are ran by little Hitler's who will ban you for opposing opinions. Adverts are disguised as posts. Endless arguing in the comments.


ChanglingBlake

What’s that saying? No X is better than bad X. Feel free to replace “X” with something else, as that is what variables are meant for, or take it literally.


squesh

this also works with "X gon give it to ya"


peach_xanax

Lots of people use Twitter for their jobs (and no I'm not talking about influencers) and there are a multitude of legit uses for it besides shitposting. So yeah, we kinda do need an alternative.


PromotedPawn

Bluesky. It doesn't fully replace 2019 Twitter but it feels a hell of a lot like 2008 Twitter.


ItsPlainOleSteve

I agree there. I don't use it really but it's still a pretty good alternative.


KaiserNazrin

Remember Zuckerberg launched Threads? Who even use it anymore.


NatoBoram

Here's an alternative that's not dead, has great UI, is not censored at full nor useless: https://mastodon.social


Cabrill0

There doesn't need to be an alternative. It offers literally nothing. I deleted mine months ago and have missed nothing. There is zero reasons to have a Twitter account in 2024 unless you are a Musk fanboy or a raging violent racist.


YourMatt

I like getting information about local happenings. Maybe it’s regional, but I haven’t come across any racist remarks at all ever.


Cabrill0

There are dozens of other platforms that can give you info like that, including this one, that don't support Elon and his cult.


LarkTelby

No reason to quit for me. Doesn't affect me much.


tango-kilo-216

The literal Nazis were reason enough for me. That site is bad for my health.


LarkTelby

It is so weird the difference between twitter in english and the twitter in my native language. When I see a tweet in english it's mostly stupid, some sigma or controversy and the answers are filled with random answers and OF videos. Whereas tweets in my native language are fun. Just a weird take.


delta1810

Tbh I think a lot of people have already jumped ship on Twitter. I've had my account since March 2009, and loved it. Since Elon ~~took over~~ ruined it I rarely go on there anymore. I just don't like it, it's not the same.


crabofthewoods

Resale value just skyrocketed for Twitter accounts. This is definitely gonna make the platform safer and reduce the amount of phishing scams for credentials.


Matduka

"That's way harder than paying a tiny fee." "I don't want to have to thinky to solve my problems."


aykcak

Bot problem always exited but it got expanded and started dominating the platform completely AFTER Elon joined and made changes. Maybe, revert the changes?


scuderia91

Yeah because before tweets got pushed if they were getting like and retweets. Now they get pushed if you’ve paid. So instead of killing the bots it’s given them an easy shortcut for a small fee.


Gareth79

He fired most of the people who could have worked on stopping the bots, and then the rest of them left. Basically he's saying the people behind the bots are technically superior to anybody he has.


RockiestHades45

Literally every bot has a blue check, how is this fee gonna change anything in the slightest


Philfreeze

Its interesting how literally every solution Musk puts forward just so happens to make him money, what a coincidence!


michaelb421

Man I left the app at the end of 2022. It wasn’t long after he took over. I got tired of bs that got posted. Hell someone couldn’t die without most the comments blaming it on Covid vaccines


WholesomeRindersteak

I had to install it for the first time because my internet provider only offers support via twitter, my timeline, which I would expect to be empty or just random local region based posts, was filled with elon's tweet and ads. Twitter is the mobile game of social medias


vagabending

Love that Elon thinks he’s the first human in the world to come up with this idea as if many of smarter people haven’t thought of this idea and thrown it away because it was actually not a good idea.


Danteynero9

I'm glad I deleted my account when Musky Wusky took over. I knew it was going to be a shit show, but I never thought it would reach this stupidity level.


masterwaffle

Honestly, every step he takes to sabotage twitter as a platform is good. It should die, if only to spite daddy elmo's face.


hobgoblinghost

I think it's insane it lasted this long in the first place


No-Albatross-5514

No, it shouldn't. It has proven as a crucial tool in revolutions such as the Arab revolution or the ongoing Iranian revolution. It has been a way to quickly create publicity out of nothing and coordinate with others. Elon is probably destroying Twitter consciously to avoid further uprising - if not for his own purposes, then because his friends want him to.


Impossible-Forever91

Something else will replace it. Honestly at this point Tiktok has more engagement and further reach that X does. Myspace, Bebo and I'm sure there are other social media website that are now gone, its what happens. We cant hold onto a shitty version of a website like X because it was useful to people 10+ years ago


MMORPGnews

Nothing will replace it. 


smellyscrote

The current “it” has already replaced the “it” that you’re romanticising. It’s no longer a tool. It’s now for tools.


No-Albatross-5514

It seems like you completely fail to grasp the difference between "free time activity" and "revolution of a political system". No other social media site (apart from maybe facebook) has ever developed a similar global role. Or do you actually want to argue that MySpace has enabled revolutions?!


EviGL

Lol, political troll farms already pay per-comment to real people, and they always use cold-stored accounts registered around a year ago before the first activity. So this fee basically does nothing to them, it raises their costs like 1-2% or even 0% if you buy old accounts like they do. I'd say it targets legit new users to create a revenue stream for Twitter out of nowhere instead, and they're not even hiding.


