PaulT 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (29334)

• On the post: No One Has Any Clue How Texas’ Social Media Law Can Actually Work (Because It Can’t Work)

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2022 @ 12:15pm

  "You think you can silence people you hate and not suffer consequences for it. That’s not how it works." Are the people they hate entitled by law to speak using their property? If not, then the property owner disagreeing with a guest and asking them to leave is exactly how it works. If neither party is the property owner, it gets more complicated, but since the right have spent decades on moral campaigns trying to shut down everything from comic to videogames to music to being allowed to exist as a person who doesn't conform to something, for us to worry too much about hate being deplatformed.

• On the post: No One Has Any Clue How Texas’ Social Media Law Can Actually Work (Because It Can’t Work)

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2022 @ 12:12pm

  In most "liberal" places I've visited, people will be tolerant beyond reason at times, only banning people if they're outright hateful or trying to cause a fight. Even then, they might be given a timeout, or have comments hidden rather than banned outright. In some "conservative" places I've seen, people get permabanned just for quoting verifiable facts. Not political views or attacks on other posters - actual factual data.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2022 @ 12:03pm

  Oh, and the slow death might need to be defined overall in other ways. 2018 had the highest overall domestic box office in history, the ticket sales were the thing in question, although those were up 7% since 2017. There's a good argument to be had that the medium budget movies that used to pad out studio schedules have been replaced with high risk blockbusters and low budget thriller/horror/etc. movies, while entire genres have been shipped out to streaming and TV. But overall the industry seemed relatively healthy outside of the "Disney will insist you play their new movie and take 60% of revenue, forcing you to overcharge even further for popcorn" issue that plagued the big multiplexes.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2022 @ 11:56am

  "Rather than a slow death over the next 20 years, it happens in 5 or ten, maybe." Define "death". No more multiplexes who only show what a handful of corporations are selling being replaced by venues who care about their product might be a shift, but that doesn't sound so bad to me. "Your commentary that made it appear you had no clue just how bad the theatre industry has been here BEFORE covid." As usual, it depends on which data you cherry pick and which data you choose to ignore because it's inconvenient. Pre-COVID, there were more and more movies released than ever before. There were also way more screens. Since you mentioned 2018, a quick glance shows that Black Panther was #1 released on 4,084 screen, and there were 993 movies released theatrically. In 1998, there were 338 movies released and Titanic was shown on 3,265 screen. It doesn't seem that going back to 1998 levels would cause the system to collapse. There was also a difference in the types of venues in many places, ranging from the multiplexes that show the same 6 movies across 30 screens, to the more adventurous indie chains that promised a good experience over replacing projectionists, ushers and ticket desks with buttons and prayers. There's room for all sorts of theatrical experiences, and people will continue to pay for them. Maybe the days of going to a crappy multiplex where the projectionist has been replaced by a button and there's nobody able to kick out the people talking on their phone are over. But, it will continue to thrive. There will always be cinemas, just as there's always theatres, opera houses and music venues and so on. They might not be as important as they were at some points recently, but they will exist, and people who care about the art will support them even if you prefer to watch Tubi (which is in itself a fine outlet for many movies that either would not get theatrical distribution or which had it in the past but await rediscovery).

