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This is kind of beating a dead horse. Of course the web was better when only the intellectual elite were on it. Of course it turned into a cesspool when the o

This is kind of beating a dead horse. Of course the web was better when only the intellectual elite were on it. Of course it turned into a cesspool when the other 99% joined, including the 1% who are prolific destructive trolls.

asmos7 5y ago
ha oddly enough in AltSpace I've actually had a number of great engaging conversations.
pram 5y ago
A lot of those intellectual elite are in fact the trolls.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  Arguably the history of trolling goes back to the ancient Greeks. Eris for example clearly became the godess of trolling when she threw a golden apple marked 'for the fairest' into a party she was rejected from, causing the other godesses to fight over it until the Trojan War happened.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
> Of course the web was better when only the intellectual elite were on it. Well, people who thought of themselves as the intellectual elite anyway.
flyinghamster 5y ago
Trolls and kooks were around on Usenet even in the UUCP days, and on dialup bulletin boards as well. They've become far more visible and destructive, and manipulation has become far easier, as it got easier to go online. I hate thinking that the Eternal September meme should be anything but an oldtimer in-joke, but looking at what social media has done to society makes me shudder. Making the grapevine worldwide and instantaneous, which I once thought was a Good Thing, is now looking more to me like a mistake, but that genie is long out of the bottle now. I'm glad to see old-school forums soldier on, at least. For specialized information and advice, they tend to be a lot more reliable than social media - mostly because they're communities that have no patience for trolls. That doesn't stop them (and spammers) from trying to cause trouble, though. Once you let the general public in, it's inevitable that some will be jerks. Just a look through the "New" queue on HN with "show dead posts" shows it vividly. :)

asmos7 5y ago

ha oddly enough in AltSpace I've actually had a number of great engaging conversations.

pram 5y ago

A lot of those intellectual elite are in fact the trolls.

BoxOfRain 5y ago
Arguably the history of trolling goes back to the ancient Greeks. Eris for example clearly became the godess of trolling when she threw a golden apple marked 'for the fairest' into a party she was rejected from, causing the other godesses to fight over it until the Trojan War happened.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

> Of course the web was better when only the intellectual elite were on it. Well, people who thought of themselves as the intellectual elite anyway.

flyinghamster 5y ago

Trolls and kooks were around on Usenet even in the UUCP days, and on dialup bulletin boards as well. They've become far more visible and destructive, and manipulation has become far easier, as it got easier to go online. I hate thinking that the Eternal September meme should be anything but an oldtimer in-joke, but looking at what social media has done to society makes me shudder. Making the grapevine worldwide and instantaneous, which I once thought was a Good Thing, is now looking more to me like a mistake, but that genie is long out of the bottle now. I'm glad to see old-school forums soldier on, at least. For specialized information and advice, they tend to be a lot more reliable than social media - mostly because they're communities that have no patience for trolls. That doesn't stop them (and spammers) from trying to cause trouble, though. Once you let the general public in, it's inevitable that some will be jerks. Just a look through the "New" queue on HN with "show dead posts" shows it vividly. :)