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Comment by lvspiff | Hacker News Reader

Whats with everything being a dumpster fire nowadays? how about a simple hot mess? or what happened to a good ol hell in a hand-basket? or Ninth Circle Of Hell? I'm sure there are better euphemisms than the dumpster being on fhir as that indicates someone stoking it whereas the reality is more indecision and inaction causing confusion and demoralizing the teams.

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Everything has to be turned up to 11 today because too many people think they won't get enough attention if they actually label something as severe/important as it actually is.

Think about it, we stopped watching traditional news, then shunned news that was too slow because twitter was faster though sometimes wrong.

so traditional news media was like "aight, bet" and now we are where we are.

the trump era fully solidified that the more ragetastic you can make your title, the more people tribe up and engage in the comments so your one shitty little 30 second article now has people mobbing together in droves for the comments and your ad rate is through the roof. what you're writing doesn't even have to have any fact, it can be all opinion, and in most cases this can afford you even more leeway to be inflammatory.

does anybody else see this happening or am I just here rambling at the sky?

You're not wrong, but the scope isn't limited to traditional news. The power of mass media (including social media) plus the ratings/profit-motive led us to expect entertainment at all times, and it's been a long time coming. Back in the '60s JFK's FCC Chairman gave his "vast wasteland" speech, which still rings true:

> When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

> But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

> You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you’ll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.

An article I enjoyed about this topic can be found here (non-paywalled): https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2F...

Traditional news invented it. "More on this amazing story after these messages" - everything was formatted to keep you around through the next commercial break. The internet didn't have to do that since you were seeing ads inline, so the news was more useful. But then the internet realized if you sensationalize... etc etc.

> what you're writing doesn't even have to have any fact, it can be all opinion, and in most cases this can afford you even more leeway to be inflammatory.

Sounds like it could be automated pretty well with ChatGPT.

[flagged]

It’s because the top /giphy for dumpster fire is hilarious. An actual dumpster, on fire, floating around during a flood.

To be fair, we go with "clown car" about 40% of the time too

Googlers quipped Sundar made an oopsie and is annoyed sound good?

Because our neural pathways are all overstimulated to the point of being fried and we need to turn things up to 11 to feel anything at all

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard Google has lost its mojo.

Same thing with Wave, Google Plus, Allo, Reader, countless examples.

They have lost their mojo in that they've failed countless times to diversify their business revenue stream. They're in the same boat as Meta in that regard. Especially if you compare them to Microsoft, Amazon and Apple who have all made good progress in diversifying over the last decade or so.

Because of these examples, my immediate gut reaction to a new Google product announcement is wondering how long it will be before Google will discontinue said product.

As should be your reaction to any new product or service, since that is how innovation works. Things are introduced to the marketplace, and most will fail.

No it isn’t. Most established companies don’t spin up and then down products at this rate otherwise Google wouldn’t be singled out for it. You’re doing damage control.

Most companies don't even try to innovate, they just hire MBAs to optimize their existing revenue sources.

Product failures are simply evidence of innovation.

The implication that Google, or Microsoft, is thoughtlessly or intentionally putting out failures is absurd.

People are getting caught up in short-termism instead of long-term visions. It's happening everywhere in society.

Clown town?

i guess a hot mess is just a dumpster fire at a lower quantity and temperature

My favorite has and likely always will be: clusterf*k.

Let's not forget "Gong Show".

Is this one a West Coast Canadian term of a certain era?

It was popular in Vancouver in the oughts but I've been met with blank stares elsewhere on the continent, especially East Coast younger millennials.

It was originally broadcast in the USA in the 70s, and my coworker from the Maritimes watched the show when she was younger. Also my older coworkers have gotten the reference, so perhaps it's a generational thing. It should be brought back, it's a pretty funny term.

Most people don't know how to behave online.

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