Why does the internet feel less special and interesting now than it did in the mid 00s

[Looney Troons]

Because you’re getting older and rely upon it more than ever. It’s like starting a new job. For the first two months, you’re really pumped to be doing whatever it is you need to do, then it just becomes commonplace. You get on the Internet and do the same thing every day, ad infinitum, until you die.

Find a new type of porn to wank to, or learn a new skill like packet sniffing which will change how you look at things.

 

[Tragi-Chan]

It’s the same with any technology. You get a period of experimentation in the early days, then it becomes normalised, then it becomes universal. There were probably a bunch of dudes in the 1920s bitching about how normies ruined automobiles.

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

It’s the same with any technology. You get a period of experimentation in the early days, then it becomes normalised, then it becomes universal. There were probably a bunch of dudes in the 1920s bitching about how normies ruined automobiles.

They kind of did, if you look further down the line. Seriously. Modern "SUVs"? Really? Something so stupid only normies could come up with it.

 

[Slappy McGherkin]

The demise of the fun internet came as soon as corporations realized they could make money off of it.

 

[Feline Darkmage]

Capitalism did it because now everything is based around the profit motive and not the online-fun-having motive.

 

[OG 666]

Ever since the Neopian stock market crashed, things haven’t been the same.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

I actually really miss old forums from the early 2000s as well, because they were smaller communities and you really got to know the people involved, it wasn't one hodgepodge of shrieking, shit flinging monkeys like Reddit or Facebook.

The old E/N site forums were charming. A lot like here, actually. But even the big popular forums had a bit of the edgy wild-west internetting to it. SomethingAwful used to be a hoot. But the proto-SJW cat ladies got admin powers around 2004-5 and banned anyone creative or fun (while protecting the sickest fucks imaginable because they were asshole buddies) and it shifted rather quickly into a sanitized hugbox.

There are a lot of parallels between the rise and fall of internet 1.0 and current internets. The niche sites fade away and the popular ones get hijacked by agenda pushing cunts.

 

[TiggerNits]

Because you're older and had more time to realize it isn't special now, but your outlook on the past is a bit rose tinted thanks to human nature

 

[Terminus Est]

"The internet feel less special and interesting now than it did in the mid 00s - And Here's Why That Is A Good Thing For Women and the LGBTQ community" - Buzzfeed

Don't Forget To Like, Subscribe and Donate To Our Patreon.

 

[Kenya Jones]

I'm surprised nobody has said that its like the wild west. The Internet used to be quite free (as in, you don't have to worry about employers looking at your online record to see that you did something bad). Same as the Wild West where there was open space for hundreds of miles, with only small towns doting the map. You had to have some knowledge and gumption to get stuff done. You can make that statement about either of the two. You need to do hard work to live out on the plains/desert/etc. If you wanted to be seen or if you want to transfer files, as one of you guys stated, you had to have to know how to do it. All this stuff went away and became sterile. You cant get away with whatever you want anymore, even if you try staying anonymous, the government knows where you live. Same as a city or suburb. The government knows where you live. Everything is much easier to go to, whether it is to the butcher shop or church. Just like how its easier to go to Youtube or Twitter.

 

[Terminus Est]

Age plays a big part I think. You were younger, the internet was only just beginning to get into the mainstream so everything felt new and exciting because to you it was new and exciting. It hadn't been oversaturated by normies yet, the internet was still mostly a place for geeks and people passionate about their hobbies looking to connect with others instead of trying to make a quick buck.

I actually really miss old forums from the early 2000s as well, because they were smaller communities and you really got to know the people involved, it wasn't one hodgepodge of shrieking, shit flinging monkeys like Reddit or Facebook.

The internet then was still in it's Wild West days. It hadn't been taken over by corporations and marketed and stylized for normies.

I miss the wild west days of the internet

 

[Biggie Smalls' Taint]

Web 1.0 was more A E S T H E T I C. Now everything is white with another color and tons of wasted space. Every site has the same "minimalist" aesthetic with the rounded avatars and gray on gray on gray. Web 1.0 was uglier from a design perspective but it had more charm. Maybe I'm just nostalgic for gif-ridden angelfire sites with marble backgrounds.

