I’m not really blaming the people here, and I kind of question how useful an exercise blame even really is in this kind of the thing. Being angry at companies for trying to make money isn’t a particularly productive exercise, since that is their entire point, and I’d much rather funnel that energy into building alternatives that are insulated from those pressures. The fact of the matter is that the corporations built something that people wanted, they began using it, and now the monetization is dialing up and sharply degrading the user experience. This was always going to be possible, and they are perfectly within their rights to do what they want with their own platforms, even if it’s shitty. I wouldn’t really characterize this as ‘theft’, though I suppose that’s really a question of semantics. Exploitation of human psychology, perhaps yes.

But as that experience continues degrading, it does create a big opening for platforms like the Fediverse that aren’t bound to those same monetization incentives. Network effects definitely make transitions difficult, but that’s not insurmountable, and also is much less powerful in anonymous platforms like discussion boards and forums. I think kbin and Lemmy are in a pretty promising position, though there will of course be some growing pains, and it’ll take time for a critical mass of users to arrive and participate in a wide variety of topics.