Everything is Shit: Tracking the Great Enshittening

[956 Worldwide 34693]

Inspired by news and different threads here, starting a place to track and chronicle the Great Enshittening of the internet. Basically, how the internet (and other industries) are getting terrible, usually because of this process:

Quote

Stage 1: User Lock-in – Initially, companies offer substantial benefits and features to users, making their services highly attractive and indispensable. This stage is characterized by a focus on user acquisition and retention.

Stage 2: Business Customer Lock-in – After securing a stable user base, these benefits are gradually redirected towards attracting business customers. This shift often leads to a change in service dynamics, where the needs of business customers start taking precedence over end-users.

Stage 3: Value Harvesting – The final stage involves prioritizing the interests of shareholders and company profits. Here, the quality and utility of services are minimized to the level just sufficient to keep users and business customers engaged, while maximizing shareholder returns.

We are all familiar with Facebook, and I don’t count Twitter which was made shitty on purpose with no economic rationale.  But there is enshittification creep. A few examples:

1. Amazon Prime: Starting in January, you get ads with Prime. And unlike Netflix (also shittified), they aren’t rolling out a discount “ads” package, they will just upsell you for ad-free. 
 

Not just streaming. Anyone else notice the frequent “Get it tomorrow” bait that changes to a different date once it’s in your cart?

2. Google: Google’s search decline is well chronicled, but it’s creeping to other  aspects.  Google Maps is more and more crap.  There’s all the irrelevant paid ads that return hotels and restaurants even when not searching, cluttering the screen. And the photo pins, which don’t tell you about a business but use a worthless photo. Apple Maps is actually better now. 
 

I’m going to be super interested in watching AI platforms.  I already think they’re getting enshittified in real time. 

[Parliament 14225]

YouTube keeps wanting me to pay for no ads.  So far my ad blockers are holding the line.

[Brisketexan 105041]

3.  Shaggybevo.  Truly the most enshittened enterprise in intergoogles history. Literally a scat site.

How you left that off the list, I'll never understand.

[956 Worldwide 34693]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

3.  Shaggybevo.  Truly the most enshittened enterprise in intergoogles history. Literally a scat site.

How you left that off the list, I'll never understand.

Part of this thread was inspired by the griping about Surly.  I actually still think Surly is a great site and the headwinds to growth are mostly external, caused by the way people use the internet as driven by enshitification. 

[Wally Fairway 5539]

50 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Inspired by news and different threads here, starting a place to track and chronicle the Great Enshittening of the internet. Basically, how the internet (and other industries) are getting terrible, usually because of this process:

We are all familiar with Facebook, and I don’t count Twitter which was made shitty on purpose with no economic rationale.  But there is enshittification creep. A few examples:

1. Amazon Prime: Starting in January, you get ads with Prime. And unlike Netflix (also shittified), they aren’t rolling out a discount “ads” package, they will just upsell you for ad-free. 
 

Not just streaming. Anyone else notice the frequent “Get it tomorrow” bait that changes to a different date once it’s in your cart?

2. Google: Google’s search decline is well chronicled, but it’s creeping to other  aspects.  Google Maps is more and more crap.  There’s all the irrelevant paid ads that return hotels and restaurants even when not searching, cluttering the screen. And the photo pins, which don’t tell you about a business but use a worthless photo. Apple Maps is actually better now. 
 

I’m going to be super interested in watching AI platforms.  I already think they’re getting enshittified in real time. 

okay boomer, or X or Y or Z'er

I'm an old man (not @Armybrat old but still old enough)

This isn't any different then saying
- I used to go watch the moving picture show for a nickel
- I used to to the drive in picture show for $2
 - I used to get gas for my car for $0.50/gal
 jump for ward to the late 90's - the internet is ruining everything,, now the 2000''s and Amazon will kill all local businesses

Now - get off my lawn, and go yell at the clouds in your yard 

 

[troph 24781]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Inspired by news and different threads here, starting a place to track and chronicle the Great Enshittening of the internet. Basically, how the internet (and other industries) are getting terrible, usually because of this process:

We are all familiar with Facebook, and I don’t count Twitter which was made shitty on purpose with no economic rationale.  But there is enshittification creep. A few examples:

1. Amazon Prime: Starting in January, you get ads with Prime. And unlike Netflix (also shittified), they aren’t rolling out a discount “ads” package, they will just upsell you for ad-free. 
 

