Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: How twiddling enshittifies your brain; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/28/twiddlehazard/
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Discussion
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@pluralistic It’s amazing how much of our economy is dedicated to convincing us that we aren’t happy enough, while simultaneously distracting us from the real causes of unhappiness.
@pluralistic "But Google Search was so goddamned magic – before they cynically destroyed it [...] The collapse of Google into a giant pile of shit is like giving every web user a traumatic brain injury."
I sometimes wonder if the reason many people are so amazed by AI is because they forgot how drop-dead good Google search used to be. And it's only been a few years since it was well and truly enshittified.
@rory @pluralistic
Not a day goes by when I don't complain about how useless search has become. It's as if all links to anything potentially helpful have been diligently erased and replaced with pig manure. But less wholesome.
@rory @pluralistic Someone (or was it the entire software industry?) forgot the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
@anne_twain @rory @pluralistic I'm having to remind myself that after talking to someone who's still using software I wrote ages ago and am in the process of updating. This isn't time to change every last thing about it but fix just the things that had issues.
@anne_twain @rory @pluralistic "Break things and move quickly.... to where you can't catch the blame."
@rory @pluralistic
... and I say this a lot: The two founders of Google still have 51% of the voting stock. This wasn't enshittified in the passive voice, this wasn't "nothing we can do": Two people. One decision.
@rory @pluralistic With age comes perspective and the perspective 60 years has given me—of which 35 years on the internet—says that the average internet user has rolling amnesia on a 6-9 month time scale.
Remember the COVID19 pandemic? Gosh, that sure was a long time ag—IT'S STILL ONGOING!
Remember how vicious Trump's first term was? No? IS THAT WHY YOU VOTED HIM IN AGAIN?
Remember when web search wasn't actively trying to gaslight you?
And so on.
@cstross
Stress does a number on short term memory.
And Covid has been nothing if not stressful
@cstross @rory @pluralistic Rolling amnesia on a 6-9 month time scale? That sounds like Eternal September to me.
@cstross @rory @pluralistic the Internet Time is strange thing. It runs exponentially faster than real time.
@cstross You can observe the ongoing effect with people forgetting that Elon did DOGE. He's mostly back to being just a regular old billionaire, working hard to expand his self-earned empire, appeasing anxiety about his trademark brands, and railing against the bad fiscal policy of the current administration.
@rory@matcha.pub @pluralistic@mamot.fr
TI feel like the first 15-20 years of my career were made possible by Usenet and then Google. Dunno if I'd be able to get to where I am now if I'd have started my career has I started in the back half of the 2010s.
@ferricoxide @pluralistic @rory Google in the short age before enshittification /and/ the rabid pursuit of SEO was so good.
As a librarian, there were reasons why we ran entire classes on getting people hooked on Google. And now there are reasons why we run entire classes on how to separate from Google.
As a librarian, there were reasons why we ran entire classes on getting people hooked on Google. And now there are reasons why we run entire classes on how to separate from Google.
@fskornia@ferricoxide @pluralistic @rory I work in a corporate library and we used to run Google Better sessions. People were often amazed at how well you could refine searches, and at all the secret tools (Boolean operators!!?!?) at your disposal. Now? GTFO, it's horrible.
@vandenberglegs @fskornia@ferricoxide @pluralistic @rory I wonder if that's part of the reason people put up with the AI slop. They never experienced how good it could be so they don't appreciate what's been lost. Now, they're just handed an answer/summary right at the top of the page. And sure, it's wrong or at least not quite correct but they don't care.
@fskornia@ferricoxide @pluralistic @rory I remember when AltaVista was the "so much better than anything else" search product.
Losing Boolean operators when using Google search felt like a big step back at the time.
@cscott @fskornia@ferricoxide @pluralistic @rory for years I continued using Alta Vista as a backup until I learned some more of the Google advanced operators (some of which they has since broken).
Hey, German-speakers! Through a very weird set of circumstances, I ended up owning the rights to the German audiobook of my bestselling 2022 cryptocurrency heist technothriller Red Team Blues and now I'm selling DRM-free audio and ebooks, along with the paperback (all in German and English) on a Kickstarter that runs until August 11:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-auf-deutsche-drm-freie
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How twiddling enshittifies your brain: They preferentially mess with the stuff you rely on the most.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114932562818208027
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Hey look at this
* There’s a Far Cheaper Way to Do Rooftop Solar https://prospect.org/environment/2025-07-28-far-cheaper-way-to-do-rooftop-solar/
* The South Park thing https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/the-south-park-thing/
* A billion people would be plenty to sustain civilisation https://crookedtimber.org/2025/07/27/a-billion-people-would-be-plenty-to-sustain-civilisation/
* VHS tape with a built-in digital mp4 video player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYrY3nFrsho (h/t Yanko Design)
* BVH 522232323434 https://chrisbathgate.blogspot.com/2025/07/bvh-522232323434.html
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#20yrsago Canada bans copying CDs to iPods https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2005/07/crias-higher-risk-strategy/
#20yrsago No taking pix of San Fran building from the sidewalk? https://thomashawk.com/2005/07/one-bush.html
#20yrsago Microsoft “Genuine Advantage” cracked in 24h: window.g_sDisableWGACheck=’all’ https://web.archive.org/web/20050810083151/http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24961
#20yrsago Costikyan’s jeremiad against the video game industry https://web.archive.org/web/20050730021700/http://www.costik.com/weblog/2005_07_01_blogchive.html#112254986073206098
#20yrsago Economics of used books https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/technology/reading-between-the-lines-of-used-book-sales.html
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#20yrsago My Adbusters sf story https://craphound.com/stories/2000/08/06/the-rebranding-of-billy-bailey/
#20yrsago Richard Branson claims to own all uses of “virgin” https://web.archive.org/web/20051030080223/http://www.chillingeffects.org/weather.cgi?WeatherID=507
#20yrsago Security researcher quits job and blows whistle on Cisco’s fatal flaws https://web.archive.org/web/20060426162432/http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11259
#20yrsago File-sharers buy more music than non-swappers http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4718249.stm
#15yrsago Bisson’s Fire on the Mountain: alternate history in which John Brown wins at Harper’s Ferry https://memex.craphound.com/2010/07/27/bissons-fire-on-the-mountain-alternate-history-in-which-john-brown-wins-at-harpers-ferry/
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#15yrsago Inception‘s musical secret https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM
#15yrsago Shark Knife will terrify your enemies with macho impracticality https://web.archive.org/web/20100724002534/https://www.sadanduseless.com/image.php?n=293
#10yrsago Satanic Temple required protesters to pledge their souls to Satan as condition of entry https://web.archive.org/web/20150728003106/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/07/26/to-weed-out-protesters-at-last-nights-event-the-satanic-temple-had-attendees-transfer-their-souls-to-satan/
#5yrsago Quick, inaccurate, cheap covid tests https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/28/afterland/#pick-one
#5yrsago Swarov.se https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/28/afterland/#goatse
#5yrsago Police "unions" are not unions https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/28/afterland/#selective-solidarity
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