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Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#11

Post by fao_ »

Mendenhall wrote: post #7

When net started tons of people used to say how dumb of an idea it was to use credit cards on it and post information about themselves etc. Was interesting to watch that opinion change and now change back.

I think: Those who predicted the danger, safely avoided it and warned people. Everyone figured these people were just naysayers and went ahead. Now they have experienced (perhaps second- or third-hand) the danger, they know that it's there.

The only thing is, it's a little too late now to backtrack entirely.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#12

Post by chx »

Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#13

Post by soared »

The article's premise implies that the trend is increasing - more people are worried about security online. But this isn't justified anywhere; there are no historical numbers.

I would find it more believable that people do more activities online now that actually require security, and aren't convinced it exists. This is a totally different problem than they think they are less secure than they were before. I doubt people find ecommerce and email less secure now than 10 years ago.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#14

Post by electricEmu »

chx wrote: post #12
Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Where would someone find these pockets? I've felt a real lack of pulse since reader went away and the IRC channels I used to frequent sputtered out.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#15

Post by pessimizer »

It helps that the web is now terrible. It used to be that when I typed in some band, movie, show, book, or piece of ephemera into Altavista, 50 sites would come up with 50 different voices commenting on it from 15 different directions. Now, 50 sites still come up, but they're all using the exact same anonymously-written copy.

Sometimes you get lucky and you can use Wikipedia to index into the Wayback Machine, and see a broken bit of the old web, hopefully with an unbroken link into another bit.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#16

Post by api »

chx wrote: post #12
Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

There are still pockets of resistance, specific forums that do not go away. The traffic have dwindled on some but still, there's enough. Others are thriving.

Same is true with music. There's a whole world of amazing music out there that never gets a second of radio play or mainstream exposure. Occasionally it shows up in movie and TV scores but that's as close as it gets.

Same goes for art, literature, etc. The great and ground breaking stuff is out there but you have to look for it.

There is and probably always will be a pop "matrix" and a "Zion" known to those who stray.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#17

Post by tempodox »

fighting wrote: post #5

The internet really should come with a warning, anything you say or do can and will be tracked and stored and used against you in a court of law (or guantanamo)

Not just the internet. Any non-surveillable form of communication is about to be made illegal.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#18

Post by russell »

Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

The Eternal September all over again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#19

Post by meddlepal »

Olscore wrote: post #4

Was just saying the other day how it sucks seeing the web change. It's like when musicians complain about the music industry being over produced and too commercialized. I remember back in the 90's how excited I was just by making links underline or change color (before CSS.) Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The web used to be a place to find people who shared the same interests and I feel that is no longer the…

I'm wondering if something like IPFS is where the next layer of fun will really be for developers.

Re: Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

#20

Post by tempodox »

The economic consequences of the chilling effect will have to be severe before they impress either lawmakers or internet companies. For the latter, there is too much riding on the monetisation strategies. And the race for the smartest exploitation of personal information is the new Wild West (or Gold Rush, if you will), only this time not confined by a limited amount of square mileage.
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