Is the internet full of shit?

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Hi all, check out this website:

http://www.internetisshit.org/

when you read it all, i must say that some issues raised in the discussion can be considered as valid statements. From, what i can make out of it, it says the internet is just like cheese with a whole lot of holes in it :). On the other hand, when you know where to look for information, the internet is quite a blessing. Also, what's not considered is electronic mail and chat clients, which are really part of the internet.

So, yes i think some bits on the internet is plain shit (you know to which bits im referring to, the bits located in the holes ;)), but when you know how to distinguish the sites containing reliable information from the unreliable sites, there should not be a problem. In addition, the ability to communicate with others across the world with so much more ease, i can't say the internet is shit.

So what do you think?

[brian]

What's new? Any channel of communication has the potential to be colonised by people peddling garbage. Many books, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, films, videos, CDs and DVDs are garbage. Saying the internet is shit is like saying books, films and the rest are shit. Well, some certainly are, but some certainly aren't. You just have to sidestep the bad stuff and home in on the good, of which there is plenty. But I agree it's time to stop worshipping the internet as though it were the salvation of humankind.

[Assmongrel]

Now, I don't want to go on a rant here, but...

It's wrong to pass judgement on an open forum like the internet, simply because of the possibility of abuse. As Brian said, any form of expression which isn't regulated will eventually be used for things which people may find offensive or idiotic.

Does that mean the format itself is flawed? No. If anything, its proof that it works, that people have the ability to use it for both good and bad. Without the bad, its impossible to appreciate the good. I know I appreciate HBO moreso because of things like "The OC". I know I appreciate this forum moreso because of some of the other "questionable" forums.

In fact, sometimes its good to revel in cromulence, for the cromulence embiggens us all! "Mystery Science Theater 3000" taught us all to truely appreciate the horrible garbage being produced for the screen. Something Awful is a place where terrible websites and so forth are reveled in, and if you don't get a kick out of some of the stuff they link to, you're terribly disturbed (or maybe you're terribly disturbed if you get a kick out of them, but nevertheless).

Declaring the internet is bad simply because some of its more blatant abuses is like decrying the printing press for allowing "mein kampf" or "the bible" to be so widely spread. I say thee "nay!" Do not ignore the internet, its merely the next evolution in human communication, vulnerable to the many abuses that humanity is known for.

Course, thats just my opinion.

[Todd The Kiwi]

:skull: FULL ,no, FILLING , yes :skull:
gnaw is it holy
(double pun, if you didn't catch it)

[Hanzo]

I believe in the internet. I belive in the fact that is the greatest invention after the computer itself.

The fact that is used for either bad or good is just one prove of its greatness. And it is just starting to develop, I mean not too long ago the standard for connecting to the internet was 28.8 Kbps, now who uses a 56.6 Kbps connection is considered a very unlucky person. (sorry for those with dialup)

Not many people are aware of the evolution of the internet, now the majority of the computers are being sold with wireless capabilities and wireless gear is getting cheaper and cheaper, which I guess will be the next step, together with the fact that cell phone comunication is becoming cheaper than the regular phone line;will be the next big improvement on computer comunications.

This together with the evolution of software technologies, will replace the desktop as we know it so far. The concept of a "webtop" system is more a reality with the "remote desktop" function of WinXP together with Citrix and some other stuff.

Regaining the topic, the internet is just great. Don't judge it because a percentage of it's contents is classified by you as "bad". What happens to the people that publishes that content? and the people that looks and reads what those guys publish to the web? are they bad too?

Again, this is just my opinion as an old die-hard internet user. I got my hotmail account when hotmail was not even in Bill Gate's to-do list and the accounts were 5MB in size.

[Assmongrel]

You young whipper-snappers... I remember when it was amazing that websites had pictures in them... the first internet connection I had was a text-based browser.... then around came what eventually became netscape... those were good times... back when BBS's were at the height of their popularity... and a 9600 baud modem was a thing to behold.

[Todd The Kiwi]

You young whipper-snappers... I remember when it was amazing that websites had pictures in them... the first internet connection I had was a text-based browser.... then around came what eventually became netscape... those were good times... back when BBS's were at the height of their popularity... and a 9600 baud modem was a thing to behold. ha ha ha classic man (no pun)

[Hanzo]

You young whipper-snappers... I remember when it was amazing that websites had pictures in them... the first internet connection I had was a text-based browser.... then around came what eventually became netscape... those were good times... back when BBS's were at the height of their popularity... and a 9600 baud modem was a thing to behold.
I'm 20 only. I wasn't even born at that time, but one of my friend's dad had a ultra-super-duper high speed 14.4 kbps modem which he used to surf the internet faster than i could resolve chaos mathematics problems. That was almost 12 years ago or something.

