If you had a time machine that could set the internet back to what it was like in a certain era, when would that be?
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Original question by @[email protected]
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Back to the days when there were only a few TLDs... like .net .org .com. I'd then campaign for a law that disallowed any income-seeking behavior ... adverts, tracking, cookies, porn, scams, promotion, surveillance ... everywhere EXCEPT .com. Break that law, you lose your business and your servers, the CEO does serious time in jail, and noone working for that company is allowed back on the net anywhere until forever.
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Original question by @[email protected]
2000, when we were all chatting through AIM and Napster had just hit the mainstream. Unlimited, above-board piracy.
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Original question by @[email protected]
I was just thinking of YTMND today, and I'd like to go back to that internet.
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I never got to experience the BBS systems or things like Usenet. Would love to go live in that era!
I'm hoping that [email protected] will need to a rebirth of that sort lol
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Original question by @[email protected]
The late 90s or maybe the early 00s Probably pre-Google (so pre-1998) but maybe in their earliest days. Definitely pre YouTube and pre Facebook (so pre-2004). It's been pretty much all downhill since then.
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I never got to experience the BBS systems or things like Usenet. Would love to go live in that era!
Usenet still a thing, just not the same as before. Just saying.
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Original question by @[email protected]
2 September 2003
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Usenet still a thing, just not the same as before. Just saying.
You binary kids are killing usenet!
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Original question by @[email protected]
The Blackberry era was my favorite. You could do all the important stuff and even check sports scores or breaking news or whatever. You couldn’t really doomscroll because no one had done that yet. Even Facebook — which was just for college students at that point and was legit useful. You could find people in a class you were taking and lived in your dorm and get notes from them if you missed class. And you could just download any song you wanted on Kazaa or whatever. No one’s boss emailed them outside of work hours and expected a response.
Probably 2003ish? I don’t know what year it all went to shit. But the Internet seemed like a world of possibilities then.
I’d have also advocated to heavily restrict tlds. Like .org only for real, recognized non-profit organizations.
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2000, when we were all chatting through AIM and Napster had just hit the mainstream. Unlimited, above-board piracy.
ICQ was the shit.
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I never got to experience the BBS systems or things like Usenet. Would love to go live in that era!
BBS always makes me think of Barney the Dinosaur. I don't even remember what the Barney thing was, but it was there.
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Original question by @[email protected]
wrote on last edited by [email protected]For me personally it was from 2010-2016. It might have just been that I was younger and didn’t care as much what was going on in the world but I still felt like the world was improving. Technology felt like it was making the world better without being overly bombarded with algorithms and ads. A lot of early streaming services were still very affordable and actually good. Online multiplayer games were a great time to play without every game feeling like you need to play full time to keep up with the meta. Sure Russia invaded crimea in that time, and the U.S. was bombing children in the Middle East but compared to today it felt like the world was mostly at peace.
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I was just thinking of YTMND today, and I'd like to go back to that internet.
Well, they are still at it. This one just caught my eye on the top 10
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Original question by @[email protected]
I wouldn't. I'd leave things at now.
I think that the Internet has pretty much monotonically improved over time. Oh, sure, there are some things that I miss, but overall? Today wins solidly. Today:
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Bandwidth is much higher.
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Availability is much more widespread.
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Security is a lot better in most respects. Used to be most traffic on the Internet wasn't encrypted.
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Flash and ActiveX are gone on the Web.
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IPv6 is widely available, alleviating address constraints.
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Email spam is more or less solved, though it does make running your own mail server today a pain.
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Open source is a lot more widespread and mainstream.
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I'd say that the reliability of a lot of online services is better.
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The widespread use of containerization and VMs has dramatically reduced the cost of having a small server in a datacenter.
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GOG and Steam are pretty amazing ways to buy video games. The selection is inexpensive, readily available, and ludicrously vast.
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Ditto for Amazon compared to brick-and-mortar plus mail order.
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Original question by @[email protected]
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I would set it back to the early to mid-90s, when I first experienced it...
Am I one of those old fart trying to say it was better in the good old times? Yes, and no.
Back then the Internet was limited, it was hacked together and there was no professionally designed website with pretty animations, security was... not much, there was no mobile web and, as a matter of fact, no 'app' at all since smartphones were not yet a thing. There was not even script languages like Javascript or PHP to develop all those shit... amazing dynamic features we're now surrounded with. So, yeah, it was limited. But...