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 02 Oct, 2022 @ 11:37am

  "I’d have to actually do some math but a quick glance it IMDBPro release listings shows about 10% of film releases in the US were in theatres in 2018." Which mainly raises the questions of why you cherry picked that particular year, and why you're trying to divert a conversation that started with theatrical releases over to other media. "Disney has redirected films announced as planned films to + miniseries." They've also redirected TV shows into movies. But, those are inconvenient for your narrative. "The film ratings system is dying" Said Jack Valenti in the 70s. "There is simply no reason to submit films unless it’s one of that few percent of releases heading to the theatre" ...and the NC-17 rating is poison to those titles, and unrated makes things difficult, which was the point you were arguing with when you brought up 50 year old movies before you decided that arguing about other markets was more convenient. "Last week over 100 original releases came out on DVD" How many were new releases that never had a rating, and how many were titles that had theatrical screenings with MPAA approval? It doesn't necessarily matter to the market as a whole, but most titles on disc and the services you're rambling about had a rating at some point. This is likely to continue - the most valuable part of rating is guidance for parents, and while you don't care if a movie is NC-17 or unrated, plenty of people do care if it's a PG vs PG-13. "No matter what the theatres think, the content of the 17 film is no longer an issue for the film consuming public." No, the people who go to theatrical releases will be swayed by ratings and/or the advertisers and other external pressures have an influence even if the theatres themselves would be find with the higher rating or unrated titles. The fact that you can watch a movie in a different market without a rating is not a relevant point about the pressures of that market. You might as well be arguing that gasoline prices don't matter because you prefer fully electric cars. There's truth there, but it doesn't matter if the subject of the discussion is different non-electric models having different gas mileage.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 06:10pm

  "Disney has dozens of MCU titles that skipped the box office. Opting instead for short series" Oh, I get you. Instead of sticking to verifiable facts, you made up something in your head to pretend you're right. As usual. In other words, there are no MCU movies that skipped theatres, but if you pretend that their related TV series were really movies then you don't have to admit you were wrong. "Amazon doesn’t care. Hulu has a nice selection of unrated and TVMA films. Tubi is full of them." Different markets operate differently. How insightful :rolls eyes:

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 04:00pm

  I'll have to get around to finishing the 3rd season in that case. International licencing is a constant annoyance but if it worked in my favour this time, at least I have the option, I hope some kind of solution is available for others eventually.

• On the post: Florida Officially Asks Supreme Court To Review Its Social Media Content Moderation Law

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:42pm

  "But more to the point…. when people are habitually comfortable with calling up Google to search for XYZ, and Google suddenly goes away, how many of those couch potatoes do you think will actually engage an alternate search engine? " You're aware that search engines existed before Google right? They'll go to whatever alternative gets the headlines.

• On the post: Florida Officially Asks Supreme Court To Review Its Social Media Content Moderation Law

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:41pm

  "Which is a film in the UK, not a movie" By your weird definition. I don't think I've ever met anyone in the UK who shared it, and I lived there for the first 30 years of my life.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:38pm

  "Just look at the destruction of animated shows over at HBO Max⁠—I mean, Final Space (a legitimately fun show) was written off so hard that the show can legally never be released again in any form and can never have new episodes made" I hadn't heard about that. I just checked, and here in Spain all 3 seasons are still on Netflix (HBO Max didn't exist here until recently). I also hadn't heard about the Amazon thing, but if there's one thing these people really don't want to do long term, it's removing content people have paid for. I can't imagine the mindset of someone who thinks that leads to anything but piracy. If you're telling customers that what they pay for will disappear, people aren't going to pay for that thing.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:32pm

  "Yet the content of older materials continues to be modified." It's Disney. Did you somehow miss the entirety of the VHS and DVD eras? Yet, here you are supporting them getting more power... "there are some consumer benefits from thes mega mergers" There really isn't. "One interesting aspect is how the discussion, even here, has flip flopped on choice in entertainment." I'm not sure what you're hallucinating here, but I don't think so. There was a brief time when it was lauded that people had the choice to dump overpriced cable bundles so that they didn't have to pay for dozens of religious and sports channels if they wanted to watch a certain show, then criticism that every channel felt the need to silo off content to force people to pay more again if they wanted to watch what they wanted. The position from most here is fairly consistent and clear - the ideal thing would be to have a consumer choice where they can access content for a reasonable fee without having to pay huge sums of money and/or keep having to switch providers. Absent that, there's a limit, and we'll see anti-consumer consolidation of services lead to less competition and/or an increase in piracy, especially in a market where high rent, fuel and other costs are causing people to make more careful choices about their frivolous entertainment budgets. "I still think, as both a share holder and a user, and as a fan of film, the single best choice Netflix could make is to partner with Amazon as a subscription channel." It's strange to watch a self-proclaimed libertarian demand that power be consolidated to one place so that they can earn money with zero effort, but you guys don't seem to be very consistent. Giving Amazon a 20% cut isn't going to change the reasons why Netflix is facing some issues.