Not just streaming. Anyone else notice the frequent “Get it tomorrow” bait that changes to a different date once it’s in your cart?

2. Google: Google’s search decline is well chronicled, but it’s creeping to other  aspects.  Google Maps is more and more crap.  There’s all the irrelevant paid ads that return hotels and restaurants even when not searching, cluttering the screen. And the photo pins, which don’t tell you about a business but use a worthless photo. Apple Maps is actually better now. 
 

I’m going to be super interested in watching AI platforms.  I already think they’re getting enshittified in real time. 

I'll take social media a step farther.

It used to be that social media was a place to connect, facebook turned to shit, so people moved to instagram. now it's nothing but ads. that's on the end user side. on the user side (individual or business), you have to "feed the monster" in order to be rewarded with eyeballs - either to show of your kids, dog, car, trip, whatever. and on the business side, you have to post continual videos not just pictures to be rewarded with eyeballs.  none of this has any direct result in obtaining customers (I've shifted to the business end user). It used to be that these platforms were useful for advertising and customer acquisition - and debate about whether they were priced right or not you could still do it. Now if you aren't helping social media companies enslave eyeballs with addictive reels then you are not rewarded unless you spend money but then when you spend money your customer acquisition cost has gone through the roof because everyone else is trying to pay for ads because they can't keep the machine going with organic addictive content.

fuck social media. I'm at the very end of my tolerance for it. I probably won't delete it but my goal for 2024 is to continue my trend of less than 10 minutes a day on insta and facebook.

enshitification is correct. it's fucking awful.

alternatives only include this god forsaken shit hill, and going outside or talking to real people, in real life, or better yet, talk to real people while outside. holy shit, what a concept. yep, that's my 2024 plan. go outside, talk to real people.

 

[troph 24781]

11 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

okay boomer, or X or Y or Z'er

I'm an old man (not @Armybrat old but still old enough)

This isn't any different then saying
- I used to go watch the moving picture show for a nickel
- I used to to the drive in picture show for $2
 - I used to get gas for my car for $0.50/gal
 jump for ward to the late 90's - the internet is ruining everything,, now the 2000''s and Amazon will kill all local businesses

Now - get off my lawn, and go yell at the clouds in your yard 

 

I think it's a bit different. He saying your user experience is going to shit across all platforms and it's going to happen for systematic reasons. it's not a generational gap thing. It's more like saying same time, same place, different experience. to use an example from yesteryear, our land line rotary phones now have audio ads before a dial tone and before you can spin the phone number dial to call your friends.

[Armybrat 40814]

11 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

okay boomer, or X or Y or Z'er

I'm an old man (not @Armybrat old but still old enough)

This isn't any different then saying
- I used to go watch the moving picture show for a nickel
- I used to to the drive in picture show for $2
 - I used to get gas for my car for $0.50/gal
 jump for ward to the late 90's - the internet is ruining everything,, now the 2000''s and Amazon will kill all local businesses

Now - get off my lawn, and go yell at the clouds in your yard 

 

moving picture show - a dime 
drive in picture show - $1 a car load 
gas - 0.20/gal

[956 Worldwide 34693]

9 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

okay boomer, or X or Y or Z'er

I'm an old man (not @Armybrat old but still old enough)

This isn't any different then saying
- I used to go watch the moving picture show for a nickel
- I used to to the drive in picture show for $2
 - I used to get gas for my car for $0.50/gal
 jump for ward to the late 90's - the internet is ruining everything,, now the 2000''s and Amazon will kill all local businesses

Now - get off my lawn, and go yell at the clouds in your yard 

 

I can’t disagree more. This isn’t about inflation causing prices to rise, it’s about services and platforms getting objectively shittier.  The movies are a good example. It’s more expensive, but the movie-watching experience is objectively BETTER. 
- More choices of movies

- Air conditioning 

- More comfortable chairs

- Beer and food options 

- Seat selection in advance 

- Sound and image is better

You can say it’s too expensive, but you can’t argue that overall, you have more choice and a better experience and inflation just “is.” 
 

