Gregory's ServerWent to try to read a thing on "MIT Technology Review" and got intercepted by 3 different popup modals and a banner before I managed to scroll 1cm through the page. The title of the piece was "How to fix the internet" and I already closed the tab.
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@lmorchard this is the thing. Even sites I really actually want to read have become unreadable. Even in some cases sites I _pay for_ are trending toward unreadability. @rafial @lmorchard this was the final straw that had me rage cancelling my local newspaper subscription I really wish there were a service to deliver primal screams to the folks who direct the construction of these things on websites. Not the web developers, mind you, the directors.  @lmorchard By "primal screams" I presume you mean "as a result of the electro-shocks".  @lmorchard "How to fix the Internet" → close the tab seems like part of the fix for our modern Internet right there But honestly yeah. I'm getting shades of 2006 or so. You know, before pop-up blockers became basically universal? @ksaj @lmorchard I suppose technically true, but I stopped seeing blink outside of controlled sanctuary environments like Geocities by oh I dunno 2002? @randomgeek @lmorchard Geocities + Webrings = weird winding way that we finally came to social media! I remember some sites intentionally abusing blink and animated gifs to make the browser so slow you had to quit and restart them to get it moving again. 🤣 Those were awesome times, 'cos the web was barely commercialized yet. @lmorchard Sounds like it was an interactive art piece and you found the answer you were seeking. @lmorchard @bkahn "Reader view" in Firefox is pretty much my constant go-to. I kinda wish it were the default  it's a subtle way to pitch it but i'd agree that popup/ad blockers is a good step towards fixing the internet. ;) @sabrinaweb71 Eh, I also boosted it and then went back and read it after I got through the first batch of cookies set    @lmorchard  @lmorchard opened up a site to download something in a new tab, finished what I was doing and opened the new tab to be greeted by a full page survey asking me if I had found what I was looking to download. Dunno, it might be behind your survey, might not. It was also *mandatory* that I fill in my details *if* I wanted to be contacted about my feedback. I was not polite |
@lmorchard this is why I started including archive.is links for everything in the newsletter: https://archive.ph/20231017121548/https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/17/1081194/how-to-fix-the-internet-online-discourse/