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> I have never seen such a product before that is so popular, and yet many of its users are also rooting against it. This is basically what it looks like when
by derbOac 3y ago
> I have never seen such a product before that is so popular, and yet many of its users are also rooting against it.
This is basically what it looks like when there's a product people feel locked into because of network effects and lack of options. People want something different but know they can't move en masse unless everyone is, by definition. So they root against it because they want the whole thing destabilized to a point where people are incentivized to make and try alternatives.
If any of this worked like a healthy competitive ecosystem, people would have just switched to a different service or whatever.
It's the classic chicken and egg problem in networked technology.
- runnr_az 3y agoGotta go where your friends are.
- alwayslikethis 3y ago> So they root against it because they want the whole thing destabilized to a point where people are incentivized to make and try alternatives. This just hasn't ever happened with a platform large enough to cater to normies. Everyone hates Facebook but they are still using it. A normie userbase is highly domesticated and will accept all sorts of abuses. Only platforms catering to mostly technical users are susceptible to this kind of user revolt, as seen with the Freenode story. In this light, even as someone generally opposed to regulation, I can support government initiatives to undermine network power. Let's call it "tyranny of the network."
- rsynnott 3y agoAh, yes. That’s why we all still use LiveJournal, Friendster, MySpace, Digg, and Tumblr, yes? Social networks can _absolutely_ auto-euthanise by annoying the user base too much; this has happened fairly frequently.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago> So they root against it because they want the whole thing destabilized to a point where people are incentivized to make and try alternatives. Wouldn't this de-incentivize any potential competitors? After all, what's stopping the same groups from doing the same thing to them when they grow large, and with even more ferocity?