Not so with the great Enshittening:

Prime streaming is made worse by inserting ads.  And then charging you to take them away.  That’s a new business model, to charge the same amount and keep pace with inflation and then just announce that you’re flint to make things suck more.  
 

Ditto with Google maps.  The point of a map and navigation is to help you find things you need and get there.  Google made it shittier- clogging the map with things you AREN’T looking for. 
 

 

[RPM 26315]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

3.  Shaggybevo.  Truly the most enshittened enterprise in intergoogles history. Literally a scat site.

How you left that off the list, I'll never understand.

Shouldn't that domain be up for sale soon?

[mdmost 42997]

39 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

okay boomer, or X or Y or Z'er

I'm an old man (not @Armybrat old but still old enough)

This isn't any different then saying
- I used to go watch the moving picture show for a nickel
- I used to to the drive in picture show for $2
 - I used to get gas for my car for $0.50/gal
 jump for ward to the late 90's - the internet is ruining everything,, now the 2000''s and Amazon will kill all local businesses

Now - get off my lawn, and go yell at the clouds in your yard 

 

Are we yelling at actual clouds or "the cloud"?

[troph 24781]

12 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Are we yelling at actual clouds or "the cloud"?

all I know is we will be lucky to live through it.

[Guest]

Surly is a great spend. Amazon has some good and some total crap. Have been completely fucked over on FB ads for Hokas and another clothier. 
 

porn.  Porn is still a great win for society and the internet. 

[Wally Fairway 5539]

40 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I can’t disagree more. This isn’t about inflation causing prices to rise, it’s about services and platforms getting objectively shittier.  The movies are a good example. It’s more expensive, but the movie-watching experience is objectively BETTER. 
- More choices of movies

- Air conditioning 

- More comfortable chairs

- Beer and food options 

- Seat selection in advance 

- Sound and image is better

You can say it’s too expensive, but you can’t argue that overall, you have more choice and a better experience and inflation just “is.” 
 

Not so with the great Enshittening:

Prime streaming is made worse by inserting ads.  And then charging you to take them away.  That’s a new business model, to charge the same amount and keep pace with inflation and then just announce that you’re flint to make things suck more.  
 

Ditto with Google maps.  The point of a map and navigation is to help you find things you need and get there.  Google made it shittier- clogging the map with things you AREN’T looking for. 
 

 

Have you been to a movie recently - the whole time before the show time is local commericals, then at the show time they start an entire new group of commercials that the distribution company sells; so how is that better than when the actual movie started when they said it would start. 
And in reality is that the streaming services that have been around for about 10 years, have adopted the TV experience. You still have to watch commercials on TV, cable, etc. If you don't want to watch commercials then buy a dvd. 

And it is about price - because you can (usually) pay to get the no-ads version.
Step up to the Surly 1% and don't be poor. 

[Elvis 3369]

 

[956 Worldwide 34693]

3 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Have you been to a movie recently - the whole time before the show time is local commericals, then at the show time they start an entire new group of commercials that the distribution company sells; so how is that better than when the actual movie started when they said it would start. 
And in reality is that the streaming services that have been around for about 10 years, have adopted the TV experience. You still have to watch commercials on TV, cable, etc. If you don't want to watch commercials then buy a dvd. 

And it is about price - because you can (usually) pay to get the no-ads version.
Step up to the Surly 1% and don't be poor. 

This is great for proving my point, that streaming services started as a “better than DVD” and “better than TV” option for watching movies and content and now rapidly moved to a “worse than DVD” experience, rapidly approaching “worse than TV. The draw was to get ad-free content on demand in exchange for a fee to the provider. 

