The irony that u/spez and others keep using landed gentry in the wrong way is hilarious.
Landed gentry bought their “title” (it’s not really a title, more a socio-political category). The first scenario you described, with someone buying the position of moderator… that’s 100% landed gentry. Commoners with wealth would buy a big house and property and then be considered landed gentry. It’s not something that was given to them like peerage (aka nobility).
The reality is that content producers and moderators are closer to cotters–somewhere in between serfs and husbandmen. They don’t own the land (e.g.: subs), but they work it. The only difference is that serfs and husbandmen could derive a profit from their labour, whereas most mods and content producers don’t (as far as I’m aware).
If we keep going with the middle-age titles, u/spez is much closer to a “lord of the manor” than he would care to realise. He owns the land, can choose who works it and who is able to make a profit and how much. He can withdraw that permission at any time, and he amasses vast amounts of wealth based on the work of the people who, effectively, work for him for free.
The irony that u/spez and others keep using landed gentry in the wrong way is hilarious.
Landed gentry bought their “title” (it’s not really a title, more a socio-political category). The first scenario you described, with someone buying the position of moderator… that’s 100% landed gentry. Commoners with wealth would buy a big house and property and then be considered landed gentry. It’s not something that was given to them like peerage (aka nobility).
The reality is that content producers and moderators are closer to cotters–somewhere in between serfs and husbandmen. They don’t own the land (e.g.: subs), but they work it. The only difference is that serfs and husbandmen could derive a profit from their labour, whereas most mods and content producers don’t (as far as I’m aware).
If we keep going with the middle-age titles, u/spez is much closer to a “lord of the manor” than he would care to realise. He owns the land, can choose who works it and who is able to make a profit and how much. He can withdraw that permission at any time, and he amasses vast amounts of wealth based on the work of the people who, effectively, work for him for free.