this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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Enshittification

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What is enshittification?

The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source

The lifecycle of Big Internet

We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.

Embrace, extend and extinguish

We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.

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Just have to share this here because of how unbelievably tone-deaf it is.

I have an upcoming flight with Lufthansa, booked cheapest economy class. Now I get a mail that says I am eligible for an upgrade.

Correction, I am eligible to make an offer to maybe maybe get an upgrade. When I click that link I get to the page above in the screenshot where I can now choose an amount between 90 and 300-ish EUR per passenger, per flight, to maybe upgrade to business class.

Just look at the slider, it is almost hilarious that it says poor when you leave it at the low amounts. Is any other airline doing that?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Hey it's just like Amtrak's PoorBid system of selling business/first class seats (the real name is BidUp).

Screenshot of Amtrak website, a slider to and an arc shaped bar representing a $110 offer of poor strength

If you feel like it you can just put the minimum bid and see what happens. If it's off peak and mid week chances are pretty good.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It's a 1 hour and a half flight. The cheapest offer I can select is 1/3 of my current ticket. I just don't see how that's worth it at all.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

It's worth it if you would hate your current experience I suppose.

But yeah, not worth it at all, in my opinion. If I hated a budget option so badly that paying premium would win out, I'd have done that in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I have made bids on short flights if the free luggage included in business class would make the bid cost less than paying for the bags. I haven't been successful yet, however...