5 ms·

I think the internet (and its tools) started off with the intention of making the lives of users easier as compared to the alternatives. However, as the intern

I think the internet (and its tools) started off with the intention of making the lives of users easier as compared to the alternatives. However, as the internet became mainstream and competitive, more successful players realized that they can employ dark patterns to increase their revenue by taking advantage of users (lock-in, difficulty unsubscribing, making cloud accounts mandatory, etc). It's 2022 and I think all the companies everywhere feel like they have no choice but to learn from the best. The pricing tactics used by Apple, are now used by many other companies in different industries and even companies that were non-tech are now using tech with its dark patterns. Who do I think is to blame? Investors of all kinds. They are making it harder for entrepreneurs who care about their customers to stay in business by throwing money and exploiting consumers weakness for deals/freebies. It's just the mindset of growth at all and any cost, that's what I'm seeing all around me on the internet and offline (by using the internet in some cases).

JKCalhoun 5y ago
> Who do I think is to blame? Investors of all kinds. They are making it harder for entrepreneurs who care about their customers to stay in business by throwing money and exploiting consumers weakness for deals/freebies. I'm not sure. It might also be the opposite: this might be the precise time for a new business that can cut out all the bullshit and give the users what they want. It's not just the HN crowd that is frustrated with Modern Tech.
- AstralStorm 5y ago
  Good luck getting the advertising bandwidth to grow...
  - bryguy32403 5y ago
    TikTok didn't seem to have any problems.
ethbr0 5y ago
> growth at all and any cost This is 100% the root cause. Without exponential growth targets, almost all the ills mentioned wouldn't have been required. And specifically, without exponential growth targets for companies with market cap already above $1T. I'm convinced we'd be living in a better world if MAMAA would have said "Okay, our core business is mature. We're going to run it as a cash printing machine but with lower growth. If you want growth, here are companies we're spinning off." Unfortunately, the reality of the software dev and infrastructure economies probably requires halo behemoths. For the former, so they can be compensated in equity, and the latter, because there's only enough demand for a few at minimal-cost-per-unit scale.
- codeptualize 5y ago
  I hate it so much, it happened so many times that a nice medium to large company with an absolute epic product gets many millions of funding and everything turns to crap in pursuing return on that insane investment. It's sad really.
antihero 5y ago
Can there be a way for capitalism to work highly efficiently and not in a hostile, adversarial manner, in some post-scarcity environment? Or will it always require scarcity in order to function or develop things?
- GreenWatermelon 5y ago
  I believe if regulated, it can foster innovation, but the way it is now encourages blatant exploitation of unaware consumers, as we clearly see these days. Case in point: Windows. requires an expensive license, but still pushes ads down your throat on every occasion, collects too much telemetry, and keeps nagging you after every update until you accept having your data collected.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

> Who do I think is to blame? Investors of all kinds. They are making it harder for entrepreneurs who care about their customers to stay in business by throwing money and exploiting consumers weakness for deals/freebies. I'm not sure. It might also be the opposite: this might be the precise time for a new business that can cut out all the bullshit and give the users what they want. It's not just the HN crowd that is frustrated with Modern Tech.

AstralStorm 5y ago
Good luck getting the advertising bandwidth to grow...
- bryguy32403 5y ago
  TikTok didn't seem to have any problems.

ethbr0 5y ago

> growth at all and any cost This is 100% the root cause. Without exponential growth targets, almost all the ills mentioned wouldn't have been required. And specifically, without exponential growth targets for companies with market cap already above $1T. I'm convinced we'd be living in a better world if MAMAA would have said "Okay, our core business is mature. We're going to run it as a cash printing machine but with lower growth. If you want growth, here are companies we're spinning off." Unfortunately, the reality of the software dev and infrastructure economies probably requires halo behemoths. For the former, so they can be compensated in equity, and the latter, because there's only enough demand for a few at minimal-cost-per-unit scale.

codeptualize 5y ago
I hate it so much, it happened so many times that a nice medium to large company with an absolute epic product gets many millions of funding and everything turns to crap in pursuing return on that insane investment. It's sad really.

antihero 5y ago

Can there be a way for capitalism to work highly efficiently and not in a hostile, adversarial manner, in some post-scarcity environment? Or will it always require scarcity in order to function or develop things?

GreenWatermelon 5y ago
I believe if regulated, it can foster innovation, but the way it is now encourages blatant exploitation of unaware consumers, as we clearly see these days. Case in point: Windows. requires an expensive license, but still pushes ads down your throat on every occasion, collects too much telemetry, and keeps nagging you after every update until you accept having your data collected.