On the other hand (Web 2.0 rant)

ETA: Now a public post, just as a heads up.

In my last entry (like half an hour ago), I posted that people often complain that the new internet ruined the old internet. i still feel this is unfair, but a discussion in the comments led me to realize there are things that bother me. I replied, but I also decided to copy and paste what I said. Sorry the first bit is a little choppy, it's a response so there's no real preamble. I did add something else that's not in the comment.

As much as I bitched about mods being too strict back then, thank GOD for them. Because sure, forums had trolls, but I even remember forums and LJ communities without much - if any - mod action. They were total nightmares, because no one was really monitoring anyone or anything or establishing rules. At some forums I went to, there weren't really trolls per se, but we constantly argued over what was too off topic, if netspeak should be allowed, etc. because there was no one to say "yes, this has to be so" or "no, this is unimportant." You know? 

 

And now the entire internet is basically a modless forum. So yeah. That is a HUGE drawback.

 

And speaking of mental health,  I'm worried about some of the enabling I've seen. I don't mean that people can't talk about their problems - I mean memes that practically celebrate destructive and worrying behavior. I'm also wary of both Toxic Positivity and Toxic Negativity. I don't see the latter discussed nearly as often, in fact I may have made the term up, but it's just as much a problem, where you're almost expected to be miserable on social media for anything you say to count. I DO think sometimes people are insensitive in their positivity. At the same time, there's this idea that nothing positive should go online, and... I'm sorry, that's just as destructive.  

 

And that may branch into the lack of forums as well. I feel like the internet used to have very established places - websites, forums, whatever. So if you mostly wanted to talk about gardening, you went here. If you wanted to talk about trucks, you went there. If you wanted to join a forum for discussing personal problems, you could. So on and so forth. Now it's this mishmash of everyone and everything with no real control, and worse yet, when things get really bad, the lack of control means there's nothing anyone can do.  But even without worse case scenarios, it can be hard to find what you really want, whereas I feel like it was easier to find a true community back then.

(I also think that it's harder for some people to open up because everyone is online. Myself so very much included. I talked about work way more when I had a boss who didn't know how to use a browser.)
 

So yeah, I actually agree, really. I think there's elements of the internet being more universal that aren't SO bad. I will stand by that. But I also miss when it was controlled by people with a vested interest more so than platform creators who don't really care what's going on. I wish more people would use DreamWidth; it really does feel like one of the last places on the internet that that's even possible. I'd say LJ too, except that's also been a bit corrupted. I will say that Facebook does have some awesome communities, though even those are hampered by algorithims no one actually wants. Same with pages. 

I still think that eventually, the Deep Web is going to be a place for community based stuff. Right now it seems to mostly be disturbing stuff - which I've never sought because no thank you - but even then, technically corporate websites only employees can access are the Deep Web. Even that site is owned by a very large tech firm, so there are some drawbacks because of that, but it's mostly independent of any larger entity. It serves its own purpose. 

I'm not saying that Web 1.0 was perfect by any means. I could go on all day about crappy sites and LJ communities. Also... there were a lot of sites that enabled really bad behavior. I just feel it was better controlled, whereas now it's a bit harder. It's either so controlled you can't even see 90% of the things your friends post and 90% of your friends don't actually see your posts, or so uncontrolled that someone can tell you they're going to force you to drink bad Kool-Aid, and no one does anything about it. So that's not great. I truly don't care that people post selfies now, that's not how I used the internet but hey, whatever floats your boat. I'm uncomfortable with how easily destructive things have become, though.