Noblesse oblige and the future of Cohost

[This post is obviously moot now that Cohost is dead, but I think it’s still relevant as commentary on the difficulty of creating a financially-sustainable social media site that is not venture-funded. Some people accused me of trying to guilt-trip people into supporting what was in reality a commercial venture, or of ignoring the financial naïvety and frequent stumbles of the Cohost staff. However, I remain firm in my conviction that with any social media site where users are customers, not the product, they are going to have to step up and pay something.]

It’s hard out there to be a social media site. Tumblr is the latest high-profile casualty, put on life support after a failure to make it into a going concern. I haven’t used Tumblr in a while, but I read Cohost every day, and write something for it every week; it’s one of my favorite places on the Internet. I’m thus concerned that Cohost may at some point also end up on the scrap heap of failed social sites.

Based on the June 2023 financial update (the latest available at the time of writing), Cohost’s financial situation is improving, but it’s still not at the point where it can be self-sustaining without the need for additional investment. Patreon-style subscriptions are planned, from which Cohost would take a cut, and paid ads are at least a possibility.

But I’m still worried about Cohost’s future, especially with a population of users many of whom themselves seem to be financially stressed, based on the increasing number of GoFundMe posts showing up in my timeline. That’s why my thoughts turned to Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie was a 19th-century millionaire (billionaire in present-day terms) who grew up in poverty in Scotland, emigrated to the US with his family, went to work at 12 in a textile mill, was rescued from that situation by a fellow countryman who saw talent in him, served an apprenticeship as a telegraph operator, worked for a leading railroad, became a financial speculator and made a pile of money, bought steel mills and worked to drive down the price of steel, then sold his steel company and made another pile of money. He then retired to devote himself full-time to giving away money according to his own personal philosophy, which he outlined in his essay “The Gospel of Wealth” (also included in his book The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays).

Shorn of its 19th century prose and attitudes, Carnegie’s essay can be summed up as follows:

• Capitalism is here to stay, having proved its success in raising the absolute wealth of the entire population.
• However, capitalism and the free market system by their nature increase relative wealth inequality, enabling a few people to become orders of magnitude richer than others.
• Given this inherent inequality, the wealthy have an obligation to use the vast majority of their wealth for the betterment of society, and to do so within their own lifetime.
• This task is best accomplished not by making indiscriminate donations to charitable causes, but by establishing community institutions such as libraries (Carnegie’s particular obsession), hospitals, universities, art galleries and museums, and the like.
• But such institutions should not be founded in the first place unless the communities that they serve agree to take on the responsibility of funding them once they’re established.

Carnegie’s attitude was an example of what’s sometimes referred to as noblesse oblige: that those who live in a society that has enabled them to become wealthy in turn have a responsibility to give back to that society.

The person who provided the initial funding for Cohost was—self-consciously or otherwise—acting in accordance with Carnegie’s philosophy. Yes, theirs was nominally an investment, with the investor getting ownership of the Cohost source code if ASSC can’t pay back the funds provided. But, seriously, does anyone think that that source code has any significant value divorced from the community of users it supports?

Better I think to see this anonymous benefactor as using their wealth to provide Cohost users the modern analog of a Carnegie library. We as users then collectively have an obligation to ensure that Cohost as a service receives the funding it needs to survive once the initial funding is exhausted. Fortunately, we have a vehicle ready to hand by which to do that, namely purchasing one or more Cohost Plus! subscriptions.

Of course, not every Cohost user can afford the $5 (US) a month for a subscription, but many others can. Furthermore, a few people can afford to spend $50, or even $500, as easily as others can afford to spend $5. It’s those people who can and should take on the responsibility of supporting Cohost on an ongoing basis, signing up for as many Cohost Plus! subscriptions as they can.

Some might object, “you don’t get much by buying a Cohost Plus! subscription, why would you ever buy more than one?” That risks succumbing to the logic of capitalism at its most extreme, in which a life that could be a rich tapestry of personal and social relations is reduced to an endless series of economic transactions—trading value for like value, continually vigilant in every exchange to ensure that one is not taken for a fool or (worse) a mark.

Others might object, “you’re just putting a bandage on the wounds inflicted by capitalism, under socialism Cohost wouldn’t need to beg for scraps from the rich.” Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the Revolution happening any time soon. In the meantime, what’s wrong with building “socialism in one website,” according to the principle “from each according to their ability”?

The ultimate question is, do you want to keep shopping for new social media sites like you’d shop for bread or a new PC? Or is the community (or communities) you find on Cohost important enough to you that you want to help make sure the site sticks around for the long haul? As @staff noted in a previous financial update, social media sites are inherently unprofitable. So let’s stop treating them solely as businesses.

Let’s encourage those who can to go above and beyond to support the site, let’s recognize those who want to be recognized for doing so,¹ and let’s feel free to lay a guilt trip on people who use Cohost a lot, could afford to pay more, but don’t. That’s what Andrew Carnegie did back in the 19th century, and we should consider doing likewise in the 21st.