The fun has been optimized out of the Internet • Hacker News Board

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#211

Post by joenot443 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

Silamoth wrote: post #86

joenot443 wrote: post #21

I think we just got older. People are still having a blast online, but they’re mostly kids or teenagers. Garrys Mod got replaced by Roblox, forums got replaced by Discord, blogs got replaced by vlogs. There’s still lots of fun and community still to be found online, people wouldn’t spend so much time on it if there wasn’t.

I don’t think it’s accurate to say Roblox replaced Gary’s Mod. They both released in 2006, and they’ve always targeted different audiences. Roblox has always targeted younger kids while Gary’s Mod has targeted older kids, teenagers, and adults. Roblox has had a weird resurgence in the past few years, but it didn’t replace Gary’s Mod. Heck, I’d reckon it was always more popular than Gary’s Mod among younger kids (I kn…

You're right - I think I could have made a better comparison.

Maybe a better comparison might be Source engine custom games to Minecraft mods?

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#212

Post by joenot443 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #60

joenot443 wrote: post #21

I think we just got older. People are still having a blast online, but they’re mostly kids or teenagers. Garrys Mod got replaced by Roblox, forums got replaced by Discord, blogs got replaced by vlogs. There’s still lots of fun and community still to be found online, people wouldn’t spend so much time on it if there wasn’t.

Garry's Mod didn't get replaced. It's still alive and well. The new generation grew straight into it and now are slowly moving to s&box (i.e. gmod2). It's just as lively as ever but other games have blown up by an order of magnitude larger. Minecraft and gmod are still definitely staples of the young internet.

Yeah, that was a lapse :)

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#213

Post by ux266478 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

bakugo wrote: post #178

jwr wrote: post #22

No, it's not! If you don't like the super-monetized over-optimized AI-generated walled garden we've-got-you-hooked experience — just don't participate in it and do your own thing. Start your own blog. Without ads, not to be "monetized", just for the fun of it. Write for yourself, not for "engagement". Do your thing.

What does this accomplish? You could always write some words on a paper and then throw that paper into a fire, you don't need the internet to do that. The whole appeal of the internet was that you could write about some random niche thing you liked and reliably find other people who liked the same thing . It was never about screaming into a void or otherwise "doing things for yourself". It sucks now specifically beca…

That hasn't been my experience. The problem is do you expect it to be seen by thousands upon thousands of people? That wasn't a thing back then and it's not now either. You get a handful of hits, as you always did. The big numbers are the algorithm's game, though for many people, they've become normalized. If 1000 people see your niche little project, that's a failure by modern standards. That was huge success for a noname nobody 20+ years ago.

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#214

Post by functionmouse » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #141

jonhohle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

We need to bring back BBS's over short range radio transmitters. The early dialup and BBS world was magic and it pulls everything completely off of the standard channels.

party van will get you for doing anything like that

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#215

Post by functionmouse » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #159

functionmouse wrote: post #2

I 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

A little while ago I got my hodge podge Amazon soldering kit out and took the time to fix two DMG-01 Game Boys from my childhood. I opened up a bunch of PS5 controllers and replaced the analog sticks with hall sensors. Nothing about what I did was impressive. I’m a novice at best. But I haven’t felt so fulfilled in such a long time. I had a serious moment of thinking, “I wish I could quit my career and just repair el…

I repair electronics every once in a while and I've always hated doing it. If you actually like doing that, then you absolutely should try doing it for a living.

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#216

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:03 PM UTC

bakugo wrote: post #166

Apreche wrote: post #103

People just aren’t seeing it because they aren’t going to the fun places. Of course the major social platforms and search engines will never point the way to fun. Fun is made without any financial motivation. The fun places are out there aplenty. People just have to go out and find it because no algorithm or advertisement is going to point the way. I get tons of fun in all sorts of small and specialized ultra-nerdy c…

Okay, so where are they? Show us some. Let's be honest here, how many of these "specialized ultra-nerdy communities" are closed off Discord servers?

[deleted]

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#217

Post by ux266478 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

bakugo wrote: post #209

Apreche wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To find these spaces, you have to think in reverse. You can’t look for the community first. You have to start by having a specialized interest. You can’t rely on an algorithm to tell you what you care about and how you want to spend the time in your life. That answer has to come from within. Once you have that answer, finding the community online is quite easy. The way you find them is to search for the creators and…

They are almost always Discord servers, ruled by terminally online powertripping weirdos who will make your life hell if you even slightly offend them, where knowledge and discussion go to die because none of it is searchable and whatever was being talked about 5 minutes ago is already forgotten. This has nothing to do with what the internet used to be like.

So exactly like textboards in the 1990s, except powertripping discord mods just ban you. Aggrieved sysops would target you with malware before banning you.

Nothing new under the sun.

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#218

Post by finghin » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

nemomarx wrote: post #85

finghin wrote: post #68

I really long for a new kind of web browser with a search that only links to pages that are built for the browser. Static pages, which can hyperlink to other sites but must be self-resourced in the media they show, and which are if not highly banal at least banalisable by turning on a ‘reader’ function. Maybe that internet would be hosted on a limited platform, akin to the infrastructure used by private torrent track…

Gemini? Gopher, if you're old school? I also vaguely recall something called flask there's options for this. she's trick is getting people to write the pages

I intended to explore it more as to say, this is my ideal, it used to be a lot more like it, now it is not, and further is less and less so.

I think overall, the pull and fun of the internet was in the content delivered; now the attractive forces are overwhelmingly rooted in the delivery.

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#219

Post by thatguy0900 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

randomNumber7 wrote: post #172

nibbleyou wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too have felt the same around me. There is this lack of faith in the institutions now, feeling of distrust. Someone on HN called this the era of shamelessness and I kind of agree to it. The top has gotten shameless and the people at the bottom are trying to scrabble whatever they can to become one of them so that they can escape this hellhole that has been created.

Definitely the fish stinks from the head. I'm also a bit confused about how the people on the top think this will play out. A long time ago there was a french saying "noblesse oblige", or the german pendant "Wohlstand verpflichtet".

I don't like being conspiratorial but it genuinely feels like the people at the top know some major catastrophe is coming and are just grabbing whatever resources they can while they can before retreating to their bunkers. Even the white house is trying to build a massive underground bunker using the ballroom on top as a excuse. I don't see why else they would all be willingly destroying society as they are right now unless they don't think it matters.

Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet

#220

Post by clickety_clack » Tue, May 05, 2026, 5:15 PM UTC

apsurd wrote: post #163

clickety_clack wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you feel that way then you have to question what it is that you’re doing that puts you in a place where you are made to feel that way. Many people (most that I know) don’t feel that way. It may be the online communities that you are in or the news you consume, and the great news about that is that is stuff that is not only optional; you choose to consume it. You can just stop consuming it.

You can feel how you feel and understand how and why people feel how they feel too. Instead, reads like you're blaming the victim. Shoulda worked harder in school!

If you spend all day on Reddit or twitter etc., and you say “all these Reddit and twitter things are making me feel sad and anxious”, then you can’t avoid all the blame for making yourself feel that way.