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The old internet was interesting people sharing their interests that happened to all have computer knowledge/PCs/internet access at a specific point in time. Th

The old internet was interesting people sharing their interests that happened to all have computer knowledge/PCs/internet access at a specific point in time. The new internet is shallow boring people on their smart phones looking to be entertained or be provided with answers without having to RTFM or put in the work to master something, and definitely not looking to give back by posting something of value online themselves. Just look at the attitude on HN when it comes to z-library. Everyone here is entitled to take what whey want 'because of their circumstances'. An environment where everyone takes but don't give back, look out only for themselves, and strip the financial rewards for creation isn't going to lead to an environment like the old internet, or even like the old creative environment.

b3ing 2y ago
I think its just modern culture. * Many want to be landlords and leech off others, not providing any real value other than buying up a house and renting it out that someone else could of bought. * The ladder is being pulled up from older generations that benefited from low cost college (that was financed by higher state taxes - which no longer exists) and now dont want to pay taxes to fund the younger generation. * No one links to other sites, because we see everyone as competition. * We don't trust each other or even like each other for the most part in the US. * Hell even the pandemic proved that really one's freedom comes before the idea of even giving a damn if someone else got sick that might of had preexisting conditions. I'm not sure if its hyper-capitalism or hyper-individualism. Maybe its all related to knowing that our government isn't going to help you and is working on ways to make things harder unless you are one of the elites. That being said, many people on youtube create channels full of information, sure many end up promoting garbage and some are loaded with worthless filter or clickbait titles/images, but the amount of things you can learn today for free is quite amazing, topics that just weren't covered before.
- musicale 2y ago
  > the amount of things you can learn today for free is quite amazing It really is - including practical, creative, technical, and academic topics. My favorite thing about youtube is that you don't have to be a "youtuber" to upload videos. There is also no requirement for minimum audience size. The long tail of niche channels (at least the ones made by humans) seems a bit like the old web that people are nostalgic for, even if is within Google's ad-fueled kingdom. It's also an amazing repository of popular (and unpopular) music. My least favorite thing about youtube is how advertisements seem to have greatly increased over time.
yazzku 2y ago
The old Internet also had a relatively technical barrier to entry, which automatically weeded out large chunks of population. When the friction is brought down to zero and everyone goes in, the MBAs twiddle their fingers thinking how to exploit every last corner for profit and the whole thing goes to hell. Result: the current Internet. Wait until "AI" enters the picture.
- Clubber 2y ago
  >The old Internet also had a relatively technical barrier to entry Perhaps very briefly. Once it went public AOL opened it up to anybody in a pretty short amount of time. >the MBAs twiddle their fingers thinking how to exploit every last corner for profit and the whole thing goes to hell. Result: the current Internet. I think ad blockers really did it in; the web anyway. Every year, the ad networks kept getting increasingly intrusive because of that greed and a technical solution was found and widely adopted. Unfortunately, that removed quite a bit of funding/incentive for anyone running websites.
valicord 2y ago
Are you implying that liking the "old internet" and being against commercialization of the Internet are somehow opposing viewpoints? It seems pretty obvious that people who support the z-library are the same people who want the Internet to be about "interesting people sharing their interests". Why are you using it as if it was a counterpoint?

b3ing 2y ago

I think its just modern culture. * Many want to be landlords and leech off others, not providing any real value other than buying up a house and renting it out that someone else could of bought. * The ladder is being pulled up from older generations that benefited from low cost college (that was financed by higher state taxes - which no longer exists) and now dont want to pay taxes to fund the younger generation. * No one links to other sites, because we see everyone as competition. * We don't trust each other or even like each other for the most part in the US. * Hell even the pandemic proved that really one's freedom comes before the idea of even giving a damn if someone else got sick that might of had preexisting conditions. I'm not sure if its hyper-capitalism or hyper-individualism. Maybe its all related to knowing that our government isn't going to help you and is working on ways to make things harder unless you are one of the elites. That being said, many people on youtube create channels full of information, sure many end up promoting garbage and some are loaded with worthless filter or clickbait titles/images, but the amount of things you can learn today for free is quite amazing, topics that just weren't covered before.

musicale 2y ago
> the amount of things you can learn today for free is quite amazing It really is - including practical, creative, technical, and academic topics. My favorite thing about youtube is that you don't have to be a "youtuber" to upload videos. There is also no requirement for minimum audience size. The long tail of niche channels (at least the ones made by humans) seems a bit like the old web that people are nostalgic for, even if is within Google's ad-fueled kingdom. It's also an amazing repository of popular (and unpopular) music. My least favorite thing about youtube is how advertisements seem to have greatly increased over time.

yazzku 2y ago

The old Internet also had a relatively technical barrier to entry, which automatically weeded out large chunks of population. When the friction is brought down to zero and everyone goes in, the MBAs twiddle their fingers thinking how to exploit every last corner for profit and the whole thing goes to hell. Result: the current Internet. Wait until "AI" enters the picture.

Clubber 2y ago
>The old Internet also had a relatively technical barrier to entry Perhaps very briefly. Once it went public AOL opened it up to anybody in a pretty short amount of time. >the MBAs twiddle their fingers thinking how to exploit every last corner for profit and the whole thing goes to hell. Result: the current Internet. I think ad blockers really did it in; the web anyway. Every year, the ad networks kept getting increasingly intrusive because of that greed and a technical solution was found and widely adopted. Unfortunately, that removed quite a bit of funding/incentive for anyone running websites.

valicord 2y ago

Are you implying that liking the "old internet" and being against commercialization of the Internet are somehow opposing viewpoints? It seems pretty obvious that people who support the z-library are the same people who want the Internet to be about "interesting people sharing their interests". Why are you using it as if it was a counterpoint?