Comment by ethotool | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ethotool | Hacker News Reader

I hate hearing about this. I’d be angry too if I invested all those hours and was banned by a bot.

The risks involved investing your time into building out your project on a 3rd party platform make it not worth it.

I hear about Google and Apple Apps being banned on the regular. Even a few weeks ago the Google Stadia platform being shutdown after a gaming developer spent several months building out their game. When will people learn?

I also hear about way too many of the younger generation who invest much of their time on social media aspiring to become an influencer on YouTube/Instagram/TikTok. It’s not sustainable long term and it never will be.

It’s important that the message gets delivered that these platforms are not sustainable. Sure there’s a small minority out there making it work for them but for the 99% you’re better off investing in higher education and working a lucrative career starting in your late 20s - early 30s.

>Sure there’s a small minority out there making it work for them but for the 99% you’re better off investing in higher education and working a lucrative career starting in your late 20s - early 30s.

While you're at it you should probably deliver the same message to all the would-be actors waiting tables in LA, the mid-level college athletes with dreams of the NFL, etc. Most of these endeavors aren't going to pan out. I'm not sure how different YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok are.

Everyone should be encouraged to pursue higher education. But that comparison is wrong.

My account doesn’t get banned by a bot and I can’t get in touch with a human behind the platform working as a waiter or trying to become an NFL player.. social media is not normal. It’s Zuck and others creation along with their paid team of nerds who are having their way and harvesting data on their users. It’s unethical in every way and brings no good to society.

You don't get banned from working as a waiter but there's a great deal of capriciousness and randomness with gatekeeping humans and their mental heuristics whether directors at auditions, talent and casting agents, scouts, studios, publishers, etc. I don't really see social media as a particularly stringent or even especially random gatekeeper--and of course there's always the option of self-hosting and asking for donations or subscriptions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com