How ham radio endures

One thing I will say, the Internet deeply and dramatically changed my perspective on the global community and connectivity in general.

When I got my ham license (DE K2KD) at age ~11, the idea of picking up a microphone or tapping on a morse key or using a computer with RTTY to talk to someone on the other side of the world was mind-blowing. "Mom, I'm talking to someone in Australia! I'm talking to someone in Nigeria!".

Now we block entire IP ranges because they send too much spam or because we think the traffic from an entire country has a high fraud rate.

Easy come easy go. Sigh.

The problem is that a huge fraction of people are worth talking to, but a small fraction -- 5%? 10%? -- can poison that well so thoroughly that it is unusable. Being a ham operator takes some effort and is harder to exploit, so most people you talk to will just be normal humans -- enthusiasts. But the internet attracts every freak and scam operator in the world.

I'm reminded of various "free" rock concerts of my youth, which were often disasters -- too many people, half of them stoned or otherwise out of control, etc. -- things I quickly learned I would pay to avoid. Things that are too easy attract people I don't want to interact with.