Following last week’s discussion of dark or deceptive patterns online, I thought it might be good to expand a bit further outward into a phenomenon that affects nearly every online platform out there, especially when it comes to making life worse for the average consumer of an online service or site.

Today’s Tech Thoughts aims to bring to the fore the topic of enshittification, a more recent bit of terminology that aims to explain why online platforms and services feel like they’re getting worse over time.

What’s this about enshittification?

Enshittification, a term coined by author Cory Doctorow in 2022, is a phenomenon — or perhaps it’s more accurately a trend by now — in which an online service or platform gradually decays in terms of quality.

The process of enshittification occurs when an online platform starts off with a tremendous value proposition for an average consumer, encouraging its use. The value proposition of a platform for a common user is slowly eroded, however, to better serve businesses. In the closing steps, the service degrades even further for both users and businesses as shareholders are prioritized.

As Doctorow put it in a January 2023 Wired article, “Here is how platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.”

This death isn’t quite literal, however. Some services shamble onwards despite being degraded to a point of near-uselessness, but the idea stands: the enshittification of a service or platform is no fun for many users, especially when you consider that last week’s talk of dark patterns form a small part — or perhaps are a symptom of — enshittification.

What does enshittification look like?

If you’re wondering what enshittification looks like, reflect on your everyday use of your smartphone or computer. Let’s say, for instance, the ability to search for things, colloquially known as Googling it.

Google started off as a search engine providing results with minimal ads on the platform. As its userbase grew, Google then increased advertising, introduced search engine optimization, and eventually, installed artificial intelligence in search to try and guess what you want instead of giving you the tools to search for something yourself.

Amazon, the now-ubiquitous online shopping service, was one of the major triggers for discussing enshittification back in the day, As I remember it, it started off by selling books, then it branched out into providing a means for smaller businesses to sell their product. This movement to support businesses also allowed Amazon to place in more ads and get businesses to spend on advertising and optimization.

If you’ve been using social media for more than a few years, think about how social media platforms like Facebook, or X, or TikTok gradually waited until they had a massive userbase to try and monetize user and influencer participation accordingly.

Worse still, it feels as if everything owned by a corporate interest is bound to follow this life cycle of enshittification eventually, and users are left adopting services whose user experiences eventually suck to the point of worthlessness.

Disenshittifying things will take work

The enshittification process, while seemingly inevitable, is not absolute.

Doctorow himself, in a lecture, said there are ways to fight back and “overthrow” enshittification, and Trump’s trade war may even help in pushing countries to fight back by having them prioritize making laws that actively make it more difficult to enshittify things.

Doctorow wrote, “As Trump burns these trade deals to the ground, the rest of the world has an unprecedented opportunity to retaliate against American bullying by getting rid of these laws and producing the tools, devices and services that can protect every tech user (including Americans) from being ripped off by US Big Tech companies.”

A video of that lecture is available here, but some major takeaways from Doctorow’s essays point to some potential remedies.

Laws breaking up monopolies and encouraging competition would be good.

Lessening the opacity by which a company operates, and making its rules and processes more visible and more readily available to scrutiny would be great.

Further, especially in terms of consumer electronics or purchasable items, allowing third-parties to modify or otherwise tinker with things they’ve bought — something we normally ascribe to ownership — to their benefit would also help too.

The truth is, disenshittification will take work, and quite a lot of political will. But it’s work worth doing, if only for the ability to have more agency in our lives and to reduce the amount of low-quality service we now get as consumers. – Rappler.com

Which twenty-six Reds will we see?

A good bit has changed about the nature of the Cincinnati Reds roster mix since last we gave our best guess at who might be included on it come Opening Day.

Spencer Steer’s shoulder maintained its issues, and he received a cortisone shot back on March 1st. Andrew Abbott, though, has seen his shoulder progress well enough that he threw a pair of IP in a AAA game just yesterday. Rhett Lowder is still behind schedule, unfortunately, but at least it looks like he’s moving forward and not backwards. Speaking of ‘back,’ Tyler Stephenson headed for an MRI after lingering back pain.