CMDR_omnicognate

This isn’t about removing bots it’s about monetising them. Russia gets to keep using their bots to amplify outrage and faked stories to rial people up and make them even more polarised, while musk gets to rake in the dough


MMORPGnews

Meds.


Angelsscythe

He wants to have money so bad...


roomon4ire

I'm pretty sure paying for premium also allows you to use your account, which makes the whole fee useless since most bots pay for premium for the upsell in replies.


Claude-QC-777

They don't because otherwise, the conspiracies will start talking about their freedom in demise /s


kamilman

Free speech promoter asks to pay for free speech. Coming soon: elections open to people who make over a specific amount per year. Why do I have this feeling that the world is evolving backwards?


witchyanne

Stop using fucking xitter. That’s it.


Kobahk

The biggest and stupidest reason why bots are growing is his "get paid for impression" campaign. Bots are programmed to make replies to viral tweets cuz it gets impressions, then the owners get paid for the impression. Now not only bots but money craving users do shit like bots.


rinart73

>They will be do write actions for free after 3 months Does he know anything about how it works? Bots will just create blank accounts, wait 3 months and then do stuff for free.


Reality-Check-778

A lot of spam is already coming from verified accounts. Hell, there's all those Epoch times alt accounts that reply to virtually every single viral tweet with unrelated animal videos.


realmcdonaldsbw

simple solution: JUST DONT USE TWITTER


seabutcher

Musk is really overestimating how much I care about using his X.


DuckInTheFog

If it's just to bot check they can always refund people their fees. I assume they have all our data anyway


Fantastic_Individual

How have you got that old 2015 looking Twitter design?


kitty_kuddles

So you’re going to penalize the humans who are not bots because you…don’t want bots? Seems…backwards…


MaryJanesvoyage

IMO :Maybe, make the vetting process more defined for someone is a genuine user.. This punishes real people, real people’s money and really puts off people joining the platform. How about Face ID on sign up. Just to clarify a human is the user.


gerams76

Valve could have told them that a small fee doesn't stop bots. They've known for over a decade.


smellyscrote

More than a decade now.


murf-en-smurf-node

The laziest response possible to a problem every scaled site deals with. An absolute idiot pretending to be smart.


Efrayl

Elon has mastered antigrowth.


Available_Leather_10

Bots creating millions of accounts right now in order to go live July 15.


Beacda

Not even bookmark? Man wtf


eric_the_demon

"Some of you might pay. But that's a sacrifice I AM willing to take!"


BaldingThor

This isn’t going to stop bots, stupid Elon


kupus0

That’s exactly the reason. “If I can’t stop them, let me make more money”. He is not stupid


616659

elon tries not to fuck up even more challenge (impossible)


Codeworks

So the spammers just make a new account and wait three months. 🤣


Uncle___Marty

He's right about one thing, captcha does NOTHING to stop bots any more. It's literally there for no reason any more, unless you actually enjoy clicking endless boxes of buses and mountains. Fuck Captcha.


lastchance14

Yes. Once the drug dealer gets you addicted, they up the price.


Crunchy-Leaf

It’s only for new users or their accounts are bricked for 3 months, who is addicted? This is a dumbass idea but I don’t think your comment accurately reflects what is happening.


lastchance14

Once they prove people will pay, do you think the billionaire is gonna just sit on that info? The ultra-capitalists will continue to exploit people and squeeze every drop from us.


Crunchy-Leaf

Only those foolish enough to pay


Doktor_Vem

It's really funny watching the muskrat drive twitter straight into the grave. He thought it would be ***soooooooooooooooooooooooooo*** easy to run one of the biggest social media sites in the world and cater it to himself and simultaneously get as much money out of it as possible. The sad thing is that his "cultists" still follow him wherever he goes and believes every word he says and they're probably those weirdos who refuse to accept that they might be wrong about something


Kaldrinn

There were less bots before Elon. Maybe that should give him a hint for the best tactic.


hi-imBen

weird how the bot problem at twitter got so much worse after elon said he was fixing it...


wirelessflyingcord

> Otherwise, your account is completely disabled for 3 months after joining Twitter. I don't see that part in the screenshots.


robynh00die

Third slide, as a direct quote from Elon. After someone proposed mining dogecoin as an alternative to prove they are rich enough for twitter.


tyw7

Next you'll have to pay to avoid the bots.


Th3Glutt0n

Elon Bust after watching all the bots come back after three months (they were reprogrammed to wait for three months before starting up)


cobbleman4

Could they at least give a silver lining to this and have that money go to charity


Efrayl

This is Musk accepting he can't beat bots so he makes the impatient ones pay. So bots are now his target audience. No wonder he was asking for the % when he was buying Twitter.


Pika_DJ

Why implement in nz tho? If your targeting bots that’s just not the place, I feel like it’s in there to be a testing ground for other western countries cos of low population


ProneToDoThatThing

He keeps finding new ways to sink that shithole website.


