this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
154 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

37708 readers
402 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
rs5th@beehaw.org
coldredlight@beehaw.org
Los@beehaw.org
SemioticStandard@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@kbin.social
remington@beehaw.org
154
Does enshitification happen because companies are publicly-traded? (beehaw.org)
submitted 6 months ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
69 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Isn't that a prerequisite for enshitification? Publicly-traded companies are required (by law, I think) to maximize profits for their shareholders, even if that means utterly ruining their original product (Reddit, Boeing, etc.), yes? What do you think?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] itmightbethew@beehaw.org 6 points 6 months ago

I think there can be an intermediary step where things get a little better before they get much worse. I'm thinking of Youtube, which pre acquisiton, iirc, was getting slow and bad. Google infrastructure made it faster, but then, well...

This is really just the first step of enshitification - first they make things good for users, then introduce advertisers, then claw back all the value for themselves.

Or put another way

  • "don't worry you favourite thing will stay the same - we don't want to mess with a winning formula!
  • "these changes will benefit users!"
  • "we have to comply with industry standards and best practices. please read our updated terms of service."
  • "in order to compete in a dynamic marketplace, we're introducing an add supported tier!
  • "we've made changes to our subscription model!"
  • "we've made changes to our subscription model and we're introducing adds on paid tiers! suck it!"
  • "sure, you paid for it, but our agreements are expiring and we don't value you as a human being!"
  • "really, where else are you going to go? lololololol"