this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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You literally just proved my point.
It wasn't profitable. And it was free. It killed competition by losing money.
And now, by your concession, they are turning it into a business.
That's a fundamental change in the service. Fuck that. Either it was always their intent, in which case they were lying scum the whole time. Or it wasn't their intent and they've just decided spontaneously to prioritize profit, in which case it's greed and betrayal.
Either way, fuck 'em.
.. Yes. The strategy of expanding at a loss in order to recoup it later is a... business strategy. What? It's not even an underhanded one because it carries substantial risk. They ate losses and are now trying to collect on what users like you and I have been enjoying on their dime. Adblockers was to staunch the bleeding and clearly it's not working well enough so they're trying new ways.
You're confusing greed with typical business practices. The grocery store isn't greedy, they're trying to keep the lights on and pay employees. This isn't "Walmart selling items at a loss until local businesses shut down and ramping them back up afterwards" - the data storage needed for this shit is beyond what most companies can do. Amazon with their AWS infrastructure is the only thing that has a shot in hell. The only reason Youtube can do it is by the sheer fact rich ass Google owns them.
Businesses typically collect this thing called money to keep supplying the service you enjoy. Adblockers remove the very essential part of this exchange in which you pay for the thing you're using. You've been stealing groceries and are mad you're now being told to pay for them.
My confusion is profound.