Guess that is what happens when you push people away.

Future of the internet everywhere... eventually.

:: idly wondering if They Who Decide think that increasing the price of one service by 3/8 will make the difference between red and black ::

I can't see the utility to persuade me to pay at all.

There's still that "free" option, right? (Of course there is!)

Despite the evidence of people leaving X, I still find it a better and more busy proposition than Bluesky, and I don't have an opinion on Threads or Truth.

X It's got the numbers, and the others haven't grown enough to compete with that.

It's only useful from a numbers point of view, but the vitriol and aggression is coming to the fore. It's also full of spammers and scammers which previously were tackled.

Hi engine, I agree about the vitriol on politics. I stay away from politics on X.

There are some niche subjects where it has volume enough to be interesting.

as tangor says, there is still the free option.

personally i don't see the problem, everything is going towards a paid SaaS model, and although X isn't strictly that, i'd classify it as similar. it's competitors will do the same at some point. and once you are in that game, the price never goes down.

i think the amazon prime model is interesting, which i initially subbed to on the promise of next day delivery for free. over time they added bits and pieces such as prime video, included in the price. it's enough to keep me paying my annual subscription.

i'm sure X will do something similar.

the problem with Musk is that he is very divisive and many in the tech industry hate him, including a lot here. personally i think the X platform has improved with him, however others will for sure disagree.

i use the platform a lot and have 2 premium X accounts, which i have because i like what he is trying to do and that is my small way of showing support. (just like i'm a paid member of a couple of political organisations/pressure groups ... i get nothing for it, except knowing that in a small way i'm supporting things i agree with)

for those that dislike the X platform, i'd ask them to ponder on what zuckerberg said in the recent rogan podcast.

It's also full of spammers and scammers which previously were tackled.

Not unexpectedly, those leaving X for other destinations have put up enough numbers that the spammers and scammers have followed to those alternatives as well ... after all it is a numbers game.

There, too, on these other sites is a growing dissatisfaction of "politics" and "different think" which ALSO followed.

That said, Zuck declared Meta was dropping third party fact checkers and adopting the X Community Notes format for moderation of content. Whether one personally likes Musk or not, the man has certainly injected a lot of common sense into large scale social media operations and Mr. Z is paying attention.

Looking at the premium tiers at X, there's a lot to like for those who work the web as a primary source of income.

Disclaimer: Not a shill. I don't do X, never have. But quite a few I know use it daily. Read MSM and independent news media daily---general and technical---and can draw conclusions from that wealth of information.