Ragebait constantly. 2 stories sounds about right for the number of valuable investigations they turn out in a month.

> 404 is deeply pessimistic about everything. They peddle fear, and I can't stomach it.

Not a huge surprise - it's former employees of Vice Media. The world was better when they went under.

They slowly declined from doing interesting investigations like visiting North Korea (2012), to running articles entitled "All Masculinity is Toxic" (seriously, 2018).

To me that kind of seems like the role of journalism - especially in tech. There are plenty of PR departments that will give you an optimistic outlook about any given technology.

The key question is whether the pessimism is reflexive or based on data and investigation.

I think the doomer mentality is a reflection of how the younger generation feels about tech dystopia.

This was a joke. The kernel of truth that makes it work is that Condé Nast and a succession of bad editorial and managerial decisions took the undisputed standard bearer of popular technology writing and turned into a wasteland of Taboola shit splats. The fact that they need outside help from a tiny private indie to bolster their credibility is funny.

> A couple years?

404 Media went live in August 2023, so just over a year ago.