Ask HN: Why is today's Internet experience so user hostile?

Post by biztos » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 2:51 PM UTC

csydas wrote: post #65

thriftwy wrote: post #20

I live in Russia and internet services are pretty solid that ever. Online banking is prevalent, secure and feature full. Booking tickets or shopping online is seamless. Web search is of decent quality. Everybody has set on SMS as second factor and that is a good match WRT security/ease of use. So maybe it's mostly the USA.

I moved to Russia years ago from the US so I can confirm that the experience is worlds better and that many US institutions never really "modernized". When I left in 2016, I still only had the option to pay my rent with a physical check on my most recent place, and the previous had a "convenience charge" for paying with card, which had to be done in the rental office since their payment site never stayed up. Some of…

Post by iso1210 » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

rzz3 wrote: post #88

Don’t forget those awful goddamn cookie banners, and the disable ad blocker pop ups. I hate even leaving the major platforms because my entire phone screen is covered up by these annoyances.

Post by Johnythree » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 2:58 PM UTC

dools wrote: post #245

Freak_NL wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel a constant tension where companies and governments are all but demanding everyone owns a smartphone with one of these two specific operating systems for all sorts of things (from banking, to authentication, to government services), but have to somehow facilitate the remainder of users as an afterthought. It makes a lot of things really suck, and that's ignoring all those walled gardens essentially requiring th…

Your government demands you own a smart phone?

Post by bryguy32403 » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

ninkendo wrote: post #206

noduerme wrote: post #67

You hit the nail on the head -- repeatedly. Shit. I just bought my gf a Roku as a stocking stuffer. We were setting it up and it made her put in her email and phone number to verify. I was appalled; I was like don't put in your email! I'll return it! But she wanted be able to watch YouTube on her TV since Apple removed it without warning from her AppleTV device . My own Roku from a couple years ago works great with n…

> We were setting it up and it made her put in her email and phone number to verify. I was appalled; I was like don't put in your email! I'll return it! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one still trying to fight this fight. It’s really starting to be a problem with games. Buying games during the holiday Steam sales used to be a big part of my holiday break, something that was my way of winding down after a long year…

Post by GreenWatermelon » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

antihero wrote: post #149

r_singh wrote: post #14

I think the internet (and its tools) started off with the intention of making the lives of users easier as compared to the alternatives. However, as the internet became mainstream and competitive, more successful players realized that they can employ dark patterns to increase their revenue by taking advantage of users (lock-in, difficulty unsubscribing, making cloud accounts mandatory, etc). It's 2022 and I think all…

Can there be a way for capitalism to work highly efficiently and not in a hostile, adversarial manner, in some post-scarcity environment? Or will it always require scarcity in order to function or develop things?