I mean, the internet went to shit when we all centralized around enormous corporate gatekeepers like Facebook and Twitter instead of the personal websites of yore, so I feel like that sentiment still tracks
Many things contributed to the downfall of internet.
Corporations: not much to say about it. All they want is more users and all they want is more money.
Ads: because everyone wants money. I am making a tutorial? I want people watching it to give me money. I am making a website? Money. I have free time I can watch some ads to earn money! Then corporations go in the middle: That guy is making tutorial I can put ads in it, give him a small fee and the rest for me!
Centralization: as you said, instead of millions of forums people just go to reddit.
Privacy: People not only don’t care about it, they are willingly giving it away for free, and the big corporations profit.
The selfhosting movement is the light in the tunnel, but it’s really dangerous out there and good actions can bring bad people and they can absolutely ruin your setup.
Personal websites didn’t die because of social media, the simple fact is no one wants to run their own server… I run my own server and can tell you it’s a money sink much like a boat.
![Wacky 90s fads [SMBC]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/e4fe722f-2742-4938-a8b4-48b5666c872b.png){kind=link}
I mean, the internet went to shit when we all centralized around enormous corporate gatekeepers like Facebook and Twitter instead of the personal websites of yore, so I feel like that sentiment still tracks
Many things contributed to the downfall of internet.
Corporations: not much to say about it. All they want is more users and all they want is more money.
Ads: because everyone wants money. I am making a tutorial? I want people watching it to give me money. I am making a website? Money. I have free time I can watch some ads to earn money! Then corporations go in the middle: That guy is making tutorial I can put ads in it, give him a small fee and the rest for me!
Centralization: as you said, instead of millions of forums people just go to reddit.
Privacy: People not only don’t care about it, they are willingly giving it away for free, and the big corporations profit.
The selfhosting movement is the light in the tunnel, but it’s really dangerous out there and good actions can bring bad people and they can absolutely ruin your setup.
Personal websites didn’t die because of social media, the simple fact is no one wants to run their own server… I run my own server and can tell you it’s a money sink much like a boat.
I pay $100/year for hosting, who are you using?
A computer in the corner of my house.
Probably cheaper to buy hosting service, unless it doubles as a room heater