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Many years ago, I wrote an article about Duolingo being a game first before being a language learning tool. The article became too popular until it reached thei
by firefoxd 4y ago
Many years ago, I wrote an article about Duolingo being a game first before being a language learning tool. The article became too popular until it reached their attention. I started getting threatening emails. Cease and desists. I never removed it.
Then users started telling me that it was true once, but there has been so many updates to the app that my article is no longer relevant. In fact, my article was now misleading. I had used Duolingo consecutively for over a year, so I gave it another shot. I could bot last a couple weeks.
Today, Duolingo uses all the mechanics of Candy Crush. Yes, they have improved their game mechanics to optimize for engagement and conversion. Learning a language with Duolingo is only incidental.
- oska 4y ago> I started getting threatening emails. Cease and desists. If this is true then it further confirms to me that all Luis von Ahn's philanthropic guff was a fraudulent facade and he's always been about the money. And this prompted me to look up his profile on wikipedia and I see that he's recently signed up to a US imperialist push to win back control over Central American countries (which have recently been slipping the US neocolonial leash, particularly El Salvador). Which only increases my disdain for the man.