Fuck Subscriptions

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Naming and shaming all "recurring spending models" where a one-time fee (or none at all) would be appropriate and logical.

Expect use of strong language.

Follow the basic rules of lemmy.world and common sense, and try to have fun if possible.

No flamewars or attacking other users, unless they're spineless corporate shills.

Note that not all subscriptions are awful. Supporting your favorite ~~camgirl~~ creator or Lemmy server on Patreon is fine. An airbag with subscription is irl Idiocracy-level dystopian bullshit.

New community rule: Shilling for cunty corporations, their subscriptions and other anti-customer practices may result in a 1-day ban. It's so you can think about what it's like when someone can randomly decide what you can and can't use, based on some arbitrary rules. Oh what, you didn't read this fine print? You should read what you're agreeing to.

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Some other groovy communities for those who wish to own their products, their data and their life:

Right to Repair/Ownership

Some other useful links:

FreeMediaHeckYeah

Louis Rossman's YouTube channel

Look at content hosted at Big Tech without most of the nonsense:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Dozzi92

Rooki

How Everything Became A Subscription (www.youtube.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by WhoRoger to c/fucksubscriptions

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Why is everything a subscription?

Subscription services are everywhere effecting personal finance the average person is now spending $273 a month on subscriptions and at the same time less than one third of them could afford a $1,000 expense without going into debt…

This only includes software services like netflix, disney plus, hulu, spotify, adobe, apple music, xbox games pass and others. it does not include other recuring expenses like gym or club memberships.

Service companies are doing this to attract venture capital investment. These investors favour subscription businesses because they provide consistent cash flows and can be scaled rapidly before being sold through a traditional IPO, a SPAC or to a private equity fund.

But these businesses are not always perfect and there are some products that just make more sense to sell through a one time direct sale.

So it’s time to Learn How Money Works to find out how everything became a subscription.

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[–] Mac 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

keep the games

Steam account

Hmm

[–] ewe 4 points 1 year ago

But that DRM is the good kind...

Okay, I see your point.

[–] Levii 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How long till steam starts charging a sub fee to use the platform. Suddenly all those games you “owned”… not really “yours” anymore… (the illusion of ownership shatters)

[–] WhoRoger 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember, years ago, before I was boycotting Steam, I was saving every purchase confirmation.

At some point they changed their wording from "Thank you for your purchase" to "Thank you for your subscription".

I tried to look for it on the web, there was absolutely zero mention of this anywhere. Apparently they changed something in their T&C, and if you don't like it, well you can just not use Steam at all I guess. (Which I don't, but it's quite a hit if you have hundreds of games.)

[–] Levii 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, sorry for the late response. I dont have hundreds of games but I do have dozens unfortunately. I dont buy so many anymore anyway, and i dont really play the ones i have on steam that often anyways, aside from the odd 3.