The internet is shit. | Hacker News Reader

The internet is shit.

internetisshit.org

30 pointsinitself32 comments

Probably the most worthwhile quote out of all of this was

Checking your sources does not mean finding another website that says the same.

That and "Maybe journalists will do proper research again".

This guy has some decent points but in the end has his head so far up his, well you get the idea. The internet is far from 'shit'. Here in America it is single handedly saving our political system because the only way anyone can get any sort of information is through the internet. That doesn't mean that ALL information on the internet is always right. Far from it, but to cast aside the entire internet, THE ENTIRE INTERNET, because there is a lot noise is just nonsense. Its so much more than just political too. All kinds of people with all kinds of interests can connect in ways never before. In the end its always how one USES the tool, not the tool itself. How about a bet, if you think the internet is 'shit' lets log every site you go to. If you go to anywhere close to visiting 10%of every website in the entire world, I'll give you a $10. If not, you have to retract your statement because to even suggest you have seen it all and have the right and ability to judge it all is just, well, 'shit'.

Well in all honesty, I think this article isn't trying to say the Internet is inherently shitty, but more subjectively shitty. By that, I mean it appears the way people approach the information presented, and the way we value it has turned an otherwise incredible resource into a vague, hard to define collection of data. By that argument, some of what he says makes sense.

Take for example modern academia's persistent fear of Wikipedia. It's almost like it's threatening their way of life and their authority on the rite of passage of knowledge.

Maybe I'm just crazy though, but I only agree with him in the sense that so-called "experts" still have a distrust of the Internet, and the trust we put in them lowers the value of everything that truly matters.

If all you see on the internet is shit, it's probably your browsing habits that are to blame.

From one perspective, the kludge of DOM, CSS, HTML, synchronous communication and occasional and disgustingly jury-rigged asynchronous communication is shit, and the results are as well, so it's pretty hard to avoid.

I built an online application once where on returning to an area of the application it remembered what you'd been doing and all of your data was set up. Numerous people complained about it - colleagues and customers - and all eventually agreed that it was fantastic. But it was so different to their expectations of what a web app should do (i.e. strung-together cgi) that their instinct was to get it purged.

The web does nasty things to our brains, and our ideas of quality. Great post.

Editors, please destroy asap.

Perhaps a tighter profanity filter would spare us and the editors...

But then I couldn't explain how shitty this was...

What did I ever do to deserve that?

Actually, you have my apologies. I didn't click on the text on the first page so I thought that was it. You didn't deserve that comment. After going back and clicking through, you made some valid points. The swears take away from the presentation, however.

Try this version:

http://www.internetisshit.org/print.html

Well - he has a point!

But everybody has to be able to handle addiction and everybody has to build his/her own crap filters.

We do this more or less successfully with alcohol and TV. Why shouldn't we be able to deal with internet too in the right way?

I propose the author of internets####.org may start a software to distinguish quality from crap in the net. Something where everybody can define his own crapfilters, like with spam.

I'll buy it instantly.

Of course there's a world out there beyond the internet, but before the internet it was a lot less likely you'd ever really know what you were missing. Sure, you might know the great diner around the block, but would miss out on the other dozen great ones within a couple of miles that you could have found on yelp.

It's an interesting essay but rather excessively pessimistic I think.

I have of late--but

wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all

custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily

with my disposition that this goodly frame, the

internet, seems a filthy promontory, this most

excellent filigree, the web, look you, this brave

e'erchanging firmament, this majestical net fretted

with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to

me than a foul and pestilent congregation of feces.

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!

how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how

express and admirable! in action how like an angel!

in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the

world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,

what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not

The real quote, with emphasis added:

> the internet itself, in almost all of what's been done with it, is shit.

This is simply a restatement of Sturgeon's law.

it goes hand in hand with anything new really.

all the people without real creative ideas do the following: old idea + new technology = profit!

Well there’s a point here, as all human invention we are far from mastering the use of the internet, we’re still grappling with it. Does it make it shit? Don’t think so, what we do with it define its role in our lives and society. Advocacy of better usage will be much helpful, instead of internetisshit.com maybe makingthebestoftheinternet.com a bit longer name, mail it to friends they wont notice it : - )

replace the instances of "internet" with radio and transpose back to 1910.

it's just a new method of mass communication, nothing more nothing less.

nothing less

Sure, but the arrival of a new method of mass communication is often a very big deal. Radio seems boring to us, but it was world-changing when it appeared.

undoubtedly. in addition the internet is much more important than telegraph, radio, or TV was because it takes a step in the opposite direction: decentralization.

humanities tendency to continue to cluster far past the threshold of added utility is one of our biggest problems.

The Victorian Internet is a fun book that talks about the reaction to the arrival of the telegraph and predictions about how it would bring about world peace.

http://tomstandage.com/vicnet.html

"that a lot of the internet isn't true and a lot of it isn't interesting"

The exact same is relevant with print and the traditional news media.

Even if true, the call to action is obscure at best.

"Go forth and complain!"

A "Send this to all your friends" page at the end would've made it perfect :)

Holy crap, that's insipid.

Not really that interesting. The Internet is just a means for people to communicate faster. If most of it is shit it's because most of what people talk with each other is shit. While I think that got to be changed, I don't blame Internet for that.

That website proves its point.

I'm half tempted to register and build theinternetisshit.orgisshit.org (beautiful use of subdomain, don't you think?). Alas, I'm pressed for time.

"no matter how angst-ridden and attention-seeking its author"

The argument is recursive!

He's trying to spread a message using a medium he criticizes.

Lets hate something; call it "shit" then build something on it. (A webpage) what a douche.

.rb

This site made me think of Pyle: "I am ... in a world ... of shit!"

I disagree with what he said, but honestly, he got me flipping through all his 11 pages, that is quite something.

One, he's got style, I have never seen a page so simple that it becomes intriguing. Two, he wants to go beyond Google, isn't this what we all want?

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