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I’m somewhere in the middle on this. These communities are real, and the value of the content shared by users is real. On the one hand, I prefer the old open w

I’m somewhere in the middle on this. These communities are real, and the value of the content shared by users is real. On the one hand, I prefer the old open web. On the other, I can’t deny the existence and value of these walled gardens. The wall doesn’t erase the value, even if I strongly prefer there wasn’t a wall to begin with. To your point, discord comes with downsides, and does raise questions about the longevity of the content. Most of the old web disappeared too. I think that in order to have any hope of returning to something more open and public on a wider scale, it’s necessary to understand why these communities are thriving on discord. I don’t have the answer to that question, but I suspect that the wall is actually a benefit to some.

ants_everywhere 3y ago
> are thriving on discord This is always multiply determined, but part of the answer is that Discord and these other walled gardens are subsidized by VC funding with the expectation that at some point they'll turn on the garbage compactor and squeeze out the juicy value.
Repulsion9513 3y ago
As sibling comment got at - the wall is a benefit because it's how they can justify raking in large investments to burn through while loss-leading for up to a decade (or two! just look at Google) before turning the screws on the user. If they just turned the screws without a wall their users would flee and they'd go under. With a wall, their users are stuck in by network effects, FOMO, etc.