Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#21

Post by O__________O » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:13 PM UTC

Blikkentrekker wrote: post #15

tarkin2 wrote: post #5

Because Google is the gatekeeper to what you see, and Google prioritises the boring and bland and CEO-friendly websites you see.

Correction: English-language Google is. — I find that very often the vaunted Anglo-Saxon moralism indeed only polices English content. I can find the most interesting and entertaining subjects searching in Japanese that do not show up when the same search is replicated in English, where it instead gives me something only barely related to my search that was simply popular enough. It's quite simple how Twitter is actu…

Every culture has their norms, including Japan.

Japan may have some areas they are more flexible with, but they have just as many, if not more that they rigid about too.

People are different, trying to make them the same would be just as boring.

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#22

Post by ren_engineer » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:15 PM UTC

most people are boring/normal by definition and the internet is now mainstream. The internet used to be filled with a pretty weird subset of the general population but now that is drowned out by the masses. The old school internet still exists to some degree but you are going to have to look harder to find where the weird people are at and most the people claiming they want the "weird" internet back would probably complain about those places

same thing happens in any community/society as it ages and grows. People who create it are different from those who move in later once things are great

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#23

Post by jtaft » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:16 PM UTC

dschuetz wrote: post #17

Because of Big Tech. They buy everything up, make it go away, or monetize the shit out of it. Nothing weird or exciting survives.

https://zombo.com

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#24

Post by dalbasal » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:17 PM UTC

I think these old "remember MySpace" ideas are off the mark.

What actually happened was not minor changes in UX culture.

The web became powerful, instead of a subculture over to the side. It became democratic and populist, with everyone participating rather than a self selected few. It became monopolized, regulated by Google/etc. and regulatable because giant companies are easier to regulate. The coming of copyright is underated as a factor in changing the web.

Remember the spindletop days. Why is the oils industry no fun anymore?

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#25

Post by dgb23 » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:17 PM UTC

jansan wrote: post #13

amelius wrote: post #10

> Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? Etiquette. For example, humor is frowned upon on some forums (HN included).

HN actually holds the current record for being the most humorless forum on the internet (sorry, can't seem to find link atm).

There is a specific type of gem you find on HN sometimes: full-blown rants. I find them very entertaining and started to collect them recently.

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#26

Post by vannevar » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:18 PM UTC

There are lots of fun and weird things on the internet, but SEO prevents you from seeing most of them---you end up seeing only the parts that someone is motivated to pay to get you to look at. That's essentially Google's business model.

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#27

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:20 PM UTC

ren_engineer wrote: post #22

most people are boring/normal by definition and the internet is now mainstream. The internet used to be filled with a pretty weird subset of the general population but now that is drowned out by the masses. The old school internet still exists to some degree but you are going to have to look harder to find where the weird people are at and most the people claiming they want the "weird" internet back would probably co…

[deleted]

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#28

Post by quaffapint » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

It's been listed here before, but a fun ride that my son and I like to take in our Internet explorations...

https://wilderness.land/

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#29

Post by vannevar » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

winternett wrote: post #18

I think it's a wide-scale effect of everyone scrambling in trying to make Internet money to fund themselves through our current tough and uncertain times but finding out that a lot of the Web 3.0 stuff and the Gig economy was undercover "scammy A.F.". Many people do not have savings now because of crypto, stock manipulation, and NFT schemes... There is a lot of heavy stuff going on around the world right now, and man…

This is yet anther transformer-driven bot, right?

Re: Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? (2019)

#30

Post by prawn » Wed, Jul 06, 2022, 1:22 PM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #12

The internet is more fun and weird than it has ever been, but there's astronomically more boring unfun content getting in the way of finding fun stuff. Kind of the same story offline.

I think this is probably correct. The fun stuff is still there, but the people trying to profit from their creations are more motivated to get it in front of you (SEO effort, etc).