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Comment by barbazoo | Hacker News Reader

It's not very empathetic that's right but it's still true. People have to stop building their livelihoods or passion projects on these platforms, if they want to have any control over them at least.

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Sure. If you want to make sure some big company doesnt control your group then you should build your own platform. But could this person do that? Maybe. Does this person have the capability to do that? Maybe. Most people wouldnt. I'm a swe and I wouldnt really know how to start my own website, get traction, and grow a community. But I know how to make a facebook group.

I guess its the right advice if you want to ensure nothing bad can happen but the likelihood of someone actually doing that for a project they do in their spare time is tiny. It's like saying, "You should only communicate with these people via telegraph because thats the only way you can be sure that no one can prevent you from doing so."

It's a solution. It's not incorrect. But it isnt a good solution for the vast majority of individuals.

I'm not saying people should build their own platforms. There are plenty of managed forums, shops etc out there for people to use. We should help our friends and family by steering them towards those instead of relying solely on FB and IG for instance.

Building your own carries it's own set of risks. I can't afford the infosec, IT, devops, etc. that a large tech company has. Sure if I build my own and get hacked, I may have more ability to directly effect the situation, but I will likely have to spend much more of my time wrangling tech and may end up being more likely to be hacked overall.

As I said in other places, I was more thinking of managed forums, shops, etc.

those carry their own risks.

I once created a pretty basic phpBB forum for my college.

Spammed by russian hackers within minutes.

If you want a society where people do those kinds of things, maybe you should build your own society that fits your criteria.

I know it's not very empathetic to say but it's still true.

I rather try to educate the people I know about the consequences of relying on companies like Meta for things like that hoping it doesn't happen to them. That's all we can do. And I guess contributing to the technology that enables alternatives.

But saying build it yourself isnt educating. It's akin to saying, "You should have known better". Sure. They should have. They probably did. But when someone is asking for help and you say you should have made a different decision 10 years ago to prevent this you are not educating.

There are plenty of alternatives out there to build a community, sell things, etc. The bit about contributing was aimed at people like us who work in software.

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