3 ms·

But at the same time everything's gone from a dank esoteria to polished standards. In the sense of visual aesthetic the internet has been "gentrified" I'd say.

joefourier 7y ago
If your street full of esoteric expensive artisan stores was replaced by a Wall-Mart, you wouldn't call that gentrification. Gentrification casts out the low-income residents, it doesn't invite them in en masse.
- jhbadger 7y ago
  Actually, that's typically what does occur as part of gentrification. Typically a bohemian neighborhood has all sorts of interesting indie stores selling books, art, antiques, etc. But these stores aren't that profitable -- a chain retailer can pay much more rent and so the owners evict the indie stores.
  - joefourier 7y ago
    True, but generally the bohemians and artists are the first ones to replace the working-class character of the neighborhood with their own, until they themselves are replaced by young urban professionals... Comparing the wide Internet to a neighborhood with fixed space constraints is a rocky analogy to begin with. The foundation of a new city would be more appropriate, starting with a small population of intrepid explorers in a wild uncharted wilderness and growing to a massive commercial behemoth...
- tomatotomato37 7y ago
  Facebook and the like aren't the Walmart of the web though, they're the Wholefoods and sushi bars; Craigslist would be the closer Walmart equivalent; shoving out weaker sites while still being pretty lower-income
rchaud 7y ago
"Polished" for search engines maybe. Bad UX is rife across most commercial sites, with intrusive ads and social trackers being the worst offenders: autoplay videos, on-scroll triggered, page re-positioning, Taboola garbage, increased load times. All of this made the web worse, not better. "Gentrification" as it relates to neighbourhoods at least means access to better amenities. When it comes to the Web, Wikipedia offers "amenities" in the way of easily accessible, extensively cited information. Most websites on the other hand gatekeep content via email signups ("get my free ebook!"), and the content itself is basically lead gen for what ever product they're pushing.

joefourier 7y ago

If your street full of esoteric expensive artisan stores was replaced by a Wall-Mart, you wouldn't call that gentrification. Gentrification casts out the low-income residents, it doesn't invite them in en masse.

jhbadger 7y ago
Actually, that's typically what does occur as part of gentrification. Typically a bohemian neighborhood has all sorts of interesting indie stores selling books, art, antiques, etc. But these stores aren't that profitable -- a chain retailer can pay much more rent and so the owners evict the indie stores.
- joefourier 7y ago
  True, but generally the bohemians and artists are the first ones to replace the working-class character of the neighborhood with their own, until they themselves are replaced by young urban professionals... Comparing the wide Internet to a neighborhood with fixed space constraints is a rocky analogy to begin with. The foundation of a new city would be more appropriate, starting with a small population of intrepid explorers in a wild uncharted wilderness and growing to a massive commercial behemoth...
tomatotomato37 7y ago
Facebook and the like aren't the Walmart of the web though, they're the Wholefoods and sushi bars; Craigslist would be the closer Walmart equivalent; shoving out weaker sites while still being pretty lower-income

rchaud 7y ago

"Polished" for search engines maybe. Bad UX is rife across most commercial sites, with intrusive ads and social trackers being the worst offenders: autoplay videos, on-scroll triggered, page re-positioning, Taboola garbage, increased load times. All of this made the web worse, not better. "Gentrification" as it relates to neighbourhoods at least means access to better amenities. When it comes to the Web, Wikipedia offers "amenities" in the way of easily accessible, extensively cited information. Most websites on the other hand gatekeep content via email signups ("get my free ebook!"), and the content itself is basically lead gen for what ever product they're pushing.