The Forthcoming Online Safety Act

[Electric_Andy]

Forums are to me the last bastion of a decent conversation online, I don't know how many other CC users use alternative platforms like Reddit, Discord or Facebook but its extremely hard to have a meaningful conversation with people that are for all intents and purposes strangers.

If this forum changed format then I probbaly wouldn't use it. I have been on a FB group before but it was a very small group (specific to the Kawasaki GT500 to be exact) and even then there was little sense of unity or "friendship". I also hate the format, it is largely comment/reply with no other clear sections to browse. A bit like running a forum using Whatsapp, but slower and clunkier

 

[Jody]

or getting drawn in by rage-bait and exposing myself to unnecessary grief by arguing with knuckle-dragging imbeciles.

It's been a very slow, subtle bait-and-switch, but FB really is 90% a massive, toxic waste of time now.

Glad I'm not on my own with that thought. It's an absolute cesspit now and see very little from people I actuaklly know

 

[Electric_Andy]

Glad I'm not on my own with that thought. It's an absolute cesspit now and see very little from people I actuaklly know

+1. When I first signed up (2008) it was a novelty and actually quite fun. If I look up any one of my old school/Uni friends they are all inactive. The only people who seem to be active are the sort I'd avoid if I went back to my home town

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Totally agree with this; Reddit's OK for some stuff but I find the layout weird, there's no sense of community and it all seems so fleeting / transient.

While FB literally used to be 100% content generated by friends, now (presumably in the face of falling traffic and efforts to monetise it) my time on there is mostly spent inanely browsing the random crap served to me on Marketplace, wasting my time pointlessly "liking" random content pushed in my direction, or getting drawn in by rage-bait and exposing myself to unnecessary grief by arguing with knuckle-dragging imbeciles.

It's been a very slow, subtle bait-and-switch, but FB really is 90% a massive, toxic waste of time now.

Reddit:

Massive amount of content, huge number of sub-forums and often very informative.

However, I gave up on it in the end and am no longer a member.

Being very USA and younger person biased the default sensitivity overload level seems to be crazy low.

Discord:

I don't think that I am dumb but its structure and MO is beyond my understanding and I have given up on this too.

FB:

Just no. Ultra-intrusive, and no I do not wish to hear from old schoolfriends, ex-business colleagues and past loves.

CC:

Nice, friendly & hassle free. Works just fine for me. Long may it continue.

FWIW, the linked forum owner sounds a bit glass half-empty to me.

The proposal also seems doomed to fail imo.

Remember GDPR? Millions spent, many thousands of man-hours expended but all undermined by WFH - and no-one seems bothered.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Glad I'm not on my own with that thought. It's an absolute cesspit now and see very little from people I actuaklly know

I knew that, like Martin Peters, I was before my time in having nothing to do with it.

 

[Marchrider]

and the sad bit is, the new regulations will greatly affect the small players, the small friendly platforms that generally moderate themselves quite well could be hamstrung with red tape. However the big boys, the ones causing the problems, the twitters, the FB's, they will just stick two fingers up to it all.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Totally agree with this; Reddit's OK for some stuff but I find the layout weird, there's no sense of community and it all seems so fleeting / transient.

While FB literally used to be 100% content generated by friends, now (presumably in the face of falling traffic and efforts to monetise it) my time on there is mostly spent inanely browsing the random crap served to me on Marketplace, wasting my time pointlessly "liking" random content pushed in my direction, or getting drawn in by rage-bait and exposing myself to unnecessary grief by arguing with knuckle-dragging imbeciles.

It's been a very slow, subtle bait-and-switch, but FB really is 90% a massive, toxic waste of time now.

Reddits ok for news, especially world news that I might not read otherwise. There is a massive problem with repeated content as often the same stuff will be reposted constantly to get those likes. Facebook I purely use to keep in touch with some relatives abroad, and follow a couple of local pages to find out things like 'what time are the christmas lights turned on'.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I was going to say to the forum owners to suck it and see. But sadly the Suck It And See forum I go to will be closed down due to the online safety act.

That’ll be a real blow to the members

 

[glasgowcyclist]

That’ll be a real blow to the members

It’ll sure be a hard one to swallow.

 

[wafter]

But I'm not on Facebook.

Suppose it'd be fisticuffs on here then, you big ape

Glad I'm not on my own with that thought. It's an absolute cesspit now and see very little from people I actuaklly know

It really is, isn't it? If I wasn't already on there I'd see next-to-no incentive to join as anything of value has become so diluted with utter dross

Reddit:

Massive amount of content, huge number of sub-forums and often very informative.

However, I gave up on it in the end and am no longer a member.

Being very USA and younger person biased the default sensitivity overload level seems to be crazy low.