That includes adding ads to an experience you pay for to dropping titles and content that was there when you signed up. And it is no coincidence that the switch happened after consumers mostly stopped buying new players as the switch to cloud-based media came along. 

Commercials playing before the show time are neither a negative or a positive. There are a few more previews, but the rest of the experience— from service to options to quality— is better. 

 

[Helobious 9459]

Ummm… I can navigate Google maps perfectly fine, and my favorite time waster is still dropping the street view guy random places seeing what’s around. Maybe you’re just getting old. 

[Gatorubet 30183]

18 minutes ago, slorch said:

Surly is a great spend. Amazon has some good and some total crap. Have been completely fucked over on FB ads for Hokas and another clothier. 
 

porn.  Porn is still a great win for society and the internet. 

I may be the only son of a bitch in this country left who refuses to spin the Temu wheel. Assholes.

[ConferenceRoom 6141]

 

[UT_OB1 2213]

27 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Have you been to a movie recently - the whole time before the show time is local commericals, then at the show time they start an entire new group of commercials that the distribution company sells; so how is that better than when the actual movie started when they said it would start. 

Yes I have. And since there is a “new” feature - picking your seat - I can 1) only go if I’m going to have a seat I want and 2) not show up and watch the fucking local commercials if I don’t want to, or even the movie previews (but I like them). 
 

It is all totally on you. Buncha whiners in here 

Edited December 28, 2023 by UT_OB1

[Gene Parmesan 4002]

In the days before reserved seating was standard, I loved watching people wonder into a crowded theatre a few minutes before start, staring and pointing at possible open seats, and then dejectedly make their way to the front rows.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

I may be the only son of a bitch in this country left who refuses to spin the Temu wheel. Assholes.

I had to look up what the fuck that even is.  Glad I didn’t know.

['stache 21789]

I thought this was the shart thread for 2024.

[CHAD BRISCOE 371]

u use to go to Arby and they would give u lots of Packets of Arbysauce and when u had enough u could sell them on E-Bay in bulk but now they only give U Two-Per-Arby-Sanwich so it is hard too do unless it is 5 for 5$.95 but it use to be 5 for 5$ . Which also cut's in too your Profit Margin

[CHAD BRISCOE 371]

oh and do'nt go Inside to get it u have too go Drive Through . Inside the have those Big Pump's 

Just now, BeardIP said:

Horseysauce > Arbysauce

yes but it is not worth as much on E-bay

['stache 21789]

Arby's has burgers now, would like to try with horsey sauce.

[CHAD BRISCOE 371]

Also It is Fuck Up that Arby use to say We Do not have Burger's . But now They have Burger's 

1 minute ago, 'stache said:

Arby's has burgers now, would like to try with horsey sauce.

you sound like a Person that have Alternative Life Style Choices

Edited December 28, 2023 by CHAD BRISCOE

[SimonBolivar 10957]

God, Arby's 5 for $5 was glorious.

[Samson's Wig 3189]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

This is great for proving my point, that streaming services started as a “better than DVD” and “better than TV” option for watching movies and content and now rapidly moved to a “worse than DVD” experience, rapidly approaching “worse than TV. The draw was to get ad-free content on demand in exchange for a fee to the provider. 

That includes adding ads to an experience you pay for to dropping titles and content that was there when you signed up. And it is no coincidence that the switch happened after consumers mostly stopped buying new players as the switch to cloud-based media came along. 

Commercials playing before the show time are neither a negative or a positive. There are a few more previews, but the rest of the experience— from service to options to quality— is better. 

 

I agree that the theaters are better than they used to be, but theatrically released movies are mostly four-quadrant dog shit.   If you like Disneyesque superhero and fantasy/sci-fi films produced to appeal to as wide a group of people as possible (and by necessity removing any semblance of artistry), that's your prerogative.  But don't try to convince anyone with functional eyes, ears, and souls that these films are of higher quality than what used to be released theatrically.  There are still quality films being made, and some of them have limited and/or short runs in theaters, but by and large, the offerings at movie theaters are just the same movie over and over, dressed up with different actors and tag lines.   Studios gave up on mid-budget films a long time ago, and this is the sweet spot where you typically find quality cinema.  Big-budget noise makes them a ton of money, and it's just about all they produce anymore.

