I don’t argue or “debate” online. Most online back-and-forth feels pointless and often intentionally inflammatory or in bad faith. I read all the replies I receive, but I rarely respond.
There’s this idea going around that if you’re not paying for something, then you are the product.
And that’s honestly the most psychopathic thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I honestly cannot believe that the people that came up with this idea and monetized it are not currently locked in an asylum somewhere.
So my rule is I don’t pay for shit.
I’m not interested in your subscriptions.
I don’t care about your products and offerings.
I’m not forking over my money to you for whatever the fuck you’re doing.
I’m paying for access to the internet, and I will take what is provided for me, and the rest can go fuck itself.
I don’t have social media outside of this, and I will delete this account in a heartbeat if it ever becomes annoying.
And if the internet itself ever reaches the point where simply paying for access does not provide any value to me, I can live without it, and I will put it down and never come back.
If I am the product, then I am worthless. And anybody that obsesses over worthless products is insane.
Sure ok but your engagement and data is still being sold, even if it were worthless to the buyer.
Besides which, and forgive me for saying so, your buying habits are very, very likely to change in the future. As in maybe you’re young and / or broke right now, but sooner or later it will be convenient for you to order something online, at which time I’m sure you will do so.
Assume someday someone will find your account or identity.
Block any and all advertising at all times.
Never take off your pirate hat because you never know when you’ll need it again.
I genuinely can’t figure out why there are so many people who are happy to let adverts fill their day. Or at the very least, don’t really notice it.
I had a shit fit today because I worked out that the Lidl app won’t let me use its payment system if I turn off notifications, which I did because Herr Lidl dared to send me an advert for whatever shit he’s selling this week - as a fucking notification! That’s one advert. I got the hump over one advert.
But there are vast swathes of people who just don’t seem to care how clogged their browsing experience is.
Goddamned right. There were several years when I’d let it go, because Netflix and the like were providing a good, fairly priced service. When they finally gave me the fuck you, I cancelled it on my 10th anniversary as a customer, along with every other streaming service. Took me a minute to get back in the swing, but the salty sea air is so nice again.
I try to be civil as best as I can if I choose to respond, even if being insulted.
If I am partaking in a “debate” or argument then my goal is to communicate some idea. Choosing to insult someone or attack them in any way completely defeats the purpose of communicating whatever idea you were trying to get across. Once you start insulting/attacking the other person will get defensive and be 1000x less likely to consider what you were trying to say.
Debates go two ways. If you’re not willing to listen to the other person with at least some politeness, you’re not debating and it makes it hard to take you seriously.
Disconnect completely and detox regularly - preferably for several days or even weeks at a time. It can do wonders for general well-being.
Remember that 90% of what is said online is said by complete oddballs because nobody will talk to them in real life and they have all the time in the world to post on the Internet.
And the more extreme the view, the more sock puppets these oddballs will have to try to convince you that their fucked up view of the world is actually normal.
IRL I almost never, ever meet people who are obsessed with politics, or people who are extremists like Nazis or communists. Online, they’re all over the place and it is not remotely normal. Same goes for chronic pot heads who are vehemently anti-smoking cigarettes. You don’t meet that kind of bizarro-world health nuttery offline. Or people who think that people who have outdoor cats are pure evil and should be put in prison.
Extremism like this in general is not at all normal offline. But online it seems like it is. It is not.
Every debate I tried to engage was poisoned by immature people trying to be cunning instead of bringing productive arguments.
Same as life: Respect yourself. Respect others. Respect property.
Remember EVERYONE has a voice, everyone contains very dumb people.
I automatically assume anyone I type at is not a true representation of themselves.
Lurk first, then respond. You might find more context in the replies.
We should all explore more, not stay stuck in a bubble of 6 or so megacorp websites that take most of the worlds traffic.
The internet is distributed, with billions of websites that are all unique.
Even if it’s difficult to find new websites to look at, then choose a different internet medium such as dark net browsers such as tor and i2p to explore the more privacy respecting web, or on the lighter side, go for geminispace or gopher browsers like Lagrange to explore the un-corporatised early internet style web.
It’s hard to explore when you don’t know where to look.
I like good faith, polite discussion and debate. Unfortunately, everyone wants to dominate or win and few will make a concession that they might have been wrong, even if you’re using the gentlest of hands.
Get mad at everyone. Take it all seriously. If you stop caring deeply you lose.
