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I Stopped “Creating Content”

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Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#171

Post by inerte »

inigyou wrote: post #135
georgeecollins wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am so glad someone said this! I get really mad when a PR person writes the word content in the press release for my company. We don't create content. To me "content" means you don't know what you are making or you are very embarrassed about it. We make art or entertainment that people pay for. In general there are two axis I think about in media. One axis is originality, the other axis is durability. Very unorigina…

> "content" means you don't know what you are making This again reminds me of the Telecom New Zealand rebranding. They changed their name from Telecom (meaningful) to Spark (maximally meaningless) and their logo from the word Telecom with a pair of wires passing through the O, to a Claude-esque generic inkblot (maximally meaningless). It gives the impression it got taken over by new management who have no idea what t…

More likely they don’t care what the company does. Sell cars or muffins, it’s all the same thing you just tweak numbers in a spreadsheet.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#172

Post by vintermann »

pessimizer wrote: post #111
danielciocirlan wrote: post #59

You “create content” if what you’re after is just money, and “content” is this malleable goo you have to produce and shove it down the algorithm so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money. In other words, it loses all (human) meaning. So yes, if you care at all, you shouldn’t “create content”. You should be writing essays, recording tutorials, training, music, conve…

> If they do, they will pay you because they will rather part with money than part with your work. Paying for access to "content" that isn't capital is a bizarre business model. The only reason it ever existed is because the medium (paper, videotape) was expensive. The smart reason you pay people is because you want them to continue producing, not because you want to continue consuming. If I have something to say, it…

> The smart reason you pay people is because you want them to continue producing, not because you want to continue consuming.

I've said this a long time. I also don't want to be "gilding the lily": if someone makes plenty of money making the "content" I like, I would like to redirect my contribution to marginal work, something nice that almost doesn't get made. There should not be "content" multimillionaires, that's a failure of our collective incentive structures.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#174

Post by lopis »

0x4e wrote: post #167

I wonder if anyone has thoughts on the future of “content”? I ask this because of the general adoption of LLMs for information seeking. On one side, I think that those who manage to generate a trusted audience can benefit from this as LLMs generate generic content. On the other side, people could get so used to generic content — like Tik-Toks — that it will only be a handful of people coming to those generating thoug…

In a way, the YouTube channels I follow are like cable: they produce content of different genres and topics on a regular basis and serve it to me. There's another way to use YouTube, though: you can search for a video and find what you want exactly.

The way I use video is unlikely to be completely taken over by AI. Sure, producers might use some AI along the way, but people will continue valuing genuine programming, be it educational, comedy, news etc.

But I expect the second kind of content, the one you search for, to be mostly consumed by AI video and AI summaries as time goes on.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#175

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

ares623 wrote: post #154
tombert wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago Simon Peyton Jones said Haskell tries to "avoid success at all costs". He was being cheeky, but it honestly is how I try and approach most of what I do that isn't directly related to my employment (as a software person). My blog posts are just for me; I don't market them, I don't expect anyone else to read them, I don't spam links to all my friends every time I post anything. I have no idea if my writ…

Software engineers, or at least the well compensated ones, are living proof that some level of UBI is beneficial. Look at all the works we have collectively created just because we don't have to worry about basic needs and actually have enough time and energy left to do the things we care about. Imagine if other professions had such luxury. Teachers in particular I'm very curious about. I also think that the Cambrian…

FOSS is a legal and political tool that removes catastrophic dependency risk.

It's not something that exists simply because software developers had free time to waste.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#176

Post by inigyou »

inerte wrote: post #171
inigyou wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "content" means you don't know what you are making This again reminds me of the Telecom New Zealand rebranding. They changed their name from Telecom (meaningful) to Spark (maximally meaningless) and their logo from the word Telecom with a pair of wires passing through the O, to a Claude-esque generic inkblot (maximally meaningless). It gives the impression it got taken over by new management who have no idea what t…

More likely they don’t care what the company does. Sell cars or muffins, it’s all the same thing you just tweak numbers in a spreadsheet.

That's fine for the finance department (just like how "content" is fine for backend programmers) but how can any serious business work when the CEO is business-agnostic? Capitalism has fucked up.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#177

Post by inigyou »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #117
tombert wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago Simon Peyton Jones said Haskell tries to "avoid success at all costs". He was being cheeky, but it honestly is how I try and approach most of what I do that isn't directly related to my employment (as a software person). My blog posts are just for me; I don't market them, I don't expect anyone else to read them, I don't spam links to all my friends every time I post anything. I have no idea if my writ…

Same here. I also write software for free, but it’s not a cry in the dark. It’s serious, ship-grade software, released into the App Store, and used by thousands. It’s just not designed to make money.

I'd seriously suggest charging money for anything in the app store to offset the money it costs to publish in the app store. You can also offer a free version on your own website.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#178

Post by inigyou »

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #175
ares623 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software engineers, or at least the well compensated ones, are living proof that some level of UBI is beneficial. Look at all the works we have collectively created just because we don't have to worry about basic needs and actually have enough time and energy left to do the things we care about. Imagine if other professions had such luxury. Teachers in particular I'm very curious about. I also think that the Cambrian…

FOSS is a legal and political tool that removes catastrophic dependency risk. It's not something that exists simply because software developers had free time to waste.

You can have commercial software with source or with reverse engineering rights. You can also just illegally reverse engineer it anyway - only matters if you get caught, and companies will only suffer civil penalties (fines).

FOSS is now mostly sponsored by commercial enterprises. The part that isn't sponsored is dying or has died. Linux was a silly project by one guy, where are projects like that now?

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#179

Post by inigyou »

oska wrote: post #169
wolvesechoes wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game" I believe lack of social ostracization is one of the reason we find ourselves in current state. Because players are what perpetuates the game.

Yes, I've always disliked this saying. People have agency . They can always refuse to play the game (and that is precisely what many great people chose to do).

Refusing to play the game just means you lose the game. It isn't a third state, it's a resignation.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#180

Post by inigyou »

xdennis wrote: post #153
theandrewbailey wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, its "learnings" and "performant". We've had "lessons" and "fast"; what do those words not capture?

If you're not an English speaker, it's even more aggravating when speakers of your language replace common words with English ones to sound more sophisticated/corporate. So instead of using the native word for "knowledge", they'd use "know-how". (Of course using more common words like "knowledge" or "skill" are not good enough, you need something that sounds more sophisticated to the foreign ear, like "know-how".)

It's shibboleths. It signals they're part of the in-group.
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