• On the post: Florida Officially Asks Supreme Court To Review Its Social Media Content Moderation Law

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:20pm

  There's no part of political or religious speech that prevents a private actor from legally reacting, only government actors. That's why they're so desperate to pretend that being popular means that you are somehow public property.

• On the post: Florida Officially Asks Supreme Court To Review Its Social Media Content Moderation Law

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:18pm

  "It says unequivocally they are not the speaker as such they have no free speech rights over someone else’s speech" Freedom of association is part of freedom of speech. Telling someone to GFTO of their property because they don't want to be associated with them is a type of speech. "An editor has free speech rights because an editor can be sued over what they chose to publish" So, they can tell some people they're free to use their property to speak and others that they're not? So, the same as any online platform, with the difference being that the order is given after the person has spoken and not before.

• On the post: Warner Brothers Discovery Merger Continues To Be A Shitshow For The Ages

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:09pm

  You're all over the place with your argument, as usual. You responded to the accurate claim that NC-17 reduces box office options by citing a movie that was released nearly 20 years before NC-17 existed, and a notorious 1995 flop. Now, when challenged, you're trying to shift to the box office climate of 2022. "If you really think an NC-17 or not submitted Deadpool, Spawn, etc wouldn’t do well, in or out of old-fashioned theatres…?" Spawn also being considered a flop, although it made more money than Showgirls. "Disney is skipping theatrical releases on some titles in the MCU" I'm not sure about upcoming titles, but this is not true right now. They've released some Pixar movies direct to streaming, but not MCU.

• On the post: Hundreds Of Authors Ask Publishers To Stop Attacking Libraries

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:01pm

  "Has any author even talked about leaving a publisher over this?" Leaving a publisher does not necessarily mean that the publisher can't keep control of works already published.

• On the post: Netflix Expands Its Stupid Password Sharing Crackdown Cash Grab

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 03:00pm

  It's fairly obvious that part of Netflix's "problem" right now is because they went from the only game in town to having to directly compete with companies that used to supply them (I say "problem" because they haven't lost subscribers internationally once you account for cutting off Russia). But, cracking down on people they explicitly said could share accounts a few years ago isn't going to inspire them to open up more accounts.

• On the post: Netflix Expands Its Stupid Password Sharing Crackdown Cash Grab

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 02:57pm

  I'm intrigued by people who think that an opinion blog needs to be unbiased.

• On the post: No One Has Any Clue How Texas’ Social Media Law Can Actually Work (Because It Can’t Work)

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 02:52pm

  "You thought that the large generic speech platforms could engage in viewpoint-based censorship just because the 1st Amendment allows it" So, you're opposed to the 1st Amendment? "actions have consequences" Such as... not being allowed to use someone else's property after you violate their T&Cs for using it? "people have had enough of being told what they’re allowed to say" Children will be children, but nothing says you have the right to use the property of people who don't want you to use it.

• On the post: No One Has Any Clue How Texas’ Social Media Law Can Actually Work (Because It Can’t Work)

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 02:49pm

  "It’s only “unworkable” to people who want to shut down speech" All of the Nazis you support are still able to speak. They just can't speak using the private property of people who don't want Nazis using it. "Techdirt’s resident cancel culture victim" Which is weird, since if you'd really been cancelled we wouldn't be reading your impotent victim complex whining on every article.

• On the post: After Trying To Deny The Obvious, Google Announces It’s Shutting Down Stadia

  

  PaulT ( profile ), 01 Oct, 2022 @ 02:46pm

  I'll just repeat what I've said before here - Stadia was an interesting platform, but they were killed by timing and business model. Had they released 5 years ago, the hardware combined with the requirement to buy game at retail prices might have had an impact, even with their weird adherence to older games. But, since they released when xCloud and others were already on the horizon, with subscription access and even no additional hardware requirement in some cases, they were doomed before they released.

Next >>