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I'm kind of burned out on the internet at the moment, and that makes me sad

posted by jobes on Whatever

2016 was a volatile and riveting time for internet users, no matter what side you were on in regards to the US election or happenings across the globe. In all honesty, it was the best internet time of my life since Everquest came out. I've come to a point where it's actually difficult to talk to some immediate family members even about basic topics, and I've been going around 3 weeks between talking to my parents vs the former couple times per week, mostly due to how polarized our political differences are and "news" sources we both read. Both sides are kind of fucked.

This last election has caused hostile elements in our family and it's caused one of my brothers to literally stop talking to me and my other brother for several months. That was "resolved", but an accidental text to the wrong group from my other brother re-ignited it several months ago. It's so fucked up because we used to be so close, but over the course of about one year, we just are no longer talking, our family is no longer close as a group.. Everything is dramatized for views/clicks/impressions, and it's literally ripping my family apart, no matter who is actually right or wrong.

I've been fairly inactive on Phuks and Voat over the last few months largely because of this, because I want to just get out of the constant spew of hate that everyone is throwing at each other. Phuks is great to have because it's very not-polarized (so far) and generally just has good, but slow, content. I disagree with a lot of things posted and up-phuked, but I like to see that it's not an echo chamber.

Thank you for making a little escape for us, @polsaker, @pembo210 and @anubis

2016 was a volatile and riveting time for internet users, no matter what side you were on in regards to the US election or happenings across the globe. In all honesty, it was the best internet time of my life since Everquest came out. I've come to a point where it's actually difficult to talk to some immediate family members even about basic topics, and I've been going around 3 weeks between talking to my parents vs the former couple times per week, mostly due to how polarized our political differences are and "news" sources we both read. Both sides are kind of fucked. This last election has caused hostile elements in our family and it's caused one of my brothers to literally stop talking to me and my other brother for several months. That was "resolved", but an accidental text to the wrong group from my other brother re-ignited it several months ago. It's so fucked up because we used to be so close, but over the course of about one year, we just are no longer talking, our family is no longer close as a group.. Everything is dramatized for views/clicks/impressions, and it's literally ripping my family apart, no matter who is actually right or wrong. I've been fairly inactive on Phuks and Voat over the last few months largely because of this, because I want to just get out of the constant spew of hate that everyone is throwing at each other. Phuks is great to have because it's very not-polarized (so far) and generally just has good, but slow, content. I disagree with a lot of things posted and up-phuked, but I like to see that it's not an echo chamber. Thank you for making a little escape for us, @polsaker, @pembo210 and @anubis

20 comments

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

I really thought Voat would be less of an echo chamber than it is because of their disdain for censorship. For a while it was actually. Every kind of person was on there just speaking their mind. It was awesome. But I've concluded that every internet group eventually dissolves to the hive mind. Voting platforms like Reddit/Voat/Phuks seem to just accelerate this process.

It's a real shame. Personally I love debating things with people who disagree with me. At least on Voat an Phuks I won't get banned for doing so I guess. And the userbase here aren't lunatics yet.

[–] jobes [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

Voat was amazing for the first 6 months or so I was on it, then it went to shit for several months, then got decent again, then went to shit again, then got even shittier. It feels like there's a critical mass for when a site will just naturally degrade, but Voat did recover somewhat a few times in the 2+ years I'd been there. It's absolute cancer now, as it has been for a while.

I wonder if things like Phuks will just be a repeating cycle of "rinse and repeat" for clearing out the old cruft and getting something new going again to maintain actual good discussion groups.

The people on the Alt newsgroups are probably still going strong since they don't get normies going into their area.