this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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I do know how the Internet works. It used to work so much better. I know it can be much better because I lived it.
It was never free money. This ad based revenue model. That money came from the direct extraction of a social resource. It was a system that turned our labors of love, our very thoughts, our ability to express ourselves into a business venture. It gamified a system where it used our labor for their profit, their product.
These spaces belong to us, not the small handful of companies that aim to monopolize our internet. Federation is a great step in the right direction. And rather than fund sites by ad revenue, where they would be motivated to follow that engagement algorithm, we can have communities rewarded for supporting it's own.
The massive growth we’ve seen over the last 15 years is where the “free” money came from. Tons of companies didn’t have to make money are now needing to pivot. Everyone’s doing it. Everything is changing because there are no longer investors funding growth.
There’s a distinct difference between the Netflix area of the Internet and then Geocities era. Most people aren’t thinking of the later.