The new internet sucks

[Gloves | 11,794]

44 minutes ago, Link said:

*More people need to be cool enough to participate in independent communities. In my experience. I tried hosting a thing once and couldn't get any traction.

Yeah I had the benefit of foresight with a big community falling apart right in front of my eyes, paired with my general ability to make things happen on the internet. 

[Tulpa | 3,516]

15 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I'm open to suggestions.

Yeah, I'm not sure what other "direction" could be done that hasn't been thought of before.

Unless it means "do something that doesn't cause an inconvenience to me."

[spacepup | 2,405]

Just like anything else in life, there is good and bad in all things and in change.

There are some things I don't like, particularly many that DefaultGen pointed out.  

But some of the changes have been positive.  For example, I use Discord daily and it is a platform that provides a lot for me - not just for VGS or "entertainment" groups but also for active collaboration on a variety of projects, connecting with passionate individuals across the globe.  I've been able to meet lots of fantastic people and work together with them to do really good things.  

Finding a community with shared interests, even for very niche things, is much easier than before, with places like discord, reddit, etc. (current reddit issues aside, of course).

The internet and the availability of necessary products, was vital for me during 2020 and beyond, when getting things was locally was a challenge or safety hazard.  I suppose I would extend beyond just the internet there, to think about the ways that apps and technology has enabled entire businesses to thrive, such as uber, doordash, and instacart, which I've used many times, especially during the pandemic.  The technology infrastructure that was put in place, not only allowed me more flexibility with doing certain things, but also provided another potential income stream for a segment of society.

Now, I'm realistic too.  I don't love all the changes in the OP, and some of those things are very frustrating.  Amazon has definitely been infiltrated with all sorts of garbage, and is exponentially more difficult to trust the items you are purchasing, for example.  And yes, those little cookie buttons are quite annoying, even if they are meant to protect your privacy.

I guess the point is more about my earlier statement - in that gradual change brings along good things and bad things.  Focusing on just one side, limits perspective to a degree.  

Make the best of your internet lives folks, and go to the places that bring you joy and not stress.  Support the places that do what you believe is right - the people you can stand up and be proud of.  Make your experience the best it can be given the circumstances.

[SailingWiimote | 16]

I miss old Youtube before it became about video makers making money. Youtube used to be a fun place to post homemade videos for fun that anyone could see. Those kind of fun homemade videos are so much harder to find now.

The front page of Youtube annoys me so much. Right now the front page is so hideous I won't even go to the site.

• There's the video about the telescope image where the thumbnail says "GOD?!" with an arrow pointing to it.
• The one where it claims that "JUSTIN TRUDEAU FINALLY SNAPS AND LOSES IT!"
• There's the one where it's "When the criminals are smarter than the cops!" like that's something to aspire too.
• There's every dumb Mr. Beast video that makes monkeys dance for money.
• The endless Scott the Woz videos that only aim to please the most popular and worst gaming opinions for the most amount of views.

I've never signed up for Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, iTunes, 4Chan, Discord, Twitch, Reddit, and so many others, so I've been spared those dramas my whole life. I don't use the internet very much really, and even STILL I miss the old internet.

[Splain | 2,571]

40 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Wait /r/n64 is still up?  Fantastic!  /r/GameboyAdvance is as well.  At least some of them aren't being petty shits punishing the daily users of the space for their own reasons about third party apps.  I just use and will continue to use the reddit made app as it's fine.  They'll come back, or someone who is tired of it all will just make a new one and go around them anyways which perhaps would be best.

Most of the stuff in the first post I bumped into on my phone until I put Brave on there, and then I put that on my PC as Ublock/adblock on firefox was starting to show cracks.  I don't have to put up with most of that crap but when I did I just started to quit using various sites for being that aggressive.  I don't need them, they need people to visit them.

The "make a new one" is the one we want. And that won't happen if everyone just pulls a Tanooki and obeys whatever Reddit wants to do.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

53 minutes ago, Richardhead said:

 

…can someone explain the succulents thing to me? Ive never picked up on what it was

[Richardhead | 2,813]

5 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

…can someone explain the succulents thing to me? Ive never picked up on what it was

it’s a short story. Maybe @Link can explain it.

