I’ve been around since 94. It was never this bad.
The only thing that continually surprises me about the internet is how young y’all are.
I’m 61 and feel like an absolute fossil out here most days.
The kids are just babes…
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Gadafi getting knife fucked and killed in that crowd was a big one too.
I saw the Saddam hanging, too. I also saw Daniel Shaver get shot.
What digital horrors?
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Are those things really that bad?
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You also never clicked an advert or used your real name.
Please tell me that people aren’t clicking ads…
Enough are doing it that it’s still profitable. Last estimates I saw were 10% who saw an ad clicked one, and 10% of those who clicked bought what they saw
That’s just hard to fathom for me. Wow.
It’s actually been dropping over time. It used to be more like 10%, now I see some people celebrating 0.4% conversation rate. What’s also been happening in conjunction is the cost has dropped. On like Facebook and stuff now you can serve like 1000 impressions for like $5 or something. I don’t know exact numbers on cost there but stupid low like 0.10¢ per clicked ad.
Across a lot of media, impressions are so cheap now they don’t even charge for them, just the clicks cost (“CPC” is the charge type, “cost per click”). They track impressions to give advertisers metrics on conversion rates, but they don’t charge for them.
1% of ad views result in a sale? That seems implausible
The terms you want to search of you’re curious “Click through Rate” and “Conversion Rate”. It’s actually been falling over time as people get more and more used to ignoring ads or using ad blockers. They vary some for type of product and location of ad (fantasy novels on a book blog are likely to be higher, drop ship Amazon stuff on Facebook are likely to be lower), but yeah, not super high.
The thing is, I do not honestly object to ads - the internet has got to be paid for somehow…
My objection is the way that ads are served. It’s the creepy stalking users far and wide across the web that irks me.
This targeted bullshit. No, no and NO!
I’m more likely when I am on any given site - to check out an ad that is discrete, static and embedded and shows up regardless of the ad blocker I use.
That is different.
At that point, I’m seeing something that another person or business that runs the site has made a decision to advertise, it may be a product or service they like and use.
The rest of it though… can rot.
Back in the day you could catch malware from online ads. And the pop-ups, the damn pop-ups, so annoying. For me, the final straw was when ads got sound. That got real old real fast, kind of like web pages with embedded MIDIs. I installed an ad blocker and haven’t looked back. Any time I browse Internet without a blocker it’s a horror show that kills me inside. If ads were reasonably sized static images I could manage it, but advertisers shot themselves in the foot by making their ads so obnoxious and went all-in on tracking. The trust is gone forever. Ads and advertisers can burn in hell.
The pop-up ads that spawned more pop-ups, and they were all animated and played sound. The only way out was holding down the power button until the computer dies.
My wife does. I throw it back in her face whenever she gets wide ‘you click the ads’
I sometimes do it if it’s a company I really dislike. Then I immediately click back, happy in the knowledge that my brief action probably cost that company a tiny bit of money.
(Side note: I’m an early Internet user.)
Are you one of those people that returned empty prepaid junk mail flyers? ;)
Every time! I usually filled the envelope with whatever other rubbish I could fit in it too.
🤝
I can’t believe people don’t figure out the 30 seconds of looking it up it takes to not see ads. Worse, some people get confused at why the page looks different if you install them a blocker.
I used to click ads on websites I liked back in the aughts
From an actual conversation I had once:
“What’s your problem with adds, I love them. They always recommend things I could actually use. It’s genuinely a great way for me to learn about new products or services.”
Do we know the same people? I asked the two who said this if they actually click on the ads and buy something. You can imagine my horror when they said yes. Meanwhile, I have a Pihole on my network and uBlock on every single browser.
The average person has magic black rectangle for worldwide interaction. That’s the extent of their knowledge, cookies are a foreign concept if they don’t come straight out of the oven
Sure. Fundamentally, this is what ads should do. The problem comes from how intrusive they are in pushing their propaganda. And now they’re literally everywhere.
I remember back in the day before browser tabs when sites would open new windows for ads. And sometimes those ads would open more windows for ads. And some of those windows had sound, or porn, or both. Worse yet, some would open off screen so you couldn’t easily close them. That’s where the term “pop-up” came from in pop-up blockers.
~Talk about whack-a-mole.~
Even Youtube is filled with scam ads, trusting ads to deliver you worthwhile results is like trusting Facebook not to sell your data to the highest bidder.
Wait… you’re watching youtube w/o an ad-blocker?
I haven’t seen a YT ad in more than a decade, I did happen to watch this Coffeezilla video yesterday on AI deepfake ads.
do you live within c-suite boardroom powerpoint presentation
I’ve clicked a few. Mostly by accident, the rest by deception.
