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I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

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Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#301
post #60

The author hasn't come across the decentralized web (ie scuttlebutt or dat). That's where I've found all the personalized interesting content.

> all the personalized interesting content Can you name a few topics? As a new user I can find any useful content.

I'm not sure which platform you're using. Solarpunk is a favorite of mine on Scuttlebutt.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s still some of that in IRC. IRC clients serve as a barrier that filters out a surprising number of people.

There's still some for sure, but I can't help but notice how empty IRC communities are these days. Bigger ones like #node.js/#javascript on freenode are about 10 people strong if you actually count the regulars. Frankly I think something like Slack is a better middleground for most communities. People are filtered out because they have to be bothered to install Slack and join the community. Yet it has community-build…

EFNet is still running strong! Plenty of good chats and communities around if you look for them. Freenode operator abuse is antithetical to community chats.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#303
post #288
post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea that the Internet is just Facebook for most people is absurd. I don't think he meant that, but rather the opposite. That while more people use the internet than ever before, they're subdivided in how they use it. To some people (not most; pmlnr's wording is "there are places") the internet is just Facebook, and that creates the effect of a smaller community of "internet users" where there is more in common…

It's very much what he said. "Internet data connection might be mainstream, but Internet, as in websites, blogs, genuine, independent content, is really not." He specifically says that using the internet for blogs and websites (i.e. things other than Facebook) is not "mainstream". Maybe the Facebook comment was not intended to say that's what the "mainstream" use case is, but that's how it reads, and I'm frankly not…

There are countries and providers where free phone data is facebook and maybe a few other providers - see internet.org . For them, facebook, witn instant articles, is the internet, having no actual data connection.

Like it or not, the general public uses fb/google or wechat, maybe, but only maybe, read a few news site, do banking, even less buy things on amazon, which, out of US, UK and DE rather nonexistent, and that's it.

Think outside of the US, please.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#304
post #288
post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea that the Internet is just Facebook for most people is absurd. I don't think he meant that, but rather the opposite. That while more people use the internet than ever before, they're subdivided in how they use it. To some people (not most; pmlnr's wording is "there are places") the internet is just Facebook, and that creates the effect of a smaller community of "internet users" where there is more in common…

It's very much what he said. "Internet data connection might be mainstream, but Internet, as in websites, blogs, genuine, independent content, is really not." He specifically says that using the internet for blogs and websites (i.e. things other than Facebook) is not "mainstream". Maybe the Facebook comment was not intended to say that's what the "mainstream" use case is, but that's how it reads, and I'm frankly not…

I can see how you can interpret that sentence in isolation as talking about websites in general. In fact, I'm not sure why I didn't interpret it that way first, too, but I interpreted it as talking about particular websites. In other words, it's not about HTTP vs FTP or IRC, but e.g. Facebook vs Twitter or StackOverflow or allrecipes.com.

I probably read it like that because of his following paragraph, which talks about how particular websites have this "walled garden" feel and how some people don't move much away from them to the point that they consider these particular websites to be the whole internet. Since the topic of this subthread is about how people of the internet have less in common now that it's become mainstream, that interpretation seemed to contribute better by raising the point that, to many people whose interpretation of the internet is a "walled garden" like Facebook, their "internet" has not become mainstream, or at least not on the level of the "internet data connection" or the real internet.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#305
post #303
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very much what he said. "Internet data connection might be mainstream, but Internet, as in websites, blogs, genuine, independent content, is really not." He specifically says that using the internet for blogs and websites (i.e. things other than Facebook) is not "mainstream". Maybe the Facebook comment was not intended to say that's what the "mainstream" use case is, but that's how it reads, and I'm frankly not…

There are countries and providers where free phone data is facebook and maybe a few other providers - see internet.org . For them, facebook, witn instant articles, is the internet, having no actual data connection. Like it or not, the general public uses fb/google or wechat, maybe, but only maybe, read a few news site, do banking, even less buy things on amazon, which, out of US, UK and DE rather nonexistent, and tha…

While what you say is true, I can't see what this has to do with the US. For all we know, dpark might not even be in the US.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pls help me get online, nerd Seriouspost: Agree with all that’s been said. Corporations have turned the web into an unpalatable wasteland. The prospect of someone finding out my name and job has taken all the joy out of calling someone a fuckhead online. I want to find it again. I will start searching, but the good communities I’ve found have been invite only.

Did your joy of calling someone else something bad remove the joy for everyone else?

Believe it or not, there are a few of us out there who grew up on the web calling each other shitheads in both endearing and insulting ways. It was certainly in the spirit of earlier Internet communities.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still some for sure, but I can't help but notice how empty IRC communities are these days. Bigger ones like #node.js/#javascript on freenode are about 10 people strong if you actually count the regulars. Frankly I think something like Slack is a better middleground for most communities. People are filtered out because they have to be bothered to install Slack and join the community. Yet it has community-build…

EFNet is still running strong! Plenty of good chats and communities around if you look for them. Freenode operator abuse is antithetical to community chats.

Any channels in particular? I've seen mostly freenode mentioned everywhere.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#308
post #303
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very much what he said. "Internet data connection might be mainstream, but Internet, as in websites, blogs, genuine, independent content, is really not." He specifically says that using the internet for blogs and websites (i.e. things other than Facebook) is not "mainstream". Maybe the Facebook comment was not intended to say that's what the "mainstream" use case is, but that's how it reads, and I'm frankly not…

There are countries and providers where free phone data is facebook and maybe a few other providers - see internet.org . For them, facebook, witn instant articles, is the internet, having no actual data connection. Like it or not, the general public uses fb/google or wechat, maybe, but only maybe, read a few news site, do banking, even less buy things on amazon, which, out of US, UK and DE rather nonexistent, and tha…

4 billion people have internet connectivity. 2 billion use Facebook.

Literally half the people with internet connectivity do not use Facebook at all, much less exclusively.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EFNet is still running strong! Plenty of good chats and communities around if you look for them. Freenode operator abuse is antithetical to community chats.

Any channels in particular? I've seen mostly freenode mentioned everywhere.

There's a bunch of niche channels I like such as #mircart and #efnetnews for just having a laugh. #2600 seems to be one of the main "lobby" channels. Other channels like #electronics and #chemistry for more technical talk. There are a bunch of troll factories like #stress and #depression which some people enjoy I guess.

Re: I Don’t Know How to Waste Time on the Internet Anymore

#310
post #27

I think the internet is less fun now -- I can't decide if its from maturation of technology or maturation of people though. (Has anyone else felt like things became less fun as they got older?) I felt a greater sense of community 10 years ago when I mostly used IRC and PHP BBs. The communities were smaller, and it was fun even if you disliked people. Flame wars and trolling were mostly for the audience's amusement, b…

I’ve actually been thinking about this recently, as I was also a heavy forum user back in the day. Why don’t we just start a forum for the HN crowd? Not a new interpretation of the forum model or anything like that, literally any instance of vbulletin or phpbb or something comparable and “traditional”. If people are genuinely interested in this, I would be up for spinning something up over the weekend.

Feel free to tap me to help mod if you'd like some assistance. I can give a few hours a week.

Ninja edit: wording

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