Hacker News Reader

Here is how almost every conversation I've had with non-tech people about using any alternative web platform.

me: have you ever tried X? it's an alternative for Y

them: isn't that for racists or drug dealers or something?

if only they weren't right 95% of the time. Anyone they know that uses alternative web platforms uses them for those exact reasons, and they're generally pretty correct in that assumption, who else would be motivated to use them to any discernible degree?

If they've ever heard of it.

Sometimes though, it's true. I remember experimenting with Freenet a long time ago and discovering it was being heavily used for CSAM. I've never uninstalled something so fast.

If something lets you do things you can't do on the mainstream social network, that will be the dominant kind of thing done on the alternative.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com