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I agree with some of this, sort of. Up until this absolutist claim — > the web … will cease to exist in any useful form What has tended to happen in the past

I agree with some of this, sort of. Up until this absolutist claim — > the web … will cease to exist in any useful form What has tended to happen in the past is, drum roll please, competition appears making the interwebs more useful again. Example: DuckDuckGo’s popularity came out of the desire for a more privacy friendly search engine. The only constant in life is change. Just because a thing becomes less useful short term, does not mean it will always be less useful long term. On a more meta note — Title —> Subtitle —> Advert —> Four sentences —> Advert -> Four sentences —> Paywall I find it mildly ironic that it will be the push for GenAI’s fault, when the publisher is doing everything they can to stop me from reading an article about how it’s going to be the push for GenAI’s fault. I am for fair pay for creators, and I’m definitely not a big fan of GenAI. I just found it to be an interesting irony, given the setup of the article wrt the origins of the interwebs.

a_bonobo 3y ago
>Example: DuckDuckGo’s popularity came out of the desire for a more privacy friendly search engine. DDG has a market share of 0.66% [1], that doesn't feel like popularity. That feels like an 'etc.' [1] https://backlinko.com/duckduckgo-stats https://backlinko.com/duckduckgo-stats
- throwthrowuknow 3y ago
  Out of curiosity, what percentage of people who are currently online were also online in the early days that we are reminiscing about?
  - hi-v-rocknroll 3y ago
    I can't claim to have partaken acoustic couplers, but do 2400 baud modems count? Or do you mean the era of fuchsia Comic Sans marquee blink tags and yellow text on blue pages with animated GIFs and colored ball bullet point items?
- dijksterhuis 3y ago
  Eh maybe it’s my personal biases in play. Fair point on the bad example.
- hi-v-rocknroll 3y ago
  Popularity isn't the be-all and end-all of utility, interest, or quality. That also proves most people lack taste and knowledge.
- throwaway290 3y ago
  According to that article, it beats Yandex among desktop users.

a_bonobo 3y ago

>Example: DuckDuckGo’s popularity came out of the desire for a more privacy friendly search engine. DDG has a market share of 0.66% [1], that doesn't feel like popularity. That feels like an 'etc.' [1] https://backlinko.com/duckduckgo-stats https://backlinko.com/duckduckgo-stats

throwthrowuknow 3y ago
Out of curiosity, what percentage of people who are currently online were also online in the early days that we are reminiscing about?
- hi-v-rocknroll 3y ago
  I can't claim to have partaken acoustic couplers, but do 2400 baud modems count? Or do you mean the era of fuchsia Comic Sans marquee blink tags and yellow text on blue pages with animated GIFs and colored ball bullet point items?
dijksterhuis 3y ago
Eh maybe it’s my personal biases in play. Fair point on the bad example.
hi-v-rocknroll 3y ago
Popularity isn't the be-all and end-all of utility, interest, or quality. That also proves most people lack taste and knowledge.
throwaway290 3y ago
According to that article, it beats Yandex among desktop users.