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[RCU005]

I am not very familiar with how the internet was created, but I guess that one of the first objectives of it, it's to reach information and data from the entire world. I assume that's why they call it World Wide Web.

Today though, many websites (probably the majority of them) relocates to your country website by default. Some pages won't even let you see other countries, and most of them you can, but it's not as straight forward to do it.

Payment options are also localized. During 2000s it was easy to buy anything in the world with your card, but now, many sites won't let you pay with a card that it's not from the country of the respective site. One example is PlayStation. You could add any card to the US Store, or any card to any store, but now you can't. If you have a US card, you must use a US store.

I understand security is one of the main reasons, but due to it and many other reasons, the worldwide web is no longer worldwide.

In the case of Playstation, for example, I have a US account since I was living in the US at that time, and I have had that account since the PS3. Now, I even get localized ads when they don't apply to me because I don't have a local account.

In some cases, it really bothers me, because I no longer have the freedom to visit sites from other countries (at least as easy as it used to be). IGN for example, relocates you immediately, although they do have an easily accessible option to choose any country.

Have you realized that? Do the websites that you visit frequently redirect to your country? Ar you bothered by it?

 

[jshackles]

The web and it's underlying technologies are indeed global. The companies you're describing are the ones to blame.

 

[DESTROYA]

Dont worry OP you can still find your Chinese midget porn sites .

 

[Kimahri]

The internet is complete garbage these days compared to what it used to be.

I could spend hours on end on the net back in the late 90s/early 00s. These days it's five minutes here, five minutes there and I'm bored.

So it's healthier in that respect, but everything is just designed to funnel you into what algorithms think I like, and those algorithms suck in my case and steer me away from the net instead.

 

[wolfmat]

I'm aware, and it's not ideal, but I'm not bothered by it. I get that it becomes a serious annoyance if you relocate to another country though.

 

[lock2k]

2020 web is for chumps and dweebs.
Old west web was the best web.

The web that allowed me to go global and learn two languages by myself when I was 13. Good times. Neogaf still retains some of that old west feel for me at least.

We should truly find a middle ground between world widweeb and the dark web for us. Fuck digital inclusion

 

[nush]

Have you realized that? Do the websites that you visit frequently redirect to your country? Ar you bothered by it?

I just set my VPN to the relevant country, so I don't have that problem.

 

[eddie4]

Payment options are also localized. During 2000s it was easy to buy anything in the world with your card, but now, many sites won't let you pay with a card that it's not from the country of the respective site. One example is PlayStation. You could add any card to the US Store, or any card to any store, but now you can't. If you have a US card, you must use a US store.

This is really noticeable in Europe. I was in the Balkans for a few years, and there is no account registration for a non-EU country, so you have to use a VPN to register in a EU country, like Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, etc., then you have to buy gift cards for that specific region from one of the local gaming stores. You can't just add your CC because it would get denied. That's the only workaround and the people selling the gift cards make a killing.

 

[Dark Star]

The internet is complete garbage these days compared to what it used to be.

I could spend hours on end on the net back in the late 90s/early 00s. These days it's five minutes here, five minutes there and I'm bored.

So it's healthier in that respect, but everything is just designed to funnel you into what algorithms think I like, and those algorithms suck in my case and steer me away from the net instead.

Yup. I miss actually "surfing the web" like in the early 2000's. I remember being a kid and jumping from random site to random site and never running out of cool things to see/do on the internet. Nowadays you just open Google and type whatever and you've found all of the answers to all of your life problems in 0.3961 seconds lol. Same thing with music. I can go on YouTube and the algorithm will recommend/feed me like hundreds, if not thousands, of songs/artists/bands that totally fit my interests. We're living life on easy mode... A short attention span fueled utopia.

There's no sense of mystery anymore. It's all too clean, uniform and ubiquitous. I miss the funny, ugly, personalized randomness of the internet. It was unique and entertaining, and finding information was a fun challenge that tested your wit. The same could be said about information being more limited to physical books, CD's, DVD's, etc. at libraries as well, so you'd actually have to put in some effort/brain power to gain knowledge or experience something new.

