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The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

adriankrebs.ch

61–70 of 318 posts

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#61

Hey it’s what executives want. Fake everything. Slop and robots everywhere. Have at it, I say. Maybe then people will go outside again

Eventually that's what's going to happen if things keep on going in this direction and it looks like there's nothing stopping it so yeah, we're moving in circles. Old things will become new again.

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#62
post #38
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A $10 one time not-an-asshole fee is totally reasonable. History also shows you can take a $10 fee and maintain quality on SomethingAwful for quite some time.

Didn't that fee allowed to change account names of other users or something like that?

[deleted]

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#63
post #5

I only see two outcomes for this problem : an internet of verified identities (start by uploading your ID card). Or a paid internet, where it doesn't matter who you are, but since you're going to pay for that email or that reddit account, the probability that it's AI spam is greatly reduced. And i'm looking forward to none of them.

Honestly the $10 barrier to SomethingAwful back in the day (and I guess now since it’s still around) definitely made a huge difference. I hate the idea of subscribing to a site like HN or Reddit… but one time $10 to post? I’d accept that if it meant less bots.

payment would need a delay too. Pay $10 and then wait a week or so for the payment to clear without it being reversed. Hopefully that stops the card stealers from dumping as much as possible before getting booted.

Could we just add complex and varied captcha to the comment & posting forms?

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#64
post #37
post #5

I only see two outcomes for this problem : an internet of verified identities (start by uploading your ID card). Or a paid internet, where it doesn't matter who you are, but since you're going to pay for that email or that reddit account, the probability that it's AI spam is greatly reduced. And i'm looking forward to none of them.

I want cool cryptography where I can, e.g. verify where I'm writing from and what my age is without giving away any other information. Or if I want, I can verify that I'm myself, and eschew anonymity, and certain platforms should only accept contributions from people who don't hide their identity. Everyone knows who you are in the town square.

Zero Knowledge Proof schemes

Applied ZKPs are being actively worked on in the blockchain sphere.

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#65
post #56
post #5

I only see two outcomes for this problem : an internet of verified identities (start by uploading your ID card). Or a paid internet, where it doesn't matter who you are, but since you're going to pay for that email or that reddit account, the probability that it's AI spam is greatly reduced. And i'm looking forward to none of them.

Verified entities defecting by using AI to generate their content for them will break this.

We can use verification mountain dew cans. No big deal.

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#66
post #5

I only see two outcomes for this problem : an internet of verified identities (start by uploading your ID card). Or a paid internet, where it doesn't matter who you are, but since you're going to pay for that email or that reddit account, the probability that it's AI spam is greatly reduced. And i'm looking forward to none of them.

There's a third option: web-of-trust. https://lobste.rs/ has some problems but not bot spam.

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#68
Reddit in particular is overwhelmed by bots. There are small niche communities where it’s mostly people talking to people, but the vast majority of popular posts are made by bots, voted on by bots and commented on by bots.

It’s not even like commercial astroturfing, it’s just karma farming and public sentiment manipulation.

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#69
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Verified entities defecting by using AI to generate their content for them will break this.

We can use verification mountain dew cans. No big deal.

I can't recall the last time I did the Dew. Should I turn myself in to a reeducation camp?

Re: The dead Internet is not a theory anymore

#70

Why is it being called dead internet theory when, as far as I can tell, what's really happening is that big centralized systems are being overrun with bots? The internet existed and was pretty great before these large centralized systems came into being. Anyone can still run a blog/website, and/or their own discourse server. There's no need to mourn for these centralized systems that largely existed only to exploit u…

It reminds me of the cartoon of two people on an escalator that stops working and one says to the other "Last time this happened I was stuck for four hours"

I'm thinking there might have been a deeper message than the moment of ridiculousness.

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