For more than a decade, the domain Knitting.com was available for sale. During that time, it was sparsely populated with a few knitting-related links and contact information for the owner, Roy Edward Messer. In February 2022, Dave Bryant and Mike Jackness, known as the EcomCrew, purchased the domain for $80,000 with the goal of turning it into a million-dollar business. They saw knitting as the “perfect niche” for selling on Amazon due to its high search volume and SEO potential. However, their entry into the knitting community sparked backlash due to their overt sexism and ageism. They were accused of trying to profit from a community they had no real interest in, and the language they used was seen as dismissive. Online knitting communities mobilized against them, criticizing their intentions and their language. The EcomCrew eventually deleted a podcast episode and expressed remorse for their actions. Knitting.com is still active, but it now targets new knitters rather than the existing community. The incident with Knitting.com is emblematic of a broader conflict between online communities and corporate platforms, as site owners increasingly seek to monetize spaces for their own profit. This tension has been growing for years and has recently come to a head. Knitting.com is just one example of how online communities can organize and push back against platform owners. Similar tensions have been seen on Etsy and Reddit, where communities have organized boycotts and protests. These incidents highlight the concept of techno-feudalism, where platform owners are compared to landowners and users are viewed as tenant farmers who produce value for the platforms. The profits often go primarily to the platform owners, leading to pushback from communities who feel exploited.
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