pronounsany
297written posts
offlinecurrently
rp is supposed to be fun, remember
it is not about making money, it's about especially tech industry having shifted massively during the pandemic years, in a rather unsustainable environment. proboards had financial struggles during the time ( they said it was a dramatic drop), and they had even launched contributors programmes to help pay for their salaries pre-being bought out. there have been a lot of cases like this during the covid times. it does, however, mean that, these acquisitions and employees are now being laid off. the inflation is too high, the economy is uncertain worldwide and there's hardships everywhere. vertical scope (owners of pb) has 60-70% stock price drops and 23% layoffs, even big companies like microsoft are laying off 10k, metaverse for 11k+ and so on. google any company and you will see the similar major drops in stocks, big layoffs, even closing services or inflated prices compared to before. it is not profits for companies, large or small, but layoffs and closures for stability and survival. especially in the tech industry. You do realize that the entirety of proboards was run by 9 people, just 9. Not 100, not 10k, nine dedicated people filled with passion and love for their platform. They've been working on version six for years now, and were really excited only to as you say get bought out and now a project they have been working so hard on is magically off the table permanently, when it was so close to release. I don't believe at all that it's not about making money. I'm not blaming the 9 dedicated people. I'm blaming the massive company who bought them out and pulled the plug on something that they had poured their hearts into. For, and I quote, it not making money, because money is the only thing big companies care about. Even nine people only need salaries, though? They slowed down, mentioned financial struggles, opened up donations and finally got bought and said the contributions went to paying their employees. This is all in the link I used as a reference. And yes, economic environment affects every company, my point was “it is a risk even for giants, let alone smaller ones.” But sure, lets look at it that way: here is an exhaustive list of a good chunk of companies that laid off employees, shut down branches and you can see its between 7-20% for most part. Some are only 30~ people, some 10k+, but everyone is affected by it. You cannot deny the global-wide financial struggles. I also realise peoples need to put money on the table, not just their passion and love for their craft. A company, even a small one, is not a charity unfortunately. It was likely survival then for them as it is now for the buyers (seriously, shares going down that badly is massive). There is a reason why most hosts are paid.
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