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9 votes
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I hate the new internet. I hate the new tech world. I hate it all. I want out, and I can't be the only one.
I think most people would agree that the internet and technology in general have absolutely gone to shit over the past decade or so. There is no corner of the internet nor of the software world...
I think most people would agree that the internet and technology in general have absolutely gone to shit over the past decade or so. There is no corner of the internet nor of the software world that hasn't been affected by enshittification. Everything exists to serve you ads. Everyone wants to extract as much money from you as possible. Every website is in a race for the bottom as they try to find the lowest effort content that makes them the most money. Every piece of software is pushed out half-baked and/or stripped down to the bare minimum with the rest paywalled or with the devs pinky promising to fix it 5 updates down the road.
Every social medium is just bots. The front page of Reddit is easily 35% easily detectable bots at least and who knows what the rest is comprised of. And it's probably the one that's doing the best at the moment, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, all of them are just bots and propaganda and engagement farming the whole way down. And the worst thing is, they're complicit. Hell, they're actively encouraging it and trying to find ways to make it worse. And I have no doubt Reddit will bend the knee soon enough too (they just banned /r/whitepeopletwitter because Musk made a tweet critical of the sub).
There's probably some element of rose-tinted glasses here, but the old internet was just so much better looking back. Like, early 2000's to maybe 2012, 2013 or so, that was the peak. No colossal data harvesting schemes feeding into algorithms designed to keep you engaged on their site 24/7 for the purpose of shilling you advertisements and selling your data, no mass propaganda, no Dead Internet Theory (which can hardly be considered a theory anymore). Yeah there was shit content, there was tons of it, but I can deal with shit content and petty forum drama and whatnot; what I can't deal with is all the multi-billion dollar corporations trying to shape the entire landscape of the Web into the perfectly minmaxxed cash-generating machine that does as little as possible for as much data and advertising as possible.
Modern software isn't much better. Windows and MacOS are filled with anti-user features, telemetry you just can't turn off, Windows will often just install shit on your computer without telling you. They turn your computer into a walled garden, where you can do what you want as long as you play by their rules, but without giving you any real control over what your computer does. Yeah you can delete system files and brick your laptop if you feel like it, but anyone who's ever tried to permanently disable Windows updates will know that in the end you're not the one calling the shots: Microsoft are. And... Like, that's insane, right? It's running on my fucking computer, it's my CPU doing the work, I want to know what the hell it's doing and not just the parts it lets me see, and if I want it to do something different then I should be able to make it so.
I hate it all. I'm tired. I want out.
These are my problems. Here's what I've done about it so far.
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Obsessive privacy on the web. No Google services. Firefox with as much telemetry turned off as possible. Protonmail and ProtonVPN for everything (and I'm considering getting out of those too with the pro-Trump stances they've been taking recently). As minimal an online footprint as I can get, I make as few accounts as possible and I don't use shared or even slightly related usernames (my username here is an exception as it's my Reddit username, and no, it's not my real name), I delete accounts whenever I can and I GDPR request the services afterward. Virtual cards for online payments as much as possible. Will probably make a Javascript whitelist at some point too. Is all of this overkill? Yes. Why do I bother? Because fuck them.
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As little social media presence as possible. Real life necessitates some amount of social media interaction of course, I have Facebook and Instagram but use them exclusively for messaging. I often see people excluding Reddit from social media but I don't fully agree, even if it's not exactly in the category it still targets a lot of the same psychological weak points in us, encouraging doom scrolling and shaping our opinions through echo chambers and propaganda (it's always important to remember that echo chambers and propaganda you agree with are still echo chambers and propaganda). I still use Reddit admittedly, but I've tried to minimise my usage as much as possible and I'm shopping for alternatives.
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Free and Open Source software as much as possible. I'm all in on GNU these days. Yes, it's a massive pain in the ass. My job unfortunately requires some Windows-only software so I'm running a dual partition but I'm trying to get as much of my computer usage onto Linux as possible (I use Arch btw). Like I said above, it's my computer, if I can't control what it's computing then it stops being my computer, it's at best shared between me and all the developers of the proprietary software I have installed on it.
That's my rant. It's been a long time coming.
