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The internet used to be fun

projects.kwon.nyc

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Re: The internet used to be fun

#21

Post by doublerabbit »

The internet isn't fun.

- If not all, most sites now force you to inhumanly deselect all cookies and "legit" consents that without would be making cash off your data.

- Most blogs have a ever so annoying scroll model of "Subscribe to my blog, enter your email" or prompts of: "Login with your gmail/apple mail". (medium)

The same goes for "Do you wish to visit this in said mobile $app?" restricting any UI interaction until you click a tiny "no" button. (Reddit)

- Web Pages now hijack the back button to the home page.

- Loading times are abysmal, over 2mb to load what?

From when, where you could hop over the small rainbow coloured fence and enter a whole new lush garden, full of organic nature and green with a forest leading you to the backtracks...

Your now encaged and faced with a dull grey corporatised agendaed wall. Locked in to an garden with over-beaten grass; divided and with less equality unless you're willing to sacrifice everything.

Where's the interoperability?

Discord isn't fun. Servers die quickly, subscription models, forced UI changes.

Nothing fun with Facebook, Twitter and what they push.

Removal of dedicated server's from online games takes away individually.

You rarely are able to play with others on other consoles. And then your at the mercy that $corp doesn't cripple the game; let alone plying without internet.

You had clients. ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! BBSes, forums... and now your kept to being a slave of what, two? WhatsApp, Discord?

Sure, outside, the niches of Telegram, matrix, slack et cetera all exist but the general populist don't follow those.

VR isn't it either. It has -it- but I can't wait 15 minutes for a VR room to load because I'm stuck on 2mb broadband.

Anything else interactive is gate kept and freedom is kept non-existent as that if you try, your thrown against an electric fence of Terms & Conditions threatening electrocution if you do.

Re: The internet used to be fun

#22

Post by strict9 »

Tommy430 wrote: post #13
strict9 wrote: post #7

The internet is still fun. I was on bulletin board systems pre-internet as a kid and spent too much time on the web in the late 90s. I've seen it evolve from java applets and flash to something better. Though I don't like social media much anymore and worry about the effect of screens on kids, I still love the internet and value what it makes possible. I don't buy into these arguments of things used to be better. It'…

> I've seen it evolve from java applets and flash to something better. With the advances in technology I wish it had. However, we now have Material Design, oversized UIs, autoplaying videos when you are immediately on the site, anti-adblockers, "Please Subscribe" crap, the desktop being an afterthought (hamburger menus), etc.

I don't like those things either.

But a counter argument is that uBlock origin, Pi-hole, and Reader mode in Firefox go a long way to blocking those things and creating a nice reading experience.

Re: The internet used to be fun

#24

Post by doublerabbit »

strict9 wrote: post #10
doublerabbit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> flash to something better Please enlighten me on something better. Nothing has enabled me to create in the same way of creativity and fun than Flash did; for me at least. It was so practical that my mother made her first website in Flash.

Flash was a nice tool for creators and it enabled some interesting ways to present information. Flash gaming was a very interesting niche. But on the whole I think it made the web worse. Lots of sites had microscopic text that you couldn't enlarge, no bookmarking pages or maintaining state, no right click, never ending security holes, invisible to search, inaccessible to those with vision or hearing assistants. The l…

I'm not saying Flash was the key to website design or the web as a whole but it was definitely a key to animation, visual creativity and the likes.

As FruitLoops Studio is for Audio.

If you want to do the same you have to now know JavaScript, some library and some UI frontend.

Flash enabled you to add interactive to other than just a straight up black text on a white page.

You can't even copy text now on some SPA sites nor head back in browser history without being hijacked to their home page.

What we got isn't it either.

Re: The internet used to be fun

#25

Post by [deleted] »

strict9 wrote: post #22
Tommy430 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've seen it evolve from java applets and flash to something better. With the advances in technology I wish it had. However, we now have Material Design, oversized UIs, autoplaying videos when you are immediately on the site, anti-adblockers, "Please Subscribe" crap, the desktop being an afterthought (hamburger menus), etc.

I don't like those things either. But a counter argument is that uBlock origin, Pi-hole, and Reader mode in Firefox go a long way to blocking those things and creating a nice reading experience.

[deleted]

Re: The internet used to be fun

#26

Post by rconti »

xnx wrote: post #11

TikTok is where I find fun on the current internet. It's hilarious (Taylor Swift private jet memes), weird (grimace shake), surprising, emotionally moving (hopecore), educational (how to adjust a door closer), and always exposing me to things I've never seen (starting process for a diesel locomotive). It contains ads, but they're pretty easy to identify and very easy to skip.

I am allergic to video content. I don't use the tiktok app or website, and I only ever watch a facebook or instagram reel if someone sends it to me, I never click through the UI to get to them. There's something so infuriating about not knowing how long you're going to be held hostage for, whether it will be worth it, whether the volume will be on or off... I just hate it.

Re: The internet used to be fun

#29

Post by icedchai »

doublerabbit wrote: post #24
strict9 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flash was a nice tool for creators and it enabled some interesting ways to present information. Flash gaming was a very interesting niche. But on the whole I think it made the web worse. Lots of sites had microscopic text that you couldn't enlarge, no bookmarking pages or maintaining state, no right click, never ending security holes, invisible to search, inaccessible to those with vision or hearing assistants. The l…

I'm not saying Flash was the key to website design or the web as a whole but it was definitely a key to animation, visual creativity and the likes. As FruitLoops Studio is for Audio. If you want to do the same you have to now know JavaScript, some library and some UI frontend. Flash enabled you to add interactive to other than just a straight up black text on a white page. You can't even copy text now on some SPA sit…

Yeah, Flash had its problems but it at least you "build a thing" without a ton of overhead. The complexity of today's "modern" tooling is a bit crazy. SPAs are often used inappropriately, where a simple, server-side generated site would be more efficient, easier to develop, deploy, maintain.

Re: The internet used to be fun

#30

Post by strict9 »

icedchai wrote: post #19
strict9 wrote: post #7

The internet is still fun. I was on bulletin board systems pre-internet as a kid and spent too much time on the web in the late 90s. I've seen it evolve from java applets and flash to something better. Though I don't like social media much anymore and worry about the effect of screens on kids, I still love the internet and value what it makes possible. I don't buy into these arguments of things used to be better. It'…

I also spent a ton of time on BBSes, pre Internet. A few of these developed into early dialup ISPs. One thing I really miss is the "community" aspect. Local message boards, etc. That is all gone now. The closest thing you can find is maybe a subreddit or Discord, but it's not the same. The community and locality aspect is gone. You can't even meet a weirdo on Craigslist anymore. For many people, the Internet of today…

I can't really disagree and also miss the local aspect. But local city subreddits have more much more info and discussion on local news, history and politics than BBSs did. Less DIY and decentralized and more corporate and centralized. Not great but it's still there.

Mixed bag I guess.

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