The Free Internet - Why places like Tree of Souls are so important

[Eltu]

I wrote a piece recently on the value of independent internet communities, and how they already exist today as an alternative to monolithic social media. Since this relates very directly to Tree of Souls, I figured some of you may be interested reading it! It's up on my website:
ivarhill.com/the-free-internet

I also wrote a shorter version here, that is a bit less academic and more practically oriented:
ivarhill.com/a-guide-to-the-free-internet

Oh, and if the part on Matrix sounds compelling, there's an active Tree of Souls chat room right here!

 

[TireaAean]

Interesting
Some solid points there. One can only hope that awareness, adoption, and use of these sorts of platforms will increase.

 

[Blazil]

I read the full version. I pretty much agree. Those alternative services and platforms kind of remind me of the old internet, where "don't be evil" was actually a real code of honor that people in the spotlight back then believed in and adhered to. Nowadays, the ones in the spotlight all say they do, but we know better... Honor is dead, and money is apparently all that matters, no matter how low one has to sink to get it.

I believe the fact that the masses use the privately owned social media has more to do with a lack of understanding and respect of the internet and its implications.

Here's a nice comparison:

When I was 12 years old I was old enough to be aware of what the internet was and had used it on for example my parents' PC.
When I wanted to go onto the internet by myself without supervision, my parents didn't stop me, but to do so I had to figure out everything myself.
I had to:
- Buy my own second hand PC, and get whatever was still installed on it to run (Windows NT 4.0 without administrator password)
- Figure out how Windows NT network settings worked
- Buy a LAN router and Ethernet cables to split the LAN connection between 2 PCs and figure out how to set it up, including understanding the TCP/IP protocol
- Set up the correct IE browser settings
When I had done all that, I really had a sense that I had earned the right to browse the internet, with a massive download speed of 30 kilobytes per second.

Nowadays, 3 year olds are handed the newest smart phones with full internet access as if they are toys. As they grow up, they take such things for granted because they aren't taught otherwise. Developing creative and analytical thinking skills is no longer encouraged. I am already seeing this in recent graduates looking for a job in the tech industry. It is rare to come across someone young who really wants to think and figure things out for themselves. They mostly expect that they are handed everything.

I believe schools should start giving mandatory classes on not only internet usage, but also on its inner workings, the involved ethics, how to judge information accuracy using common sense, and give some real practical exercises where these things are put to the test. Maybe then this next generation isn't fully lost.

 

[Eltu]

Interesting
Some solid points there. One can only hope that awareness, adoption, and use of these sorts of platforms will increase.

Indeed! I do try to advocate for it where I can, in particular the somewhat more low-hanging fruit like considering internet forums over Reddit, Matrix over Discord and so on - which is at least doable, unlike say, moving away from Twitter or Instagram when the sole reason you're using it is its scale and number of people using it. For those kind of things it's a much longer process, but maybe some day we'll get there too

As I pointed out in those articles, the issue isn't really that we are using these services per se and of course people are free to do what they want - the issue is that we use them so much and so ubiquitously. Discord being a prime example - with so many communities moving to a Discord server, if you don't like Discord well then tough luck. Which sure, theoretically you can say the same about a forum, but usually you can have an opinion about those on a case-by-case basis. If you have one reason or another to not want to use Discord, well now you're cut off from almost all communities everywhere. And there can often be less subjective reasons for this too, like accessibility, or what kind of OS/platform you use. It's not really about Discord (or anything else) being functionally good or bad, it's about the whole monoculture.

That's the main reason I'm advocating so strongly for the ToS Matrix server for chat, and encouraging any other community to adapt the same mindset. Since it's a protocol and not a singular product, you're bound to find a way to use it that works well for you - rather than relying on the functionality, design, practices and policies of a single, huge, third party corporation.

Nowadays, 3 year olds are handed the newest smart phones with full internet access as if they are toys. As they grow up, they take such things for granted because they aren't taught otherwise. Developing creative and analytical thinking skills is no longer encouraged. I am already seeing this in recent graduates looking for a job in the tech industry. It is rare to come across someone young who really wants to think and figure things out for themselves. They mostly expect that they are handed everything.

