Post #1811782

2026-04-01 17:55 UTC

The internet has changed. Not for the better. A big part of it used to be linking between sites. Ideas and information connected. Now the biggest platforms downrank anything that sends you away. Headlines used to inform. Now they’re just clickbait. It used to feel like a place for human creativity and shared knowledge. Now it’s increasingly just computer generated content. Feels like we’ve engineered ourselves into a corner where the internet is no longer the information hub we need.

Replies (11)

@helge@mastodon.social 2026-04-01 18:10

@simonbs@mastodon.social We still have blogs which are still kinda like that, though I suppose they are getting killed by AI (but for unrelated reasons).

Open ##2826378
@cgervasi@fosstodon.org 2026-04-01 18:26

@simonbs@mastodon.social Maybe it's a victim of its own success. The Internet is still there, but there's so much more crap on it.

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@mlevison@agilealliance.social 2026-04-01 18:33

I still link out. I also cite with some rigour.

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@wyatt_h_knott@mstdn.social 2026-04-01 19:24

@simonbs@mastodon.social Gotta be honest, the minute they started talking about shopping on the internet, I knew it was all downhill from there. And that was in, what, 1993?

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@jfro@social.lol 2026-04-02 03:10

@simonbs@mastodon.social the old style stuff is still lingering in the corners. I keep meaning to maybe start my own blog again and try to participate in the smallweb/indieweb scene.

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@jmovs@mastodon.social 2026-04-02 03:22

@simonbs@mastodon.social sentiment reminds me of https://www.anildash.com/2026/03/27/endgame-open-web/

Open ##2826383
@Starfia@mastodon.social 2026-04-02 03:34

@simonbs@mastodon.social – (I'll take this to mean the Web.) Even as a teenager, I was aware no one needed permission to exist on it, implying such a home of cleverness, community, benevolence and value would garner lies, ill will, delusion and clumsy thinking – that was, it seemed, the preparatory mindset with which anyone should enter it. So I take this "change" as an affirmation the Web has *not* changed in that most important way.

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@ctietze@mastodon.social 2026-04-02 20:32

@simonbs@mastodon.social blogging never stopped By sheer popularity, the mainstream approach is different, so it's fair to say that "the internet has changed" in aggregate But we can easily recreate corners for communities like this again

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@obrhoff@mastodon.social 2026-04-02 20:45

@simonbs@mastodon.social This reminds me how many gaps are now on the internet. Try to find genuine restaurant recommendations that are not manipulated? Nope. Try to find a place where Meetups are happening? Good Luck. Loniness Epidemic happening while beeing “connected” to everyone.

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@wojtek@social.vivaldi.net 2026-04-02 20:54

RE: https://mastodon.social/@simonbs/116330733773830334 @simonbs@mastodon.social mildly annoyed where it's sometimes impossible two share a link two something two the platform from within the platform / app (and it HAS TO include tracking link=,=)

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@jirirbr@mastodon.design 2026-04-03 07:24

@simonbs@mastodon.social Not ourselves. The big tech has done this.

Open ##2826392