There are still things I'm looking to change, especially with how I use the internet. Getting rid of Reddit is the next big step for me, I think. I just can't be bothered with it anymore, but there is still something about it that I love, every time I look through a small niche topic community, or an interesting new hobby sub I've never seen before with years of cool posts for me to go through. And yeah, I do still enjoy browsing through /r/all even when it's 80% shit and objectively bad for my mental health. But at this point the overwhelming mass of utter shit is just not worth digging through anymore. I'm tired.
Tildes is really cool. It reminds me of the old internet, the ideal usage of the Web. I open the site, I see a link to an interesting article, I read it, I give it a like, I read and/or contribute to the discussion in a comments section. I want more of this.
If anyone has any links to cool sites that I should check out I'd greatly appreciate it.
160 votes -
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App/browser extension idea if it doesn't already exist: likely bot database
I just finished reading I hate the new internet post, in which the OP stated: Every social medium is just bots. The front page of Reddit is easily 35% easily detectable bots at least and who knows...
I just finished reading I hate the new internet post, in which the OP stated:
Every social medium is just bots. The front page of Reddit is easily 35% easily detectable bots at least and who knows what the rest is comprised of.
Why couldn't we create a bot database, which I imagine would work similarly to uBlock for ads? There would be a number of signals to attempt to classify users of social media sites (likely human, likely bot, etc.) in addition to user-provided feedback ("I think this person is a bot" or "this account is me -- definitely not a bot").
An extension could then be attached to the database to provide visual changes to social media platforms ("WARNING! LIKELY BOT!") or simply hide bot posts/comments.
Off the top of my head, some bot signals:
- Posting known duplicate posts with political motivation (e.g. on Reddit you see the same exact post about how the tariffs will create a stronger America by different posters) [strong indicator]
- Usernames that follow the lazy bot format, e.g., Pretentious_Rabbit_2355 [weak indicator]
- Usage of AI-generated or ripped off profile pictures, post images, etc. [strong indicator]
- etc.
On the crowdsourced side, there would have to be some rules in place to prevent profile bombing, etc.
All in all, I could see something like this adding a bit of human value back to the various social media platforms AND I would think it would lead to higher advertisement click rates (bots will become less valuable over time on a given platform and decide to invest their resources elsewhere, while "human" user engagement increases at the same time).
If this concept already exists, I apologize. I only did a very quick google.
15 votes -
Swearing and automatic captions
23 votes -
Bluesky advertises itself as an open network, they say people won't lose followers or their identity, they advertise themselves as a protocol ("atproto"). These three claims are false.
39 votes -
Screen time and face-to-face conversation
8 votes -
[SOLVED] How can I hide streams from my YouTube subscriptions page?
Picture explanation: https://i.horizon.pics/tWovRax4kh.jpg When I view my subscriptions page on YouTube, half the "videos" are recordings of completed streams, often 2+ hours in length. I'm not...
Picture explanation:
https://i.horizon.pics/tWovRax4kh.jpg
When I view my subscriptions page on YouTube, half the "videos" are recordings of completed streams, often 2+ hours in length. I'm not interested in watching these. For me, they're just pollution in the feed.
Apparently, a lot of the channels I subscribe to, whose videos I enjoy watching, also stream on YouTube a lot.
Second Wind is probably the channel I'm most hung up about. I like their normal videos, and don't want to unsubscribe from their channel, but jesus they stream two or three times a day.
(Also, it's annoying that when I view a YouTube channel, I can visit their videos page or their streams page separately. Why can't I have this same separation on my own subscriptions page?)
(Also also, I already use an extension to hide shorts (among other things), but it unfortunately does not have a feature for hiding streams.)
Fancy bullet point summary:
- I want to hide recorded streams from my subscriptions page
- I don't care as much about hiding active livestreams, because those don't pollute my subscriptions page nearly as much
- I do not want to unsubscribe from any of the channels I follow. That is not an option
- I'm willing to stop using
youtube.com
in favor of an alternative client (web, desktop, etc) if that client supports hiding recorded streams from actual videos - I'm willing to install a browser extension that can solve this problem (but I can't find one for Firefox)
Ninja edit:
While writing up this topic, I actually found my own solution. The browser extension I mentioned earlier has an "advanced blocking" feature that takes a JavaScript function as input. The extension's GitHub page has an issue, with a comment, with some code to hide streamed videos on the subscriptions page.