:nervous:

[Assmongrel]

hey, I'm only 20 too... obviously I got the internet before you'd even heard the word, or something like that... the first real computer my house got was a 386/33... and all we had for an o/s for awhile was msdos 6.0, with the amazing dosshell... those were simpler times, back when adventure games came on 5 or 6 3.5" discs, duke nukem was just your everyday side-scroller (great fun though), and all Id has produced was commander keen... 256 colours was simply a gleam in a technology company's eye.... I'm not going to say I particularly miss those days, but it was definitely the "silver" age of computer gaming, when content was more important than appearance, and it was the story that kept you enthralled, not the kinetic attritubes of it (maybe thats going too far, but all the greatest adventure games came out around that time)

[Hanzo]

Dude, you started with computers before I did. Checkout the specs of my first computer (custom built):

Pentium 200Mhz with MMX
running Win95
2.1GB Hard Drive
32 MB Ram
Check this: a Jaton Technologies 2MB video card
36.6 Kbps modem
Creative Labs Blaster 16 (ISA version)

Damn that thing was fast. I used the 386 and DOS when I was in elementary school. They had us (little kids) running "logo" and stuff. I learned all the basic and some not-so basic DOS stuff there that I haven't forgot to date. I played the Commander Keen game. I never got a hold of all the versions (I remember there were like 2 or 3 but I just played. Awesome graphics if you ask me...:)

[Matt]

http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm

[brian]

Interesting how quickly this thread has turned into a narrow discussion of technology. The main claim of the `internet is shit' website is precisely that the obsession with technology has driven out any concern for worthwhile human values.

[Zayoos]

Dude, you started with computers before I did. Checkout the specs of my first computer (custom built):

Pentium 200Mhz with MMX
running Win95
2.1GB Hard Drive
32 MB Ram
Check this: a Jaton Technologies 2MB video card
36.6 Kbps modem
Creative Labs Blaster 16 (ISA version)
I've started with something similar:

Pentium 166MMX on Gigabyte mainboard with Intel 430VX chipset
16 MB Ram
S3 Virge 2MB (up to 4) :)
Yamaha OPL-3SAx sound card (ISA)
and first TV Tuner before anyone of my friends - AverFun TV Lite (on ISA)
My first game on this "monster" in 1997 was Duke Nukem 3D :)

I still have this computer in my house, CPU is overclocked to 266MHz :), added 128MB Ram (full), ATI Rage II+ with 4MB and Voodoo2 12MB, Maestro2 (PCI) soundcard. And Tv tuner is still there :)

[Hanzo]

Interesting how quickly this thread has turned into a narrow discussion of technology. The main claim of the `internet is shit' website is precisely that the obsession with technology has driven out any concern for worthwhile human values.
I'll have to disagree. I use the internet to make appointments with my friends, arrange how to meet and get to the disco, movies, beach or whatever. I still use the internet for productive stuff, researching and learning things that otherwise I'll never have access to.

I don't think the internet has driven out human values.
Again is just my opinion...

[brian]

I wasn't agreeing with the `internet is shit' claim, just giving a reminder of what the claim is, as it seemed to have got lost in all the reminiscences about early internet technology. But then I happen to prefer a thread to stay on-topic, which not everyone likes to do.

[Assmongrel]

A forum thread? staying on topic? I don't know what kind of weird forums you've been going to, but in my world, forums rarely stay on topic... they tend to mutate... almost like a game of "telephone"....

Now I don't want to go on a rant here, but...

The original idea behind this thread was that the obsession with the internet has overshadowed just what it is. Its the promised land for those who believe in free speech. However, with that free speech comes the responsibility of all readers to make judgements for themselves, to realize that it is not the be-all and end-all of human communication and record keeping.

However, you will find things on the internet that you're not likely to find other places, new takes on old data, because as we all know, history is written by the victorious. We, as the readers and writers, have a responsibility to pay attention to not only the content, but the source of the information. The internet can be a powerful tool if wielded properly, and as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility (sorry, just couldn't resist).

Now thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[tupperduck]

Curiously enough, the author chose to put the "internet is shit" rant on the internet. Even registered a domain name. Heck, do a Google search on "internet shit" and guess what site is number one on the list.

My guess would be the author is not making a point so much as presenting a discussion topic.