Platforms That Avoid the Enshittening?

Question

What are some good examples of consumer platforms that have avoided the enshittening? Companies w subscription models are pretty good about avoiding this but it seems like being ad supported really corrupts the process. To me, YouTube is the only one that's really done a good job but I only go there for select videos so I'm not a huge user. Any other ones people can think of? And any common characteristics between them?

pwg · Accepted Answer

> YouTube is the only one that's really done a good jobYoutube's only done a good job is you use yt-dlp to download the videos. Watching on youtube the video gets interrupted multiple times for "commerical breaks".

gardenhedge · Answer

Can you define "enshittening"? I've never heard of that before

tra3 · Answer

Linux and Emacs come to mind.I&rsquo;ve been using Gaia gps for what feels like forever without it becoming shit.I hate to say it, but Gmail has been solid since 2007.

quickthrower2 · Answer

Hard to think of many, especially free and widely know ones to be honest. HN of course - but we are quite niche really. There are a few PHPBB type sites that are pleasant to use but again for niches.I would go for Reddit if you use &ldquo;old&rdquo; I guess and pick good subs.

CM30 · Answer

Well, federated platforms seem to have avoided it, since one actor can't just degrade the quality of the whole service. See for example, the Fediverse in general.
Fan/individual/community run sites and networks seem to avoid this issue, since they don't need to make a profit from their work/pay off those venture capital investments. For example, the Nintendo Independent Wiki Alliance seems pretty good there, with the likes of Mario Wiki, Zelda Wiki and Bulbapedia most relying on unintrusive advertising to stay afloat.
For a well known platform? I guess WordPress.com seems pretty good in that respect, at least from the sites I've visited there. Can't see many ads, paywalls or other dubious practices there.

shoo · Answer

iphone, android?Linux? stretching "consumer" platform a little here.Costco?

MilnerRoute · Answer

Bookshop.orgBandcamp.com

Platforms That Avoid the Enshittening?

> YouTube is the only one that's really done a good job
Youtube's only done a good job is you use yt-dlp to download the videos. Watching on youtube the video gets interrupted multiple times for "commerical breaks".

Can you define "enshittening"? I've never heard of that before

Linux and Emacs come to mind.
I’ve been using Gaia gps for what feels like forever without it becoming shit.
I hate to say it, but Gmail has been solid since 2007.

Hard to think of many, especially free and widely know ones to be honest. HN of course - but we are quite niche really. There are a few PHPBB type sites that are pleasant to use but again for niches.
I would go for Reddit if you use “old” I guess and pick good subs.

iphone, android?
Linux? stretching "consumer" platform a little here.
Costco?

Bookshop.org
Bandcamp.com