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Internet forums are disappearing because now everything is Reddit and Discord. And that's worrying.
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this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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I think this is an XY problem.
People keep trying to bring back the old internet ; This is an broken and outdated solution.
The root problem (in my opinion) is that we need to share critical information to the masses, but the masses introduce "tyranny of the majority". It's a really tricky problem to figure out, and I really really really want mathematicians working on this.
If you live in the states, the Electoral College exists because they were looking for a practical solution to this problem. Considering the outcomes, it did not work - but there is no shame in this, as I think this is actually a really hard problem to solve.
The only known solution is to not share information to the masses (a.k.a keeping the normies out). In essence, this is what the old internet was - and a large part of what made it great. But this is not correct as it does not meet the criteria of the problem. Nor does it translate well, since your neighbors are apart of the masses.
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please share. If you do math for a living, please gather your friends and make an open-thesis about this.
EDIT
After some discussion in the comments, I have a general hypothesis:
People must be able to distinguish the resource they are accessing - highly recommended this process be easy. This provides consistent "edges".
Looking at "tyranny of the majority" from a different perspective, one answer is to standardize how people communicate. This means no closed ecosystems nor convoluted protocols. This provides "standard weight" while preventing "infinite weight".
This eliminates every platform I know of. Servers should not be given any tools to prevent incoming nor outgoing data. People should handle moderation individually - sane UI can of course be made available (BlueSky block filters could be inspiration?). Blocking should only be handled by the "nodes", this also prevents "infinite weight".
I find it really funny that this conclusion kind of alludes to the early internet in a lot of ways. Maybe it wasn't the internet-forums, but the internet itself that has changed.
Reddit was a decent solution, till it enshitified to make money. Before then, it was already flooded by the masses. Clearly their method worked fine. Not perfect, but at least fine. So I don't see why the masses are the problem. I personaly put all the blame on the need to make money of a vital piece of digital infrastructure.
The tricky part, is that we also cannot put it in the hands of a government, since it can become a tool for propaganda. So the EU hosting something like reddit, would also create a conflict of interrests. I'm curious if we can find a good solution to this problem.
Reddit was is a peculiar position, flooded by the masses isn't really what I would call old reddit. Known by them yes (for answers), used by them no.
I think that development is fairly recent, maybe from 2019? And around that time, Reddit started to go to shit.
I agree with the government portion. I'm not really sure what the solution would be, which is why I want math folk working on it - but discussion is always helpful.
it was great before trumps first term, then everything became to sensitive and you started to get banned for the slightest misconstrued statement. my first ban was in his first term, never before.
remember the purging of SUbreddits the GOP was whining about becoming illegal? shoplifting,,,,,etc.
Reddit was great back in 2012 when I first joined, and it slowly got worse over the years as my patients gradually dwindled down the third time I was banned I didn't go back. I'm glad that Lemmy is busy enough I can come daily now and not run out of new posts to see.
That's why I think having a decentralized network where one of the instances belongs to the government is a good idea. If the government is only another player and not the only ruler it's safer for the network. But it's the same for every big company. I don't want another Meta or Google.
But isn't the government hosting something like reddit better than the current state? The government is elected after all, while reddit isn't. At the same time, nothing ensures, reddit isn't used for propaganda.