I believe schools should start giving mandatory classes on not only internet usage, but also on its inner workings, the involved ethics, how to judge information accuracy using common sense, and give some real practical exercises where these things are put to the test. Maybe then this next generation isn't fully lost.

This is an interesting argument and absoutely raises some good points. It seems all too common today that through our very upbringing we are not only taught the nature of the internet in a misleading way, but we are also trained to essentially view these huge corporate giants as what the internet is. I don't think there's necessarily anything intentionally malicious going on there (although I'm sure these corporations don't complain!) but rather just what has naturally grown to happen over time as we've just started seeing these things more and more like public services whereas in fact they are not. Starting in schools is definitely a great place to try to enact some actual change in that regard!

 

[Sopyu ftu äo]

Following the whole Elon debacle (don't even get me started on him) I dropped twitter and discovered Mastodon, and late the whole concept of the fediverse. I think it is important, and though it might be a little techie and janky sometimes, I agree 100% that concept of non-commercial community-owned and directed spaces on the internet is important, and essential to a healthy society. I also love our own, non-federated stand-alone spaces, like Tree of Souls, which used to be so much more common on the internet. Sadly, fewer and fewer of these old-style spaces (esp forums, which is a format I really like) seem to exist every year.

Link here to my Mastodon in case anyone is interested. I mainly toot (mastoblast?) about auspol, environmental, social equality, and some sci/tech issues. Big surprises there, I'm sure!

 

[tulkunbrother]

You guys put some real deep knowledge and tips here, my friends!

I wrote a piece recently on the value of independent internet communities, and how they already exist today as an alternative to monolithic social media. Since this relates very directly to Tree of Souls, I figured some of you may be interested reading it! It's up on my website:
ivarhill.com/the-free-internet

I also wrote a shorter version here, that is a bit less academic and more practically oriented:
ivarhill.com/a-guide-to-the-free-internet

Oh, and if the part on Matrix sounds compelling, there's an active Tree of Souls chat room right here!

Eltu's website is just amazing! I love to read about technology and specially what surrounds it, what involves it, what they mean and their impacts on our world, and your content is full of this knowledge and valuable lessons! Keep up the good work, friend, the world needs people like you.
I must agree with your points in the article, people does not seem to understand and neither want to understand that there are better ways of using the internet, better choices that can even lead to a better life. I say this because the mainstream social media is not only addictive, but shallow and full of futility. Of course there are interesting things being put there, but how many people actually consumes the good stuff? 99% of the content are totally irrelevant (and even harmful) and the bad effects on people's health (mental and physical) are tremendous.
Places like Tree of Souls (my favorite place on the internet since I discovered it) are different. Here we can find deeper and meaningful content, we can find all sorts of things and people, we can engage and talk, we are not passive mindless consumers and products for a big corporation (since I saw Avatar 2 I can't think about big corporations like Meta without making a comparison between them and RDA).

Nowadays, 3 year olds are handed the newest smart phones with full internet access as if they are toys. As they grow up, they take such things for granted because they aren't taught otherwise. Developing creative and analytical thinking skills is no longer encouraged. I am already seeing this in recent graduates looking for a job in the tech industry. It is rare to come across someone young who really wants to think and figure things out for themselves. They mostly expect that they are handed everything.

This literally hurts me, because the world is going to feel the problems of letting children with unrestricted access to internet. Following the points about modern social media we already discussed, I believe they are one of the biggest "villains" of the lack of critical thinking we see in young people. They absorb so much shallow and meaningless content that they believe those contents are actually deep and represents the world's truth. Of course we need to consider the role parents occupy in this situations and everything, but this is actually a hole new topic to discuss!

I agree 100% that concept of non-commercial community-owned and directed spaces on the internet is important, and essential to a healthy society. I also love our own, non-federated stand-alone spaces, like Tree of Souls, which used to be so much more common on the internet.

I agree with you, friend, and I too miss this old school internet, not just because of pure nostalgia, but because we lost this sense of community and true engagement. What is engagement on today's internet? Using the top trending music of TikTok on your video? Participating on a dangerous challenge? Come on, that's is not what true engagement means, it cannot be.