Bonum Certa Men Certa

SPAM is Ruining the World Wide Web and We Need to Talk About That

Video download link | md5sum be3f545cd31e04f98657cde097386943 Spamfarm or Webspam: Is This the Future of the WWW? Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The World Wide Web (WWW) has a pandemic of misinformation, but to make matters worse a lot of sites have turned into spamfarms, sometimes shrewdly disguised as "news", "reviews" etc.

LAST week's long rant about what CNX Software had become certainly did not help. In fact, CNX Software got even worse in recent days (this ongoing worsening motivated the previous video) and it's safe to say that about half the "content" there is nowadays borderline junk or outright spam. This is part of a worrying trend, so singling out Phoronix or CNX Software would be missing the point. To make matters worse, they imperil themselves and pave the way towards their very own demise. It's the trust which took them years to build up -- if not decades to build up (Phoronix turns 18 later this year) -- which kept or keeps their momentum going. Lose the trust, and the audience will vanish, in turn removing any incentive for investment (either as author or advertiser). This is how sites die.



What we said about the Linux Foundation in that same (aforementioned) rant is still applicable, as demonstrated in the video above. This is part of a broader trend which we first cautioned about around 2020. Once-legitimate sites are selling out and trying to 'cash in'. It never ends well because existing audiences are alienated, nobody new comes knocking, and sooner or later one becomes a "SPAMnil" [1, 2] with more videos than actual daily views.

"We hope to extend the dialogue about these issues; it's the same problem in Gulag's YouTube."This problem is further exacerbated by spammy search and "social control media" oligopolies; they're simply not in the business of prioritising accurate, objective information such as news sites; instead they promote clickbait (or optimise for that) because they aim to enhance "engagement", which is related to mental/psychological distress. It's widely known people are more likely to do things they're strongly passionate about; disagreement increases "screen time" (with space for ads). But it can be counterproductive, even corrosive.

In the video above I show examples of the problem (using new material) and then randomly pick some Gemini capsules, where the signal-to-noise ratio is a lot better (than today's WWW).

We hope to extend the dialogue about these issues; it's the same problem in Gulag's YouTube.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
 
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC