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Enshittification Continues: Discord to begin showing advertisements on it's free platform (archive.is)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

384 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They supposedly can be disabled in settings- but we all know that won't last. They're going full Microsoft Skype mode and it's only a matter of time.

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

this is not a very good defense for just about anything

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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.

Platforms should be free to do whatever they want and consumers are free to react.

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Fair point, I may have been more argumentative than was called for. My bad if so. :)