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[off topic] dead internet theory

marc marcx2 at welz.org.za

Tue Sep 7 23:41:31 BST 2021

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I came across this, err, rather creative line ofreasoning at

https://forum.agoraroad.com/index.php?threads/dead-internet-theory-most-of-the-internet-is-fake.3011/

via

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/dead-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/

Maybe start with the second link, especially if you are easilyweirded out.

I suppose not everybody has an appetite for this topic,given that wild fringe theories are by definition by andfor outsiders...

But I don't think it is necessary to believe it - itremains a useful story regardless - something like afable (you know, like the one involving thefox, the raven and the grapes - the one that givesus the concept "sour grapes").

Here the useful observation is that the internet (orat least the shallow web) has changed, and notonly in obvious technological ways, but also inthe way people interact with it - that peopleare now holding back from posting longer, thoughtfulideas, and that what is put on line is more "staged","click-baity" and "recycled". Famously the top Nsubreddits are all managed by the same pool of moderators...

So it would be neat to hear from people hereif you also think the web has (almost) emptied ofreal conversations with real people and what explanations you might have for it.I can come up with some:

- That enthusiasm just wanes as the internet is no longer something new and people just get older...

- That saying something controversial (nevermind offensive) online now has real-life consequences and sometimes completely disproportionate ones

- That the effort to monetise or content-pad a site means that the same bland tips, jokes or memes are recycled

- That SEO has elbowed the small, personal site out of the way, and the spammers have poison the its comments section.

- That the internet has turned ever more into TV, and people have turned into passive consumers, the kind that the content industry wants

- That the real humans have just disappeared (I want to say raptured :-) into the nooks and crannies of the internet, including mailing lists and... gemini capsules ? - And, just maybe, there is a better internet that we don't know about, because it has a rule that you don't talk about it

regards

marc