Please Let the Internet Die. It's Time to Start Over

pixl97

Paywalled article. Also, how do you plan to start over without inviting all the same people problems that existed before?

dipierro

https://archive.is/sNbrl

api

The stuff this article is talking about is not the Internet. It's more like a good chunk of the web ("web 2.0"), social media, and forums. I don't entirely disagree. While we're at it lets let played-out Internet culture (memes, etc.) die and lets do something new. The Internet is wires, routers, switches, and IP.

paxy

Any piece that starts off by conflating the internet and the web isn’t worth reading.

pgn

reminds me of the faux "new internet" pitch from silicon valley. in tone at least.

bbor

Don’t let the door hit ya where god split ya!

the_hoser

"We're going to start over, and this time we won't make the same mistakes!" Lol.

basscomm

We already have Internet2, do we need Internet3?

GaryBluto

It's always amusing to me when I see people who only interact with a tiny percentage of the web saying that it's time to burn everything down and start again. Do these people know other websites exist? I would hope a tech journalist would.

JKCalhoun

The web is essentially already dead to me. HN and perhaps 3 or 4 other sites are the only place I spend any time any longer. I seem to lean instead on LLMs more and more. And so far, not disappointed. (Which may say more about how low the bar is these days with our enshittified Web.)

enjrolas

it's very funny that this is paywalled

brink

The problem isn't the web, the problem is greed is becoming more and more acceptable with every passing year. It's consuming everything. But really who can blame them? Housing, health, cars, everything is unaffordable. Who can afford to be not greedy? People who would have otherwise lived quiet, content lives are now clamoring to get to the top of the hill just to survive before it all topples over.

bortimus

The internet has been a shambling zombie since Eternal September started.

jwr

Paywalled and ad-ridden article telling me what is wrong with the internet. This reminds me of "Don't complain about the traffic: YOU are the traffic".

jeanpah

I'm having trouble envisioning a positive future, maybe the web will rot but if we don't make something better of that corpse someone with bad intentions will. An we aren't making much to better the web either. We really need new ideas before it's too late and the web just surrenders to be net negative for the people or just boring.

two_handfuls

Never give up. Adapt, overcome.

fumar

The web was a moment in time. We are far beyond that moment. Apps, walled gardens, LLM generated content, and ads eroded it away. Unless the youth take to, promote and use, the web I don’t see the situation improving.

Fizz43

Users have grown acustom to certain modern features and functionality but every vision for a new web throws those out the window and and tries to recreate the most simplest form of the web. The web today sucks but i'd rather have it than only static sites.

asciimov

I do miss the old internet; back before the AD-men got rich, took it over, and claimed everything as their own. I miss the niche little websites, the ones built by people just trying to share something creative without trying to sell you something.

sublinear

This has very little to do with technology. Like a lot of these articles lately, it doesn't belong on HN. Every legacy tabloid like Wired has been pumping out stories that are 90% social and 10% technology. Simply involving computers is not enough to keep it on HN anymore. There's nothing to discuss here, but I'll try anyway... I don't think we've ever burned down a city and "started over" just because of obnoxious salespeople harassing and soliciting, antisocial loitering, open air drug problems, homelessness, or even the unregulated food carts making people sick. It's extremely easy to see that these problems are as old as civilization and the parallels with social media, ecommerce, advertising, etc. We solve them by ousting the old and bringing regulation. Tough shit if you don't like it. It's not a question of "if", but "when". It happens when people get fed up enough. We're not quite there since it's still mostly unproductive whining.