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I Stopped “Creating Content”

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Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#161

Post by pj_mukh »

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…

"so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money."

How is this any different from a small business hot dog stand, setting up outside a game to get more of the "traffic" instead of paying rent somewhere busy. You're a small business trying to get eyeballs, you do what you gotta do and call it what you want, instead of paying for ads like the big boys.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#162

Post by QuantumGood »

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…

At a certain point in the process, a little additional content multiplies the value of your existing efforts. But that is misunderstood (survivor bias?) as "make lots of content, because the successful people did".

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#163

Post by danlitt »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #102
figassis wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if they're irrational. Payment/subscription fatigue is a thing. Today it seems like you have to pay to breathe. It's suffocating. I often go through periods where I reject every money ask compulsively, the same way as I would "disconnect". It's quite interesting how quality of life gets inverted in non intuitive ways. If you travel to a "developing country" you notice you are no longer bombarded with ads…

> I'm not sure if they're irrational. Payment/subscription fatigue is a thing. Payment fatigue is an irrational thing, at least in the context of what a rational economic agent is. Rationally, you pay for what you value, at roughly what it is valued to you, and you don't pay for you want you don't value. Transactions are fatiguing precisely because we are not rational agents. Humans live primarily on emotion and ingr…

This does not sound like an accurate description of "rational agents". A rational agent may value something less because of a perceived second-order effect (e.g. "If I accept a price hike, there will be more price hikes in the future"). There's nothing non-rational about that.

In general, the "rational agent" abstraction is so flexible it can represent almost any real-world behaviour (which is why it's a bad model, not that humans are fundamentally irrational in some way).

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#164

Post by cl4ptr4p »

tombert wrote: post #109
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…

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…

> Haskell tries to "avoid success at all costs".

I wonder whether one could say the same about Zig these days. The maintainers conspicuously avoid to employ the usual methods for popularizing a new language that others seem to take for granted. Although I'm not (yet?) a user of Zig, I rather enjoy this different approach where quality (in the maintainers' view) outweighs quantity.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#167

Post by 0x4e »

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 thoughtful content.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#168

Post by duggan »

pj_mukh wrote: post #161
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…

"so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money." How is this any different from a small business hot dog stand, setting up outside a game to get more of the "traffic" instead of paying rent somewhere busy. You're a small business trying to get eyeballs, you do what you gotta do and call it what you want, instead of paying for ads like the big boys.

Hot dog stands don't often masquerade as creative expression.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#169

Post by oska »

wolvesechoes wrote: post #129
CodingJeebus wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are all kinds of people out there generating meaningful content on their own terms that will never get picked up by the algorithm. I hate the content mills as much as anyone else, but the fact is that they exist because internet economy rewards them. The entire ecosystem incentivizes the soulless "goo" you describe over the meaningful work people are doing. Ice T said it best: "Don't hate the player, hate the g…

"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).

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#170

Post by Lerc »

It's an odd thing, because the reason the word content is used is to permit diversity, but it seems to be widely rejected by those who claim to value diversity.

It's a good man who can bring home the sculpture that his wife likes at the end of his workday.

But why does it have to be him, and his wife, and a sculpture.

Surely the merit is in the person who brings the content that their partner likes, no matter where or when, or what.

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