The internet has become too centralized

[Narwhalosh Whalescream]

It has all become too intertwined with reality, it used to be somewhat separate but now it has become fully taken over by the big money grubby greedy companies, it used to be a wild west.

[Endus]

What the graphics show is the inevitable pattern of human preference. For Facebook, Amazon, and Google (assuming Youtube is bundled in there, more than search engine stuff), the large size of the user base is the primary draw, and the feature customers desire. Their size is a consumer demand, not an aberration thereof. The only reason Youtube gets more views than, say, Vimeo, is because there's so many more videos on Youtube, more vloggers to follow, more stuff to find, more people to interact with. Same with Facebook, compared to MySpace, back when that was still a thing; there was a time when Facebook was the up-and-comer, and it attracted enough new users with certain ideas, and once it hit the tipping point, MySpace was doomed, because it wasn't keeping up, and nobody was going to stick around because again, the large user base is the attraction.

There's nothing these companies can do to retain those customers, if the customers decide to move on to the next shiny thing. There's no control of the market, or resource. It's literally customer choice, for the most part, and you can't break up that kind of natural monopoly. If you break up Youtube into Easttube and Westtube, you've got two choices. You can geographically restrict which you can access, so that each becomes a regional monopoly enforced by law. Or you can wait, and eventually everyone will gravitate to one or the other again.

[muto]

I’m honestly surprised Yahoo is still that big.

[Afrospinach]

It has all become too intertwined with reality, it used to be somewhat separate but now it has become fully taken over by the big money grubby greedy companies, it used to be a wild west.

Is there something stopping you from putting up a website?

[Queen of Hamsters]

Ok, so you're suggesting we force people to not visit these websites or what?

The Wild West wasn't a very nice place, I trust you know. Let the web be centralized, as long as I can still visit the sites I prefer, it's all good. People are choosing where to go, there's no enforcement going on.

[Endus]

Is there something stopping you from putting up a website?

The silliest thing about the "it used to be a Wild West" is that the Wild West is fiction.

Here's a photo of Dodge City, back during Wyatt Earp's time there;


No guns allowed.

The shootout at the OK Corral is legendary, yes? It also lasted a whopping 30 seconds, and three men died. That's it. That's the whole thing. That was such an outlier that it became a story told over and over and over, and became a legend.

Wistfully thinking about the "Wild West" is as silly as wondering why we can't hunt dragons any more.

[shadowmouse]

Has it really, or have you become too safe, too compliant, too timid to find the rabbit holes and go down them?

For my own part, I never really did, but as far as I can tell from those who do, the rabbit holes are still out there. They're just the equivalent of the seedy local bar that only the locals pay attention to because it doesn't have a sign.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I see this particularly as a good thing rather than bad. I think the internet should be organized. It's a better defense from bad actors. Something goes down you know where it's coming from, or at least have a good idea.

I am not in favor of more is better here.

[Ashleyxoxo]

The other percentage is pr0n.

[Dsonsion]

This is what a game of monopoly looks like too.

In weather science there's a thing called stochastic growth, it refers to the naturally occurring increase in size of droplets in a cloud that goes in hand with the reduction of the amount of droplets, due to them bouncing against one another. Nothing particularly complicated. Yet I am surprised to see that so many people have a hard time acceptingthat this concept applies to the "Free" Market as much as it does to clouds.

[Zan15]

Myspace almost total dominance would like to have a word with those in its place now....

[kail]

What's the current traffic? I doubt Myspace is as big today compared to back then. Same for Yahoo.

At the end of the day, people flock to what works and what's popular. Video hosting outside of YT? GL getting the clicks unless it's porn.

[xChurch]

Well, the actual wild west doesn't exist anymore either and it never will again. Such is the inevitable progress of society. It would take some pretty draconian laws in order to try to restore what it once was which would be antithetical to the idea of a wild west anyway.

[Wyrt]

There's no real way to change short of forcing people to use other search engines.

And I don't want the government to mandate that I use Yahoo instead of Google.

[shadowmouse]

And I don't want the government to mandate that I use Yahoo instead of Google.

Trust me on this one, you don't ... and I'd like Yahoo back. We're down to Bing.

[shadowmouse]

@Raspberry Lemon Nope, just tested it to be sure.

[Logwyn]

Trust me on this one, you don't ... and I'd like Yahoo back. We're down to Bing.

You can still use yahoo?

[Draco-Onis]

It's only natural just like all the industries in America that everything including the internet gets ruled by a oligopoly. There's simply nothing to do about it since our government no longer cares about breaking these types of companies. Honestly though they are less of a threat than banks, food industry and cable companies.

[Flame6]

And those giant companies provide amazing services. It's not like im limited for options or anything, but the mega internet companies provide pretty damn services.

[shadowmouse]

@Logwyn Nope. Being forced to go to Yahoo wasn't exactly rainbows and unicorns, but I'd be happy to have Yahoo back instead of being forced to use Bing. Yahoo has been down since last summer for me, some say it went down even earlier for them.

Pity, just a few years ago Google was working with some results being blocked, and I was getting Youtube. Both had had their ups and downs, but it looked like things were steadying out, then this new wave of changes hit and there are days when even Bing is crappier than normal. At this rate I'm going to be asking Jinro to refer me to the Korean search engines she suggested a while back.