Has the internet changed since going mainstream?

truffle5

The internet has changed for the worse as it has become more mainstream, in my opinion. With the advent of Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter arrived a tidal wave of the general public who were until then unacquainted with the internet and its culture and etiquette. An “eternal September” if you will. It was previously the reserve of the nerds and the society’s outcasts. Allow me to elaborate with some examples.

1. Days could pass between posts on a message board, meaning if you did make a post, it was well thought-out and meaningful. You looked forward to a response if you were the OP, in the hope that your query could be answered. These days, people fire-off hastily typed one-liners, often in a fit of anger or in a lame attempt to be funny. The quality of discussion has therefore dropped dramatically.

2. The smaller number of members on particular forums back then meant that each person was more likely to get involved in the conversation and have their say. It’s analogous to having a chat with 3 friends over the dinner table compared to shouting in the middle of a crowd. The smaller communities were more intimate and you would gradually get to know the other members’ “personalities” and opinions. This acquaintance from a shared interest would often develop into friendship and you are less likely to be offensive or uncivil to a friend. Internet etiquette was therefore more adhered to.

3. The communities were self-selecting. Unless you were really interested in aviation, for example, it was unlikely you would stumble across an aviation message board. These days we have “super-forums” that cover a wide range of interests, so if you join boards to discuss, let’s say, fashion, it won’t be long until you discover the other forums on travel, politics, languages etc. The increased accessibility of the individual forums leads to a more transient community and greater exposure to trolls. The loss of a sense of a stable community is regrettable.

The veteran internet surfers displaced by the tidal wave of new users have no doubt migrated to more discreet communities and the dark web but it’s sad to a part of internet culture disappear.

Spunge

tldr

For Forks Sake

Internet Hipsters, bloody hell.

Ruu

I miss slower internet, just too fast these days.

Sir Arthur Daley

4. its friday party on.

Aka Ishur

Op wears fedoras.

NomadicGray

I liked the internet before it was cool too

FearDark

People on the internet were always angry. The rage factor used go through the roof playing online games circa 1996.its just there was much much less people online... Trolls always existed but now the scum of the earth and their mothers have Facebook pages where they can spout their ****e.

ToddyDoody

Porn is much quicker

cloud493

Not being able to use the internet and have someone else on the phone at the same time.

xzanti

I miss the dial-up tone

hairybelly

yeah probably

(quality contribution)

truffle5

truffle5 wrote: »

The internet has changed for the worse as it has become more mainstream, in my opinion. With the advent of Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter arrived a tidal wave of the general public who were until then unacquainted with the internet and its culture and etiquette. An “eternal September” if you will. It was previously the reserve of the nerds and the society’s outcasts. Allow me to elaborate with some examples.

1. Days could pass between posts on a message board, meaning if you did make a post, it was well thought-out and meaningful. You looked forward to a response if you were the OP, in the hope that your query could be answered. These days, people fire-off hastily typed one-liners, often in a fit of anger or in a lame attempt to be funny. The quality of discussion has therefore dropped dramatically.

2. The smaller number of members on particular forums back then meant that each person was more likely to get involved in the conversation and have their say. It’s analogous to having a chat with 3 friends over the dinner table compared to shouting in the middle of a crowd. The smaller communities were more intimate and you would gradually get to know the other members’ “personalities” and opinions. This acquaintance from a shared interest would often develop into friendship and you are less likely to be offensive or uncivil to a friend. Internet etiquette was therefore more adhered to.

3. The communities were self-selecting. Unless you were really interested in aviation, for example, it was unlikely you would stumble across an aviation message board. These days we have “super-forums” that cover a wide range of interests, so if you join boards to discuss, let’s say, fashion, it won’t be long until you discover the other forums on travel, politics, languages etc. The increased accessibility of the individual forums leads to a more transient community and greater exposure to trolls. The loss of a sense of a stable community is regrettable.

The veteran internet surfers displaced by the tidal wave of new users have no doubt migrated to more discreet communities and the dark web but it’s sad to a part of internet culture disappear.

Main stream? is the internet not about 20 years old

TheMilkyPirate

I used to have to wheel my whole desktop into the hallway plug out the phone and put the internet in and then wait painfully with cock in hand for an image on 'the hun' to load.

So no it hasn't got worse.

hairybelly

xzanti wrote: »

I miss the dial-up tone

I dont, because it was impossible to sneak on the internet at night without my parents hearing an unmerciful racket coming from the room with the pc.
I was caught rotten one night when I discovered that turning off the speakers didnt stop the sound

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

xzanti wrote: »

I miss the dial-up tone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

Christ that gives me the shivers. £1 per hour we were paying at one point.