[Link | 2,714]

6 minutes ago, SailingWiimote said:

The front page of Youtube annoys me so much. Right now the front page is so hideous I won't even go to the site.

• There's the video about the telescope image where the thumbnail says "GOD?!" with an arrow pointing to it.
• The one where it claims that "JUSTIN TRUDEAU FINALLY SNAPS AND LOSES IT!"
• There's the one where it's "When the criminals are smarter than the cops!" like that's something to aspire too.
• There's every dumb Mr. Beast video that makes monkeys dance for money.
• The endless Scott the Woz videos that only aim to please the most popular and worst gaming opinions for the most amount of views.

 

You're taking issue with the videos that appear on the homepage? When I go there there's nothing like any of that. It's based on what you've watched before.

[Hammerfestus | 3,860]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

My 120K sub is part of the protest and I don't even care.

But other people are impacted and I'm empathetic to it.

I’m not sure I really even understand the complaint.  People were using third party browsers and Reddit forced those out of business so everyone is super mad about ad blocker?  I mean I’d like to browse without the creepy ass hobby lobby Jesus ads as much as the next guy but what’s the actual issue?  

[Hammerfestus | 3,860]

1 hour ago, MrWunderful said:

This made me lol

 

Isnt the CEO of reddit the hype beast-douche that bought the 1.5 mil mario 64?

Is that true?   r/anarchychess has also led me to believe that he modded a cp sub years ago.

[Link | 2,714]

10 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

…can someone explain the succulents thing to me? Ive never picked up on what it was

 

3 minutes ago, Richardhead said:

it’s a short story. Maybe @Link can explain it.

No, I can't!  I always forget something. 

Somebody else started posting the picture with the water bottle in every welcome thread on the old site. (Was that you?)

It came from when @OptOut was given the plant at work on his birthday. And he posted the picture with the attitude like, this is dumb, what am I supposed to do with it.

Opty sent the plant to Richardhead. After a while it didn't survive but he propagated a clipping. 

When VGS started, I saved the picture from NA before it was mangled and stole it as my thing to post in welcome threads.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Still, I don't have empathy for this style of combative behavior.  I think there would have been a better route than just slamming the door shut on a large amount of people.  Just like your jest about scabs, I welcome them too when it comes to unions taking away peoples livelihood when they scream STRIKE.  Sure the unions bosses and the rest still have a nest egg to sit on, but that hourly dude is going to lose his property and home potentially as there won't be back pay involved.

I hope there are scabs for /Gameboy /retrogaming /nes /snes etc that I have come up in my daily mail I pick through.  It's not right to harm the majority if a few people are being impacted, find another direction to cause some heat.

You know nothing about unions, stay in your lane. 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

45 minutes ago, Hammerfestus said:

Is that true?   r/anarchychess has also led me to believe that he modded a cp sub years ago.

I think so.

[Gloves | 11,794]

1 hour ago, Link said:

You're taking issue with the videos that appear on the homepage? When I go there there's nothing like any of that. It's based on what you've watched before.

Why is my feed full of cat boys?!? 

[Richardhead | 2,813]

1 hour ago, Link said:

 

No, I can't!  I always forget something. 

Somebody else started posting the picture with the water bottle in every welcome thread on the old site. (Was that you?)

It came from when @OptOut was given the plant at work on his birthday. And he posted the picture with the attitude like, this is dumb, what am I supposed to do with it.

Opty sent the plant to Richardhead. After a while it didn't survive but he propagated a clipping. 

When VGS started, I saved the picture from NA before it was mangled and stole it as my thing to post in welcome threads.

I started posting the plant in response to Jeff. I was always pretty sure Jeff was everywhere and new people to the VAGS were Jeff plants.

[Link | 2,714]

19 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Why is my feed full of cat boys?!? 

I don't know, you tell me. Mine is mostly industrial music and Nintendo stuff.

