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@jalefkowit Because those of us building them (see https://ar.al/2024/03/08/streaming-html/, etc.) are struggling to survive because our work isn’t valued/funded. Because we have to beg for scraps for the privilege of doing the right thing while the folks fucking things up get money shoveled at them. (1/3)
And because what we do isn’t even seen as successful unless it increments the number in a bank account somewhere because that’s the only criterion the system we inhabit understands, intellectually constipated and devoid of imagination as it is. (2/3)
Would I recommend a young person follow in my footsteps unless we fundamentally change how folks working for the common good are valued? Heck no. Go work for Google! Work for Facebook! If you can stomach that shit, do it! Don’t be a fool and struggle to build things for the common good in a system that has no notion of what that is or why it’s valuable.
My problem is I can’t stomach it. And so the struggle continues… (3/3)
@aral: I hope you’ll find the way out of it. Go for it, don’t give up, no matter how the system is unfair, or how bad is your financial situation.
I am writing this as a (very niche) search engine lead developer, not getting income from donations, no grants from e.g. NGI acquired, nothing. Because I care about community way much more than money.
@slavistapl Thanks (and ditto). And don’t worry, I don’t know how to do anything else but to keep going. The alternative is unthinkable. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this stupid system exist without at least creating a viable alternative to it.
@slavistapl (And the sad thing is, that’s why I’m building Domain – https://codeberg.org/domain/app – so it can be sustainable under the current bullshit system. Because, barring proper investment from the commons – which we don’t have https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/ – the things we build must be simultaneously “successful” in this current shitshow as well as the better future we want to bring about.)
@aral: for some reason one of your replies did not federated here, but be assured I’ve read both posts. Nevertheless I agree with your POV and we can only be hopeful that both your projects, and my search engine will influence the change for better.
@aral Likewise I am likely to keep running small scale independent internet systems until I can no longer do it. To give up would mean having to use the common bigtech systems, like Google apps and Facebook, which I would hate and be constantly complaining about.
I did try getting funded by NGI, or something like that, but I don't do buzzword-driven-development and so they weren't interested.
@bob I’m so glad to hear that it’s not just me (as much as I would have loved for you to get funding). It can feel like there’s something fucked up with me sometimes and I have to keep reminding myself, no, Aral, it’s layers of bulshit out there.
That said, you know what, I know we’re going to be setting down having a beer one day talking about how it worked out and aren’t we glad we kept at it?
*hugs*
@aral Yes I'm pretty sure it's not just you. There is a lot of annoyance out there about the current state of technology, but most people don't know the industry well enough to be able to articulate what's wrong, other than things getting shittier.
In the long run I hope that there is a better internet, but that's not an inevitable outcome and it's going to take more work to make it happen.
@bob @aral I agree that it's hard to live with the seemingly all encompassing enshittification in the tech sector including how money flows .... I try to see what is positive still but on most days I see an overall downward spiral, while on some days I see the big machinery crumbling under its own weight .... What remains maybe is to find convivial ways to help ourselves and others pursue what we consider worthwhile efforts in this crumbling world, without any revolutionary bravado.