This doesn't undercut your thesis regarding enshittening, however. Theatrically released films are just also part of it.  Under your rubric, you can probably replace "business customers" with "Chinese market" and you get the same result

.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Samson's Wig

[Samson's Wig 3189]

30 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Here is a serious stab at what I think causes this:

You get a new, disruptive service which is seemingly awesome. But to disrupt, whether that mean be something completely innovative or just a better mousetrap, you can't just be marginally a better experience, delight or value to the end user. It has to be pretty substantial. Especially when you need network effects (as all the examples referenced-- facebook, amazon, netflix, etc.)

So you get this new awesome service that is miles better than the incumbents, but at some point, the cheap money from external sources that is subsidizing the awesome experience at a cheap/free cost, needs a return. So the service provider has to "enshittify" the experience in order to extract some dollars and show that the enterprise can be prosecuted on it's own. I think the outlier is Amazon who was rare in that Wall St. didn't harshly punish them for being unprofitable for a majority of their existence.

In sum, someone has to pay the piper, there's no such thing as a free lunch forever, etc. 

I agree with this.  It's the ultimate flaw with our new economy driven by VC and tech bro assholes.  None of it is really innovative, and most of it isn't even really business.  It's just unprofitable "disruption" to kill off competition.  Once that is accomplished, reality has to set in at some point.  It's not really innovative, and not really any different than what has gone on forever when a new player wants to take market share.  Undercut the legacy guys at a major loss until you capture enough market share to start driving up your prices.  The end result for the consumer is that things are exactly the same as they were before, with the only change being who is getting your money.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Samson's Wig

[Royalfan5 2353]

26 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Horseysauce > Arbysauce

I've always used both, horsey on the top bun, arbys on the bottom bun 

['stache 21789]

Social media doesn't bother me all that much. I get what I want out of it, mostly news items from places I follow, specials and events from local restaurants and venues, and keeping up with friends. I barely even notice the ads, usually just scroll through. I also don't read comments to news articles. I've long suspected that people who complain the most about social media just can't help but follow pages that they know will have stuff they don't like, or read comments to posts and news articles. Comments to public posts are just plain toxic, but easily avoidable. As far as private information, everyone who wants to find shit on me is gonna find it. We are complexly beholden to online banking, credit cards, and literally every aspect of our financial lives can be found through a credit check. The major CRA's already have everything on us, that's just part of society. I would prefer it were designed different, but that's just how it is, and is unavoidable to live a normal life in modern society.

Edited December 28, 2023 by 'stache

[Neonmoon 38129]

All the goodness in anything will be scraped out and sold 

welcome to humanity 

[SimonBolivar 10957]

Am I the only one who has pretty much cut off all social media outside of niche message boards/discords? I just can't stand Facebook/Instagram/etc and haven't been on those in years. However, I'm 100% addicted to Surly type boards.

[956 Worldwide 34693]

Social media to me is a different category, as it has long been obvious that if there’s no obvious product being sold, then the product is you. And social media sites were the quickest to go to shit. 
 

I am looking more at the places where things have been “disrupted” but it does seem like you’re engaging in a straightforward exchange.  Amazon was like a store, just bigger and online, for example. And it’s core business has gotten shittier— the search results are shittier, the reviews are shittier and also-driven, the products are across the board shittier. And that’s because it’s just acting like a store and because eventually you do have to pay the piper; but psychologically humans react worse to having something degrade as opposed to just staying in stasis. 
 

 

['stache 21789]

I don't get the complaint about Google map. I use it all the time. The GPS in my wife's car is terrible and Apple Maps sucks dongs. Google Maps has been pretty consistent for me.

[Dbeasy 15039]

OP has tapped into one of the two massive hot buttons for me. One is wealth inequality, and the second is enshitification. He/She is absolutely right, and it’s not just the natural progression of services, markets, inflation, etc. 

