I think the word "loan" sort of implies that they are not being "given" the money.

"Seriously... the cost of providing service should be covered by what you charge for the service."

ISPs already charge as if they were paying for it. They're just not paying for it, and they want to continue not paying for it.

Reddit isn't dying. Reddit is dead.

Why is Reddit dead?

Reddit is dead because it operated for far too long as a charity and gave everyone the impression they were not in business to make a huge profit for their private equity investors. It turns out that the benevolence of those investors has worn out and the time has come to start delivering on expectations.

Once that happens, most of these online services begin the exorable demise.

Gen X-er here... when I was hanging out in IRC in the 1990s using mIRC and enjoying thoughtful discusson on Slashdot, the Internet was pretty cool. Websites had page counters, obnoxious backgrounds, annoying animated GIFs, and people who authored web pages basically didn't know what the fuck they were doing. It was fantastic, and a lot of fun.

Needless to say, the Internet has turned into something else entirely, and I don't like it. Today the Internet has become just another method to exploit, agitate, and divide. I don't even have Internet service at home anymore, because when I go home from work, I want nothing to do with it. My house has no Internet and no TV, because they both suck anymore, and I definitely don't miss them. At all.

They are trained to be experts at a well-developed standard for misleading customers. Competency at the job is measured by how well they accomplish the goal of misleading customers without creating a liability. It's not a poor standard. It's not poor training. Everything about it is precisely calculated and razor sharp.

Poorly trained? Horse shit. They are very carefully trained to read very-carefully worded bullshit that leads the caller to infer that the fees are imposed by government, without actually saying that the fees are imposed by government.

I grew up in NYC in the 80s, and my god, you are not kidding. I have two major olfactory memories from NYC.. okay three... the biggest one is the smell of diesel fumes from the buses of the day. The second is the smell of urine and feces in the subway system. The third is the smell walking into Sal and Carmine pizza.

But yeah... the smell of urine and feces in the subway was a staple of 1980s NYC.

It doesn't take nearly that much.. there are a lot of pizza trucks in my area and they are all propane or wood fired. I have a propane-fired Ooni and it's fucking awesome.

No, they are not themselves being burned... but they will be, as the recycling stream for them will likely involve re-refining into either motor oil or heavy fuel for ships. Plus there's the environmental risk of leaks, spillage, etc etc..

Overall it is not worth the cost or the risk. But, it will enable the virtue-signaling, so by all means it must be all ahead flank.

This question comes up after every wave of mass tech layoffs, and after every wave of mass tech layoffs, the answer is "no."

Sounds like the answer is "no."

"but there's no question that working together in the same room makes a positive difference"

That is bullshit, and the pandemic proved it.

Since I will be dead and gone long before AI can take my job, I imagine I will just continue to decompose.

If the company is structured as a shareholder entity, then it is for sale. All Sony needs to do is locate enough shareholders willing to sell their shares to obtain a controlling interest. If you're Sony, you can do this with a company like CD Projekt with the money you find in your executive lounge sofa.

Even GE has backed away from the Jack Welch "fire the bottom 10% every year to motivate the rest" approach, where it originated.