Reddit awards was how the servers were funded back in the day, so it was possible to keep reddit non-commercial.

RIP Aaron Schwartz

cross-posted from: feddit.org/post/37870004

reddit got bad because spez (the reddit admin) restricted API access to the platform for third-party apps, such that people would be forced to use the official app or web UI, both of which display advertisement and collect user data (e.g. scroll behavior).

the reason why this happened is because reddit is a for-profit company and tries to extract money out of the userbase, at the expense of the users.

another example of a bad decision that reddit made was to push a lot of ragebait (“Am I The Asshole?”) because company shareholders want to see “engagement numbers” go up, and if somebody writes an angry reply to a post, that’s “engagement”. but it makes you angry at the stupidity of the “Asshole”, so it makes your day worse. that is another example how reddit makes money at the expense of the users.

size (number of monthly active users) is not what made reddit bad. commercialization is.

we should probably get rid of the “don’t make lemmy grow, it will ruin the platform if we grow” idea.

Imho, “submitting content” is the language of commercial sites. Like we are working for free for a business. But people post their ideas, hang out with friends, and share their art and code freely because they want to connect with other people. Some people have the means and knowledge to maintain a server allowing that to a limited number of people. It costs money, sure, and time, but this is also a thing people do for fun, sometimes with the help of voluntary donations.

Size and commercialisation generally go hand in hand. After all, how do you keep something running with infinite users submitting infinite content for free?

This is a big issue for everyone, it’s important that the fediverse understands that size might some day increase the importance of sensible business models or proactive funding initiatives to counter the growth. This doesn’t mean harmful profit models necessarily, but it does mean keeping revenues under control for individually run nodes or for archiving services for old fediverse domains that might not exist forever.

@aurynn well yes. Bc of course you are.

@daringfireball I can’t believe you went with “uno” in lieu of “solo”.

The struggle is real

https://pizzacakecomic.com/post/832932952185995264

Kenya eradicated Ebola while America is reintroducing measles

Parece que a Depressão Charles andou a fazer estragos em Marrocos. Uma nota apenas para o pessoal que dizia que quem avisou a população em Portugal estava a exagerar...
#FMA_Charles https://mastodon.social/@netblocks/117599968016995401

@mcc that does smell a bit like an MSVC issue i've encountered before, but the "attempt to create an array of negative that number" idea is excellent

A Texas GOP gerrymander last year pushed Democrat Alisa Simmons out of office. She then ran for countywide office, and last week won the race for Tarrant County executive—part of a larger shift ushering in a Democratic majority in the county government.

https://boltsmag.org/tarrant-county-swings-democratic/

@davidgerard

Yeah, I'm not giving you the punch line, as I'd never insult myself that way.

@davidgerard
My Q: why the hell do wealthy men like Jensen Huang fuck around with subordinates and Chinese spies when professional, discreet, extremely attractive prostitutes exist? Yes, yes, many of them get off on the power of having an affair with someone beneath them, but a lot of it is just sex too, and it is possible to get sex without blowing up your whole freaking life (and company).

@toddhorowitz Thank you! We have a lot of fun playing it 😊
If you want to try the demo, it's live on Itch.io!
https://bupgames.itch.io/atlas-rush-demo

@patrizia @AminiAllight @milo @nyanpasu64 Thanks. Although we *could* upgrade, currently we are using C++17.

@davidgerard breaking: NVIDIA looking to get into the multi-trillion high-end leather jacket repossession market

@Paradox @kaia im generally not someone who actually hates individual people or who is angry much but Pete joins Melon Husk on the list of people who i genuinely would enjoy torturing myself