Discord:

I don't think that I am dumb but its structure and MO is beyond my understanding and I have given up on this too.

FB:

Just no. Ultra-intrusive, and no I do not wish to hear from old schoolfriends, ex-business colleagues and past loves.

CC:

Nice, friendly & hassle free. Works just fine for me. Long may it continue.

FWIW, the linked forum owner sounds a bit glass half-empty to me.

The proposal also seems doomed to fail imo.

Remember GDPR? Millions spent, many thousands of man-hours expended but all undermined by WFH - and no-one seems bothered.

Yup; I use Reddit for specific stuff and tbh have become somewhat drawn into the absurd game of posting to gain fake internet points.. which again is an utterly futile waste of time although I'll take those little dopamine hits where I can get them.

I think CC is a particularly good forum, but is also indicitive of the superiority of old-school "bulletin board" format sites - where members are at least united by a shared interest and the bar to entry seems set a bit higher because of this. Certainly on the BBS-type forums I frequent there's nowhere near the quantity or extremity of abject twattery you'll encounter daily on FB.

Unfortunately I think FB intentionally serves divisive content served up to people of polar-opposite views to drive traffic.

Reddits ok for news, especially world news that I might not read otherwise. There is a massive problem with repeated content as often the same stuff will be reposted constantly to get those likes. Facebook I purely use to keep in touch with some relatives abroad, and follow a couple of local pages to find out things like 'what time are the christmas lights turned on'.

Yeah, irritating to see people constantly "karma farming" by posting the same stuff / robbed content from others just for those fake internet points. I think a lot of the larger subs are now completely diluted by bot-generated content - I've unsubscribed from a lot because I'm sick of seeing "what's something most people like but you think is over-rated?" or similar posted daily.

I predominently used FB to advertise second hand stuff for sale (sadly this seems to act as a flypaper for dickheads but I refuse to use ebay and there are precious few alternatives), and messenger to stay in touch with people - which thankfully is available as a standalone site so avoids all the dross. Sadly my local page requires all content to be moderator-approved before posting; so I can't even spew bile into the either about the grotesque sub-human abominations I'm forced to share this god-forsaken hellhole with

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Unfortunately I think FB intentionally serves divisive content served up to people of polar-opposite views to drive traffic.

All social media is funded by hate in this way.

Outrageous and hateful posts/ videos demand a response.

Posts with more responses are pushed by the algorithm to more people.

Companies pay for advertising to be seen by the people the posts are pushed to.

These people also respond. And the cycle continues.

Outrage, lies and hate are amplified. Discussion, truth and agreement are suppressed.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Suppose it'd be fisticuffs on here then, you big ape



It really is, isn't it? If I wasn't already on there I'd see next-to-no incentive to join as anything of value has become so diluted with utter dross



Yup; I use Reddit for specific stuff and tbh have become somewhat drawn into the absurd game of posting to gain fake internet points.. which again is an utterly futile waste of time although I'll take those little dopamine hits where I can get them.

I think CC is a particularly good forum, but is also indicitive of the superiority of old-school "bulletin board" format sites - where members are at least united by a shared interest and the bar to entry seems set a bit higher because of this. Certainly on the BBS-type forums I frequent there's nowhere near the quantity or extremity of abject twattery you'll encounter daily on FB.

Unfortunately I think FB intentionally serves divisive content served up to people of polar-opposite views to drive traffic.



Yeah, irritating to see people constantly "karma farming" by posting the same stuff / robbed content from others just for those fake internet points. I think a lot of the larger subs are now completely diluted by bot-generated content - I've unsubscribed from a lot because I'm sick of seeing "what's something most people like but you think is over-rated?" or similar posted daily.

I predominently used FB to advertise second hand stuff for sale (sadly this seems to act as a flypaper for dickheads but I refuse to use ebay and there are precious few alternatives), and messenger to stay in touch with people - which thankfully is available as a standalone site so avoids all the dross. Sadly my local page requires all content to be moderator-approved before posting; so I can't even spew bile into the either about the grotesque sub-human abominations I'm forced to share this god-forsaken hellhole with

I don't think I'd trust Facebook to buy or sell anything, I use eBay to sell stuff and rarely have an issue. The Facebook local pages are quite funny sometimes if someones dog has poo'd in the wrong street or something equally as outrageous.

Couple of Bike subeddits I use are Bikecommuting, UKBike and Bicycling. Mostly just for reading bike stuff I rarely post anything.

 

[Drago]

All social media is funded by hate in this way.

Outrageous and hateful posts/ videos demand a response.

What rubbish! Utter nonsense. Where's your evidence? Please provide 12 reputable sources and a reference from all four of your grandparents.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It’ll sure be a hard one to swallow.

Could be a gag order on it

 

[Drago]

Could be a gag order on it

This just makes me want to spit.