It was never just the anonymity, it was the lack of consequences as well. Combined those two often lead to people showing their worst selves.
Now though? Often those worst characteristics are applauded by others. It’s disappointing.
Also the best, not just the worst. I agree but I hate to be pessimistic. Back then we used to dig to the shit to find a few hidden gems. The amount of gems stayed the same but the pile of shit got bigger. I liked the internet more when it was more like island with a lot of activity instead of bridges everywhere (I know the irony being on Lemmy). I miss active bulletin boards. Reddit really killed forums. Everyone wants convenience instead of quality. And everyone seems to be in a hurry
I still blame the algorithms. Angry people click more => let’s assure they always get more to click.
I still blame the algorithms.
And I think that’s a lack of memory. Where were those “algorithms” in flame wars on news groups, mailing lists, fora on the Internet & Web 1.0?
Even when the web became highly commercialized, there remained non-commercial sites of largely unmoderated, anonymized discussion & imageboards driven by the “hivemind”: where were “the algorithms” there?
It’s unrestrained people uninhibited from putting their unfiltered thoughts online to stir discussion: no “algorithms” required. “The algorithms” steer even the least sophisticated users to the content that captures their attention. And moderation maintains that attention by subduing those elements that would result in users ragequitting the Internet & missing those ads they scroll past.
Maybe we need to bring back ragequitting?
You’ve misspelled capitalism.
It’s a gray line, as the drive for celebrity isn’t strictly capitalist but is definitely rewarded under capitalism.
Why don’t people affected by algos just choose not to use them? I don’t use any content-feeding algorithms beyond basic non-personalized sorting functions that I can examine the code of myself if I wish as here on Lemmy.
But people don’t want that, or they’d be on Lemmy, Mastodon etc. People don’t even use the subscriptions page on YouTube, they prefer the algorithms, they don’t like having agency and they don’t like making decisions. Some people even use shuffle on just algo suggested songs on Spotify.
Many yet, pay with their time via choosing to hear and see ads for this privilege.
Some even pay money for renting algorithmic digital slop. Every time Netflix raises prices, the subscriptions increase. People love the boot.
So aren’t people to blame?
Do you have any experience with creating a digital good and dealing with end-users?
It’s the for profit corporate capture really. When everyone started thinking of the internet as 5 websites and their bank.
I remember when people would get seriously angry if you posted commercial speech in a communal area of the Internet.
It killed Digg. It’s slowly killing Reddit now.
Don’t feed the trolls
- Long forgotten adage, internet
I thought I could feed trolls before midnight?