• Hegar@fedia.io
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    15 hours ago

    It’s not outside capital that leads to enshittification, it’s leverage that enshittifies a service.

    A VC that understands that they can force you to wreck your users’ lives is always in danger of doing so. A VC who understands that doing this will make your service into an empty – and thus worthless – server is far less likely to do so (and if they do, at least your users can escape).

    Incredibly clear article pointing out that no individuals will ever be able to resist enshittifaction pressures indefinitely.

    The only way to prevent people with power from emiserating others is to structurally remove any benefit to doing so.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      16 minutes ago

      Last 16 years of my life have taught me (though I had read that stated before, just without such experimental confirmation) that even such obvious mechanisms humans don’t understand.

      I mean, if you show the world as consisting of negotiating groups exchanging value in different dimensions, it’s pretty clear.

  • zout@fedia.io
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    15 hours ago

    I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will

    I don’t know who this person is, but that seems a bit pompous.

    • 0x0@programming.dev
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      16 minutes ago

      He is. And his care for the audience translates to posting 10+ post threads to mastodon, a microblogging platform, because he cares so much. Instead of, dare i say, posting one toot with a link to his blog.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      It’s pretty much the same thing as using services that you can’t self-host and fork. I won’t spend time on any technology that I’m locked into using their app or a login. Is that pompous? I’ve used various services and technology that are proprietary, and invariably it’s bit me in the ass because they have a captive audience.

      I will never use a smarthome device that has to have a cloud account or would be bricked without an internet connection, because eventually it will be a brick because the profit incentive says brick it and get the marks to buy another one. That’s the point of that comment.

      • zout@fedia.io
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        3 hours ago

        To clarify, the pompous part relates to “devote my energies to building up an audience”. But maybe it’s because I devote my energies to shitposting instead. On the other points I can get where you’re coming from.

    • jabjoe@feddit.uk
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      13 hours ago

      Your probably should if your interested in digital rights. Pretty good author too.

    • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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      7 hours ago

      He’s a c-list celebrity and genre author. I generally agree with what he says and enjoy his writing, but I’d be surprised if any of his usual audience joined a platform specifically because of him.

      Edit: I am surprised that some of his usual audience joined a platform specifically because of him.

      • Bob Robertson IX@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Me.

        I followed him from Twitter to Mastodon, even though he didn’t exactly endorse Mastodon. If he were to endorse a platform I wouldn’t think twice about joining.

      • cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml
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        14 hours ago

        Is that was he is claiming though? I read it as spending effort to get people to follow him there, i.e. posting and engaging on the platform to increase his visibility and number of followers there, when he could spend that effort doing it elsewhere / doing something else.