• @SocialMediaRefugee
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    6110 months ago

    The purpose of reddit is to keep people engaged while seeing ads. That’s it.

    • @[email protected]
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      1810 months ago

      it’s odd because I find lemmy more engaging, but perhaps its because of clickbait discussions that come up on the first page.

      • @Krompus
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        810 months ago

        Upvotes and downvotes on ads are just cosmetic, they don’t do anything.

        • @FourPacketsOfPeanuts
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          110 months ago

          Anything but. They’ll be using that feedback to profile you, to better target ads at people like you. It’s like Facebook’s “I want to see less ads like this”. It’s to give an appearance of control. But really it implicitly means “show me more of what I didn’t reject”. Even if you’re there anonymously they’ll be associating any interaction you make with the ad with the subs you visit, the types of comment you make etc

          • Hello Hotel
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            10 months ago

            Then get your whole account blocked as a gift by Mr. Dont-Block-Our-Friends Huffman Musk. (No, dont make fun of his name! It was a gift from his mother.)

    • @[email protected]
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      210 months ago

      Replace “reddit” with any free service. Welcome to the Internet.

      And before you “ackshually Lemmy” me, someone is paying for it. Perhaps even you, if you’ve donated to your home instance.

      • @FourPacketsOfPeanuts
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        210 months ago

        People donating aren’t pushing shitification in search of profits though…

      • @[email protected]
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        110 months ago

        The Fediverse - being “free as in beer” rather than “free because you’re the product being sold” is different.

        It’s different because it costs somebody money. If you’re being an asshole on commercial social media, the company has financial incentives to keep you around. You’re bringing in more eyeballs.

        If you’re being an asshole on a Fediverse server, it costs an admin something. They have to deal with complaints. They have potential reputational loss or defederation for their server. The server that they pay for!

        Admins are paying for the server, so they must decide: is all this bullshit worth it? Is it something they really believe in and stand by with their real money and energy?

        I think that changes the calculus of assholes, bots, and Onlyfans on social media.

    • Boozilla
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      210 months ago

      100% correct. It’s a powerful illusion because back in the day it was a real site with real people on it. It’s taking some folks a long time to pick up on this.

      There is almost no real content on there. If it’s not a bot / AI, it’s some shill with an agenda. It’s all about the ads and clicks.