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Let's go back to the source, Cory Doctorow's article: Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make thing

Let's go back to the source, Cory Doctorow's article: Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification... It would seem not to apply here. Bowling alleys don't really have a two-sided marketplace; they don't have business customers to sell the fruits of abusing their bowling customers, if you could call subjecting bowlers to a more annoying set of pins "abuse".

layer8 3y ago
I don't see the business-customer aspect as essential for enshittification to happen. In the end, it's about the platforms wanting to maximize value for themselves, once they've captured the user base. A third party of business customers being involved, and maybe also abused, is rather incidental, and makes no difference for the users who end up with the bad experience.
- nemothekid 3y ago
  >I don't see the business-customer aspect as essential for enshittification to happen If you don't make this distinction, then "enshittification" is no different from "P/E-style value extraction" which has been around long before tech industry. The destruction of Sears was done purely on a profit motive but did not happen in the same manner of tech platforms today. Furthermore, I don't see how a bowling alley is now a "platform". These are individual businesses taking cost cutting measures to keep the lights on because the sport is dying.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  The bowlers are not captured here. Even if we use the reduced definition, not every corner cut in the world would count as enshittification. And users having a bad experience is even more broad. Enshittification is a specific method/cause. I would not say it's incidental.

layer8 3y ago

I don't see the business-customer aspect as essential for enshittification to happen. In the end, it's about the platforms wanting to maximize value for themselves, once they've captured the user base. A third party of business customers being involved, and maybe also abused, is rather incidental, and makes no difference for the users who end up with the bad experience.

nemothekid 3y ago
>I don't see the business-customer aspect as essential for enshittification to happen If you don't make this distinction, then "enshittification" is no different from "P/E-style value extraction" which has been around long before tech industry. The destruction of Sears was done purely on a profit motive but did not happen in the same manner of tech platforms today. Furthermore, I don't see how a bowling alley is now a "platform". These are individual businesses taking cost cutting measures to keep the lights on because the sport is dying.
Dylan16807 3y ago
The bowlers are not captured here. Even if we use the reduced definition, not every corner cut in the world would count as enshittification. And users having a bad experience is even more broad. Enshittification is a specific method/cause. I would not say it's incidental.