If this is all happened before why the fuck did you guys let it happen again
Anyone remember when CompuServe had these chatrooms or channels that were basically collaboration websites before Geocities blew up? I liked those.
I find it interesting because the BME Pain Olympics was mostly done with plasticine and the like for shock value
I create performance art with my dick which isn’t gore (I’m not going to hurt my dick!) and I’m often accused of using AI
People are simultaneously skeptical and also ridiculously credulous, depending on what they want to believe
Reads username: FistingEnthusiast
I guess that checks out
My Goatse sense is tingling
BME Pain Olympics
I have a clip of Indestructible Man on my phone, because that dude is a legend!
You’re the man now, dog!
Oh that brought some shit back from the fiery depths of my childhood memories
Does anyone remember discharges.org? A fucking weird corner of the internet.
KennyLauderdale! I follow him on Youtube and Bluesky, he’s made some excellent videos about anime and other Japanese shows!
deleted by creator
Only newbs block.
I’ve been online since before Mosaic existed, and I’m blocking your dumb ass. Check and mate.
Same but I remember when Archie came out. I started some time before 14.4 modems, but can’t remember the exact year anymore. Spent more of my time on MUDs. I still have an active user on one.
I prefer “calibrated”
You also never clicked an advert or used your real name.
Please tell me that people aren’t clicking ads…
Enough are doing it that it’s still profitable. Last estimates I saw were 10% who saw an ad clicked one, and 10% of those who clicked bought what they saw
That’s just hard to fathom for me. Wow.
It’s actually been dropping over time. It used to be more like 10%, now I see some people celebrating 0.4% conversation rate. What’s also been happening in conjunction is the cost has dropped. On like Facebook and stuff now you can serve like 1000 impressions for like $5 or something. I don’t know exact numbers on cost there but stupid low like 0.10¢ per clicked ad.
Across a lot of media, impressions are so cheap now they don’t even charge for them, just the clicks cost (“CPC” is the charge type, “cost per click”). They track impressions to give advertisers metrics on conversion rates, but they don’t charge for them.
1% of ad views result in a sale? That seems implausible
The terms you want to search of you’re curious “Click through Rate” and “Conversion Rate”. It’s actually been falling over time as people get more and more used to ignoring ads or using ad blockers. They vary some for type of product and location of ad (fantasy novels on a book blog are likely to be higher, drop ship Amazon stuff on Facebook are likely to be lower), but yeah, not super high.
The thing is, I do not honestly object to ads - the internet has got to be paid for somehow…
My objection is the way that ads are served. It’s the creepy stalking users far and wide across the web that irks me.
This targeted bullshit. No, no and NO!
I’m more likely when I am on any given site - to check out an ad that is discrete, static and embedded and shows up regardless of the ad blocker I use.
That is different.
At that point, I’m seeing something that another person or business that runs the site has made a decision to advertise, it may be a product or service they like and use.
The rest of it though… can rot.
Back in the day you could catch malware from online ads. And the pop-ups, the damn pop-ups, so annoying. For me, the final straw was when ads got sound. That got real old real fast, kind of like web pages with embedded MIDIs. I installed an ad blocker and haven’t looked back. Any time I browse Internet without a blocker it’s a horror show that kills me inside. If ads were reasonably sized static images I could manage it, but advertisers shot themselves in the foot by making their ads so obnoxious and went all-in on tracking. The trust is gone forever. Ads and advertisers can burn in hell.
The pop-up ads that spawned more pop-ups, and they were all animated and played sound. The only way out was holding down the power button until the computer dies.
From an actual conversation I had once:
“What’s your problem with adds, I love them. They always recommend things I could actually use. It’s genuinely a great way for me to learn about new products or services.”
Do we know the same people? I asked the two who said this if they actually click on the ads and buy something. You can imagine my horror when they said yes. Meanwhile, I have a Pihole on my network and uBlock on every single browser.
