this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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I didn't say it should be banned, but I think this is not a very good defense for just about anything:
You cited three age-old institutions that had their legacy business models destroyed the very moment consumers could escape them.
I already barely use discord (after all these years I have only joined two servers, and both make my eyes bleed every time I look at them) - and I can get along just fine without those communities if they make it the tiniest bit less pleasant for me as a consumer.
The only reason I use it at all is for a small number of niche communities that aren't very active elsewhere. My life would be nearly exactly the same as it is today if I never visited those communities again.
Not in a million years will I pay for discord, and if their ads can't be blocked, they better be damn near invisible or I'm out. Considering I've never heard one person say how much they enjoy using Discord, I feel confident there are a great many others in the same boat.
It’s also how the internet works. I left it off because it was the subject of the comment. People didn’t flee those because of the advertising. People left because the internet is undeniably better by being larger, more convenient, timely, and is a 2-way comms channel. Advertising still drives everything there.
I use discord as my primary work app. If they add ads, I’ll likely move to something else also. And that’s the point. Platforms should be free to do whatever they want and consumers are free to react.
I fled cable because of advertising and prices.
I fled traditional newspapers because they were no longer needed, and their prices, and have not paid for one since then in any form. There are many facets to the shittiness of the newspaper industry, but IIRC they seemed to think they didn't need to worry about their old business model until it was too late.
Same for magazines, although I generally view them more favorably than either of the others or Discord - and some magazines have very much been criticized over the years for being far too much advertising for the value/content they provided.
The underlying point is - when you are the only game in town, as discord currently de-facto is (as cable once was, and as newspapers and magazines once were), you can treat your users like shit. To a point. There are already other options, and people already don't enjoy the experience. Giving users a choice of "pay us or we'll make it even shittier" is going to end exactly like those others.
I just want to reiterate again, I haven't called for banning of anything. My reaction is to call out that they are taking a shitty product and making it shittier. Their own greed will hasten their demise. (Like cable, at a minimum.)
various edits due to typos etc
Yeah I agree!
Perhaps my original post sounded like I supported advertising in discord. I don’t. But I support their right to add advertising. The more these centralized corporations enshitify, the more people move to decentralized services.
Keep govt out of it.
I understand you aren’t OP.
Fair point, I may have been more argumentative than was called for. My bad if so. :)