On THIS side we only play hardmode. We embrace complexity and doubt, rather than fleeing or ignore them.

On enshittification and BlueSky, which I’m currently using and hoping it will work as an alternative.

They did care about their users. They just cared about other stuff, too, and, when push came to shove, they chose the worsening of their services as the lesser of two evils.

Any system where users can leave without pain is a system whose owners have high switching costs and whose users have none. An owner who makes a bad call — like removing the block function say, or opting every user into AI training — will lose a lot of users. Not just those users who price these downgrades highly enough that they outweigh the costs of leaving the service. If leaving the service is free, then tormenting your users in this way will visit in swift and devastating pain upon you.

There is no such thing as a person who is immune to rationalization or pressure. I’m certainly not. Anyone who believes that they will never be tempted is a danger to themselves and the people who rely on them. A belief you can never be tempted or coerced is like a belief that you can never be conned — it makes you more of a mark, not less.