Yesterday I read the excellent article by Cory Doctorow: Let the Platforms Burn and this particular anecdote The thing is, network effects are a double-edged sword. People join a service to be with the people they care about. But when the people they care about start to leave, everyone rushes for the exits. Here’s danah [...]
  • nosycat
    5•1 year ago

    Active uniques were high, the amount of time people spent on the site was continuing to grow, and new accounts were being created at a rate faster than accounts were being closed. I shook my head; I didn’t think that was enough. A few months later, the site started to unravel.

    Sounds a lot like the way ecosystems collapse. At first nothing seems amiss, maybe a slow decline, but hardly worrying. Time passes, and you start to think nothing bad will happen after all. Then an inflection point is reached, and catastrophic failure ensues in an extremely short time. And there’s no going back after that.

    • IninewCrow
      1•1 year ago

      Or your vehicle has a few tiny rust spots on the inside behind the exterior paint … you can’t see the rust but its affecting the metal and growing in size every day. You won’t notice for months or even years but eventually, paint will start to bubble up and you’ll ignore that too hoping that it won’t get any bigger. Then a large flake of paint will fall off and reveal a big patch of rust eating away at your car and you’ll realize it’s days are numbered. You keep driving but its only a matter of time before a critical part will break down from rust and either slow you down or stop your vehicle from moving.