Ah yes, exploit free labor. Capitalism’s favorite way to make money.
Comment on Matrix.org is Introducing Premium Accounts
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 day agoWhat’s with the “Trust and Safety” bit? And are the events really necessary?
Randomgal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
My understanding is that Matrix is a nonprofit.
QBertReynolds@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
Non-profit organizations still exist within the capitalist system. Just because they don’t pay out dividends to shareholders doesn’t mean they can’t be exploitative. If a non-profit makes a lot of money, the people who run it just increase their own salaries. Happens all the time. And yes, non-profits exploit labor all the time. Local arts councils are an easy example of this. Run an art show where the venue and food are donated. They take a fee at the door, ask for donations throughout, and require a cut of any art sold. If there’s a bar, they get a cut of that too. The artists who enabled the show to even exist did all their labor for free in exchange for exposure and maybe selling something. They see none of the take though. Sounds pretty capitalist to me.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
I never said it wasn’t capitalist, just that being bad nonprofit should afford a little more leniency when it comes to “free labor.” Matrix is FOSS, the Matrix foundation exists to drive its development, and its whole point is to provide a replacement for exploitative products. Such an organization soliciting donations makes a ton of sense, and donations can take the form of code, money, or even free labor (moderation).
So yeah, I’m absolutely willing to give them a pass on asking for such donations, and I think they should replace some of the money they’re spending on moderation w/ more development time.
Spuddlesv2@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Your solution to someone complaining that the boss is earning too much is to suggest they pay the other workers less (or not at all)?
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I’m suggesting that their balance sheet looks off. Matrix should primarily be spending money on developers and infrastructure.
The boss earning what seems to be $170k isn’t a ton for that position, and it’s a fairly small piece of the pie. Even if the boss took no pay, they’re still spending a lot of money on non-development and hosting tasks. I would like to see “Other Staff” increase at the expense of everything except hosting costs.