I'm 32, I remember using the internet before google was a thing, discovering flashy websites, hanging out on all kinds of internet forums and chatrooms, ebaums world, MySpace, new grounds... I rember when YouTube was just starting off and it was exploding with all kinds of content.
I joined Facebook in 2005, I remember when it was the talk of the town, it used to actually kind of be decent, all the content was from actual real world peers.
I remember when pages became a thing, and you could like certain topics, and then eventually it unfolded into something enterely different, I remember when it became New Facebook, and there became a chatbar. And then eventually it became a cespool of garbage.
I remember when reddit was at it's prime, I discovered it in 2011, I spent hours scrolling and engaging in discussion. The content was always new and original, every day on Reddit my mind got blown by something, this is before all the algorithms, and when upvotes and down votes actually dictated where your post would be jn the feed. You could litterally refresh your page and watch your vote counts.
Since then I've watched it change, I could always tell something felt off about it over the past few years.
Everytime I would google something on the net on my phone and click a Reddit link, I would be prompted to install the app. I tried it and it was shit. Once upon a time I could just open Reddit is Fun through the browser. Reddit made it impossible to do that.
Since discovering this place a few weeks ago now, I have been hit with a familiar feeling, and that is I am actually enjoying my time here as much as I did on Reddit in the early 2010s.
The communities are more grounded, there is no bot activity, my big long posts aren't deleted after posting them due to shitty rules.
I like how it feels free, and everyone agrees to just follow the rules of the community and if the post isn't quite fitting, people can vote on that, as it should be.
Thank you all for restoring something that was once great, I really thought there was no chance in hell people would get away from those platforms. I always told people we need a new website, a new Reddit, and I guess this is it.
I'm sure the programers have stuff up their sleeves.
AI is our biggest threat, it's gotten to be easy for AI to be trained to use the internet and engage in discussion. I just hope when that stuff exponetially takes off, it doesn't invade Lemmy.
AI is much like an invasive species, but rather than in nature, it's online.
Cyberwar incoming? Who's to know.
Indeed, I was just engaged in a similar discussion on another thread, and pointed out the retro feel of discovering a new, blossoming internet community - and the fact that there are seemingly real people behind the posts here. At the moment, I think that all that's protecting us is that we are not yet on the radar of conversational bots, nor big enough to be of interest YET. I do think the decentralised platform is a very clever idea for social networking, and yes, I hope the devs have some ideas to combat the inevitable incoming AIs.
They will definitely to ban bot activity. On Reddit bots became sort of accepted, if they can atleast moderate automatic post activity, that is a start.
My biggest concern is for when the bots can post on an untimely matter at random instances.
I could litterally be a bit just replying to posts at a natural human pace, based off of some sort of Redditors writing style if you catch my drift.
I am sure it's just a matter of time. AI detectors are good, but not that good. It will get to the point where the most believable posts are the ones with spelling mistakes and poor grammar, Infact human error would make for a good watermark.