news scoop: insider account of how the statement was drafted, and the fear-based culture in Wizards offices

[Reynard]

I'm not saying I agree with the decision to release info this way -- and I am very enthusiastic about banging the "let's have some journalistic ethics and responsibility" drum -- but I suspect that's the motivation.

I watch a lot of D&D Shorts videos, for those who think I hate all D&D YouTubers (I only hate most of them), and he comes off as a level-headed dude, which is ironic given his over-the-top persona in his "weird things you can do in D&D" shorts.

I never watched him.before because his thumbnails look like clickbait, but decided to give the video Ginny D highlighted a chance and just watched the new one. He seems to have his stuff together.

God how I wish the algorithm didn't force these folks to make their videos look like the D&D equivalent of hot takes.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I never watched him.before because his thumbnails look like clickbait, but decided to give the video Ginny D highlighted a chance and just watched the new one. He seems to have his stuff together.

God how I wish the algorithm didn't force these folks to make their videos look like the D&D equivalent of hot takes.

Absolutely. My trepidation about what kind of nonsense I'll be subjected to is why I add new channels to my viewing habits very slowly.

 

[J.Quondam]

God how I wish the algorithm didn't force these folks to make their videos look like the D&D equivalent of hot takes.

No kidding. I can't figure out what mad scientist mishap must have occurred to train the algos to reward "over-the-top 90's breakfast cereal commercial" aesthetic.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No kidding. I can't figure out what mad scientist mishap must have occurred to train the algos to reward "over-the-top 90's breakfast cereal commercial" aesthetic.

You tube cares most about people clicking the video and staying on it at least 2 minutes (to trigger the starting and a possible second ad). IT then punishes you if your clicks go down even if you have a steady audience.

So getting literally anyone to click your video is more important to getting to where you can monetize is more important than producing the actual content that builds a fanbase when you start out. Then it becomes offloading that fan base to a kickstarter, Patreon and/or merch store before someone copystrikes your channel to death using IP they don't own or you become a raging sociopath.

 

[The Stray]

DnDshorts has a new video out.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

“Secret Menus” aren’t a real thing. It’s just a way people refer to ordering off-menu.

I once went to a "Mongolian BBQ" restaurant with a bunch of people from the Asian Studies department of my university. The anthropologist who had just returned from field work in Mongolia took a look at the menu and then found that there was nothing Mongolian about it. But in the back of the menu there was a single page written only in Chinese, incomprehensible to most of us but not to the Chinese language professor, who told us that this was where all the really good stuff was listed. He ordered a bunch of dishes from that menu and we got the most marvelous authentically Chinese meal I've ever had.

 

[Yaarel]

So, a worker cooperative?

Something like that, but the business license needs to be more "agile", and able to take on unrelated products, and compete with big business.

Ultimately, the goal is "democratic capitalism", in the sense of democratic control of financial capital.

It sucks that the employees of Hasbro-WotC megacorp are at the mercy of its almost-feudal executives.

I wish there was a better kind of business license, where the employees can have a say in the decisions of the megacorp.

Shall we seize the means of production?

No. The business model would need to succeed in its own right in a consensual environment.

Maybe start off as a small local experiment and study how it behaves, competes, adapts, and prospers.

If it proves viable, nationalize and internationalize the business license.

Such a "democratic capitalist" business license is fraught with difficulties, such as employees ruining the business for shortterm liquidation of assets. A business license that works as intended would need a system of checks and balances, much like a democratic government does.

 

[The Stray]

Ultimately, the goal is "democratic capitalism", in the sense of democratic control of financial capital.

You know, you can say Socialism. Because that's what socialists like me seek. Democatic control of financial capital and the means of production.

 

[Haplo781]

You know, you can say Socialism. Because that's what socialists like me seek. Democatic control of financial capital and the means of production.

Da, tovarisch.

 

[Yaarel]

You know, you can say Socialism. Because that's what socialists like me seek. Democatic control of financial capital and the means of production.

Heh, I am Norwegian. I definitely can say "socialism". The only way socialism can work, is if it is voluntary, and people understand the costs and benefits, and willingly choose to pay the costs. Any kind of socialism can only succeed if it is truly democratic and comes from free will.

But, here in the context of Hasbro-WotC, I am talking about a corporation that itself would function as a healthy employee-empowering structure in a way that is also profitable to the success of the corporation.