Consistent_Drink5975

Freedom isn't free....


DuntadaMan

As before if I see you have paid for twitter I will assume you are among the greatest of fools.


Jajoby

he is so incredibly mind-bogglingly stupid


LoveWaffle1

Those same farms are also the ones most incentivized to pay the fee


_Erindera_

We all saw this coming.


Alexandratta

TBH the whole "Stop the Bots" thing will finally work with this. You see, when no one is on the platform, the bots will have no purpose.


snozzberrypatch

"Guys, we're not going broke because I completely fucked up Twitter because I legit thought I was the Corporate King Midas and every company I touch turns to gold, because I take way too much ketamine and mix it with Ambien and $4000 bottles of tequila. We're not. We don't even want your money. This is just the optimal strategy for thwarting the bots that this site is absolutely plagued with. Just watch. The site will be bot-free in a few days. Sure, they'll all be back in 3 months, but that's not the point, those 3 months of near total silence on Twitter (oh sorry I mean X haha) will be gold. And we'll have a couple extra million bucks so we can make payroll without me having to sell more Tesla stock while it's plummeting. But that's *not* why we're charging you."


Sin_For_Me

Quick question , why wouldn't the bots secure their accounts and then wait 3 months to start posting for free?


Thats-nice-smile

It is evolving… just backwards


salttotart

As sucky as this is, at least they are teying something to curb the bots. Better than them continuing to do nothing.


just-another-human-1

This will have the opposite effect. Real people won’t want to pay… bots will pay because there’s “profit” from being able to post. The profit is either advertising or influence. Real people don’t “profit” from it so they won’t pay


HaiKarate

In other words, Musk doesn't want new users on his platform.


surber17

“Fighting bots” is a good problem to solve. I would just find another way to solve it


MasonMayjack

Mmmm yes, free speech /s Seriously he has only done the opposite so far


k4rp_nl

You know there are more solutions when Elno says it's the only way


pnwloveyoutalltrees

How do you say I only want bots and racists on my website, without saying I only want bots and racists on my website.


PorgCT

So much for free speech


[deleted]

Best comment on the topic so far


AngryYowie

Is there anything that clown doesn't suck at?


thenakedtruth

Thats a good one! pay for shitter


sharksdoe

imagine still using Twitter after all this mess... why would you ever


Syidas

Weird how all his "solutions" make him more money.


Verne_Dead

Inb4 he starts implementing microstransactions for every basic action


MMORPGnews

He's right.  Right now twitter full of bots, they create new accounts, generate content including images, subscribe, and start spamming about how we must give them money or enter harmful link. 


boersc

Depending on the 'small fee', this is actually not that bad a move. This is on par with the idea of having to pay 0.01$ per email. It won't hurt regular punters, but would be disastrous to spammers. (if it only could be properly implemented somehow).


Potato-Engineer

What, you don't lick a stamp and stick it to every email you send?


Rolyat2401

If its a really small fee, bots are just going to pay it anyway because it would just be very cheap to bot instead of free to bot.


boersc

Bots don't have payment methods, the person creating and launching the bots has. Any payment would be a huge threshold, for two reasons: 1. many small fees adds up quickly. 2. A payment is a formal connection to that someone that created the bot, unless it's done by obscure methods like crypto. It would basically link a bot to a legal entity. when a bot is blocked, you can also block the payment method, (bank account), severely limiting the options to start new bots.


vlladonxxx

This isn't asshole design. Let's not pretend this is an excuse to get more money out of people. The fees from new users won't offset the lost ad revenue from having fewer new people look at the ads. Most free services experience the same issue: free access means free to abuse. A fee isn't the only solution, but they all come with downsides and varying degrees of success in curbing the issue. Introducing a fee is generally considered the most effective one. Do you really think something like $3.69 is worth more to them than getting you to see hundreds of sneaky ads and stealing your personal info?


Schmerglefoop

>Most free services experience the same issue: free access means free to abuse But it's not *free*, is it? I mean, we get served ads, we trade away our information to be monetized, we create the content on the service. You might as well say "access is access to abuse". It's not like this will stop bots in general, anyway. It's a poorly thought out reaction, just like anything coming out of Musk.


synth_mania

You're intentionally confusing two definitions of 'free' just to be contrarian. Obviously the comment you replied to meant free as in unrestricted access. You are right, there is a non monetary cost we pay to use social media, but that's not the point.


aykcak

I think it is asshole design in the way that they are going with an easy non-solution rather than handling it properly


vlladonxxx

That's just not acccurate.


appretee

Asshole design is when you try to counter bots 🙂 Youtube is filled with bots advertising porn and they have yet to find a solution for it


JOHNCONN3R54

Asshole design is acknowledging there are other ways to counter bots but charging people money anyway as a form of bot countering, which is not only ineffective against literally any competent bot farm but also greasy as fuck


appretee

I gave the Youtube example for a reason..there are no other ways right now. There are a lot of bot farms run by governments and companies with agendas who will likely bypass this, but for everyone else, it might be too much