What’s amplifying the trend is a lack of competition. There are a small number of very large companies with an absolute stranglehold over the consumer. These small number of competitors are systematically raising prices on their products and services, and lowering quality, because they can. 

Want internet? You’ve got one or two choices in most markets. Internet costs are going to go through the roof in the next few years. Streaming? There will only be a few that matter in a few years. Health Insurance? We are down to 4-5.

The US and the world has not effectively dealt with oligopolies and monopolies. And now they own the politicians too. This is going to get way worse before it gets better. Bend over. 

[956 Worldwide 34693]

18 minutes ago, 'stache said:

I don't get the complaint about Google map. I use it all the time. The GPS in my wife's car is terrible and Apple Maps sucks dongs. Google Maps has been pretty consistent for me.

This may be related to how you use it. Google maps is pretty good at turn by turn car directions.  It’s much shittier at being an actual map, which I use a lot as a frequent walker in cities that aren’t always familiar.  Screenshots below, one Google and one Apple. 
 

I don’t see any comparison: Apple has more street names, less clutter, and a simple search returned only things directly related to what I wanted and not unrelated shit.

Apple is shit in a lot of other places so I am not stanning Just pointing out that Google maps has gotten worse at being an actual, readable map. 
 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by 956 Worldwide

[Newdoc 3439]

1 hour ago, BeardIP said:

the cheap money from external sources that is subsidizing the awesome experience at a cheap/free cost, needs a return

Ding ding. Eventually a loss needs to be gain for the investors.  For example, The awesome meal deals at H-E-B are a loss leader and they just hope that you make the difference on buying a lot of other for-profit crap. If they are open.

The seemingly free Facebook with a previous decent interface only made money after Meta boy sold all your data then clobbered you with targeted advertising.

It’s why Spirit airlines works, sucker you in with a cheap price then empty your wallet once you get there. And it helps them paynless tax on the ticket too.

[956 Worldwide 34693]

1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

I agree that the theaters are better than they used to be, but theatrically released movies are mostly four-quadrant dog shit.   If you like Disneyesque superhero and fantasy/sci-fi films produced to appeal to as wide a group of people as possible (and by necessity removing any semblance of artistry), that's your prerogative.  But don't try to convince anyone with functional eyes, ears, and souls that these films are of higher quality than what used to be released theatrically.  There are still quality films being made, and some of them have limited and/or short runs in theaters, but by and large, the offerings at movie theaters are just the same movie over and over, dressed up with different actors and tag lines.   Studios gave up on mid-budget films a long time ago, and this is the sweet spot where you typically find quality cinema.  Big-budget noise makes them a ton of money, and it's just about all they produce anymore.

This doesn't undercut your thesis regarding enshittening, however. Theatrically released films are just also part of it.  Under your rubric, you can probably replace "business customers" with "Chinese market" and you get the same result

.

Yeah, I’ll put this under shitification. Theatres are different as they are venues and not creators, whereas streaming combines both. 
 

It will just be getting worse.  @Dbeasy called out the consolidation and that bites into creative endeavors. We will soon be seeing lots of AI generated  scripts, songs, etc. The big entertainment giants can’t wait to all boot out writers and instead pay indentured editors to clean up AI created plots.  And we are still not past the uncanny valley, the stuff will get worse. AI is already writing lots of copy that is designed to get into Google results and nothing else. 
 

A while ago there was a lot of tumult over algorithm driven kids content that was disturbing and bizarre and junk but was crack for young eyeballs. That’s going to be the experience for most of us from ads to movies to TV.  

[FartingMonk 3606]

Airlines are now credit card companies who happen to fly airplanes

[Sandman 3403]

I got the email from amazon that explained they were going to put ads in their streams. But I have pretty much already quit using prime video because they took all the shit I want to watch and put it into several different packages, all of which have their own monthy fees. Fuck that bullshit. I'm not paying an extra fee on top of my prime fee, eat shit Jeff.

