Fearing enshittification is one reason I want to keep my company private. If I have to answer to stockholders, then I’m not answering to customers, and that’s shitty.
this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
287 points (91.8% liked)
Fediverse
28491 readers
1056 users here now
A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).
If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to !moderators@lemmy.world!
Rules
- Posts must be on topic.
- Be respectful of others.
- Cite the sources used for graphs and other statistics.
- Follow the general Lemmy.world rules.
Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration), Search Lemmy
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Fearing enshittification is one reason I want to keep my company private. If I have to answer to stockholders, then I’m not answering to customers, and that’s shitty.
I get it. His most recent post talks about how enshittification isn't just limited to digital platforms, it's inevitable whenever monopolies are allowed to form.
Avoid private equity as well. PE is equally shitty.
Well good news... you don't have to fucking answer to stockholders. That's a fucking lie perpetrated by Harvard Business sociopaths and their bootlicking bitchboys.
All you have to do is what's in the best interest of the business. If someone doesn't like it they can sell the fucking stock.
“The best interest of the business” is far too lenient in its wording. Some of the shareholder derivative lawsuits out there are fucking wild.
Simple things such as “paying your workers too much”, “acting with too much emphasis on morality over capital gains”, it all does have to come back to shareholder profits, ever since Dodge Vs. Ford.
That's not what was decided in Dodge v. Ford. That case decided that corporations are allowed to act in the interest of majority shareholders even if it hurts the interests of minority shareholders. The Dodge brothers owned Ford shares and were trying to use their position to force Ford to stop competing with Dodge.
Further:
"In fact, courts have consistently refused to hold directors liable for failing to maximise shareholder value."
"In 2014, the United States Supreme Court voiced its position in no uncertain terms. In Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., the Supreme Court stated that “Modern corporate law does not require for profit corporations to pursue profit at the expense of everything else”.
https://legislate.ai/blog/does-the-law-require-public-companies-to-maximise-shareholder-value
The idea that corporations are hamstrung and simply must do evil things to maximize profit is actually just corporate propaganda.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I've noted over the past few years, how any company that invests in R&D rather than pays dividends is labelled as "loss making" by the press.
load more comments
(1 replies)
The real cost of enshittification is that they make it impossible for others to run honest business.
Who will pay a subscription for privacy respecting services when there are a dozen free alternatives. True cost of running online business has been completely hidden from users and for so long that they will never accept those that want to cover the costs upfront.
e.g. how many of you remain on Lemmy if instance owners asked for a monthly fee to cover their server costs?
That's the neoliberal secret -- you have to play the game, no matter how immoral the rules.
load more comments
(5 replies)
I'd do it.
Kind of surprised (and a bit disappointed) you didn't get more replies saying "I already pay". Which does admittedly support your point!
p.s. I already pay.
If they are 100% transparent in regard to where the money goes, I'm in. The problem with something like youtube premium is not that it's unaffordable to the majority of users. It's that at this point you have to assume that they don't need the subscription fee to cover their costs, but to shove that money up some CEOs or shareholders asses. Yeah that's not gonna happen unless they force me to and even then I'd think twice about if I really need that service.
Depends honestly but there’s a fee I’d be willing to pay to support if there was ongoing development and efforts for things user privacy and responsible moderation.
A few but nowhere near enough. I do pay a few “optional” subscriptions to support good services but not many
I used to donate to BBSes, and my BBS ran on donations, so that's how I'd approach the issue.
load more comments
(12 replies)
tl;dw
-
Cory Doctorow coins the term "enshittification" to describe how platforms start out benefiting users but eventually abuse users and business customers to extract all value.
-
Facebook started by prioritizing user privacy over ads but now prioritizes profits over all else.
-
Network effects are a double-edged sword - they lock users in but also make platforms vulnerable if users leave en masse.
-
Low switching costs due to universality and interoperability allow competitors to reverse engineer platforms and plug in competing services.
-
Mandatory interoperability and limiting data control can curb platform power by distributing control to users and smaller companies.
-
Recent antitrust actions aim to roll back decades of lax merger policy that let platforms consolidate power.
-
Breakups will take a long time so interoperability is a faster way to restore competition.
-
Laws should limit abusive behavior rather than rely on platforms to self-regulate.
-
Federated open services fail gracefully and encourage migration to better platforms.
-
Political will is growing but change will be gradual - focus should be on harm reduction in the near term.
I love that this is on YouTube, which us going full force in enshittifying itself right now.
That's capitalism - it'll gladly sell you even its own criticism
'When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract.'
load more comments
(1 replies)
True but it is unfortunately still the place where people will most likely watch your video.
Thank God you censored the word SHIT so we didn't all need a group hug meeting .
It's the original title of the video. I assume the uploaded voluntarily censored it to avoid getting demonetized
load more comments
(1 replies)
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/watch?v=rimtaSgGz_4&si=4REg2e22vrfEUYwl
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Good Bot!
Ironic that a bot had to come save us from having to watch the video in an enshititfying platform...
load more comments
(1 replies)
I watched the video yesterday and I couldn't really understand what the plan is. What I got was something like "the corps are too big for the consumers to do anything and laws are very slow to made".
Did I miss something about the "audacious(?)" plan?
Man, people think they want laws to regulate the internet but seem to forget who owns the lobbyists.
The fediverse will be at risk as soon as they start legislating.
Man, people think they want laws to regulate the internet but seem to forget who owns the lobbyists.
The fediverse will be at risk as soon as they start legislating.
The plan is US basically ... decentralization. The federated web
i.e. where it all began
let the internet enshit itself, that why we are here, profit focused companies are going to fuck themselfs, it's just a matter of time
load more comments
(2 replies)
The World Wide Wipe
The Big Data Bidet
An Ethernet Enema
Bidets are the best thing ever though. Installing a bidet changed my life.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Not all heroes wear capes.
But in xkcd lore, Cory Doctorow does in fact wear a cape, and has a hot air balloon.
WOAH! I never made the connection before.
I guess I have a new hero.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Can we all take a moment to appreciate how stupid that word sounds. I feel like we can come up with something better.
I just wanted to say, definitely watch the video if you have the time. Cory Doctorow is absolutely right and an incredibly smart guy.
It doesn't necessarily roll off the tongue, but that's a good thing. It seems to be catching on, and frankly those large companies and orgs that are enshittifying and get labeled thusly might actually not love being called out with it, and hopefully slow their roll.
Doubtful, but a man can dream.
I used to work at S***ify... which is currently enshittifying at top-speed. It fits.
Funny that it could either Shopify or Spotify, you refer to, as both are arguably enshityifying.
I first read it as Shittify
See my other comment 😂
load more comments
(6 replies)
So stupid I saw it used a lot of times and I used it myself before I even knew the guy.. it conveys the meaning so well
load more comments
(11 replies)
I sure wouldn't because at that point I rather pay for my own instance and invite others to join.
view more: next ›