Monday, December 16, 2024

Enshittification and new website recommendations, please

I've read The Verge every day for years. It was a good combination of science, tech, and gaming, with a bit of public policy thrown in.

Now they're touting a subscription, and almost all the articles I'm interested in reading are behind the paywall. Also, and this is a serious point of contention with me, they don't label those subscription-only articles, so you don't know you've hit the paywall until you've already clicked on the article.

I was curious, so I checked out the annual subscription price. $50. Not terrible, until you see one of the bullet points: "fewer, better ads." Really? I'm paying $50 a year for "better" ads? What garbage.

Basically every website I genuinely enjoy has been enshittified in the last two years. I still read a few (RPS, for example), but the only site that's still peak is Blue's News, which has never changed and is still entirely wonderful.

If you have any ideas for a website that covers the same general territory as The Verge but isn't trashed beyond recognition, please let me know.

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