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I go back on the 'net to the days of Mosaic, and earlier on Usenet and BBSs. I'm feeling pretty nostalgic, but also saddened. Between the crooks, the government, and fun loving pranksters it seems that there is no corner of the 'net that can be considered truly secure. I now routinely assume that nothing I do is safe.
I remember when the 'net was 90% thoughtful discussion, it was about web pages, pure HTML, and the content that they served up.
Now it seems as if no forum is safe from endless idiotic, threatening, and increasingly offensive trolls and bullies. Many good smart people just refuse to participate. In its early days the whole idea behind the 'net was the free sharing of information. Now you find things behind paywalls, registration pages, or removed after threats from lawyers.
Each week seems to bring another attempt by government or business to regulate the 'net, both what you can put on-line, and what you can look at. Add to that the many geographic blocks and other restrictions that keep out some of the people, some of the time. We rely on multiple layers of flash and java and other technology, each requiring some special software to make it work on your computer. Inevitably stuff breaks.
It was only a decade or so back that the very idea of marketing on the 'net was considered ridiculous. Now we're buried alive with ads, pop-ups, and stupid YouTube ads in front of every video - unless you want to pay them to remove them.
Increasingly using the 'net feels like more of a chore than a pleasure, and I can't see it improving. Is the Internet broken beyond repair?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @02:20PM
Many good smart people just refuse to participate.
As I get older I am starting to do this. If you argue with an idiot he will beat you into submission at his own game and win.
https://xkcd.com/386/ [xkcd.com]
This really sums it up. Do not bother trying to correct them. They do not even want to be corrected. They want to prattle off their opinion and by GOD its right.
Take for example our local submitter. gewg_ he is rather tame by most internet standards. Yet yesterday he got a +50 comment thread going. He is now emboldened again to share his opinions with us proletariat (just look at the submission queue). He is not alone out there in doing this. It feeds their ego. After awhile you just go find something else to do. After awhile the whole site will degenerate into an echo chamber as the rest of us will wash our hands of it and move on. It is very easy for a site to become political drivel ('left' or 'right'). Because it generates clicks. Clicks make the site seem more popular.
I have also used adblock to block youtube comments. If I dont see them I do not get the brain damage from them.
I have taken to reading change pull requests in a few open source projects. Its fairly uncontroversial and I learn better code for my job.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @05:58PM
They do not even want to be corrected. They want to prattle off their opinion and by GOD its right.
Take for example our local submitter. gewg_
+1 interesting for fantastic unintentionally meta post.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @05:58PM
You bash on gewg_ but it seems to me that there is an AC that has very vocal opinions against him, and that it one of the major sources of trollery here at SN.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @09:25PM
I was not bashing on him. I was using him as an example of the sorts of things that drive people away. My point is such heavy handed you are right and I am wrong drive people away. They get tired of it. Eventually the person get tired of defending their position (right or wrong) and just moves on to somewhere else.
In the past 2 months I have *heavily* scaled back my posting for these very reasons. I am tired of fighting over trivialities on the internet that make *no* particular difference in my world. I get myself worked up over silly things. I am trying to focus my efforts on more positive things. For example I recently saw an article where a dude built a rocket car. I thought that is crazy cool. But the entire discussion was dominated by people wanting to rip him a new one for not wearing a helmet. I can not even remember if it was this site or slashdot. My point is it was a sad state these 'tech' sites come to when 70% of the input queue is basically political drivel. The remaining ones that are tech will get low comments on them. Maybe tl;dr I am tired of the bikeshedding I have not decided yet.
I *might* be the AC you are thinking of. I routinely challenge him to do better. To at least see something from a different point of view. He has moderated it very well but he still has his moments. :)
To the original poster of this (Appalbarry). The internet has always been seedy and shifty as far back as I have been using it (1991). It has its bright shiny moments but mostly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law [wikipedia.org] You are just seeing the 90% right now and remembering the 10% from 15 years ago... I am personally trying to decide if that 10% is worth sticking around for anymore.