this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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Enshittification

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What is enshittification?

The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source

The lifecycle of Big Internet

We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.

Embrace, extend and extinguish

We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Getting around an extension that circumvents YouTube's monetisation is not enshitification.

YouTube: constantly makes the ad experience worse

Users: install AdBlock methods to dodge how terrible it's gotten

YouTube: continues making the ad experience worse

You, an intellectual: but it's not enshittification tho

[–] [email protected] -5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Can you maybe add 2 and 2 to get a 4?

Your "ad experience" being "worse", mwans that more ads are shown to you, so companies are more inclined to advertise, because their ad money is not wasted.

You either pay for premium or watch ads. You don't want to watch ads and you don't want to pay for premium. You're a free-loader leech and you're crying enshitification where there is none.

You get more ads so they can collect more money for ever-increasing server and content-creator costs.

Again, either a child or absolutely clueless.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You either pay for premium or watch ads.

Or you pay a premium and watch ads (ex. HBO Max, Netflix etc.), which is always the end goal for the goblins at these companies. Enough is never enough, that's the problem.

Companies can still make money without going overboard. If anything the reckless pursuit of maximizing profits at all costs is bad business practice if your goal is a sustainable company.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Slippery-slope nosense. We're talking specifically about YouTube here, let's stay on topic.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Is it nonsense? They got rid of the paid tier that only got rid of ads at the start of this ad blocking war. And their tactics have been escalating more and more along with the amount of ads shown. Do you honestly think they will just stop at some point and be satisfied? Seems naive to ignore the trends from all other companies and assume youtube won't follow suit given the choice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I'm not an oracle, I can't tell the future.

I can, however, tell you that if you pay youtube for premium, you won't get ads this month.

It'll get "worse" with time, because youtube doesn't have an expiration date. But that's the price of accumulating information. And people are going to decide wether it's worth paying for.

Enshitification is when the product gets worse with time and user gains nothing (or loses).

"more ads" is basically covering "increased cost" due to increasing content, and content quality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We pay with the data they are illegally harvesting.

Fuck youtube and fuck american companies, I will leech the fuck of it until they crumble.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What is data used for?
Is it... advertising, maybe?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not only that. Youtube ads yes but also google ads, resold to others companies, AI training, etc...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago