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The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

buzzfeednews.com

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Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#31

Post by w0m »

rasengan wrote: post #4

The old internet died long before these centralized services appeared. The old internet was when we ran our own servers, built and hosted our own websites, and we were truly free in the wild wild west. Its easier than ever to run your own servers, but today few do. The old internet is dead (for now) and it looks more like the BBS era today. But we innovated past that then, and we will innovate past that now. I am gre…

> we ran our own servers, built and hosted our own websites .. Like... the AOL days? GeoCities?

Different bubbles we've moved to

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#32

Post by jakemal »

throwno wrote: post #17
madengr wrote: post #11

Unlike that article, the old internet didn’t have inline video ads, mandatory cookies, and social media bars at the bottom. Not to mention dynamic pages that can load 100 ads if you scroll long enough. I swear my reading comprehension has been poisoned by the new internet.

I guess everyone forgot the days before pop-up blocking was built into every browser? Sure, Javascript modals are disgusting, but by definition they have to be one at a time, not a giant stack of ads every time you browse a site. Also, lets not forget the joy of being nagged to install Flash and Real Player on every website.

Along with the fact that we have the option to block all of those distractions now. With my blocking extensions, that article was a single photo and all text on a plain white background. It was a very enjoyable reading experience.

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#33

Post by shantly »

ekianjo wrote: post #25
shantly wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we want a (return to the) boom in open-source and paid standards-based solutions, we gotta ban collecting & monetizing user info. Monetized user info & related advertising paying for "free" walled services are keeping those down. We won't see widely-successful standards-based social networks or messaging services until that option is gone. [EDIT] and wide success/adoption matters for those in particular because mu…

> we gotta ban collecting & monetizing user info anything that runs across a network can be monitored, and such data is valuable when you are able to merge it across several data sources. It's very unlikely tracking can even be banned or un-monitized.

Making it illegal so no legitimate business can do it without incredible risk of being sued/charged out of existence seems quite feasible.

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#34

Post by icedchai »

hydgv wrote: post #19
icedchai wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of it comes down to ease-of-use / accessibility. My 70 year old parents can use reddit. They could not use usenet.

You could create a usenet client with all the accessibility features that you wanted. Reddit might be accessible, but that's because they want it to be accessible. You rely on them doing you a favour.

You could, and Dejanews / Google kind of did, but it still never gained critical mass...

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#35

Post by decasteve »

More than a dozen comments on this article and none reference the actual content of the article and miss the point of the article entirely. It's a headline the evokes different ideas but it has nothing to do with the Internet not being what it used to be. The sorry state of platforms is an issue, for sure, but it's not what this article is about. Commenting on headlines is another sorry state of Internet discussion.

The article is about a loss of content and a lack of preservation. It's about doing nothing to preserve an era of digital heritage.

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#36

Post by Pigo »

hydgv wrote: post #16
Pigo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do pine for the days when the Undernet or Dalnet was bustling with activity. I'm always looking for a server worth hanging out on. I'm glad Freenode is doing good, but it's people working. That said, this article was exactly what I'd expect for an article from Buzzfeed.

I'm so looking forward to that one comment that always appears "no acshually this is buzzfeednews and they are great and they've won 1337 pulitzer prizes" Edit: oh there it is, hanging from my grandparent

I just read that comment before seeing yours, ha.

Well they both seem to work the election of Trump into every article. You can't drum up traffic and ad dollars without adding that into the conversation.

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#37

Post by AndrewUnmuted »

ekianjo wrote: post #25
shantly wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we want a (return to the) boom in open-source and paid standards-based solutions, we gotta ban collecting & monetizing user info. Monetized user info & related advertising paying for "free" walled services are keeping those down. We won't see widely-successful standards-based social networks or messaging services until that option is gone. [EDIT] and wide success/adoption matters for those in particular because mu…

> we gotta ban collecting & monetizing user info anything that runs across a network can be monitored, and such data is valuable when you are able to merge it across several data sources. It's very unlikely tracking can even be banned or un-monitized.

This may be true but it doesn’t justify the monetization of user data.

If this data is useful to cross reference, let the user opt in and use it. Give the user control and insight into the data collection.

The data can be useful without tricking users and making money off their private use activities.

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#38

Post by chaosite »

mashby wrote: post #30
samb1729 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BuzzFeed News is not BuzzFeed. They've won many journalism awards as you can see on their Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BuzzFeed_News I do agree that reusing the name must surely do their image significant harm.

This is often repeated, but...Can you name a large news source that has not won a "journalism awards"?

Gawker?

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#39

Post by thieving_magpie »

samb1729 wrote: post #18
esotericn wrote: post #6

Is this a joke? I mean, it's buzzfeed, so it obviously is, but seriously? That internet didn't die at all! You're looking at the same thing with different company names! Myspace and Facebook are the same thing with a different skin. I figured this would be an article about like, vBulletin forums, IRC, tilde pages, something like that. They all still exist, you're just not using them, why don't you start?

BuzzFeed News is not BuzzFeed. They've won many journalism awards as you can see on their Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BuzzFeed_News I do agree that reusing the name must surely do their image significant harm.

It's funny you'd link that wiki page in support of Buzzfeed News being reputable and separate from Buzzfeed.

1st sentence: BuzzFeed News is an American news website published by BuzzFeed.

2nd sentence: It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Trump–Russia dossier, for which it was heavily criticized

Re: The old internet died and we watched and did nothing

#40

Post by ekianjo »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #37
ekianjo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we gotta ban collecting & monetizing user info anything that runs across a network can be monitored, and such data is valuable when you are able to merge it across several data sources. It's very unlikely tracking can even be banned or un-monitized.

This may be true but it doesn’t justify the monetization of user data. If this data is useful to cross reference, let the user opt in and use it. Give the user control and insight into the data collection. The data can be useful without tricking users and making money off their private use activities.

> This may be true but it doesn’t justify the monetization of user data.

I don't understand your point. If it can technically be done and it is valuable in any way, it WILL be done. No matter the justification.

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