[Tulpa | 3,516]

1 hour ago, Link said:

You're taking issue with the videos that appear on the homepage? When I go there there's nothing like any of that. It's based on what you've watched before.

Yeah, what they're describing is the homepage you get without logging in (and possibly a cleared cache.) Of course it's going to have the lowest common denominator shit with a trillion views.

As for finding the videos they want to watch, that's what the like and subscribe buttons are for.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,549]

Mine is all nerd shit and SNL.  Or both

 

[Philosoraptor | 468]

I actually like YouTube more than I ever did way back when. I cut cable over the pandemic and switched to YouTube for all my entertainment. Everything I could have ever dreamed of is on there: sports highlights, robot fights, more video-game-related content than I can shake a stick at, deep dives on cave- and mountain-related disasters, tours of medieval castles, documentaries, live streams...it's neverending. Plus, now, most videos are pretty professional and don't look like they were shot on a camcorder in someone's backyard.

As for subreddits going offline for a day, I think a much better protest would have been moderators just doing less or nothing at all. Let the spam posts, bot comments, and terrible threads get made. One day where people don't go to their favorite subreddit is far less impactful than seeing their subreddits descend into the madness the moderators prevent for days, weeks, or months.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Philosoraptor

[SailingWiimote | 16]

2 hours ago, Link said:

You're taking issue with the videos that appear on the homepage? When I go there there's nothing like any of that. It's based on what you've watched before.

This is only true if you've set your Google account settings to keep track of your Youtube history. Since I always strive to have as little tracking me as possible, I set that to be off. when you do that, the front page just shows you whatever is the most popular right now.

I have never clicked any of that sort of junk.

[Tulpa | 3,516]

10 minutes ago, SailingWiimote said:

This is only true if you've set your Google account settings to keep track of your Youtube history. Since I always strive to have as little tracking me as possible, I set that to be off. when you do that, the front page just shows you whatever is the most popular right now.

I have mine turned off, too, but I don't get all that crap on my homepage.

[SailingWiimote | 16]

Just now, Tulpa said:

I have mine turned off, too, but I don't get all that crap on my homepage.

Well, I don't know what's up then, because I'm certainly not clicking any of that stuff. Thanks to everyone who took the time to single out my legitimate response and accuse me of being dumb for it though.

By the way, there's no such thing as "new internet" anyways. It's the same internet.

[Richardhead | 2,813]

1 minute ago, SailingWiimote said:

Well, I don't know what's up then, because I'm certainly not clicking any of that stuff. Thanks to everyone who took the time to single out my legitimate response and accuse me of being dumb for it though.

By the way, there's no such thing as "new internet" anyways. It's the same internet.

That’s what Jeff said aboot NA…

[Splain | 2,571]

40 minutes ago, Philosoraptor said:

I actually like YouTube more than I ever did way back when. I cut cable over the pandemic and switched to YouTube for all my entertainment. Everything I could have ever dreamed of is on there: sports highlights, robot fights, more video-game-related content than I can shake a stick at, deep dives on cave- and mountain-related disasters, tours of medieval castles, documentaries, live streams...it's neverending. Plus, now, most videos are pretty professional and don't look like they were shot on a camcorder in someone's backyard.

As for subreddits going offline for a day, I think a much better protest would have been moderators just doing less or nothing at all. Let the spam posts, bot comments, and terrible threads get made. One day where people don't go to their favorite subreddit is far less impactful than seeing their subreddits descend into the madness the moderators prevent for days, weeks, or months.

That would be effective if and ONLY if all moderators on the entire site are willing to permanently walk away from Reddit, as well as any potential wannabe moderators. If those same moderators end up having to clean up that mess, then it's punishing the volunteer moderators and not Reddit.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

@Reed Rothchild

Since your more directly involved/affected, wasn’t the blackout supposed to end already or am I missing something? Didn’t it start Sunday and was only for 2 days?

Edit: referring to reddit

Edited June 14, 2023 by LeatherRebel5150