Luis von Ahn says criticism over strategy change shows ‘anxiety’ about technology replacing jobs
  • fossilesque@mander.xyzEnglish
    71·
    4 days ago

    Around the time they switched to more gamified pathing about two years ago he did not respond well to valid criticisms by people with disabilities in one of those AMAs and it is a major reason why I quit. I will have to dig when I’m on a PC. There were several posts on that subreddit on that topic around that time. I’m not sure if they are still there.

    • NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      4 days ago

      Ok, I think I found it then:

      https://old.reddit.com/r/duolingo/comments/yyw4h9/i_am_luis_von_ahn_cofounder_and_ceo_of_duolingo/iwwsfxw/?context=3

      How do you respond to the idea that the new path is much more difficult for neurodivergent individuals to use?

      Respectfully, I personally do not agree with this criticism, even though I’ve heard it before. Anecdotal evidence is one thing, but even in this thread there are a lot of neurodivergent individuals who prefer the path.

      How do you feel about the criticism of the new path in terms of overall user experience?

      We read it all, and have made a number of changes based on the feedback. However, as I said above the new path is better for usage and we also believe it is on average better for learning, since the in the previous layout people spent a lot of time redoing the lessons they already knew only to extend their streak or compete in the leaderboards, while in the new path the vast majority of lessons actually teach people.

      What do you think about the decline in stock value since the new path was implemented? Or is the timeframe too short for you to draw meaningful conclusions?

      I like the conspiracy theory :) Given that all metrics are equal or better in the new path, I can’t imagine this is related (the stock market has been doing weird things in the last several months, especially for tech companies).

      • fossilesque@mander.xyzEnglish
        51·
        4 days ago

        Yea, that is part of it anyway. If you notice, he hasn’t done one since lol. The app got increasingly more terrible anyway, such is enshittification.