Yep, the world would be so much better if we got all our news from cable TV.
In parts, yes. TV does not have the same ability to respond to your actions. It can’t change the program for you specifically to cater to your individual habits. It can’t create the same feedback loop that social media algorithms have that push people further and further into extremist views.
Fam, stop giving away startup ideas for free! You’re sitting on at least three winners there! /s kinda
I feel fooled.
I mean, the internet went to shit when we all centralized around enormous corporate gatekeepers like Facebook and Twitter instead of the personal websites of yore, so I feel like that sentiment still tracks
Personal websites didn’t die because of social media, the simple fact is no one wants to run their own server… I run my own server and can tell you it’s a money sink much like a boat.
I pay $100/year for hosting, who are you using?
A computer in the corner of my house.
Probably cheaper to buy hosting service, unless it doubles as a room heater
Many things contributed to the downfall of internet.
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Corporations: not much to say about it. All they want is more users and all they want is more money.
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Ads: because everyone wants money. I am making a tutorial? I want people watching it to give me money. I am making a website? Money. I have free time I can watch some ads to earn money! Then corporations go in the middle: That guy is making tutorial I can put ads in it, give him a small fee and the rest for me!
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Centralization: as you said, instead of millions of forums people just go to reddit.
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Privacy: People not only don’t care about it, they are willingly giving it away for free, and the big corporations profit.
The selfhosting movement is the light in the tunnel, but it’s really dangerous out there and good actions can bring bad people and they can absolutely ruin your setup.
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The Internet was incredible until the corporations colonized it
The internet is a great example of the capitalism to fascism pipeline.
My mom almost bought me a tamagachi in the 90s. I say almost because what she actually bought me was a cheap knock off.
What I remember most about it was my friend showed me their tamagachi, and it’s born as an egg.
Then I remember what mine was born as.
Imagine seeing this pixel art gorilla, and then he sees a second pixel art gorilla wearing a skirt. Then you see the closeup of the male gorillas face, and he wiggles his eyebrows exitedly.
The next thing you see is a pixel art of a sperm attacking an egg. In a knockoff tamagachi meant for children. I was 13, so I was old enough to know what I was seeing, but it definately had some real WTF vibes. Let’s put it this way. I’m 41. I remember nothing else about that tamagachi besides seeing pixel art gorilla sperm.
That’s all. I just wanted more people to know about chinese knockoff tamagachi with gorilla sperm.
This isn’t the ones that was box shaped and had two terminals on the top to connect to others so you could fight them?
All I knew is I threw my dinky dino in a tree in my front yard and he lived there for years.
Me and my brother had those.
I feel enlightened!
This might be the very first time anyone has ever typed “pixel art gorilla sperm”. I mean unless you’ve told the story before.
Sounds like you got a better Tamagotchi.
The gatekeepers moved to control the internet.
We thought the internet would change the world. It did, but the world changed the internet, too.
Now when I see someone saying ‘gatekeepers are the problem’, I assume they were kicked out of somewhere for being a bigot.
Perhaps it always has been…
Nah, I was just grousing about it yesterday on a cooking discord where somebody was trying to gatekeep the protein used in tacos. Using chicken in your taco isn’t “incorrect” and they can fight me.
Using chicken in your taco isn’t “incorrect”
Show them this lol
Depends on who the gatekeeper is. Would you assume the same about someone being kicked out of twitter/x?
The Internet was so much better in the 90s.
It was slower, the graphics were basic, and we could get knocked offline by someone picking up a telephone. But damn, it really felt like reaching out and touching the world for the first time. It took so long for my mom to understand that yes, I can be chatting with friends online at 2am. She would always ask, “Why aren’t they asleep?” and I’d have to remind her that other time zones exist.
Grunge was not wacky
“This song has 2 notes”
… Grunge was not that wacky
Grunge is not a fad. And for the record Eddie better and mark langlain ,however you spell it… Are the last front men standing from the grunge era
I have bad news about Mark Lanegan…
The internet in its original concept was great. Unfortunately it wasn’t shaped around profit, so it was quickly remodelled.
I remember watching a TV news report in the mid 90s, before Amazon, Netflix, Google even. AOL was a big thing and people with personal computers at home were mostly just messing around. There wasn’t a lot of e-commerce. The news anchor was lamenting that all these people playing on their computers were just a wasting their time “browsing,” as if no activity has value unless it can be monetized.
It’s important to note the internet is just fine. What was taken from us was the Web. This means we can build something new and cut corpos out of it and no I’m not talking web 3 that was just a grift
Like the gemini protocol, or the fediverse
Yeah. The ones holding the cables started shouting Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things. And when that worked, they figured out how to make us stop talking and start buying.
Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things
I can never tell if that person is writing in that style ironically or not.
Hold on, let me try it...
I can’t believe it! My hands are shaking, and I am PHYSICALLY ILL. I’m about ready to scream and I don’t want to say this because nothing will be the same!
Really!
It’s like when I wonder WHAT THE FUCK IS TRUMP DOING NOW? I mean this has nothing to do with that, but it’s the same feeling.
It’s a feeling of Whiskey Tango Fox!!?! I am not exaggerating this! So get ready to hear what I’ve got to say! And what I’ve got to say is:
Is that person writing in that style ironically or not?
3/4 here, never was interested in tamagotchis lol
My daughter got a tamagotchi with like a colour LED screen that does way more than the ones we used to have, somehow they seem less fun to me, maybe cause they’re like $80 and I’m now the one buying them
You can buy what looks to be the OG on Amazon for $20 if you’re so motivated. Odds are you can find them at other retailers too.
It turned out that gatekeepers were the only ones keeping the hoard of idiots and rubes off the Internet. RIP quality free content.
I find quality free content everywhere. I mean, maybe not this post, but most things I see are free from quality.
![Wacky 90s fads [SMBC]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/e4fe722f-2742-4938-a8b4-48b5666c872b.png){kind=link}