this is an interesting question i’ve had banging around in my mind since well before Reddit’s implosion (and Discord’s enshittification), but which seems really worth asking now.

you can’t blame Reddit and Discord or their imitators entirely for these going out of style, but they’ve sure put the dagger in a lot of remaining ones, and i kind of wonder if they’re just in an irreversible and terminal decline a la USENET. i can only name two or three i even consider checking anymore, and i’m not sure how sustainable any of those are long-term.

  • BobQuasit@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m an old-timer who got on the internet in the mid '80s, so I spent a lot of time on usenet. I often miss those days. Usenet was anarchic, but it wasn’t subject to the vicissitudes of capitalism. It couldn’t be controlled. It was designed to survive nuclear war. We need something like that again.

    • neamhsplach@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      vicissitudes

      **a: a favorable or unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance : a fluctuation of state or condition

      the vicissitudes of daily life

      b: a difficulty or hardship attendant on a way of life, a career, or a course of action and usually beyond one’s control**

      TIL!

    • davefischer@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I remember sending a nasty reply to the green card spam posting, and thinking “Well, THAT’s fixed.”. Ha ha. Sigh.