The average person has magic black rectangle for worldwide interaction. That’s the extent of their knowledge, cookies are a foreign concept if they don’t come straight out of the oven
Sure. Fundamentally, this is what ads should do. The problem comes from how intrusive they are in pushing their propaganda. And now they’re literally everywhere.
I remember back in the day before browser tabs when sites would open new windows for ads. And sometimes those ads would open more windows for ads. And some of those windows had sound, or porn, or both. Worse yet, some would open off screen so you couldn’t easily close them. That’s where the term “pop-up” came from in pop-up blockers.
~Talk about whack-a-mole.~
Even Youtube is filled with scam ads, trusting ads to deliver you worthwhile results is like trusting Facebook not to sell your data to the highest bidder.
Wait… you’re watching youtube w/o an ad-blocker?
I haven’t seen a YT ad in more than a decade, I did happen to watch this Coffeezilla video yesterday on AI deepfake ads.
do you live within c-suite boardroom powerpoint presentation
This was definitely in a corporate setting lmao
I used to click ads on websites I liked back in the aughts
I’ve clicked a few. Mostly by accident, the rest by deception.
My wife does. I throw it back in her face whenever she gets wide ‘you click the ads’
I can’t believe people don’t figure out the 30 seconds of looking it up it takes to not see ads. Worse, some people get confused at why the page looks different if you install them a blocker.
I sometimes do it if it’s a company I really dislike. Then I immediately click back, happy in the knowledge that my brief action probably cost that company a tiny bit of money.
(Side note: I’m an early Internet user.)
Are you one of those people that returned empty prepaid junk mail flyers? ;)
Every time! I usually filled the envelope with whatever other rubbish I could fit in it too.
🤝
I don’t even see the ads anymore, just the close button. My eyes just slide off the edges.
You can tell Kenny Lauderdale has no idea what he’s talking about because he using the internet.
I was watching my own foot surgery the other day (local anesthetic) and even the surgeon’s assistant had to cringe a bit at a certain spot while I was happily watching. She said most patients have to look away during these procedures but after growing up with unrestricted access to the internet and an at times unhealthy amount of curiosity I’ve seen it all. Should I have watched those isis beheading videos? Probably not. The production value was insane though.
i watched the video of them cutting that guy’s head off too, and i’m the opposite now. in fact i’m trying to figure out how to not faint and piss myself when i get a blood draw. i fucking hate it, it’s so stupid, i get tattoos and i’m fine, but if i even think about anything going past a certain depth to my insides (blood lab, surgery, injection), it triggers vasovagal syncope
Same, it’s something about the precious bodily fluids
getting drunk before a shot seems to somewhat help for me, at least for injections, but that would be ill advised for surgery, since it thins the blood
Also sounds bad for a blood draw, or getting to/from the facility.
yep
Back before TLC was trash they had a show called The Procedure where they showed a full surgical procedure, uncut and uncensored. Just a camera pointing down at the table or video from inside.
I was the only one in my family who could stomach it thanks to the internet.
The only thing that continually surprises me about the internet is how young y’all are.
I’m 61 and feel like an absolute fossil out here most days.
The kids are just babes…
I’ve been around since 94. It was never this bad.
I’m really confused what this could be referring to.
Because the folks who’ve been around the longest and remember the early days of the Internet are currently in utter dismay over how their fun international sandbox has become a Black Mirror-esque horror show, while everyone else seems to just shrug and obediently upload their face scans so they can watch AI videos of uncanny-valley cats playing cruel pranks on facsimiles of political figures in-between unskippable ads for applying to be an ICE agent under promises that it’ll be like COD but in your own backyard with living, breathing brown people.
This my brother.
Statistically speaking, most people alive for the days of the early internet are significantly better off than younger generations. That’s my guess, that whoever posted this is comfortably oblivious to the class war
But if you’ve been around long enough and have been reading and paying attention to history, you shouldn’t be surprised because the ruling class is literally doing what they have always done.
The US has not changed, their ruling class has been raping and eating people and children since its inception, but people ignore that history or aren’t taught it because it was done to slaves.
