All other things aside, there definitely is some profound void which demise of Flash created and has never been filled again.
The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
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Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#12the fun is still there, it's just harder to find because of all the shit burying it
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#13The Internet Is Not Yours - and - You Can Do What You Want.
All the little niches can be your personal Web.
There are innumerable thoughtful, cute, interesting bits out there, probably more than ever before.
Craigslist is alive and well.
PayPay is weird but who cares.
The 'Grotesque Skyscrapers' of the web actually don't impair your view.
That's the beauty of it. Go where you want.
I would argue that's the darn point of the web, it's not for Curators it's literally for 'Whatever'.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#14> I’ve been mourning the old Internet over the past year or two... As a kid on the Web from the early 2000s through the mid-2010s, we knew we were living through something special.
It's funny because I knew lots of people in the early 2000s who were mourning the loss of the "old Internet" then. Kind of like how everyone thinks the music they listened to as a teenager is the best and it's all been downhill since.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#15Skill issue. Been doing this for 20 years. I have less dev energy as an adult and dad, but I know what I want and how to make it. All of my ideas I'm able to make not only a proof of concept but an entirely polished app, all thanks to AI. I wouldn't say it's more or less fun than coding manual, apples to oranges, but it's certainly entertaining.
That's not what this article is about. It's really about algorithmic social media. There is one short paragraph near the end that mentions AI: "AI did not kill the Internet; it inherited an Internet with the fun already optimized out of it."
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#162026 and we still conflate the Internet with the WWW. As obscene as conflating culture and pop culture.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#17Lots of agreement and think there has been a lot written about the sterilization of something that was once beautiful and creative. Sad but inevitable when your best kept secret club isn't so best-kept anymore.
Left off, and what we really want to know, is... ok, so what now?
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#18> I’ve been mourning the old Internet over the past year or two... As a kid on the Web from the early 2000s through the mid-2010s, we knew we were living through something special. It's funny because I knew lots of people in the early 2000s who were mourning the loss of the "old Internet" then. Kind of like how everyone thinks the music they listened to as a teenager is the best and it's all been downhill since.
That's when you ask what exactly was better and then you can tell whether it's just typical nostalgia or if there are genuinely things to miss.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#19I actually realized last night that everything that got me excited about the internet circa 2013 is actually way easier now, fun little one-off websites are far more doable, but we've lost the zeitgeist perhaps. It makes me wanna move back to NYC and go to BrooklynJS again.
Things being too easy takes the joy away from the process. All you are left with is the result and not the journey.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#20I agree, but it's been said by all... make homebrew software for an old Nintendo console pick up cross stitching or weaving make an independent film with a friend; use stuff from your kitchen as props find a borderline functional instrument at your local thrift store write a 1 page short story in pen it's not enough anymore to merely criticize this bad time we're having
Even the fun things “on the internet” are mostly still possible, it’s just the bulk of things we do now are not fun and main companies aren’t quirky risk takers but the oil/train/steel barons of our day.
In the past few years I’ve done serveral of the things on your list in earnest and they are all easier to do today (specifically technical things) than they were 25 years ago (except maybe writing with a pen).
Edit to add: if I have to join another messaging platform for a single, specific group I’m going to move to the woods and require written correspondence. It’s automated phone service level of frustration.