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Comment by hoorible | Hacker News Reader

I actually find the term so refreshing. It’s so poignant and perfectly sums up the experience, but adds a twist of cynical humour.

> to describe a real and fairly obvious problem with VC backed firms striving for profitability

Not sure if intentional on your part but that really seemed written as it these firms are worthy of any kind of sympathy. They aren’t. They make a shiny new thing, running unsustainably to entice new users, with the explicit goal of making it worse later on to increase profits once it’s taken off. Enshittification is in the plan from day one, and they deserve every bit of scrutiny and criticism they get for it. Fuck em.

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All I was saying is that this pattern of platforms becoming worse in the name of profit is a real problem worth talking about - but that the term used just makes me want to tune out of the discussion.

I’m not saying we should feel bad for these firms engaging in these practices.

Ah yes that was not how I read it but going back again I see that now.

I do totally get the desire for more sophisticated (no snark) phrasing, given the incredibly huge impact this phenomenon has on lives and livelihoods everywhere, but I think the crassness of it is effective, particularly in two ways: first, keeping the focus on the what (making things worse) more than the why (profit). Other terms I’ve seen like “value extraction spiral” don’t do that the same way. The second thing is it makes discussing it with a broader audience easier; when my very non-technical parents complain about how their facebook is so much worse now, I very briefly describe enshittification and they immediately just get it in a way that doesn’t happen when I talk about other industry concepts with them.

Will take a page from George Carlin on this, regarding "soft language" and euphemisms that conceal the underlying reality (e.g., Carlin's example of "shell shock" vs "PTSD", and many others...)

The reason "enshitification" hits so hard is precisely because it doesn't hold back; it's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable.

Would you prefer a more sanitized term? (one that more thoroughly obscures the intent with safe and harmless language?)

So predatory pricing?

Predatory pricing is certainly one way to enshittify, but far from the only one so I still think the umbrella term is more accurate (despite it, you know, not being a “real” word)

And dumping... See taxi apps.

All that should have been illegal from day 8... I can give a week of promotion, but anything beyond that should always happen at cost or above.

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