• Amputret@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I wouldn't say Reddit always has been owned by a malicious entity, Aaron Swartz was a cool guy. And if you're telling me a man who freely distributed thousands of needlessly paywalled research papers is a some kind of arch capitalist, then there's no helping you.

    • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Swartz had good beliefs about freedom of information but politically was kind of a weirdo. What happened to him is an unlimited tragedy and outright criminal.

    • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Swartz co-owned reddit for around 1 year, 2006-2007. His influence has overall probably been insignificant.

      • Amputret@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        True true, I just specifically took issue with it always having been run by bastards. (I know it's a meme template, but I just wanted to point to evidence that there is hope that not everything we use has always been yoked with pure greed. Call it a cope, IDC.)

        • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          there is hope that not everything we use has always been yoked with pure greed

          If your basis for believing that is Reddit having one co-owner you liked for one year and that's the best evidence you got, that isn't a strong basis.

          You can do sophistic tricks like exaggerating other people's positions to try to make yours seem more tenable so you can mine for supposed exceptions, but the reality remains that capitalism requires increasingly unsustainable profit margins over time for the lifetime of each product and that consequently results in systemic enshittification of things that were previously decent and bearable. That is an inevitable ongoing process in this present system.