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> They become zombies and collapse gradually, and then suddenly. I know people love to crib Hemingway's turn of phrase, but I don't think it makes sense here.
by cxr 4y ago
> They become zombies and collapse gradually, and then suddenly.
I know people love to crib Hemingway's turn of phrase, but I don't think it makes sense here. Because it's the opposite, right? Sudden first, and then gradual. There's some big catalyst, and what remains afterwards slowly dissipates seemingly interminably towards zero. Even in notable cases like MySpace, which still exists, it's just "gradual" at first and then it's still "gradual" later, too.
- fullshark 4y agoHmm perhaps you are right. Elon acquisition of Twitter / Fox News acquisition of Myspace? not sure what was the catalyst there. Removing porn from Tumblr? All sudden shocks that lead to a long term decline and eventual irrelevance.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rsynnott 4y agoDepends. Livejournal, say, was gradual (long-term decline), then sudden (Russian takeover). Similar for freenode. Digg was sudden (truly disastrous redesign), then gradual (spiral into irrelevance). Tumblr was… kind of all over the place.