This is what always stops me at quora’s door.
I've a simple but strict set of security rules for whether I'll use a website.
- it does not want to run javascript
- that I can access it over Tor without being blocked
- that it will work in a text based browser like elinks
Despite the protestations by idealogues that no such sites exist, HN meets all those requirements, as do dozens of useful sites I regularly use.
If and only if I get to evaluate the quality of a site based on those requirements, I may eventually register, with nothing more than an email, in order to post replies.
Quora fell off that list long ago. More recently so did StackExchange.
Often I find that things break as soon as Cloudflare proxies are involved.
Designers and product managers may completely ignore people like me, trample all over our needs and ignore us. Why would they care about the one percent. All good luck power to them and their values.
But I am also not the least bit concerned with whether their products are a success or not. Why would I care if they do not?
Yet I cannot concur that "almost every" site does. No, there are some that do. Moreover, those sites seem to self curate as being of very good quality. So I am happy that there are thoughtful, intelligent people out there who "get it". When they stop, so do I, and just move on. It's not personal and I'm not invested in them.
eeeeeeeewww! That's not a great look is it!?
^^^ delete button maybe?
> have opposite tastes of contributing users.
The people you exclude are unlike the contributing users.... yep no tautology there then :)
"They're also driving away contributors with more altruistic motivations"
Now, I can agree with that, because I see a very strong alignment between the set of people who strongly uphold their own values and have self-respect, and those who stand up for the rights of others and have something to give.
The "walled garden" internet basically drives away people who give a fuck.
I liken people like this to the Amish. They balk at modernity as being incompatible with their beliefs. So they withdraw from the world and live life as they see fit.
What they don’t do is go around all the time yelling at people telling them how their lifestyle is wrong or constantly telling other people how they don’t use certain technologies.
I'm intellectually curious, what you're so deeply invested in that was just threatened?
Does Javascript really mean something important to you?
It serves no useful purpose
No useful purpose to who?
Now I suspect you'll want to tell me how actually Javascript is perfectly safe... and that's a conversation we can save for another day for the sake of both our dignity and friendship. I'm afraid it's my job to know otherwise.
If you knew about that many exploits in the wild, surely you could (white hat) tell the company who created the browser or (black hat) make a lot of money by selling it to three letter agencies or private companies that sell it to three letter agencies.
However, in the real world, a fully patched Android or iOS operating system - especially one that is in “lock down mode” is not any more susceptible to Zero day exploits than the number of other exploitable parts of the OS that you also don’t have any control over.
And even if you only run open source software, how long was the OpenSSL bug in operating systems before it was discovered?
Do you use your mobile’s messaging system? That’s been one of the primary targets of exploits that will target you directly.
What I hear is that Javascript is a means of speed and power to you. And for you, forgoing that power would serve no useful purpose. Do I understand that correctly?
What I am wondering is, do you think that for other people, they should, maybe even must, feel the same way? Even if they are very pleased just listening to the radio?
It's hard to me to see how a site with a vision like Quora (had) can continue existing for long after they start ignoring accessibility issues.
Sounds like I should be looking for a Stack Overflow alternative too.
(I'm suspecting that this might be related to the recent issue of better accessibility also making it easier to abuse for neural network based abusers, and it certainly looks like a hard problem to solve for the most popular websites.)
I am wondering what you mean by "success" of a company here? Is that purely financial success? Or rate of growth or something like that?
But they are not the only things that define the success of a person, or a company. WOuld you agree?
SO went to hell when they started demanding ready to copy paste answers instead of 'teach the man how to fish' answers.
It is a bit worrying that both freedom and security are thought 'fanatical' by some.
Because those are your grandpa's and your dad's causes, respectively. The operative word for this generation is "consent."
Manipulate someone into giving Consent and you can do whatever the hell you want to them. They asked for and agreed to the abuse!
It all starts with clicking "I accept."
My skin crawls anytime I see someone bring it up; it's a red flag that someone is trying to apply BDSM protocol negotiation to an otherwise-simple interaction. Attorneys do this shit too. People only ever do it at all when they're trying to rewrite the rules in their favor.
You don't have to click 'I accept'. If the dialog is too complex to figure out what you're accepting, click reject or close the page.
If there is no obvious reject (even if there is a hidden one) just close the page and never come back.
But hey, this thing about "consent". Jolly interesting. Because not a single person I've met born after 2000 really has the capacity
I do not mean that in a disparaging way, but I do mean it in a serious legal sense. I don't think that in the 21st century the vast majority of adults have the capacity to consent to digital contracts. It started with EULAs, and has since plunged the entire legal profession into degeneracy. It's total failure to protect the lives of common people from technology predators is shameful.
I'm afraid any discourse that's similar to religion in how it's done is 'fanatical' for me. No matter if it's about $DEITY, blockchain, "AI" or freedom.
Edit: oh, forgot Oppenheimer and Barbie. Haven't seen them and never will. I can't stand cults in my entertainment either.