Oh yeah, let's show them! We'll show them that even as a symbol of protest we have to use something corporation made.
Microsoft thanks you for the free advertisement.
this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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The video isn't that long.
Definitely not spending 8 minutes of my time on a "protest" video that somehow ends up advertising a corporation.
I did read the transcript in the post and the reasoning is idiotic.
It's not advertising a corporation lmao, he spends half the video ranting about how much he hates Microsoft
Cool, cool and as a revenge he chooses a cute looking symbol made by said corporation. Yeah, that'll show them!
That's free advertisement, all common people need to see is a funny ad featuring Clippy and suddenly all the profile pictures will have a different meaning.
I have no idea why you're so proudly ignorant.
Just watch the video or move along and accept that you aren't informed.
That's kinda rich coming from you. The video is not needed at all. I don't care about the intent, the fact remains that people are spreading Microsoft's mascot online.
Simplified enough for you to understand:
- is what I said true? Just a yes/no question, no reasoning, no explanations, no reality twisting
- if you came to the conclusion that yes, it indeed does spread Microsoft's mascot online, here's another yes/no question: will most people read or know the reasoning behind?
- if you chose no, they won't know the reasoning, here's the last question (this one is not a yes/no question, might be a little harder for people like you): given the two above facts, will this be perceived as a protest by most people, or simply as using clippy for fun/nostalgia/whatever reason?
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Thanks writing it all out instead of making us watch the video.
For real! I hate to watch video media for things like this. I mean, I'm on Lemmy and not tiktok or YT for a reason...
The transcription with timestamps of the important taking points, chef's kiss.
Thanks op.
I don't mean to get off topic but effective synopsis of media is a massive value add. Making ideas cross platform AND cross media types is helpful, not detrimental. Advertisements are your enemy, not viewers.
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When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy's
Software engineers will do anything but unionize
Oh? Something tells me it's they don't now, they'll be part of a union at their next job. It's coming for all of us, just sooner for some.
This right here. Unions are a much more potent way to tell management "that anti-consumer idea is bullshit and we won't do it."
I've been tech conferencing all week and I've already seen two talks about unionizing tech workers. Maybe the tide is turning?
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Honestly....yeah. I've been trying to push that boulder but I can't be the only one.
Very few people are willing to break rank because the system is working for them for now.
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"When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy's looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer."
Ahh yes. The CEO sees the slactivists' avatars sand sighs loudly before turning their thoughts back to their yacht and upcoming golf vacation.
Yea this is some bonkers wishful thinking. This is basically the Jeremey Clarkson "oh no! Anyway..." meme
The CEO sees the clippys, starts crying and gives everyone a raise
Then everyone claps
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I don’t know if the answer is silent protest profile pics. I think a better solution is more people getting into self hosting and ditching big tech reliance.
Louis Rossman (the guy pushing this) is also running the consumer rights wiki, has made countless videos on board level repair of Mac devices, and just recently offered a $5000 bounty for jailbreaking a smart thermostat that pushed out an update to lock out owners unless they agree to a $100+ subscription. He's constantly pushing for self hosting and less big tech reliance, has released a number of guides.
This is just a small side piece in the overall strategy.
I think protest profile pics are great :) But in corpo hell they don't matter.
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Don't make me post pregnant clippy art.
What else are you supposed to spam LinkedIn with?
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I just… no thanks. Zero point to doing this as far as im concerned. Wish all participants the best of luck, however!
I concur - I agree with the sentiment, but this seems so... pointless. Remember the Reddit blackouts? Some people migrated to Lemmy but I doubt the number of new members ever increased in the same proportion as it did in those days, some horrible mods were sacked (like u/awkwardtheturtle from r/art) and some subs were closed by their mods, but Reddit just reinstantiated those subs to another admins (r/unexpected on the top of my head at the moment) and... shit's even worse than ever and they keep earning their profit as usual, if not even more. In the end the "protests" and blackouts did absolutely nothing for them.
I disagree, without the protests I would still be using Reddit. Just because it doesn't completely collapse the system doesn't mean it's been ineffective
Fair, it got your attention, which I think is worth it.
But as they mentioned, Reddit is doing fine, and making more revenue than ever. The premise of the clippy protest is to scare the CEOs into submission, exactly like the reddit blackouts, but that wasn't the result of the blackouts and that won't be the result of YouTube users changing their avatar to clippy.
The only thing that will scare them is users actually migrating away, which again didn't happen enough with the reddit exodus, it didn't get a massive blow like digg did. Users are too complacent now.
I'll still change mine in case it gets one user's attention enough to start them down the Louis rabbit hole and make them understand the problem of corporations owning all your data, with the hope they will self motivate to leave these platforms entirely, but it ain't gonna get any CEOs attention when they wake up and see everyone on slack has clippy, they'll laugh it off.
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Were these people too young in the early 2000s to recognize Clippy for what it was? It was never benign—ChatGPT is exactly what Microsoft always wanted to make, but Clippy was as close as it could get at the time. They are part and parcel of the same thing.
This is like protesting Trump with pictures of George W. Bush.
Yeah. We only had one once-in-a-lifetime market crash under W instead of... I lost count. Also PATRIOT ACT and wars on Iraq and Afghanistan was... not as bad as the shit that's going on now, as awful as they were (they also helped lead to the current situation). George W Bush was still one of the worst presidents in US history until Trump came along.
Well, I wouldn't say "miss" is the right word, either. The whole system has been broken since the founding of the country.
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Predatory software has become so bad that now we have to use the previous generation’s intrusive hated features to protest the new ones.
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