There also was also no social media, no monetizing, no tracking, no corporate mafia-like CEOs trying to took us hostage or to milk us to death, and hands in hands with their politicians friends, trying their worst at transforming our free societies into some fascist dystopia that if they succeed (and it looks like they could) will make look all the XX century monstrosities mere child-play.
There were already evil corporations and assholes politicians back then, sure, but for the most part the Internet was people, not businesses. And it was not populated by those armies of braindead, tantrum-obsessed and hysterical morons we now consider the normal 'user'.
Trolls were already a thing, obviously, but there were not millions of them waiting to be mobilized through social media like a good army of haters ready to go stampede into oblivion anything nice or daring anyone could be willing to do. It was ok to not be nice, to not be liked, and to take risks.
I mean, it was actual people with their qualities and flaws, people that were willing to share content they were interested in and to discuss it. People that were not expecting to make a fucking cent out of every single fart they would make online. Nor to gain any Likes...
So, yeah it was rougher, so much more limited and a lot less cool. It was also a lot less polite. But it was so much more free and less full of shit.
(end of that old fart rant, promise)
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I wouldn't. I'd leave things at now.
I think that the Internet has pretty much monotonically improved over time. Oh, sure, there are some things that I miss, but overall? Today wins solidly. Today:
-
Bandwidth is much higher.
-
Availability is much more widespread.
-
Security is a lot better in most respects. Used to be most traffic on the Internet wasn't encrypted.
-
Flash and ActiveX are gone on the Web.
-
IPv6 is widely available, alleviating address constraints.
-
Email spam is more or less solved, though it does make running your own mail server today a pain.
-
Open source is a lot more widespread and mainstream.
-
I'd say that the reliability of a lot of online services is better.
-
The widespread use of containerization and VMs has dramatically reduced the cost of having a small server in a datacenter.
-
GOG and Steam are pretty amazing ways to buy video games. The selection is inexpensive, readily available, and ludicrously vast.
-
Ditto for Amazon compared to brick-and-mortar plus mail order.
Security is a lot better in most respects. Used to be most traffic on the Internet wasn’t encrypted.
This is so true, although I kind of wish I had more time to fully explore the prank potential. The shit I could have convinced people of with a spoofed Wikipedia article...
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For me personally it was from 2010-2016. It might have just been that I was younger and didn’t care as much what was going on in the world but I still felt like the world was improving. Technology felt like it was making the world better without being overly bombarded with algorithms and ads. A lot of early streaming services were still very affordable and actually good. Online multiplayer games were a great time to play without every game feeling like you need to play full time to keep up with the meta. Sure Russia invaded crimea in that time, and the U.S. was bombing children in the Middle East but compared to today it felt like the world was mostly at peace.
That's where I'd go too. It was really the calm before the storm.
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Original question by @[email protected]
If I had my way, the Internet never would have existed. Despite the positives, I feel it's done more harm than good. It had the capacity to do great things and yet we used it to spread misinformation and evil. There is no benefit worth the evil that's happened due to giving everyone a voice. "Freedom" doesnt come from some obnoxious cunt ranting from their $80,000 truck drivers seat. Burn them, burn them now and let's move forward.
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I wouldn't. I'd leave things at now.
I think that the Internet has pretty much monotonically improved over time. Oh, sure, there are some things that I miss, but overall? Today wins solidly. Today:
-
Bandwidth is much higher.
-
Availability is much more widespread.
-
Security is a lot better in most respects. Used to be most traffic on the Internet wasn't encrypted.
-
Flash and ActiveX are gone on the Web.
-
IPv6 is widely available, alleviating address constraints.
-
Email spam is more or less solved, though it does make running your own mail server today a pain.
-
Open source is a lot more widespread and mainstream.
-
I'd say that the reliability of a lot of online services is better.
-
The widespread use of containerization and VMs has dramatically reduced the cost of having a small server in a datacenter.
-
GOG and Steam are pretty amazing ways to buy video games. The selection is inexpensive, readily available, and ludicrously vast.
-
Ditto for Amazon compared to brick-and-mortar plus mail order.
How tf are you talking about the positives of the Internet while people are getting abused because of it? Bandwidth being higher allows them to spy on you more effectively. Availability hasn't changed enough for that to be relevant unless you're talking about spaceX. Which is owned by possibly one of the most evil people in american history.
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Security is a lot better in most respects. Used to be most traffic on the Internet wasn’t encrypted.
This is so true, although I kind of wish I had more time to fully explore the prank potential. The shit I could have convinced people of with a spoofed Wikipedia article...
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Do you not see the irony there?
