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Social networks are no longer social

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Re: Social networks are no longer social

#61

Post by octosphere »

flyinghamster wrote: post #57
octosphere wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still be anonymous on Facebook if you use their onion service[1]. Although I think you can't register for an account under Tor, which is counter intuitive (I mean why would you offer a Tor hidden service if you can't register under it?). In that case I would register using a 3G/GSM IP which many people share (instead of a unique IP where few people share it); and then, once registered, proceed to browse Faceb…

> In that case I would register using a 3G/GSM IP which many people share Be careful... some cell providers use IPv6 these days. T-Mobile US gives me an IPv6 address and a 192.0.0.x CGNAT address.

Noted. I guess as times goes on, it will be harder to find a cell provider that uses IPV4. They're really handy for anonymous accounts, especially with that sweet CGNAT which is dying out as more people tear existing infra apart to upgrade to IPV6

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#62

Post by snovv_crash »

mtgx wrote: post #27
lazyjones wrote: post #11

This article brought to you by the Oath network, a faceless media conglomerate that slaps a hostile privacy policy in your face when you dare click on such links and asks you to agree to their dubious handling of personal information and preferences. The social aspect of the Internet used to be about people communicating with people. Today it's about large corporations deciding how you interact, who gets to know abou…

Rejoice, Verizon's content acquisitions have turned into complete and utter disasters and Verizon announced that it will exit the content business (A Reuters article I can't seem to find now said so): https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/verizon-signals-its-y... The funny thing is Marissa Mayer made more from the deal than Yahoo is now worth for Verizon: https://money.cnn.com/2017/06/13/investing/yahoo-marissa-may.…

The money she made was due to the Alibaba investment, not the content business.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#63

Post by androidgirl »

Kye wrote: post #58
octosphere wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outline to the rescue: https://outline.com/2XKLG2

Outline's ToS and privacy policy are collectively almost 2000 words.

To be fair, even on small sites I have written, Privacy Policies can get truly huge due to the boilerplate.

Most of my sites have Google Analytics that gets disabled when DNT is turned on. That plus server logs for fail2ban and DoS protection easily bumps the policy to 500 words.

Do you use cookies for storing basic session data? That's more. Run ads or use affiliate links? That's even more.

There's limit to a sane Privacy Policy, but all of this is rudimentary, common stuff.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#65

Post by octosphere »

newscracker wrote: post #60
octosphere wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still be anonymous on Facebook if you use their onion service[1]. Although I think you can't register for an account under Tor, which is counter intuitive (I mean why would you offer a Tor hidden service if you can't register under it?). In that case I would register using a 3G/GSM IP which many people share (instead of a unique IP where few people share it); and then, once registered, proceed to browse Faceb…

> Just be careful, because if you are using Facebook with Tor, you run the risk of outing your real identity from things like your social graph, search queries, likes, and other metadata. You can’t be anonymous from Facebook or from Facebook users (with or without Tor) without violating its ToS and worrying about being blocked and asked to prove your real/authentic identity if you piss off some random person online o…

Well if you setup an anonymous account with Facebook and use their Tor hidden service for the simple reason of harassing people, then of course you will get the ban-hammer. Some people just like being anonymous because they don't want their real name attached to their Facebook personal preferences. Such data is still precious to Facebook, but then the user runs the risk of outing themselves by what they 'like' and who they associate with, so I guess the trick is to keep activity on those sort of accounts to a minimum, which kind of sucks but it has to be done to maintain a reasonable anonymous presence on their platform.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#66

Post by AlexandrB »

microtonal wrote: post #22
pcurve wrote: post #4

The article mentions of days when you were anonymous, getting to know strangers through common interests and exchanging ideas. I do miss those early days. For me, social network stopped being social as soon as reasonable assurance of anonymity when out the window once companies started pressuring people use their real identity, and that became the norm.

The article mentions of days when you were anonymous, getting to know strangers through common interests and exchanging ideas. Heck, I wrote a Dutch online book about Slackware with a guy I didn't really know the name of until after a couple of years when he told me he just used a pseudonym. For me, social network stopped being social as soon as reasonable assurance of anonymity when out the window To me it is the in…

> tl;dr: to increase engagement, social networks have turned into popularity contests. As with other popularity contests, they are usually vain.

The idea of "engagement" as a key metric for some of these services is bizarre. When Netflix changed from 5-star ratings to like/dislike to "increase engagement", the usefulness of ratings on the site plummeted. I will take a single, considered review over thousands of mindless "+1" clicks any day of the week.

Emoji "reactions" are like that too. They're fun to click on, but are all noise and no signal if you actually want feedback.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#67

Post by ryanmercer »

yifanl wrote: post #15
werds wrote: post #9

Surprised that he doesn't mention Reddit, where the lost communities he described certainly do exist and thrive.

Reddit's a bit different than forums as far as I can tell. There was a forum I used to frequent, even years later I can recognize someone's avatar, crack inside jokes with them. Reddit's a little too open to have that kind of connection.

That depends on the sub. If you join some massive sub sure but in /r/silverbugs for example we have a Monday thread where we talk about what's going on in our lives as well as similar, newer, Friday thread and several people have even met up offline. We've got a lot of shared jokes and stuff in /r/mysteriousuniverse too related to the podcast by the same name and are pretty tight-knit.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#68

Post by mdpopescu »

mancerayder wrote: post #30
cgriswald wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine going to a bar and having your name, relationship status, political orientation, and a list of your big mistakes floating above your head. Good times. Good times.

I've been reading this strange but fun sci-fi book by this Russian author Dan Sugralinov, about a man who's a loser/game addict who then wakes up with a mysterious implant in his brain that lets him see "stats" of people, and connects him to some mysterious network of information. "Restart" is the name of the first book. Not only does he see people's stats and standing in the world in the form of social level, but he…

Yep, there's an entire fantasy genre called LitRPG, which is pretty much dominated by Russian authors.

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#69

Post by LeratoAustini »

mancerayder wrote: post #30
cgriswald wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine going to a bar and having your name, relationship status, political orientation, and a list of your big mistakes floating above your head. Good times. Good times.

I've been reading this strange but fun sci-fi book by this Russian author Dan Sugralinov, about a man who's a loser/game addict who then wakes up with a mysterious implant in his brain that lets him see "stats" of people, and connects him to some mysterious network of information. "Restart" is the name of the first book. Not only does he see people's stats and standing in the world in the form of social level, but he…

Also check out the brilliant Black Mirror episode 'Nosedive' on a similar theme

Re: Social networks are no longer social

#70

Post by dirkgently »

kryogen1c wrote: post #44
mancerayder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been reading this strange but fun sci-fi book by this Russian author Dan Sugralinov, about a man who's a loser/game addict who then wakes up with a mysterious implant in his brain that lets him see "stats" of people, and connects him to some mysterious network of information. "Restart" is the name of the first book. Not only does he see people's stats and standing in the world in the form of social level, but he…

For a nondystopian (depending on your perspective, I suppose) version of this reality, see Daniel Suarez's daemon and freedom. Highly recommend.

Sorry, but Daemon is one of the worst sci-fi books I have ever read.
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