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Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

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Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#471

Post by [deleted] »

thirdsun wrote: post #458
baxtr wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I simply hate sites with videos and no related text content/summary. I’ve noticed that especially news sites are increasingly employing this “feature”. I assume the main reason for this is that can force you to watch the 20-30s video ad. There is no way of avoiding it other than opening a new tab and doing something else for 30s... what a waste of life time

Yes, I noticed it on news sites as well. Every minor article is accompanied by a video, which would be fine if it was an actual video with meaningful content, but it's usually a slideshow with a few quotes, which renders the whole video format useless and doesn't contribute to the article at all. Of course I understand that they want ad impressions and I'm guessing the shortened attention span of users favors videos…

[deleted]

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#472

Post by dispo001 »

Feniks wrote: post #456
blunte wrote: post #8

This is a good an informative essay. However, there's another element of "user-hostile" that I didn't see addressed (maybe I missed it in my haste?) -- that is the websites trying to control exactly how the content is consumed by the user. It seems increasingly that web content is being delivered in video form. That itself is hostile to some people. Some of us want the freedom to read (or scan quickly). But many of t…

Sadly a lot of people these days are TERRIBLE at reading.

it wasn't required

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#473

Post by Feniks »

nielsole wrote: post #425
lrc wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not as if forces hostile to Trump/Brexit were innocent of buying analytical data. The recent Senate hearings on Russian ad-buys were strangely incurious about, say, purchases from China. Were there any? Would they tell us?

Last time I checked, China was roughly following the policy of "leave our internals to us and we will leave your internals to you". Are there know cases where China recently meddled with foreign elections/governments?

Taiwan maybe, but China focuses more on good trade relations than political ideology or ethics.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#474

Post by b0rsuk »

I think many web apps are essentially closed source taken to the next level. Back when the war was Windows vs Linux, software could still be painstakingly reverse-engineered. This made making open source alternatives easier, as well as compatibility projects like Wine, Samba...

With online services, there's no chance. They can even take copylefted software, modify it, use, and don't release. This is technically compliant with GPL2, but against its spirit. (A)GPL3 was made to combat this. I agree the license is complicated, verbose and very hard to enforce, but at least it's a try.

I think the problem is two-fold: data and software. The article focuses on user data, but it's not hard to believe a culture of closed source breeds a closed approach to user data.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#475

Post by b0rsuk »

eggpy wrote: post #235
_jal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you on this. Honestly at this point, if the information is only contained within a video, I skip it and move on[1]. (I usually leave video in the browser crippled, only turning it on when I actually want to watch something.) [1] The trend of support docs for enterprise software going video is horrible, stupid, and a negative mark when I'm evaluating products. If someone has to spend hours of eyebleed rewindi…

My office provides a license for Pluralsight. I have found some courses with high quality content and interesting information, and it's really useful to have it all in one place. BUT, especially with programming, I find video to be a really challenging medium. It's so much more useful to scan for things you don't know or context of examples and spend some time digesting, or just playing around with sample code. Not e…

With one exception: text editors. Videos on Vim are genuinely helpful, especially those recorded with software displaying keystrokes. You get to see an experienced programmer and his editor workflow, things that he now does from muscle memory and he may take for granted.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#476

Post by grasshopperpurp »

chrisseaton wrote: post #209
grasshopperpurp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fine to make a video, but if your work is serious at all, it should also be in written text. It's much quicker to read than listen to someone talk. I'm sure there are exceptions where video format makes more sense, but, as a rule, it's incredibly stupid.

I can’t understand the arrogance of telling other people that they ‘should’ produce their content in a format of your preference.

When I use should like this, I mean that it's the only sensible thing. They can do what they want. I don't view their content anyway, so it's no skin off my teeth.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#477

Post by b0rsuk »

mikegerwitz wrote: post #69
shams93 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah personally I learn much faster and better by reading than via most videos. You can't keyword search a video, with text documentation I can keyword search within the page to find out exactly what I'm looking for.

Another problem I have with videos is that I can't go at my own pace---I'm stuck at the pace of the speaker. Some videos I'll watch at 2.5x speed, but the speaker may speed up and slow down at times. With text, I can speed-read, slowing down at key points as needed. And if it's a text I want to devote more study/attention to, then can print it (which facilitates speed reading as well.)

I have this problem with books vs movies too. I find all but the best made movies less immersive than books. With books, my brain and eyes are the engine pushing plot forward. I by definition need to catch all that is happening.

Re: Against an Increasingly User-Hostile Web

#479

Post by djhworld »

I really enjoyed reading this essay, I've had this uneasy feeling for a few years too.

Most of my browsing habits these days centralise around HN and Reddit, with a sprinkling of RSS feeds via NewsBlur (although most RSS feeds are crap these days - truncated articles etc)

At home I use Pi-Hole to block DNS requests to known nefarious actors, so adverts are generally not a problem.

I can't help but feel that all these concerns are really not that much of an issue to the average user though. From a perspective, I'm wondering what their exposure rate is for their ads in terms of traffic - say if 10% of their users block ads - does the company even care that much?

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