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The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

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Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#51

Post by gonehome »

stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

My default for those kinds of queries now is “ reddit”. Google results are generally poor otherwise. I’m not sure if this is because their algorithms are gamed or if it’s just because the internet outside of the main website hubs is just generally low quality (most high quality content has moved to hubs like reddit).

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#52

Post by skybrian »

stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

I don't trust general impressions about whether things are getting better or worse. Maybe our expectations when it comes to always finding specialized information on the Internet have gradually increased without our really noticing it?

In the early days of the Internet, for example, I wouldn't expect specialized information about, say, car repair to be found online anywhere, because the people who obsessed about that sort of thing weren't online. You did find some really specialized stuff, but it was more serendipity and hit-and-miss. You couldn't count on finding what you need.

These days, we tend to assume it's all out there, somewhere, and we should be able to find it with a simple search, assuming we can figure out the right keywords.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#53

Post by mc32 »

gonehome wrote: post #51
stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

My default for those kinds of queries now is “ reddit”. Google results are generally poor otherwise. I’m not sure if this is because their algorithms are gamed or if it’s just because the internet outside of the main website hubs is just generally low quality (most high quality content has moved to hubs like reddit).

It’s s sad state of affairs for product search. I do the same (site:reddit) and I’m almost certain most people do too.

Google search I guess is good for entertainment search or “buzzy” things like whatever is trending on the trendsetting social networks of the day, but regular search is too spammy and farmed stuff. Often it’s junk.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#54

Post by thrower123 »

skybrian wrote: post #52
stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

I don't trust general impressions about whether things are getting better or worse. Maybe our expectations when it comes to always finding specialized information on the Internet have gradually increased without our really noticing it? In the early days of the Internet, for example, I wouldn't expect specialized information about, say, car repair to be found online anywhere, because the people who obsessed about that…

Good quality sources of information were rare enough and difficult enough to find that one actually made the effort to use, organize, and jealously guard bookmarks. You actually had to dig through and crawl the links yourself, so when you found something, you bookmarked it lest you never find it again.

I don't remember the last time I bothered to bookmark anything that way.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#55

Post by [deleted] »

gonehome wrote: post #51
stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

My default for those kinds of queries now is “ reddit”. Google results are generally poor otherwise. I’m not sure if this is because their algorithms are gamed or if it’s just because the internet outside of the main website hubs is just generally low quality (most high quality content has moved to hubs like reddit).

[deleted]

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#56

Post by baroffoos »

gonehome wrote: post #51
stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

My default for those kinds of queries now is “ reddit”. Google results are generally poor otherwise. I’m not sure if this is because their algorithms are gamed or if it’s just because the internet outside of the main website hubs is just generally low quality (most high quality content has moved to hubs like reddit).

Reddit reviews are generally a pretty good source to find out what the flaws of a product are. I like to work out what the most common ways the product fails and how possible it is to fix them. I made the mistake of buying a pair of skullcandy headphones and after a month the plastic cracked and then I checked reddit and saw pretty much everyone who has this pair has had the same bit of plastic crack.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#57

Post by MiroF »

gonehome wrote: post #51
stuart78 wrote: post #38

I think of this issue in a much more mundane way all the time. When looking for product reviews, for example, the top results are, in my experience, unusable. A search for espresso machine reviews returns SEO driven results, and even the more genuine-looking results (sorry BusinessInsider, but I don't need your input) seem to exclusively list products which the site manager can get a referral link for. I don't mind t…

My default for those kinds of queries now is “ reddit”. Google results are generally poor otherwise. I’m not sure if this is because their algorithms are gamed or if it’s just because the internet outside of the main website hubs is just generally low quality (most high quality content has moved to hubs like reddit).

i guess i was naive in thinking i was the only one!

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#58

Post by codesushi42 »

The title says it all.

The Internet used to be about building and sharing things. Then it turned into a giant and mindless message feed where everyone exposes everything about their private lives, intentionally or not.

Now all of the hot new opportunities that exist are to spy on and exploit that data. The latest AI hype is a consequence of the pervasiveness of "big data".

I miss building and sharing cool things instead with the online community.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#59

Post by anigbrowl »

antepodius wrote: post #23
shadowgovt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the point they will have missed?

One argument might be that /pol/ might arguably be able to radicalise one or two people a year into a mass shooting, but that's not as bad as a worldwide technological panopticon. (It's not really a dichotomy, of course.)

radicalise one or two people a year into a mass shooting

You undermine your point with such obvious counterfactuals. This is not in any way an endorsement of the panopticon - which is exactly what /pol/ wants, just with itself in middle.

Re: The Internet of creation disappeared. Now we have surveillance and control

#60

Post by shadowgovt »

denkmoon wrote: post #42
shadowgovt wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. Given that the free internet gave us the likes of 4chan, things are changing in the other direction for a reason. It's kind of unclear to me whether the pendulum is ready to swing back towards lack of oversight again.

That the free internet gave us the likes of 4chan is exactly why we should defend it.

Can you explain why?
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