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slightlv

(8,037 posts)
7. The usual acronym ETTD should be edited
Tue May 19, 2026, 04:47 PM
May 19

to show that everything big business touches eventually dies. The Internet was once a thing of wonder... driven by people for information and connection to others near and far. It took the BBS idea and put it on steroids. I say give me back the days of the old BBS. Much better, IMO. Specific info was slower in getting to you, perhaps... but there was always someone out there that could and would answer your question... you just had to wait for a couple of mail drops to happen.

As an IT tech early on in my career, I remember wondering how we ever managed without the Internet. Questions I had about a specific error code or symptom could be answered as quickly as I could type the question into a search engine. It was as close to magic as I could imagine. I even put up my own website in the days before GUI was everywhere. I loved it. I could keep in touch with my Mom via email, which saved on phone bills (a big expense for me at the time, as my hubby was overseas). It made nearly everything so much easier.

But if there is one thing I learned early on in life, it's that anything that benefits people in general, big business will take over and destroy. My initial internet accounts were with a guy who started out in the BBS business. Was with him for years until he finally gave up the ghost as big business started buying out the little guys. We in IT said it was just the beginning. Eventually the Internet we knew would die as more and more companies fought for dominance and monopoly over first the aspects and then, eventually, the whole Internet. And here we are. The internet is dead as I once knew it. Even if you ask a question, now the "Internet" will hold it against you should the "Right" people question who you are and why you want to know something.

Gotta admit, the days of whitehouse.com were amusing, tho.

Recommendations

5 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Everything you said, plus ai heats up our planet and uses up our water questionseverything May 19 #1
Crap... Bayard May 19 #2
I've been using Startpage for a couple years. Make7 May 19 #8
Well I've been looking for ways to ditch Google for a long time. 1WorldHope May 19 #10
Google, as we knew it, was over and changed quite a while ago, before AI. RockRaven May 19 #3
Same here. It's been over for me for years now mdbl May 19 #4
Brave and DuckDuckGo are much more secure than Google. summer_in_TX May 19 #5
Will Bunch: Soon there'll be no new information to train AI on anything that happened after 2026 highplainsdem May 19 #6
The usual acronym ETTD should be edited slightlv May 19 #7
Remember the "World Wide Web"? I think back to the 1990s as the days of the Wild West FakeNoose Wednesday #19
I've gotten in the habit of using the verb 'google' instead of 'search'. I'm trying to break out of that. Since I'm not eppur_se_muova May 19 #9
Fuck all AI until/unless that shit is HEAVILY regulated...something that sure as hell isn't happening under fascism. Karasu May 19 #11
There are many things a Google search will not find. BidenRocks May 19 #12
Google anything ... any search term ... then type "-AI" after the term FakeNoose May 19 #13
I do that (when I remember) but you still get AI content too. BlueSpot May 19 #14
+1 dalton99a Wednesday #16
So basically the era of links is over Diraven Wednesday #15
It was fun while it lasted. hunter Wednesday #17
Cory Doctrow made a word for this:"enshitification". nt Shipwack Wednesday #18
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