 

Also, my big irritation with social media is it's making everyone act the same. People all talk the same, act the same, wear the same shit. I don't mean they all have the same accent but they use the same cadence, the same vocalizations. Every woman from 20-50 is wearing the same outfits. It's getting colder, so I'm gonna see a ton of wool wraps/puffy coats with a floppy hat, leggings or tight pants, boots. It's like they all have a uniform.

[Neonmoon 38129]

Costco cheap rotisserie chickens are loss leaders too. Get you in store, and shake you down for 20 pack of soap. 

['stache 21789]

9 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Yeah, I’ll put this under shitification. Theatres are different as they are venues and not creators, whereas streaming combines both. 
 

It will just be getting worse.  @Dbeasy called out the consolidation and that bites into creative endeavors. We will soon be seeing lots of AI generated  scripts, songs, etc. The big entertainment giants can’t wait to all boot out writers and instead pay indentured editors to clean up AI created plots.  And we are still not past the uncanny valley, the stuff will get worse. AI is already writing lots of copy that is designed to get into Google results and nothing else. 
 

A while ago there was a lot of tumult over algorithm driven kids content that was disturbing and bizarre and junk but was crack for young eyeballs. That’s going to be the experience for most of us from ads to movies to TV.  

The local AMC has the saddest looking little bar at the entrance. It's like a tiny liquor closet and they even put four bar stools there, like someone might just mosey up and sip some Jack Daniels at the AMC.  I still can't get over how dumb and pointless it was. If I had the seed money or net worth I'd press hard to open an Alamo Drafthouse in Tulsa. I think it would crush. It's the only movie theater experience that I would enjoy. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by 'stache

[Brisketexan 105041]

Just now, 'stache said:

It's like a tiny liquor closet and they even put four bar stools there, like four anyone's just gonna hang out and drink at the AMC.

Challenge...accepted.

Sitting at the 4-seat AMC bar, getting shitfaced like a boss.  It's good to have life goals that you can actually accomplish.  Builds self esteem.

[956 Worldwide 34693]

4 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Costco cheap rotisserie chickens are loss leaders too. Get you in store, and shake you down for 20 pack of soap. 

I view that as a different thing. Loss leader is all about your own willpower to not buy more shit. 
 

Enshitifficattion is more like if they sold you a sub to get a chicken every week, then one week you show up and it’s missing a drumstick and they say “it’s in our terms and conditions we can do this. Also we own all the chickens.” 

Edited December 28, 2023 by 956 Worldwide

[Neonmoon 38129]

2 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Also, my big irritation with social media is it's making everyone act the same. People all talk the same, act the same, wear the same shit. I don't mean they all have the same accent but they use the same cadence, the same vocalizations. Every woman from 20-50 is wearing the same outfits. It's getting colder, so I'm gonna see a ton of wool wraps/puffy coats with a floppy hat, leggings or tight pants, boots. It's like they all have a uniform.

Social Media has made YOU aware of the uniformity, but it has always been that way. Before tik tok, there were fashion magazines. Before fashion magazines, there were Sunday paper advertisements. 

[Brisketexan 105041]

Just now, Neonmoon said:

Social Media has made YOU aware of the uniformity, but it has always been that way. Before tik tok, there were fashion magazines. Before fashion magazines, there were Sunday paper advertisements. 

Okay, Armybrat....waiting for you to bitch about how, back in the day, all the gals were trying to look like the Venus of Willendorf:

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 minute ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I view that as a different thing. Loss leader is all about your own willpower to not buy more shit. 
 

Enshitifficattion is more like if they sold you a sub to get a chicken every week, then one week you show up and it’s missing a drumstick and the say “it’s in our terms and conditions we can do this. Also we own all the chickens.” 

Well then you are specifically talking about the freemium business model. But there’s no such thing as free anything, so you will be getting fucked somehow. 

 

[MrBig 5368]

All of our gripes are the modern day equivalent of having a girlfriend who was giving BJs and left and right, and once you got hooked and put the ring on her finger you were lucky to get sex once a week. It’s the same as drug dealers giving free samples to get you hooked on something that is never going to be what it once was at the very beginning.