undefined | Better HN

0 pointsNight_Thastus3mo ago0 comments

Bots and influencers are minimal concerns if there's no money to be had - since that's ultimately the driving force between those.

But trying to make a 'non-monetizable' internet is an oxymoron. If it has the ability to allow people to communicate, then it can be used to sell things.

You can't have an exchange of information without that information potentially containing garbage designed to make someone else money. You can only eliminate spam calls if you decide to get rid of the invention of the telephone.

0 comments

Morromist3mo ago

Heh. True. The saga of r/art this last few weeks is a good lession in how trying to demonitize things can be difficult.

Still, with intense moderation it is sometimes possible. Wikipedia has a vast amount of information passing through it and has stayed pretty free of monitization - although, certainly some companies have written themselves some pretty positive wiki-pages - in general I would say it is a success.

Night_ThastusOP3mo ago

Intense moderation eventually breaks down. Ultimately, the people doing the moderating are driven by the same selfishness as all humans. Even if a you can find a handful who won't bend for their own gain, they will be forced out by those who do and see an opportunity.

This is the same problem law has, even at the global scale.

You can't moderate when almost every single person in the chain is a bad actor. Individuals will chip away at any structure or organization day by day, year by year, until they are eventually rewarded.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse