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Discussion on: How dev.to could topple Facebook

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nektro profile image
Meghan (she/her) • Edited

The "technically-ideal" solution seems to do a poor job accounting for the social nuances of being human.

A top highlight and very true. Thanks again for your work and everything you do with dev.to to make it the place it is. (And the whole @staff)

but I can't say there is a major player in the social space with a clean slate

I've noticed this too, and I have to wonder, is it an inevitable side effect of that scale or something else? Adding on, YouTube continually puts its advertisers and what it sees as competition over the community and its creators. As for Reddit, "...I found that the admins nearly always chose a policy of inaction on potentially controversial problems...". And more.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern • Edited

If not inevitable, it's a big issue with scale. Dunbar's number is an interesting concept.

On the other hand. It is incredibly clear that many of the current platforms focused on scaling above everything else. For whatever it's worth, we've always passed up the opportunity to get "engagement" at the cost of maintaining a constructive outlook. I imagine this will get harder with time but I really feel like this was a major blindspot early on for many.

I really feel like I/we would have fallen victim to a lot of this were it our first business, but the fact that this was not that and that it grew very naturally from my own side project allowed us to really put the stamp on some values. We have to change courses on previous ideals along the way, but we get the benefit of trying not to be like the things we don't like elsewhere. It's the inherent benefit of being newer.