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Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

theguardian.com

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Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#11

Post by Animats »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

"Enshittification" captures the concept that the degradation was knowing and willful, not accidental.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#12

Post by forgotusername6 »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

I agree that is vulgar but the word carries more meaning than degradation. I thought perhaps dilapidation might work but that also misses some of the nuance.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#13

Post by mnsc »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

Degradation sounds passive, like something getting worse due to lack of care. Enshittification as a new word have the luxury of no baggage, so to me it perfectly captures the process of taking active, intentional steps to change stuff in a way that makes end user experience worse, but (maybe) product owner richer.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#14

Post by ta1243 »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

I agree, a conspiracy theorist would suggest it's a deliberate move to reduce the amount of people talking about it, in media, amongst friends etc.

There are some people who swear every other word when talking to friends and family. Fine, they'll talk regardless. But there's a significant number who don't, and they will thus avoid using "enshittification" in conversations, reducing the cultural awareness of it.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#15

Post by riffraff »

nprateem wrote: post #8
nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

Not only that, if someone has such a poor grasp of English they probably have little of value to say.

Enshittification was coined by Cory Doctorow who has been writing and publishing for decades and won plenty of awards.

I don't always agree with what he says, but I'm pretty sure he has a pretty good grasp of English and plenty of valuable things fo say.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#16

Post by ahartmetz »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

I agree that the vulgarity is problematic, but the ugliness seems rather appropriate.

Degradation can happen due to inaction - that is not what enshittification is. Enshittification is the endgame of a platform where the owner stops courting buyers and sellers (in that order) and allocates all the profit to itself.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#17

Post by tjwebbnorfolk »

A few weeks ago I bought a "new" coffee maker which arrived physically broken and with used coffee grounds in the hopper. I don't understand how this is even possible.

That's the last thing I'm buying on Amazon.

Amazon pre-COVID was amazing. But 2-day shipping is now 5+ day shipping. It's chock full of cheap/fraudulent junk. It's been interesting to watch it go downhill so fast.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#18

Post by riffraff »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

I understand where you're coming from and agree.

But "enshittification" has its own specific meaning which goes beyond existing terms (i.e. it's specific to degradation of platforms making money from two sides of the transaction).

I wish we had a better term for it, but it can't be replaced by just "degradation".

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#19

Post by 6ak74rfy »

Amazon's search results have been garbage from a really long time, I often wonder how come the executives or the team behind it never experience that themselves. I now to Amazon only if I know exactly what brand I am going to buy before opening Amazon.

I also quit Prime couple of years ago. Hardly miss it.

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