 

[farmerboy]

Dont worry OP you can still find your Chinese midget porn sites .

LOLOL



Where?

 

[GeorgPrime]

LOLOL



Where?

With Hornswoggle roleplaying as a baby doll

 

[notseqi]

I get redirected a lot, I will just close the site. I knew where I wanted to go, no need to correct me.
This boy is wearing big boy pants.

 

[lock2k]

Today's WWW is tailor-made for dumb people.

It's like this whole generation of people who use "apps" but never heard of programs or executable files and don't know what's happening in the background, OS-wise - they never heard of DOS and don't know how to input commands. Such bullshit. When computers and the web were for enthusiasts even the level of discussion of any subject was miles ahead of what we have today.

 

[notseqi]

Today's WWW is tailor-made for dumb people.

It's like this whole generation of people who use "apps" but never heard of programs or executable files and don't know what's happening in the background, OS-wise - they never heard of DOS and don't know how to input commands. Such bullshit. When computers and the web were for enthusiasts even the level of discussion of any subject was miles ahead of what we have today.

So happy to have grown up in a time where having a computer to work on wasn't a hassle but fun and engaging. I wonder if there are still 12 year old kids out there who are interested in building a computer.

 

[lock2k]

So happy to have grown up in a time where having a computer to work on wasn't a hassle but fun and engaging. I wonder if there are still 12 year old kids out there who are interested in building a computer.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun, I remember when we bought our first CD-Rom drive and I installed it by myself, it was some cool shit to do.

 

[notseqi]

Yeah, it was a lot of fun, I remember when we bought our first CD-Rom drive and I installed it by myself, it was some cool shit to do.

Floppy to CDROM was such a game changer.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Todays internet is for the mainstream masses. Meaning it's dumbed down.

 

[eddie4]

You can still get to the other sites and the dark web if you know how to. Today's internet is pretty much a safety net for all the people who don't know what they're doing online. Like clueless little babies wandering around.

 

[lock2k]

Not related to the web itself, but another thing that makes me pissed is the "dumbification" of movies here in Brazil. In the last two decades it's really hard to find some movies in their original languages at theaters - everything has to be dubbed because the population has to listen to everything dubbed. I personally hate dubbed shit - it only works for cartoons. And then people wonder why Brazil is so far behind in learning other languages. Portugal has subtitled movies in regular TV channels and they are great in other languages.

 

[wolfmat]

Not related to the web itself, but another thing that makes me pissed is the "dumbification" of movies here in Brazil. In the last two decades it's really hard to find some movies in their original languages at theaters - everything has to be dubbed because the population has to listen to everything dubbed. I personally hate dubbed shit - it only works for cartoons. And then people wonder why Brazil is so far behind in learning other languages. Portugal has subtitled movies in regular TV channels and they are great in other languages.

In Germany, it's been like that since forever. Either something's dubbed or it doesn't get a release. Fin.

This even extends to online movie-buying platforms: I tried to get the newest Aliens shitflick in English on Google Play when it was released on there, and it was right there, I could list it, but there was no way to buy it for me. The only buyable version was the German-dubbed one. "Yo you're in Germany, you WILL watch German, and that's the end of it!"

But it's production companies enforcing this, especially for new releases. The platforms don't care either way, they just provide the companies with the option to narrow it down in that fashion. And in the end, when the movies end up on the big streaming platforms, finally, I can just pick the language I want to hear. So I'm not going to buy new releases, that's it.

It's a little ridiculous. Especially when you look at the neighboring countries: Denmark for example gets basically everything in English by default. They don't even have local dubs for a lot of big releases. Just subs.

 

[notseqi]

It's a little ridiculous.

It's insanity. It's available, give it. Give it give it give it.
I ain't watching no shit dubs when I understand OV and even if I don't I'd rather have subtitles than a dub.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Www is probably better than it was in the 90s