However, that code didn't work when I tried it. Thankfully, I just needed to check for
videoRenderer
instead ofgridVideoRenderer
.Here's the updated code:
(video, objectType) => { // Only videos on the Subscription page if ( objectType === "videoRenderer" ) { if ( video.hasOwnProperty("badges") && video.badges.includes("live") ) { return true; } if ( video.hasOwnProperty("publishTimeText") && video.publishTimeText.indexOf("Streamed") != -1 ) { return true; } } return false; }
I have no idea what the consequences of checking against
videoRenderer
instead ofgridVideoRenderer
might be, and right now I'm too lazy to find out. This works well enough for now.(The "consequence" might be that streams are hidden from the related/recommended videos in the sidebar of a video page? I actually hide that sidebar, so I wouldn't know. Oh, and they'll probably be hidden from a channel's streams feed.)
It isn't a perfect solution though. Streams that are "scheduled" still show up on the subscriptions page. However, I think channels can set streams and videos as scheduled? So blocking one without the other would be more complicated?
I welcome any feedback or improvements on the code.
15 votes - I want to hide recorded streams from my subscriptions page
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Having a hard time understanding how minds.com makes money
came across the minds.com social media space and I am very intrigued but I am having a heck of a time figuring out how it makes money. I'd like to use it more but if it's the same as...
came across the minds.com social media space and I am very intrigued but I am having a heck of a time figuring out how it makes money.
I'd like to use it more but if it's the same as facebook/insta/twitter and just makes money via outrage and scraping and selling user data, that's a non-starter for me but I can't actually tell what their revenue stream is?
4 votes -
European Union orders X to hand over algorithm documents
51 votes -
TikTok is coming back online after US President-elect Donald Trump pledged to restore it
27 votes -
TikTok makes app unavailable for US users ahead of ban
54 votes -
Donald Trump says he'll 'likely' give TikTok a ninety-day extension to avoid US ban
19 votes -
US$ 30 million to reinvent the wheel (Bluesky vs. Mastodon)
24 votes -
US Supreme Court unanimously backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company
48 votes -
Read.cv and Posts sold to Perplexity; will be closed soon
11 votes -
The making of Community Notes
14 votes -
US President Joe Biden won't enforce TikTok ban
31 votes -
The trouble with Elon Musk
47 votes -
Revisions of ‘hateful conduct’: what users can now say on Meta platforms
58 votes -
Another post about bulk deleting content from Reddit
Is there a utility that will bulk delete threads and comments I made, but from 1 subreddit only? Thanks for any clues.
16 votes -
Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta's latest pivot in three-hour Joe Rogan interview
24 votes -
TikTok says it plans to shut down site for US unless Supreme Court strikes down law forcing it to sell
38 votes -
Facebook is censoring 404 Media stories about Facebook's censorship
45 votes -
UK users: Lobsters needs your help with the Online Safety Act
24 votes -
Meta is ending its fact-checking program in favor of a 'community notes' system similar to X
40 votes -
Meta scrambles to delete its own AI accounts after backlash intensifies
44 votes -
Pinterest alternatives
Seems to be a common subject online that pinterest sucks. I've found so many threads of people asking for alternatives...but I've yet to find a replacement, or really recommendations. I've been...
Seems to be a common subject online that pinterest sucks. I've found so many threads of people asking for alternatives...but I've yet to find a replacement, or really recommendations.
I've been trying out the site cosmos.so, Interesting concept but it is limited by the lack of android and Firefox plugin support
Any suggestions? What I am looking for is a tool that I can use to save stuff I find online, links, images, screenshots. Preferably open sourced or privacy friendly, but at this point I'll take anything lol.
I feel like there has to be something out there!! Not sure why I am having such a hard time finding it. Any recommendations would be appreciated
11 votes -
Bluesky's growing pains
19 votes -
Bridgy Fed, a project to connect the open social web, is now becoming a nonprofit
15 votes -
For folks who use both Twitter and TruthSocial, I am curious, how is the experience difference?
Since Musk took over Twitter and made it a "free speech" platform, something that has interested me is has that basically render TruthSocial obsolete or is there some niche that Trump is targeting...
Since Musk took over Twitter and made it a "free speech" platform, something that has interested me is has that basically render TruthSocial obsolete or is there some niche that Trump is targeting with TruthSocial that Elon is not with Twitter?