Slavery never ended, it just changed names and presentation to for-profit prisons.
Idk if we are desensitized or just not surprised because we could see it coming
Spot fucking on. The people who’ve watched it grow then wither are the most bitter because we saw what it could have become
I’ll never forget John C. Dvorak’s 2006 article from PC Mag, where he argued that we were living in the Golden Age of the Internet, and to enjoy it while it lasts, before it ends up overcommercialized like what happened to radio. I only half believed it at the time, but I see now that he was 100% spot on with that prediction. (Snippet here; can’t find a scan of the entire article.)
Snippet here; can’t find a scan of the entire article.
I went digging and found it, it’s split across two pages (which was the style at the time) here and here.
here is the full text to save you a click:
The Golden Age of the Internet
06.21.06
By John C. Dvorak
How many people realize that we’re living in a golden age, the Golden Age of the Internet? It won’t last; golden ages never do. Some of it will remain, but there’s evidence that much of it is headed for the trash heap of history.
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Radio days. The golden age of radio lasted from about 1930 to 1950. It was nothing like radio today. Money was thrown at it. Thousands of great dramas and variety shows were made. Huge news organizations were built. Today, radio consists of rightwingers ranting about liberals, psychologists analyzing moaners-and-groaners, and mediocre music from CDs. We do get all-news stations with erroneous traffic reports, and public broadcasting stations with thoughtful shows on fascinating topics like the art of Gebel Barkel from the first millennium BC.
Every new technology that widely affects society has a golden age, and we give things a lot of slack. Porn on the Net symbolizes this leeway. But so do podcasting, blogging, free video servers, chat rooms, P2P, free e-mail, and other flourishing services.
A proprietary, closed Net is coming. A golden age ends either when something new comes along (as with radio’s golden age, killed by the advent of TV), the government gets involved, or entropy sets in—usually a mix of these elements. In the case of the Internet, we are already seeing a combination of government, carrier, and business interactions that will eventually turn the Net into a restricted and somewhat proprietary network, with much of its content restricted or blocked. Only a diligent few will actually have access to the restricted data, and in some parts of the world even trying to view the restricted information on the Net will be a crime.
It’s already a crime to post intellectual discussions about copy-protection schemes that are protected by the DMCA. If the American public tolerates that sort of onerous restriction, then it will tolerate anything.
Continue reading… (page 2)
Filtering and blacklists now common. Most U.S. government agencies now use filtering mechanisms to keep their own computers from accessing blacklisted Web sites. Third parties maintain these blacklists, and they put whatever they want on the lists. For example, my blog was blacklisted for a while, with no explanation.
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Most companies go much further and carefully monitor all network traffic. They can then pinpoint the use of streaming media and other verboten uses of corporate computers and simply block such usages and blacklist the sites involved.
Even e-mail is lost in the shuffle. The New York Times has a system in place that prevents certain press releases from getting to the reporters.
Blame spam and porn. Spam, porn, and other forms of questionable content are the reasons for filtering and blacklisting. But increasingly, content that mentions birth control or evolution is blocked. Nazi memorabilia sales and hate sites are also banned. It is folly to think that any government, no matter how progressive, won’t be tempted to choke off certain content of which it does not approve.
This sort of intervention becomes ever easier with the consolidation of the Internet. It’s all headed to AT&T; and Comcast. AT&T; has already sold the public down the river by turning over phone records to the government without blinking an eye. Ask it to filter Google results? No problemo!
Is there anything the public can do about this? Yes—enjoy the Golden Age, while you can.
Discuss this article in the forums.
More articles from John Dvorak:
- The Conroe Effect
- Net Neutrality Has a Spokesperson
- Understanding Digg and Its Utopian Idealism
- The Golden Age of the Internet
- Dvorak Reveals Old Formula, Panic Ensues
- more
See John get cranky about technology in his new Cranky Geeks IPTV Show.
