[kanox]

HN loves to hate on TikTok but it's by far the best entertainment app out there. I go there because it makes me happy.

It's like imgur or reddit but with a recommendation engine that works and where you can completely avoid all the community infighting drama bullshit.

[meej]

I installed it out of spite a couple months ago and it's one of the best decisions I've made during the pandemic. It has brought me so much cheer. I expected it to be dumb, instead it's been delightful. I'm not sure it's possible to understand the appeal of TikTok without trying it yourself and seeing what the algorithm does.

[joshstrange]

Literally my "origin" story as well. I installed it to make fun of how stupid I "knew" it had to be. The funny clips friends had shown me could not have been surfaced easily, they must have spent hours and hours to find these gems.... Nope, within a few days it was showing me stuff regularly I found even funnier than what my friends had shown me before.

[joshstrange]

> I go there because it makes me happy.

Could not agree more, I have all my niche topics in an endless stream I can dip in and out of as I desire. The hit-rate on "things I like that it shows me" is incredibly high, higher than I would have believed possible without heavy tuning on my part. I did "nothing" but like the videos I enjoyed, swipe to the next video on videos I didn't like, and occasionally follow a creator if I've seen 3+ videos of their on my FYP that I like.

[hvdfhbj]

I might like if but I have major ethical issues with doing business with any Chinese (or Saudi or North Korean or Vietnamese etc) company if it can be avoided.

Why prop up a dictatorship?

[kanox]

China is the world's largest economy, there's no way to avoid doing business with it.

[falcolas]

Doesn’t mean you can’t try. Being deliberate with whom you associate is all you can really do.

[mistermann]

History is chock full of examples that demonstrate otherwise.

[hvdfhbj]

It's the second largest economy. And I agree that it's practically impossible to avoid it completely, I only suggest avoiding it where possible.

My personal rule is to not buy anything made in China for more than $100. I can't avoid buying Chinese for cheap plastic crap, but for significant purchases it's worth the time to be ethical in your purchasing decisions.

[disown]

So you haven't bought a smartphone, computer, camera, etc? Give me a break. You should boycott australian goods too. It's committed genocide and stole land/resources from the aborigines and got rich selling resources to china.

[anoncake]

No, they shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[ipiz0618]

The unawareness of the people here is worrying. Given its track record of censorships, especially of topics regarding the Uyghurs and Hong Kong, it is just unethical to support such a company.

[simonebrunozzi]

To be fair, if you were to give the same treatment to all other nations, you wouldn't use or buy anything which involves electricity, or any advanced tool. Back to the stone age, to be clear.

The US, in particular, has a very "compelling" story of such things, even if some of these might not be as recent as China's.

[newen]

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam. Highest imprisonment rate in the world. Not even scratching the surface.