Corporations coming in and neutering the web was a huge part of the decline, too. Instead of having a lively forum where people have their own opinions and post highly compressed JPEGS why not have a proprietary comments section with no images that you can control and prune as your heart desires. No more of those pesky unsavory opinions, no more dissent, no meanies using the N word, of the F word, or the Q, D, or H word. A place where even your grandparents feel safe.

What I really miss are old forums where everyone signed off like they were writing a letter after each post

Gimme the loot,
-BiggieSmall'sTaint

 

[Milk Mage]

Because it is. The internet used to be a sort of lawless frontier where you could say and do whatever you wanted with total anonymity. But then normies came and started shitting the place up. With the rise of social media, they wanted to make it all about themselves. They don't give a fuck about the exchange of ideas, they just want an outlet for their narcissistic tendencies, thus the rise of vloggers and "influencers"

 

[Crichax]

Because of its instant accessibility to anyone. Anyone, no matter how stupid they are, can learn how to use a computer or a phone. This allows for an infiltration of idiocy and for the ignorant to move the rug out from under us, the knowledgeable. Paraphrasing the YouTuber Optimus (specifically, his video calling out those stupid enough to think zombie deer was an actual thing), "The era of the informed, factchecking American is dead."

Also, the companies in charge have turned to political bullshit.

YouTube is now taking action against Vsauce. VSAUCE! The same creators who YouTube themselves allowed to make a YouTube Red series. This shows that Google and YT want to push conventional celebrities rather than the creators they themselves forged a falsely positive relationship with. https://twitter.com/EmperorLemon/status/1127663873149026305

Reddit has one of the DUMBEST teams of executives in the world. They don't care about the subreddit creators to the point where subreddits with downvotes banned can only ban them on desktop. If you're on mobile, you can downvote away. This shows that the higher-ups there are ridiculously devoted to shoving their karma system into as many people's faces as possible.

And these are some of the most well-known and all-pervasive companies in the world now.

 

[autist_vibes]

Because social media like Facebook and Twitter were created and forums lost their protagonism on internet.
Now photos of your face worth more than the ideas you discuss, and reserved people are excluded. A common fallacy in discussions nowadays is "You don't have a real photo as avatar so you're coward and your opinion doesn't count". Then internet life and real life are becoming more and more tied, as seen in those cases people get fired because their internet posts.

Also because politics became mainstream so everyone "is obligated" to have a political opinion, even though most people's knowledge about politics is as shallow as a saucer.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

Because it's banal and stupid now. And it's all because of Facebook and monetisation, and the barriers to entry are lower.

Used to be that to put forward a website or something you had a blank space on a server, i.e. Geocities or suchlike. You then had to write content for yourself and post it there and then drive people towards it by having something useful or interesting to say. Webrings for people with similar interests, for instance. But then social media happened and now any strategically shaved ape can put forward their totally uninteresting bollox about their latest shopping hauls or make up. NOBODY GIVES A SHINY SHITE. Gnagh.

If it wasn't for this place and various retro computing sites, I'd probably log off forever other than to look stuff up that I needed to.

 

[Midlife Sperglord]

Because most of us are now adults and hopefully we have realized that there is a wide world out there that does not involve staring at a screen.

I know, I'm .

 

[sachertorte]

Because internet is not a fun place anymore.
People are patrolling other people for lynching in case they say "wrong things" and internet lynching are turning to IRL lyinching more often, with the encouraging of media and "influencers" (I hate this word). And internet turned into a Most Miserable Life Contest. Like, you make a post saying you like your life, then a bunch of people come to you to say you have privilege, you're opressing and things like that. Even a dog photo can be target of problematization by bitter people.

 

[Clovis]

I'm so glad it's not just me.

As an oldfag Usenet fossil I can't believe there are now a generation of legal adults who've really only ever known an internet experience mediated by big corporations.

I know things will never go back to that charming, ugly, accessible wild frontier we used to have...but I resent the fact that I'm now the raw material to be mined for others profit. I used to feel like a person connecting with other people when I used the internet. Now I'm just the sum of my clicks, making add revenue for others and having to wade through loads of dross.

 

[Voltaire]

Because you had less options so whatever you had seemed better. Go back to VHS and tell me it was great. It wasn't. Same principle.