Rule 5 draftee Cooper Bowman was sent back to the Oaksacvegas Athletics, while former top prospect Noelvi Marte was officially sent down to AAA.

That’s a lot to process, as are the risks of losing players in camp as non-roster invitees if they aren’t selected to start the season. Same goes for players with no options remaining, as they very well could be scooped up on waivers if not placed on the roster from day one.

With Opening Day now less that two weeks away (!!), here’s our latest, greatest estimate of which Reds will make up the Opening Day roster.

Catcher

I’ve got Tyler Stephenson (1) still on here alongside Jose Trevino (2), as all initial reports on Ty Steve’s back are that his issue is minor. It may mean we see more of Jose in the lineup early on, so far there’s nothing to suggest these aren’t the two backstops they’ll carry from day one.

Infielders (5)

Elly De La Cruz (3) and Matt McLain (4) are the cornerstones of this team, and they’ll form the middle infield. Christian Encarnacion-Strand (5) and Jeimer Candelario (6) seem to be locks in the corner rotation, while Santiago Espinal (7) has solidified his spot as the do-it-all infielder in reserve.

Gavin Lux

Gavin Lux (8)! He’ll see time at 3B, 2B, LF, and even at DH when the time is right. Since I’ve got Spencer Steer beginning the year on the IL, Lux’s versatility will help offset that usually created by having Steer on the roster for the time being.

Outfielders (5)

TJ Friedl (9) is back and healthy and poised to be the everyday CF and leadoff man all 4-WAR style once again. He’ll be flanked by Jake Fraley (10) and Austin Hays (11) most days, with Stuart Fairchild (12) a RHH option on days when Terry Francona wants to stack those up against southpaws. That brings us to Blake Dunn (13), whose RHH ability wins out in this mix over Will Benson since Lux, a LHH, is filling the ‘move anywhere when it’s time to switch’ role previously occupied by Steer, a RHH. In other words, I think Francona will choose to have one more righty bat around than another lefty.

Starting Rotation

Hunter Greene (14) will start on Opening Day, as well he should. He’ll be flanked in some order by each of Nick Martinez (15), Brady Singer (16), and Nick Lodolo (17) for sure at this point. Since the season is long as all heck, I just don’t think the Reds will rush back Andrew Abbott at anything less than ‘full stretched out,’ so I expect him to begin on the IL and miss a turn or two through the rotation - if anything, that may make him even more valuable down the stretch in August/September. I think the Reds carry Carson Spiers (18) as something of ‘starter on an expected bullpen day’ for the time being.

Bullpen

I don’t believe Graham Ashcraft (19) starts the year in the minors - rather, I think he’s carried as the piggyback guy for Spiers’ turn through the rotation with the expecation that he can fill-in for multiple IP when needed in a role akin to how Martinez began last year. Brent Suter (20), Sam Moll (21), and Taylor Rogers (22) form the LHP corps in the ‘pen, while Alexis Díaz (23) will resume his role as the closer. RHP options Emilio Pagán (24) and Scott Barlow (25) have guaranteed money on their deals, so they’ll be down there until they prove ten times they shouldn’t be, leaving one final spot that I’m expected to be filled by Tony Santillan (26) - he pitched well enough last year to deserve it and he’s out of options, so that’s a no-brainer.

Notes

Steer and Abbott are the two notable omissions here. Despite how dismal the Reds have begun seasons in recent memory (and how much that has folded any and all optimism entering those years immediately), I just think they’ll play it safe with them (and Lowder). Abbott getting ~27-28 starts is still very much viable, as is Steer surpassing 550 PA.

Ian Gibaut being back in camp is cool, and he’s fanned 8 against a lone walk in 7.0 IP so far this spring. He’s not on the roster, however, as a NRI on a minor league deal, so I don’t expect him to beat out the rest of the options above. That said, I do think he’s showing enough right now to firmly be in the mix as the first bullpen arm promoted when the inevitable dings happen to the rostered names ahead of him.

Chase Petty has looked really, really solid so far in camp, and at this rate he’ll make his debut (and more) as a Red at some point this year...just not on Opening Day or in the first few turns of the rotation, assuming all goes well elsewhere.