The biggest obv difference is just the reach with Twitter having more people than TruthSocial but with all the headlines I see about how people are leaving Twitter en-masse, I figure it's just a matter of time before it loses mainstream attention?
But beyond the number of users, it is basically the same environment, albeit with different tech stacks?
12 votes -
Never forgive them - On digital platforms vs users
35 votes -
More than 140 Kenya Facebook moderators diagnosed with severe PTSD
18 votes -
Sweden's government considering imposing age limits on social media platforms if tech companies find themselves unable to prevent gangs from recruiting young people online
20 votes -
BuzzFeed sold 'Hot Ones' studio for $82.5 million to consortium including First We Feast's founder, host Sean Evans, Crooked Media, Mythical Entertainment, and Soros Fund Management.
15 votes -
Social media algorithms can change your views in just a single day
16 votes -
Australia’s social media ban and why it's not cut and dry
Australia’s proposed social media ban is deeply concerning and authoritarian. It's disturbing to see how much of the general public supports this measure. Prominent organizations, including...
Australia’s proposed social media ban is deeply concerning and authoritarian. It's disturbing to see how much of the general public supports this measure.
Prominent organizations, including Amnesty International, the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Electronic Frontiers Australia, have voiced significant concerns about this legislation:
Amnesty International's Explanation of the Social Media Ban
Australian Human Rights Commission on the Proposed Social Media Ban for Under-16s
EFA's Critique of the Social Media Age BanAustralia has a troubling history with internet legislation. Noteworthy examples include the Australian Internet Firewall under Stephen Conroy and Malcolm Turnbull's infamous statement, "The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia," regarding encryption backdoors.
While I recognize the issues with social media, "don't feed the trolls," along with maintaining online anonymity and implementing parental controls ( no phones with unfettered internet access ), should work. This law indiscriminately punishes all Australians for the missteps of a few, potentially leading to increased identity theft through phone and email scams and causing older family who are not tech literate to lose connections with their families due to the complexities of government-issued tokens.
Adults will be the ones who are going to be most impacted by this legislation.
The scope of this law is extensive. The Online Safety website suggests that this is merely the beginning, with plans to cover the entire web, including games, adult content, and more. The consequences are profound: the erosion of true anonymity and increased risk to government whistle-blowers and journalistic sources.
Requiring individuals to provide their identity to a third party to access the internet, which many have used freely for decades, is alarming. It threatens to sanitize search results and revoke access to purchased games if users refuse additional identity verification measures. There are no grandfathered exceptions, highlighting the law's intent to de-anonymize the internet.
Although Australia lacks a constitutionally protected right to free speech, this law poses significant risks to whistleblowers and marginalized youth in remote communities. Instead of banning access and creating allure through prohibition, we should address the root causes of why younger people are drawn to such content.
Once entrenched in law, any opposition will be met with accusations of perversion or indifference to child safety, compounded by the spread of misinformation. We must critically assess and address these laws to protect our freedoms and privacy.
There wouldn't be speculation if they defined how they intend the law to work. Instead of a "don't worry about it we will work it out", give people something to say that's not so bad and I can live with it
15 votes -
Australian Parliament bans social media for under-16s with world-first law
61 votes -
Someone made a dataset of one million Bluesky posts for 'machine learning research'
20 votes -
European Federation of Journalists to stop posting content on X
33 votes -
A lesson un-learned: two "influencers" drown after refusing to wear life jackets so not to ruin their tans
30 votes -
Maybe Bluesky has "won"
40 votes -
Guardian will no longer post on Elon Musk’s X from its official accounts
53 votes -
Img_0416
35 votes -
Desert Bus For Hope 2024 is currently driving across the desert!
11 votes -
Don't contribute anything relevant in web forums like Reddit
30 votes -
Twitter is not Elon's
5 votes -
Reddit is profitable for the first time ever, with nearly 100 million daily users
51 votes -
Norway is to enforce a strict minimum age limit on social media of fifteen as the government ramped up its campaign against tech companies it says are “pitted against small children's brains”
32 votes -
The rise of the compliant speech platform
8 votes -
Inside the TikTok documents: Stripping teens and boosting 'attractive' people
33 votes