SpaceTime

Ruu wrote: »

I miss slower internet, just too fast these days.

Ah the auld internet and that noise it used to make:
Pshhhkkkkkkrrrr​kakingkakingkakingtsh​chchchchchchchcch​*ding*ding*ding*

The smell of a turf fire crackling away and the screams of horror as the postman arrived with the eircom bill so big it was delivered in a box!

Reindeer

mariaalice wrote: »

Main stream? is the internet not about 20 years old

Most would argue it was the advent and wide incorporation of the TCP/IP protocol that was the birth of the internet.

"In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized and the concept of a world-wide network of fully interconnected TCP/IP networks called the Internet was introduced."

So - 32 years. I first used the internet whilst in university in 1988. It has changed quite a bit since. At first it was government and academics. Now, it's all you crazy bastards. So, no, nothing's changed.

_Whimsical_

I remember when all this was fields...

It BeeMee

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I remember when all this was fields...

... with only the Altavista mountain in the distance...

SilverScreen

Since the internet went mainstream in 1993 I think it has changed a lot.

_Whimsical_

I think it used to be much better to be honest. People were much more open and less guarded if you were engaging on a one to one level. A world of interesting strangers awaited you when you fired up MSChat and they were all quite pleasant,shy,interesting and usually intelligent people, because only a certain type of person got the internet back then.
I still have most of the friends I made online 13-14 years ago as a teen.
Actually chat and downloading mp3 were the only decent thing to do back then online as most sites were actually pretty rubbish. That has changed for the better at least.

nullzero

You've changed Internet; you used to be cool.

cloud493

Remember youtube back when it first started? Full of porn it was, and all sorts of weird stuff.

RayM

I think Bebo introduced a lot of idiots to the internet. And then Facebook brought the rest of them along. My heart sinks a little when I see laptops advertised as being "ideal for Facebook." Oh Icarus, fly not so near the sun, lest thy waxen wings doth melt.

mickydoomsux

The Internet has definitely become dumber the more popular it has gotten.

People spend far too much effort on nonsense like twitter and instagram that don't really seem to serve much of a purpose for anyone beyond celebrities who use them to sell whatever crap they currently have going.

Things like Facebook that give everyone an outlet to post viral videos and photos that are clearly fake or full of empty sentiment are annoying.

Popularity has increased the background noise level of the Internet.

nullzero

RayM wrote: »

I think Bebo introduced a lot of idiots to the internet. And then Facebook brought the rest of them along. My heart sinks a little when I see laptops advertised as being "ideal for Facebook." Oh Icarus, fly not so near the sun, lest thy waxen wings doth melt.

It was game over once the popular people arrived. "what's that you say? I should check out rosanna Davidsons Bebo page? RIP Internet".

NomadicGray

I'll tell you one thing, at least back then i didnt have these awful fetishes.

smash

Remember the days when everything you did wasn't everyone else's business...

Fat Christy

I liked the internet before it was cool.

SilverScreen

smash wrote: »

Remember the days when everything you did wasn't everyone else's business...

Those days can still be with us if people are smart enough.

Arthur Beesley

One wonders why the OP posted this tripe in After Hours...

Snobbery is alive and well.

smash

SilverScreen wrote: »

Those days can still be with us if people are smart enough.

You can be as smart as you want but it won't stop some other idiot posting something.

Aidric

The internet is a vanity project and we're all invited.

efb

Ah geocities, altavista, excite, sin, the good old days

The_Valeyard

Ah yes, with my Oceanfree account and chat room, maybe use Encarta to get my information.

Microsoft chatrooms still in use.

For Forks Sake

efb wrote: »

Ah geocities, altavista, excite, sin, the good old days

Best viewed with Netscape Navigator.

Maximus Alexander

Aka Ishur wrote: »

Op wears fedoras.

Now I'm no hipster, but I'm chomping at the bit for the 20s to roll around so I can justify wearing a fedora. Anyone passes comment? It's the roaring 20s bitch, get with it!

Only 6 years to go.

strobe

smash wrote: »

You can be as smart as you want but it won't stop some other idiot posting something.

Maybe if you weren't running around trying to cheat on the missus you wouldn't be so cynical?

Ruu

Doras search on tinet.ie.

Jordan 199

Ruu wrote: »

Doras search on tinet.ie.

I remember Telecom Eireann Internet very well. Still have the packaging and CD ROM for it.

