4 ms·

I'm not gonna take any sides on Gab/Parler/et al but I do find the events of the past few days, and will find the next few weeks, absolutely fascinating from a

I'm not gonna take any sides on Gab/Parler/et al but I do find the events of the past few days, and will find the next few weeks, absolutely fascinating from a technology and social perspective. I'm relatively young, even by internet standards (26), but I can't think of any other mass exodus from an online site/platform like this. Was the move from Digg to Reddit this drastic? I don't remember Myspace going out of style this fast once FB opened up. Seeing my boomer relatives flock to these obscure platforms has been really interesting. I'm also curious if there will be any sort of post mortem from any of these companies once the traffic stabilizes. My guess is probably not since from what I've been able to gather, all of these fringe sites tend to be run by a handful of people and not full teams of developers. Writing a post mortem may give their online opposition hints into whatever new infrastructure they cobble together and contribute to further shenanigans. It's the same reason we didn't seem a post mortem after Iowa 2020 or the DNC hacks in 2016 I would guess. Does anyone expect a real drop in market share for the iPhone over the next 12-18 months if Parlor can't get back on the App store? Again, just fascinating stuff to watch from an outside perspective.

runawaybottle 6y ago
A North American exodus of a political subset off these tech platforms is irrelevant in 2020 because all of the companies reached global scale. Maybe back in 2005 this would have mattered, but it is totally not enough today.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  IIRC most ad revenue from social media is the US by far. It would be a very big wallop.
  - evgen 6y ago
    Do you really think Gab or Parler is going to have any ad revenue? When marketing teams are (rightly) concerned about appearing on Hannity or Rachel Maddows you think they are going to dedicate any spend to these sites? Maybe gold scams and prepper packs, but there will be no loss in ad revenue by the major players to any of these minor right-wing sites.
    - thursday0987 6y ago
      yes. Usually what happens is the advertisers purchase a set amount of ads from a broker, which operates at scale. That broker than purchases ad space from various advertising networks. many of these brokers also purchase from gab and parler.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      Even if Gab or Parler don't take revenue, the users who leave Facebook and Twitter will still no longer be advertised to on those platforms, so that's still a revenue drop for the incumbents.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Symbiote 6y ago
> Seeing my boomer relatives You can write "baby boomer" or "people over 55" or similar to avoid using a pejorative term.
- zpeti 6y ago
  I think baby boomers are not as fragile (as some other "groups") and don't get offended by someone calling them a name.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - antiterra 6y ago
    There is no one kind of person in a generation. But, I have noticed that baby boomers tend to tout the philosophies of grit and self reliance of their elders while being as self indulgent as possible. Therefore they expect others to suffer quietly or be seen as weak, while any restriction of their own desires is tyranny. https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/baby-boomer-parents/ https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/baby-boomer-parents/
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  I’m 63, and though I have seen it used in memes I never thought of it as a pejorative. Maybe in a mild joking sort of way? Are people really insulted by this?
  - Symbiote 6y ago
    Almost every case I've seen has used the word in a dismissive, ageist fashion. I think it's similar to mild ethnic slurs like "yank", "limey", "frog", where the target has similar or higher status. At best it is lazy writing, and most commenters on HN write better than this. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_boomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_boomer
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    Well, people have stopped using it literally, so I don't see what it can be except a pejorative for subjectively "old" people, usually. If you actually argue that people younger than about 55 aren't boomers, you'll just be told that's not what the word means any more. If you are a boomer, then I agree, why should you feel insulted?
multjoy 6y ago
> Does anyone expect a real drop in market share for the iPhone over the next 12-18 months if Parlor can't get back on the App store? No.
- Proven 6y ago
  Gab works fine (when the site is not overloaded) in the browser. I assume Parler will do the same. There's no reason to buy a new phone to be able to access the sites. Still, I don't think I will ever buy another iPhone or Android. I'm done with both of them. They need to get the message that their (virtue?) signals were well received.

runawaybottle 6y ago

A North American exodus of a political subset off these tech platforms is irrelevant in 2020 because all of the companies reached global scale. Maybe back in 2005 this would have mattered, but it is totally not enough today.

bobthepanda 6y ago
IIRC most ad revenue from social media is the US by far. It would be a very big wallop.
- evgen 6y ago
  Do you really think Gab or Parler is going to have any ad revenue? When marketing teams are (rightly) concerned about appearing on Hannity or Rachel Maddows you think they are going to dedicate any spend to these sites? Maybe gold scams and prepper packs, but there will be no loss in ad revenue by the major players to any of these minor right-wing sites.
  - thursday0987 6y ago
    yes. Usually what happens is the advertisers purchase a set amount of ads from a broker, which operates at scale. That broker than purchases ad space from various advertising networks. many of these brokers also purchase from gab and parler.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    Even if Gab or Parler don't take revenue, the users who leave Facebook and Twitter will still no longer be advertised to on those platforms, so that's still a revenue drop for the incumbents.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Symbiote 6y ago

> Seeing my boomer relatives You can write "baby boomer" or "people over 55" or similar to avoid using a pejorative term.

zpeti 6y ago
I think baby boomers are not as fragile (as some other "groups") and don't get offended by someone calling them a name.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- antiterra 6y ago
  There is no one kind of person in a generation. But, I have noticed that baby boomers tend to tout the philosophies of grit and self reliance of their elders while being as self indulgent as possible. Therefore they expect others to suffer quietly or be seen as weak, while any restriction of their own desires is tyranny. https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/baby-boomer-parents/ https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/baby-boomer-parents/
amanaplanacanal 6y ago
I’m 63, and though I have seen it used in memes I never thought of it as a pejorative. Maybe in a mild joking sort of way? Are people really insulted by this?
- Symbiote 6y ago
  Almost every case I've seen has used the word in a dismissive, ageist fashion. I think it's similar to mild ethnic slurs like "yank", "limey", "frog", where the target has similar or higher status. At best it is lazy writing, and most commenters on HN write better than this. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_boomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_boomer
- perl4ever 6y ago
  Well, people have stopped using it literally, so I don't see what it can be except a pejorative for subjectively "old" people, usually. If you actually argue that people younger than about 55 aren't boomers, you'll just be told that's not what the word means any more. If you are a boomer, then I agree, why should you feel insulted?

multjoy 6y ago

> Does anyone expect a real drop in market share for the iPhone over the next 12-18 months if Parlor can't get back on the App store? No.

Proven 6y ago
Gab works fine (when the site is not overloaded) in the browser. I assume Parler will do the same. There's no reason to buy a new phone to be able to access the sites. Still, I don't think I will ever buy another iPhone or Android. I'm done with both of them. They need to get the message that their (virtue?) signals were well received.