Myspace May Soon Lay Off Large Portion of Staff | Hacker News Reader

Myspace May Soon Lay Off Large Portion of Staff

networkeffect.allthingsd.com

12 pointsbadwetter11 comments

I had no idea that Myspace had relaunched as a media hub 6 weeks ago. Not that my own awareness is really a solid metric, but I am a relatively trend aware 20 something. That should say something to Myspace.

I'm not sure why they're still running at all.

You don't know why the 28th most popular site in the US with a $500 million/year ad revenue stream is still running?

Also of note, Rupert Murdoch bought myspace for only around $580 million (hard to believe in today's era of crazy multi-billion dollar inflated valuations), so myspace is probably already close to a profitable investment.

Despite the fact that facebook has become the new popular hub for individual social networking, myspace remains one of the few sites that caters to independent bands well.

It's not fair that software developers never get a chance to lay back and enjoy the long term payoffs of the fruits of their labor, it's like the slaves who toil endlessly to plant the crops then the moment the time of payback comes, they only get a small portion, and in order to survive the slaves must find other work asap or else they will starve.

It takes us massive amounts of effort to build something that makes money, and the moment we finish it, we are fired and other people sit back and enjoy the long term profits. Something has to be done about this.

Software I wrote many years ago is generating massive profits for OTHER PEOPLE. Yet here I am not seeing a cent of that. We still only get paid a "salary" because that is the going wage, regardless of if our software earns 10 million dollars. ITS NOT FAIR I SAY.

It's not about whether the code you wrote is what runs to generate the money, it's about how unique and valuable your skills were. Could another programmer have done pretty much what you did? Or did you bring some unique insight/design/engineering wizardry to the table? If your answers are [yes, no] then it should be obvious why you get paid a salary. Only if your answers are [no, yes] is your complaint valid...and in that case you should start your own company.

If you are convinced the buyers of your labor make surplus profits, why do you keep on selling said labor?

Because I don't have much money left my bank. If I don't work for someone, I won't eat. I know the solution is to capitalize on the unfairness and make things unfair in my favor by starting my own company, hiring some programmers, have them build something that makes money, hire other people to sell it, then pay them a tiny fraction of what I bring in. But that takes risk. I want big money with no risk.

"I want big money with no risk."

Not going to happen.

You should consider moonlighting.

I want big money with no risk.

And I want Natalie Portman, Elisabeth Shue and Olivia Wilde to show up at my door, naked and bearing hot grits... but that ain't gonna happen either.

Life doesn't always give you what you want. Tough, huh?

This is the same argument given by workers of every kind for hundreds of years - "the capitalists get rich off the fruit of our labors and the sweat of our brows, and don't toil to earn their own money" Whether it is right or wrong I can't say.

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