You could run it on a PC with a i386 CPU, 4MB of RAM and 15MB of Hard Disk space.

Norma_Desmond

Just wish it hadn't become so commercialised. Now, companies track your internet habits -
so that they can know what kind of customer you are and how best to market to you.
Then you need to have adblock to get rid of ads etc.

Wish there was more selection in terms of browsers as well, outside of the main ones: Chrome, Safari, Opera, IE (:pac:) & Mozilla, there really ain't much.
And all of those browsers have their issues depending on what operating system you are using.

Then there are the threat of viruses, credit card fraud, protecting your information online, protecting passwords, having a different password for each site etc.

The internet is a completely different beast than it was originally.
It's fcuked, I'm going back to using solely using books for information.
If anyone wants me, I can be connected on my fax machine.

Badly Drunk Boy

Ruu wrote: »

I miss slower internet, just too fast these days.

Yeah, you're right!






























Oh...I got it now.

Grayson

ToddyDoody wrote: »

Porn is much quicker

Porn exists. I remember the first porn i saw online was in 1993. it was some playboy pages that someone had scanned in and stuck on an FTP server somewhere. It was another two years before i saw porn on-line again.

And I was looking

Grayson

SpaceTime wrote: »

Ah the auld internet and that noise it used to make:
Pshhhkkkkkkrrrr​kakingkakingkakingtsh​chchchchchchchcch​*ding*ding*ding*

there were some handshakes i could recognise.

(in my defence i worked in support and supported a load of different modems. )

Reindeer wrote: »

So - 32 years. I first used the internet whilst in university in 1988. It has changed quite a bit since. At first it was government and academics. Now, it's all you crazy bastards. So, no, nothing's changed.

it was 93 when the first browser was invented wasn't it? I started using it on unix terminals in 93 when i first went to college. It was all telnet and FTP. It's changed a LOT since then.

Micky Dolenz

Facebook is the work of the devil himself.

Shakespeare's Sister

Think the OP posted this before and it was written in a terribly condescending tone. It's written in a far less antagonistic manner now, and I think they make some fair points.

FearDark wrote: »

now the scum of the earth and their mothers have Facebook pages where they can spout their ****e.

Wish Bebo wasn't gone - so much of that shyte has migrated to Facebook.

The Singing Beard

touch.boards.ie/thread/2057236001

dxhound2005

truffle5 wrote: »

The internet has changed for the worse as it has become more mainstream, in my opinion. With the advent of Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter arrived a tidal wave of the general public who were until then unacquainted with the internet and its culture and etiquette. An “eternal September” if you will. It was previously the reserve of the nerds and the society’s outcasts. Allow me to elaborate with some examples.

1. Days could pass between posts on a message board, meaning if you did make a post, it was well thought-out and meaningful. You looked forward to a response if you were the OP, in the hope that your query could be answered. These days, people fire-off hastily typed one-liners, often in a fit of anger or in a lame attempt to be funny. The quality of discussion has therefore dropped dramatically.

2. The smaller number of members on particular forums back then meant that each person was more likely to get involved in the conversation and have their say. It’s analogous to having a chat with 3 friends over the dinner table compared to shouting in the middle of a crowd. The smaller communities were more intimate and you would gradually get to know the other members’ “personalities” and opinions. This acquaintance from a shared interest would often develop into friendship and you are less likely to be offensive or uncivil to a friend. Internet etiquette was therefore more adhered to.

3. The communities were self-selecting. Unless you were really interested in aviation, for example, it was unlikely you would stumble across an aviation message board. These days we have “super-forums” that cover a wide range of interests, so if you join boards to discuss, let’s say, fashion, it won’t be long until you discover the other forums on travel, politics, languages etc. The increased accessibility of the individual forums leads to a more transient community and greater exposure to trolls. The loss of a sense of a stable community is regrettable.

The veteran internet surfers displaced by the tidal wave of new users have no doubt migrated to more discreet communities and the dark web but it’s sad to a part of internet culture disappear.

I used to like it when people made their own contributions and didn't copy and paste this sort of nonsense from the internet.

http://www.randomrocker.co.uk/new/redditsingle.php?postid=2902s7&subreddit=AskReddit

Cantremember

SilverScreen wrote: »

Those days can still be with us if people are smart enough.

Somewhere in Fort Meade someone is laughing their ass off at that post.

Cantremember

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I used to like it when people made their own contributions and didn't copy and paste this sort of nonsense from the internet.

http://www.randomrocker.co.uk/new/redditsingle.php?postid=2902s7&subreddit=AskReddit

Busted!