from Hacker News

The internet was supposed to be for people who didn't fit in

by danschumann on 5/28/22, 3:54 AM with 2 comments

Instead, we quantify how much people are liked.

It was supposed to be for oddities.. Now all my content is served via the same YouTube interface everyone else has, and they can control whether I'm good weird or bad weird. Even if I'm good weird, I'm probably too wordy for their algorithm.. Which.. If the algorithm were a person, they'd be the dumbest and smartest person in the room, you certainly couldn't talk to them. An intelligence that is unintelligible decides whether or not I'm popular on an interface i used to come to escape popularity contests.

  • by gregjor on 5/28/22, 4:13 AM

    If the internet was “supposed to be for” anything, it was for exchanging and linking documents (hypertext) and enabling communication between computers, and between people.

    You’re talking about social media. Whatever that was supposed to be for originally, it’s been about collecting personal information and selling ads for some time now. Fortunately you can take advantage of the useful aspects of the internet and ignore social media. Whatever you are interpreting as popularity is just an illusion intended to manipulate you. Opt out.

  • by wmf on 5/28/22, 4:25 AM

    You're commenting on HN which is a pretty weird and niche forum. I follow some weird and niche stuff on YouTube and Twitter too. I've made niche YouTube videos. Stop worrying about the algorithm and live your life.