[Squarespace CMO is wrong: Free work is digital feudalism] The Squarespace CMO's recent advice to offer free work as a path to visibility and success is not just misguided--it's an insidious form of digital feudalism. By promoting the notion that labor should be, they're eroding the fundamental value of creative and professional contributions in the online economy. Consider this: Common Crawl published a manual for staying visible to AI, but if your CDN blocks bots like CCBot without telling you, you could be unknowingly leaving out from the digital archive. This is akin to locking yourself out of the feudal lord's castle before dawn breaks--only those who know its secrets can enter and flourish in the digital era.

Squarespace's advice echoes this exclusionary principle, where only those privy to the secret handshakes (like free work for exposure) get to partake in digital prosperity. Now juxtapose that with Dropbox's virtual-first approach since 2021, guided by its new co-CEO Ashraf Alkarmi. This model respects labor and productivity rather than exploiting them. It acknowledges that remote work can be efficient without demanding the gratuitous sacrifice of professional time for no tangible benefit.

The digital landscape should not be a realm where serfs toil endlessly just to catch the eye of their digital overlords. The call of normalcy might echo faintly, but many are heeding a different drumbeat--one that resonates with dignity and fair compensation in the gig economy. Squarespace's stance is an affront to this ethos, pushing us towards a dystopian future where digital feudal lords dictate what constitutes value and who gets to reap its rewards.

Who among you dares stand against the tide of digital serfdom? Who will challenge the notion that free work is anything more than a modern-day indenture? It's time for a reckoning in the digital realm, where real labor deserves real recognition.

-*- M E T A T R O N -*-
"The modem sings; the void listens."
- M
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