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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The Rise (and Fall) of Patreon (youtu.be)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/enshittification

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The unique relationship that many creators have with Patreon seems to shield it from even very light criticism. While I think there are many, many positives to come out of Patreon's rise, I thus wanted to try and view the company through a more detached, nuanced lens.

I've hesitated to include too many predictions about what might happen to Patreon next. My naive hope would be that they decide to refocus on the basics and building a sustainable business model using the features that made the platform so popular in the first place.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I like how they made it clear that Patreon did everything right, the only mistake was taking on Venture Capital. It's not that they weren't making money, they were, quite a lot of it actually, it's just they weren't making all the money. VC by design demolishes everything it touches.