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The old internet shows signs of quietly coming back

(cheapskatesguide.org)
622 points ColinWright | 1 comments | 25 Jan 22 22:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.216s | source
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aluminussoma ◴[25 Jan 22 23:18 UTC] No.30079524[source]▶
The Internet today feels like a big box strip mall in suburbia. While visiting my home town, I looked for a local, independent hardware store. There was only Home Depot and Lowe's. Then I realize how few independent businesses were left.

On the Internet, you have Google, Amazon, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter. Much of the good content is hidden in their secret gardens (Facebook, Twitter, and increasingly Reddit).

Discovery needs to be reimagined. Google search directs traffic but now everyone has a SEO manager to get their site to the top. If we want to see the Internet like before, original content needs to be prioritized over content like Pinterest, without needing to do anything special.

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1. Barrin92 ◴[26 Jan 22 00:53 UTC] No.30080282[source]▶
I think this is exactly the wrong way around. Discoverability is the cause of the destruction of original content on the internet, because as soon as something is discoverable it turns commercial and mainstream and gets blown up.

Niche internet communities could exist when they weren't discoverable because that was the only reason people who mess them up stayed out of them. Keyword 'Eternal September'.

The internet is now almost entirely transparent and everything that is transparent is uninteresting, because the eyes of everyone are on it, and nothing that's actually fun ever happens in public.