re: Dead Internet Theory - Didn't know there was a term for it but have suspected it

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I have no idea what happened there. I used to contribute on that board on a regular basis, and now I poke in every now and then and it's absolutely insane. I miss the days where we had good conversations, Rex was actually fun to debate, Tuba was still a nutter.

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I think something like this happens to all political forums eventually.

Basically, you start out with “extremists” on both sides but depending on the proportion (and bias in the way it’s moderated), one extreme side starts to dominate all the topics and completely “chokes out” the other extreme side.

Then, the surviving extreme side starts to “eat its way to the center” and attacks opposite-side centrists. Those folks leave because what sane person wants to get wrecked every time they say something that the majority of people would find sensible.

What you’re left with is an ideologically-rigid group think board full of posters who all swarm to annihilate ideas outside of it…basically the poli board on TD, or the leftist equivalent would be the MacRumors political/social board before the communists (like real ones, not just dems) took over and it got shut down.

I think you can avoid it, but at a minimum you have to moderate the crap out of it to make it work…and again, that moderation has to be fair and balanced. Probably not an easy thing to pull off.

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yeah good luck getting criminals agreeing to abide by your silly laws

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Hold Twitter accountable. Make them police it. They could easily do it.

Of course they don't want to do that and, of course, you want the bots to do their thing.

Reddit and Facebook groups have completely destroyed all the old internet message boards, the only ones that survived did so because they needed freedom of speech.

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I would not be surprised if they also use bots to post links to generate page views.

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nope, we are bot free...

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022, has become one of the most devastating conflicts in Europe since World War II. Ukraine, defending its sovereignty and democratic aspirations, has shown extraordinary resilience and unity in the face of overwhelming aggression. Despite facing a larger and better-equipped military, Ukrainian forces have reclaimed significant territory, galvanized international support, and inspired the world with their determination to resist authoritarianism. The war has laid bare the brutality of Russia's tactics, including attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, further strengthening global solidarity with Ukraine’s fight for freedom and independence.

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Hell, you see instagram lately?

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There are lots of bots and troll accounts on instagram. There's lots of manufactured or coordinated outrage but don't underestimate how many stupid and uninformed idiots there are in the world.

I will say instagram is amusing at times. You have almost every form of hate from all over the world on there.

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Let the record show, I am not a bot.

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That is exactly what a bot would say.

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I have no idea what happened there.

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Between the midterms and the 2016 election cycle, shyt went south really fast on that board! And got really bad and fell off thereafter. Folks started getting banned left and right for as little as asking questions and stating facts on different things. Then it spilled over to the OT and sports boards.

Go on Twitter/X and Dead Internet Theory is incredibly obvious. It's at least 80% bots.