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I've wondered if things might get bad enough to enable a fork of the web. It could happen 2 ways: 1) A truly user focused browser is created, the fabled "user

I've wondered if things might get bad enough to enable a fork of the web. It could happen 2 ways: 1) A truly user focused browser is created, the fabled "user agent". The ad-focused web doesn't support that browser, but websites that care about users do support it. Thus, people who want more than ad-drivel use the niche browser and have access to a web full of weird and non-profit-focused content. 2) Possibly a fork of the underlying technologies. Maybe the browser mentioned uses incompatible technologies or protocols. Maybe this new web is based on something other than HTML and JavaScript. Probably not. It's a wild idea. It's probably too hard to do better than the existing technologies, and the effort required for such a fork seems ever less likely in this time of dissipating focus and hobbies.

krapp 2y ago
It already exists, it's called Geminispace: https://geminiprotocol.net/ https://geminiprotocol.net/
- eikenberry 2y ago
  Gemini is still client/server, so it encourages the same problems of scale that HTTP has where you can't afford to run a server unless you have a source of income. IE. it would get infested by adtech the same as HTTP if it got popular enough. IMO the only way to get something that wouldn't suffer the same fate would be to make it a peer-to-peer application where everyone using the client application was also hosting a server.
codersfocus 2y ago
web3 is that. Pay for content / services you use through micro transactions.
- nullsmack 2y ago
  "web3" is nothing but another crypto-scam.
- Dylan16807 2y ago
  Arbitrary server-chosen microtransactions make things worse in many ways even if the payment process is simple, fast, and free.
- DonHopkins 2y ago
  Please stop.
- eitland 2y ago
  If by web3 you mean crypto currencies then I ask you nicely to stop using web3 for that. Web3 is things like json-ld and the like and it is tragic that scammers have been able to abuse the term for so long.
  - shwaj 2y ago
    I’m not familiar with json-ld, other than a quick skim of a Google search that I just did. What is so revolutionary about it (and other technologies in the space, such as…?) that it represents a whole new revision of the web paradigm, comparable from the shift from static pages in web1 to interactive sites in web2?
    - eitland 2y ago
      It is not revolutionary. It is evolutionary just like web2.0 was. That is kind of the point. But together with other, similar technologies it extends the current with metadata etc web just like web2 extended the existing web with things like ajax interactions, drag and drop and folksonomies ("tags") and other forms of user generated content. The (IMO) fake crypto peddler "web3" is (again IMO) "revolutionary" unlike web2 and the real web3: it is a complete break from many of the things that made the web great. I'd even hesitate to describe much of it as web at all.
  - lxgr 2y ago
    I'm really not a fan of crypto claiming the "Web 3.0" title, but the Semantic Web had its chance for many years, and at this point I don't think it gets to hold on to it anymore either.
- codersfocus 2y ago
  Wow, lots of luddites here for what's supposed to be a tech community. Get your head out of your asses guys. There's nothing inherently bad about blockchain or decentralization.
robertlagrant 2y ago
> Thus, people who want more than ad-drivel use the niche browser and have access to a web full of weird and non-profit-focused content. This is a technical solution to a non-technical problem. If you want to only access esoteric websites, you can do that today. If you want to block ads and tracking, you can do that today. If you want to only visit websites that don't require ad support, you can do that today. What you need is a way to pay people for content so they don't need to have ads. Can you solve that problem?
- rererereferred 2y ago
  Peer-to-peer web where people don't need to pay for servers but donate some disk space and network bandwidth to participate. The content generated by passionate people that only wants their content to be out there, not make money out of it. A p2p geocities if you will.
  - robertlagrant 2y ago
    Can't we do this now? We will already have websites that are funded this way.

krapp 2y ago

It already exists, it's called Geminispace: https://geminiprotocol.net/ https://geminiprotocol.net/

eikenberry 2y ago
Gemini is still client/server, so it encourages the same problems of scale that HTTP has where you can't afford to run a server unless you have a source of income. IE. it would get infested by adtech the same as HTTP if it got popular enough. IMO the only way to get something that wouldn't suffer the same fate would be to make it a peer-to-peer application where everyone using the client application was also hosting a server.

codersfocus 2y ago

web3 is that. Pay for content / services you use through micro transactions.

nullsmack 2y ago
"web3" is nothing but another crypto-scam.
Dylan16807 2y ago
Arbitrary server-chosen microtransactions make things worse in many ways even if the payment process is simple, fast, and free.
DonHopkins 2y ago
Please stop.
eitland 2y ago
If by web3 you mean crypto currencies then I ask you nicely to stop using web3 for that. Web3 is things like json-ld and the like and it is tragic that scammers have been able to abuse the term for so long.
- shwaj 2y ago
  I’m not familiar with json-ld, other than a quick skim of a Google search that I just did. What is so revolutionary about it (and other technologies in the space, such as…?) that it represents a whole new revision of the web paradigm, comparable from the shift from static pages in web1 to interactive sites in web2?
  - eitland 2y ago
    It is not revolutionary. It is evolutionary just like web2.0 was. That is kind of the point. But together with other, similar technologies it extends the current with metadata etc web just like web2 extended the existing web with things like ajax interactions, drag and drop and folksonomies ("tags") and other forms of user generated content. The (IMO) fake crypto peddler "web3" is (again IMO) "revolutionary" unlike web2 and the real web3: it is a complete break from many of the things that made the web great. I'd even hesitate to describe much of it as web at all.
- lxgr 2y ago
  I'm really not a fan of crypto claiming the "Web 3.0" title, but the Semantic Web had its chance for many years, and at this point I don't think it gets to hold on to it anymore either.
codersfocus 2y ago
Wow, lots of luddites here for what's supposed to be a tech community. Get your head out of your asses guys. There's nothing inherently bad about blockchain or decentralization.

robertlagrant 2y ago

> Thus, people who want more than ad-drivel use the niche browser and have access to a web full of weird and non-profit-focused content. This is a technical solution to a non-technical problem. If you want to only access esoteric websites, you can do that today. If you want to block ads and tracking, you can do that today. If you want to only visit websites that don't require ad support, you can do that today. What you need is a way to pay people for content so they don't need to have ads. Can you solve that problem?

rererereferred 2y ago
Peer-to-peer web where people don't need to pay for servers but donate some disk space and network bandwidth to participate. The content generated by passionate people that only wants their content to be out there, not make money out of it. A p2p geocities if you will.
- robertlagrant 2y ago
  Can't we do this now? We will already have websites that are funded this way.