i feel like this is an important piece. even if you want to do the "right thing", is it really supporting these platforms that horse-trade content in huge multi-billion dollar deals just so they can increase their userbase with the intent to jam more ads down their throat? have any of these platforms _improved_ the experience for the average creator? they're poison, it almost makes it feel more righteous to steal.

You can stop doing the right thing without doing the wrong thing.

Yeah, I was a pirate as a kid. I said “give me a place where I can pay to have legal access to everything and I will.”

Then Netflix came along and introduced streaming. I was happy. It began to fragment a bit, I could live with that.

Now it’s 10 different platforms with rotating content, I need a 3rd party website to know where and when to watch a particular thing, it’s a mess.

Not only that, unlike with cable they make it difficult to record the content they’re serving me so I can watch later myself.

I am now a pirate again.

I've went through the exact same cycle. Also, a year ago I thought I'd gift my elderly dad a Netflix subscription for a year. Just because it was easy for him to use on the TV. When I seen the price and checked the TV shows and movies on it I realised how much stuff was NOT on it! Anyway - I bought a NAS instead and start running a plex server. Everyone's a winner!