I’ve been looking for this article again for nearly two decades. Obviously my Google fu isn’t as good as it used to be.
Thank you.
(E: That take on Nazi memorabilia, yikes. Don’t remember that bit lol. Oh how naïve we used to be…)
I was assuming OP means all those gross out pics/vids, or the death/violent stuff. Those pain olympics were something else, and I couldn’t finish 2 girls 1 cup.
Not just me then
I’m also clueless and don’t understand what the OP is talking about - who is having a mental breakdown and why? And aren’t the millennials who are the only tech and internet literate generation exactly the people having a mental breakdown over the way the internet is going? I’m so confused, I need more context.
I’ve been on since BBS’s , I was just starting to understand it a little then it expanded to browsers, then there was the FTP’s to share pirated software, ICQ to meet people from all over the world it was good.
Then it went to shit, the only good thing is that torrents have been keeping my media free.
I miss IRC. I met really cool people there. From nowadays social networks almost nobody. Not sure what is the difference, maybe it helps that I do not want to link my real person to social networks.
Dude, you don’t have to miss IRC, you can just hop back in. Its still great. A little less people but once you find a couple of channels its excellent.
Just few months ago I came back to my old IRC channels about my hobbies. All empty except the one from my city, that is used only by men to find sex, 0 conversation.
Oh yeah the old ones we used to hang out in are long gone. I found new ones.
Even though I’m not the owner or admin of this place, I feel like I can invite you to have a look around. Relevant info and a webchat can be found here: https://inthemansion.com/
Man, I’ve been on the “internet” since before it had pictures or videos or sound . When each “website” was a different phone number, and if more than a few people were visiting it, you had to wait and call back later. Just to read in green (or amber) text on a black screen, someone’s comments on some old post, and weeks & weeks of comment threads.
It was amazing.
Am I upset about the state of the internet today? Not really. It’s evolving, getting worse in some ways, better in others. I’m still interested to see what it grows into. I have my own hopes as to what it will become, but I’m sure I’ll be surprised at the direction it takes.
Well, a legion of bots ended the new Digg beta test despite their best efforts. It came as a surprise to the company.
It was really sudden! I was on that version of Digg (what was it, the 4th?) and one day I opened the page and it was just a message that they were laying off a bunch of people and shutting the site down to try to figure out what to do about all the bots. All the users, all their communities, all their posts and comments, gone. I think they aren’t going to be able to do anything without a mechanism for strong trust, and a revocable one. The most trustworthy account in the world could start spewing slop around at any moment.
Ah well. It had many many fewer users than Lemmy anyway!
Am I upset about the state of the internet today? Not really.
You somehow witnessed corporate interests encircle and subvert the internet’s wonderful idyllic culture into the torment nexus of capitalist control and propaganda and you’re not upset?
We also have witnessed humans rebel against that and create a new decentralized internet that we are currently using
Idk i have faith in weird and creative people who refuse to follow rules
Idk i have faith in weird and creative people who refuse to follow rules
Ramen, let us be blessed by his noodley appendages.
me at 11, hanging out in public chat rooms with Neonazis, pedos, and scientologists debating the Hubble deep field without knowing what any of those things are but just happy to be included.
Public chatrooms were everywhere too. It was just the default, anywhere you went. AOL, yahoo games, random websites for no reason.
Even as late as Starcraft 2 (so 2010-), you’d open the game and immediately be dropped into a giant public chatroom on the home screen with everyone else currently playing.
I got an invite for Gmail from a Yahoo Messenger chatroom, about two months or so after the service opened up as an invite only email service.
I remember it very well. Some kid comes in, and says that his mother traded 12 lbs of peanut brittle on a website called Gmail Swap (where people were trading random things for Gmail invites, instead of money) for a bunch of invites, however because she grounded him he thought of enacting childish revenge by just freely giving 12 invites to anyone who asked.
The Internet was wild.
asl
Any people were responding with it. The post has overplayed the actual cautiousness of those who were around back then.
15/f/cali
