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The hypothesis/provocation: The history of online platforms has been a history of users being handed infrastructures far beyond their financial reach or even that of the operators. These companies in turn were happy to provide the illusion of infinite free resources at a financial loss in the hopes of cashing out on the user base. When usability and the user experience are predictably destroyed by those plans going into effect, the users repeatedly go :pika_surprise: and rush to the next thing, where the same cycle repeats.

None of this is to say users are in the wrong, or that the loss of their connections and communities are their own faults. Often they *had* no other choices for connection and reach. Obviously the VC investment mechanism created this situation by preying on user needs, and big social media operators made the situation worse by drying out the digital commons.