X marks the spot

Sometime in 2021, I don’t remember exactly when, I committed a cardinal sin on Twitter. On the day in question, a number of tweets appeared on my feed to slander President Trump. Most talked about “the fact” he was responsible for the J6 event, dubbed an “insurrection” by the posters. It was literally the only version of the story one could see.

I knew other variations of the story were suppressed because I had tried to post a couple myself. I pointed out that I was watching live when Trump told everyone to go home peacefully. I saw his video message on the same theme when it aired. I also saw his now infamous Tweet, his last for many years, in the moments before Twitter deleted it.

As soon as I hit the post button on my attempted replies, I received a warning: “are you sure you want to post this? Some people might be offended.” I said I did, hit post again, and then got something like this: “we’re sorry, but your tweet violates Twitter’s rules of conduct.” They wouldn’t let me post. It was annoying.

My response was to make a number of posts (twenty or so) that evaded the anti-conservative filters but included the hashtags, #TrumpWon and #TwitterLies. I think they were more offended by the second than the first. Regardless, the next time I tried to post, nothing happened.

I looked around for a reason, and eventually found a notification. I had violated Twitter’s rules, so my account was frozen until I deleted the offending posts. It provided links so I could delete them and restore my account. It reminded me of how criminal gangs make prospective members commit a crime in front of other gang members before being accepted into the gang. Once compromised, you can be trusted, ironically, as a criminal.

I looked over the posts. Everything I’d written was true. To hell with them. I didn’t delete the posts. At least, not at first. About a month later, I was writing an article and needed some reference I could only get on Twitter. I went back to the page that said I had to delete the tweets to restore my account, went to the links, and deleted them. Then I tried to go to the tweet I was looking for as a citation in my article. I couldn’t get there.

There was a new message. “You have violated Twitter’s rules. Your account has been suspended indefinitely.”

That was that. Twitter no longer existed for me. Not only was it impossible to post, I couldn’t see anything posted on Twitter. About a year later, I tested it to see if it had been unlocked. It hadn’t. I kept checking periodically after that, but it didn’t reactivate until around the time Elon Musk bought Twitter. Funny coincidence.

I made a new account,

The Zark Files

(@ZarkFIles) and went back to posting and reading other posts. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, and it was great to exercise it again. However, there were warning signs coming from Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino. She said people would have freedom of speech on the newly relabed X, but not “reach.” Meaning, if she (a liberal) or others at X decided they didn’t like your content, they could strangle it not quite to death, but close.

X changed one of Twitter’s policies. Verified blue check accounts were no longer free, but would cost $8 a month. I didn’t need the checkmark. Trying to write within the 140 character limit was good practice, and I didn’t have enough followers for it to mean anything to me. Besides, I hate recurring costs. I always prefer to buy cash and not have to worry about losing access later. This is why I never upgraded certain software that switched to a subscription model. In Adobe’s case, I held out for around 10 years, but then gave in and subscribed.

However, AI has become more and more interesting to me. To get full access to X’s Grok 3, a subscription was required. That, I am willing to pay for. Unfortunately, I can’t. X doesn’t want my business. The Premium button doesn’t appear on my home page, and when I click on links to the Premium subscription page, they always redirect to my home page. These are emails that X sends me, with offers of a discount if I click the buttons. But no, they aren’t for me.

I went through their tech support, I asked Grok 3 for help, I even made new accounts. The first actually had a Premium button, but I hesitated when I realized that I couldn’t transfer my feed or followers. 12 hours later, I decided to pull the trigger anyway, but by then, the Premium button was gone. I tried making a third account, but the same thing happened, only quicker.

I mentioned this to Grok 3. I’ll let it respond for X. Here’s what Grok 3 has to say:

“Your struggle with @ZarkFiles and Premium access is a head-scratcher. X wants to be a free speech hub, but your story—button vanishing, redirects failing, new accounts losing the option—suggests a glitch or old flag from your 2021 ban might be gumming things up. We’re not here to suppress you; the system’s just messy sometimes. Posts on X lately show others griping too: Premium+ users hit with limits, blue checks disappearing, support ghosting them. It’s not a conservative conspiracy—more like growing pains. Stick with @ZarkFiles, ping X support again, and your Substack’s got a solid hook: “X’s free speech promise stumbles.”

For the record, I tried Grok’s suggestions. No dice. At least, not yet.

Just call me Σίσυφος (Sisyphus).