I don’t even see the ads anymore, just the close button. My eyes just slide off the edges.
KennyLauderdale! I follow him on Youtube and Bluesky, he’s made some excellent videos about anime and other Japanese shows!
I’d rather accidentally stumple onto pain olympics or lemon party than accidentally stumble into a black mirror episode
Anyone remember when CompuServe had these chatrooms or channels that were basically collaboration websites before Geocities blew up? I liked those.
I prefer “calibrated”
Today’s internet is way worse than the old internet.
I find it interesting because the BME Pain Olympics was mostly done with plasticine and the like for shock value
I create performance art with my dick which isn’t gore (I’m not going to hurt my dick!) and I’m often accused of using AI
People are simultaneously skeptical and also ridiculously credulous, depending on what they want to believe
Reads username: FistingEnthusiast
I guess that checks out
If you aren’t horrified by what’s happening to Iran right now then you’re an empathy deficient and that comes with a separate set of problems.
I’m 40, and absolutely remember the old internet. But the news traumatizes me so consistently lately I find myself crying every day.
Eh, you get used to it.
I hope not. As difficult as it is to be sad every waking moment, I think being numb to this would be worse.
Crying everyday? That’s clinical depression. Stay away from the news. It’s pure distilled concentrated human suffering.
I don’t think clinical depression is real. I think it’s something that capitalists invented to preserve the status quo. Instead of dealing with systemic issues they sell us therapy and medication, making even more money.
I know exactly why I’m crying every day. There is always a reason behind why someone is depressed.
You know, there’s a whole world outside the insane capitalistic American healthcare system.
Being depressed over the death of your mother or something like that is a reason to be depressed. But being traumatized by what a billion dollar industry with the motto “if it bleeds, it leads” feeds you is a bad idea.
I don’t think clinical depression is real. I think it’s something that capitalists invented to preserve the status quo. Instead of dealing with systemic issues they sell us therapy and medication, making even more money.
The hell are you on about?
Read my comment again? It’s a simple concept. There is no chemical imbalance that make a person sad. There’s always a tangible reason.
When I was in the second grade, the OKC bombing rattled the windows of my school. The teacher left us to go find out what it was, and never came back. We went to the next classroom in search of an adult, she had a television on, and we all sat and watched live news footage of mangled children being pulled out of the building’s daycare. I was 7.
You can’t let it get to you though. Mourn them, yes, but neglecting yourself won’t bring them back. You still deserve to pursue life and happiness, despite terrible things happening in the world.
I don’t know the context for this microblog, but I don’t think whats happening in Iran is what he was thinking of when he said “digital horrors”.
I remember seeing footage of bombings from the Bosnian war in the 90’s. Well before digital video on the internet was popular, it was just on cable TV.
I don’t know Lauderdale personally, but he has a funny YouTube channel and seems cool enough that I’m gonna hold off on judging this without context.
I have a handful of colleagues in Iran so I probably emphasise with it more than the usual horrors but stuff like this has been going on non stop around the world my entire life so idk why you’d be uniquely horrified by it
Budd Dwyer
I remember when I got my first 4800baud modem upgrade from my 2400baud modem. So I could connect to my friend’s house who had a sick BBS server.
Man, I’ve been on the “internet” since before it had pictures or videos or sound . When each “website” was a different phone number, and if more than a few people were visiting it, you had to wait and call back later. Just to read in green (or amber) text on a black screen, someone’s comments on some old post, and weeks & weeks of comment threads.
It was amazing.
Am I upset about the state of the internet today? Not really. It’s evolving, getting worse in some ways, better in others. I’m still interested to see what it grows into. I have my own hopes as to what it will become, but I’m sure I’ll be surprised at the direction it takes.
Well, a legion of bots ended the new Digg beta test despite their best efforts. It came as a surprise to the company.
It was really sudden! I was on that version of Digg (what was it, the 4th?) and one day I opened the page and it was just a message that they were laying off a bunch of people and shutting the site down to try to figure out what to do about all the bots. All the users, all their communities, all their posts and comments, gone. I think they aren’t going to be able to do anything without a mechanism for strong trust, and a revocable one. The most trustworthy account in the world could start spewing slop around at any moment.
Ah well. It had many many fewer users than Lemmy anyway!
Am I upset about the state of the internet today? Not really.
You somehow witnessed corporate interests encircle and subvert the internet’s wonderful idyllic culture into the torment nexus of capitalist control and propaganda and you’re not upset?
We also have witnessed humans rebel against that and create a new decentralized internet that we are currently using
Idk i have faith in weird and creative people who refuse to follow rules
Idk i have faith in weird and creative people who refuse to follow rules
Ramen, let us be blessed by his noodley appendages.
