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the site is ad infested and slow as hell to load, such a fall from their former grace when they were seen as an internet darling This is the cycle of a lot of

the site is ad infested and slow as hell to load, such a fall from their former grace when they were seen as an internet darling This is the cycle of a lot of ad-driven businesses. They start out sleek and quick to load because they’re ad-free. They grow insanely fast and burn runway. Then they begin loading the site down with ads to monetize the users. This leads to a gradual exodus and eventual death (or death in the star-like sense of eternal irrelevance). It seems to be an unstable equilibrium. If you want to stay on top in terms of users and actually make money you’ve got to have a lean and highly optimized site with non-intrusive ads. On the other hand, if you give in to the temptation to take any ad who wants you then you doom the site in exchange for a short term profit.

biztos 4y ago
I wonder: if you know this, and expect it will happen, is that kind of company still a good investment? It could be that Imgur has already more than paid back its acquisition price to MediaLab[0] and now they are willing to risk killing it in order to not have the NSFW hassle with their banks. Or not, but it seems like this happens enough that the money people should understand it by now. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28674883 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28674883
timmytokyo 4y ago
Enshittification [0] [0] https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/
- dmix 4y ago
  Some like Facebook still manage to claw their way back into a happy mediocrity. Instagram is victim to this trying to follow every trend and turning themselves into another WeChat that has every feature ever.
  - Zak 4y ago
    I'm not sure if Facebook is in a state of happy mediocrity. Nobody I know who uses Facebook does so because they like Facebook even because there aren't better alternatives in terms of functionality. People use Facebook because its network effects are effectively impossible for alternatives to overcome.
sizzle 4y ago
How much did you founders profit from Imgur? never saw a figure anywhere.

biztos 4y ago

I wonder: if you know this, and expect it will happen, is that kind of company still a good investment? It could be that Imgur has already more than paid back its acquisition price to MediaLab[0] and now they are willing to risk killing it in order to not have the NSFW hassle with their banks. Or not, but it seems like this happens enough that the money people should understand it by now. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28674883 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28674883

timmytokyo 4y ago

Enshittification [0] [0] https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

dmix 4y ago
Some like Facebook still manage to claw their way back into a happy mediocrity. Instagram is victim to this trying to follow every trend and turning themselves into another WeChat that has every feature ever.
- Zak 4y ago
  I'm not sure if Facebook is in a state of happy mediocrity. Nobody I know who uses Facebook does so because they like Facebook even because there aren't better alternatives in terms of functionality. People use Facebook because its network effects are effectively impossible for alternatives to overcome.

sizzle 4y ago

How much did you founders profit from Imgur? never saw a figure anywhere.