Tom Cross

This post from @mmasnick is a helpful contribution to thinking about how Internet companies can resist the path to #enshitification that @doctorow first described.

It can be good for companies to define crisp lines for both their employees and their customers between what they consider to be reasonable and exploitive. "Don't be evil" was a good idea as a general principle but the devil is in the details. What kinds of things will we never do here?

I also think technical architectures that prevent user lock-in are an important part of the solution. People are fond of saying that if you aren't paying for a service, you're the product. A more important problem is that you aren't in a position to demand better service if you aren't in a position to walk away from the table if you don't get what you're asking for.

It's easy to hate big tech companies. Proposing constructive answers that aren't merely straw men is a lot harder. Much more discussion about this is needed.

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/21/seven-rules-for-internet-ceos-to-avoid-enshittification/

Seven Rules For Internet CEOs To Avoid Enshittification

It seems that we’ve had a rash of formerly loved internet services going down the enshittification curve. As coined (brilliantly) by Cory Doctorow, enshittification is the process by which a compan…

Techdirt
Jun 22, 2023 at 12:55pmWeb
Show threadJoy DenebeimJun 22, 2023
@decius @mmasnick @doctorow what kinds of things we'll never do here? I can tell you one. There will never be an IPO
Show threadPyperkubJun 22, 2023

@decius @mmasnick @doctorow 😂

Not seeing that happen, oh, ever, without regulation.

Show threadSiderea, Sibylla BostoniensisJun 23, 2023

@pyperkub Just so.

I disagree, @decius, that this is at all helpful. In 2023, expecting internet companies to self-regulate out of either enlightened self-interest or high-minded ideals is embarrassingly naive. If we want internet companies to be held to the commitments they make to their users, we need to make it either a crime or a tort for them not to. The solution here is regulation, not helpful suggestions of which good intentions tech companies should have.

We know where good intentions lead. Here. They lead here.

@mmasnick @doctorow

Show threadPyperkubJun 23, 2023
@siderea @decius @mmasnick @doctorow And the thing is that *that* regulation will be a *good* thing for them as well as the users. the incentive to compete in a mad rush towards #enshittification extinction would be removed and other, more sustainable methods of making money will be incentivized.
Show threadJaime HerazoJun 23, 2023

@decius @mmasnick @doctorow

As the original blog post mentioned, enshittification happens because *it's very easy*, companies start squeezing because it's just so damn easy to just do a little shitty thing to get a little more profit, then the next, and the next, and the next. As usual, the issue is the expectation of constant growth, under it you have just no other choice. And that kills communities, here's a blog post about it: https://www.marginalia.nu/log/82_killing_community/

Killing Community

This is a theory that’s previously been stated in log/39-normie-hypothesis.gmi, but I think it’s worth expanding on as it’s become very relevant with the recent Reddit shit-show actualizing just how bad that website has gotten along with social media in general. I think the model demonstrates how the ’enshittification’ process is an inevitability with any social media that is run on a venture capital model. An online community can be like a village, where you have familiar faces, collective experiences, shared values and so forth.