This is just a random update on things. It seems that, unfortunately, my prediction about the internet getting worse is becoming more true by the day. Stephan over at Whole Health Source had to switch to moderating comments. Martin at LeanGains found out how others will copy your content and leverage it for their financial gain.
Here’s my theory as to what’s happened over time. I think that some of the “first movers” on the internet were more earnest and truth-seeking than average. After all, it used to take some effort and even cash to set up a blog (now, it’s free and easy). So years ago, if you put up good content you would get feedback from others who were conscientious about things.
Now that everybody is on the internet (and I mean everybody), this is no longer true. So your good content will now be greeted by some quality feedback, perhaps, but mostly by a host of anonymous trolls, cheaters, product pushers, charlatans, etc.
So the incentives have really faded. Do I want to put a lot of intellectual effort into a post only to be greeted by trash? No. Maybe that is an exaggeration, but the logic of anonymous comments pushes things to lower and lower levels.
Given all this, I do think there is hope. I am a big believer in the value of dialogue, and it seems like in some way it could happen on the internet. But not in it’s current form.
What’s the answer? I don’t know, I’m not a tech person. I had brief hopes for Medium, but the posts I’ve seen on that site seem to be pretty poor.
So who knows how this will all play out, but for now I’m happy to be on the sidelines.
