Buelldozer

but breaking down what’s different I can’t pin anything concrete down.

One big difference is scale. The 2000s Internet was primarily centered around single(ish) interest forums with relatively low user counts. The entire Lemmy-verse, which is itself quite tiny in 2025, is still WAY larger than nearly any of the 2000s era forums ever were.

Another other big difference is why the user base is online. The majority of them aren’t participating to discuss a shared interest anymore, they are doing it for general entertainment or to earn money.

Those two things explain nearly all of the change. Way more users congregated into a handful of websites with many of them, including the sites, attempting to get rich doing it.

The 2000s web was a much smaller number of users spread across a zillion websites / forums with nearly all of the users and site operators doing it without money as a motivator.

MySpace was social media and had none of the toxicity.

Usenet was Social Media and it had allllll the toxicity.

The same tailscale that announced last week that they are going to start charging?

https://tailscale.com/kb/1251/pricing-faq

I went over and looked at the peertube FAQ and nope, there’s no monetization plan. Their reasoning for that is consistent with their goals but it is a hurdle to creators moving to the platform.

When are they moving all to freetube or something?

Unless I’m missing something Freetube is a client. So it wouldn’t be Jeff moving to freetube it would be you using freetube to watch his content on YT.

I’m guessing you meant peertube instead of freetube and your answer there is “When they can get paid.” Making content takes time and costs money and YT pays creators like Jeff for doing it.

I dislike YT alot but there’s financial decisions at play here that can’t really be argued with.

At some point, the NRA forgot that and only funded one side.

As the article notes after '94 the number of Democrats the NRA could support steadily dwindled. These days the Democrats purity test their candidates to ensure that they fully support Gun Control and there are various Democrat PACs that will oppose Pro-Gun Democrats in the primaries; making it increasingly unlikely for there to be any future Democrats at the federal level that the NRA can support.

The 2nd Amendment is a wedge issue and both sides do their best to take maximum advantage of their position.

That left them vulnerable when there was widespread financial fraud in the organization…

They were vulnerable because they were up to shady shit. No one should have been going to bat for the NRA during their corruption scandal and the fact they had one is entirely the fault of the NRAs Board of Directors. They knew what was happening and ignored it. No amount of political donations to Democrats, or anyone else, should have insulated them from the consequences.

I’d like for all of the Pro 2A groups, not just the NRA, to get back to donating to non-Republican politicians but they kinda don’t exist anymore and I don’t know how to change that.

The modern NRA is near useless but what you’re accusing them of hasn’t been true in a long time.

The NRA that supported The Mulford Act ceased to exist on May 22nd, 1977. The membership was fed-up with their organization supporting Gun Control and in an event known as the Revolt at Cincinnati they removed and replaced the entire leadership then set the organization on an entirely new course.

Post '77 it’s been very rare for the NRA to support any kind of Gun Control, to the point that they’ve spent the last three decades getting torn up in the media for staunchly opposing any limits on 2A rights for anyone. They’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time, money, and energy winding back all of the gun controls and policies that they supported prior to '77 and to my knowledge they’ve made no attempt to limit 2A rights for non-whites.

Now some of the NRA members and 2A associated politicians are certainly racist / sexist / 'phobic fuckheads but the organization itself hasn’t cared about any of that for decades.

The biggest knock on the NRA in modern times, basically the WLP corruption era, is that they completely lost the willingness to go against the Police regardless of the circumstances. The '90s (Cold Dead Hands / Jackbooted Thugs) era NRA would likely have already been in the streets at this point.

The NRA is very nearly a failed organization at this point.

In regards to recent events there was a time back in the ‘90s where they were pretty willing to get involved in stuff like this. Ol’ WLP himself let fly with phrases like “Jackbooted thugs” and Charlton Heston proudly declared “From my cold dead hands.” The NRA of the '90s was a fiery organization that was increasingly positioning itself as an anti-government force.

Then it stopped. I’ve never seen confirmation as to why but my supposition is that after the “jackbooted thugs” comment that WLP got a tap on the shoulder from the men in black suits and a deal was struck.

If today’s NRA had the spirit it did 30 years ago they’d likely already be in the streets.

First Used - Apple II

First Owned - Commodore Vic 20

It’s not a TERF thing. Nearly no one cares about who goes into a “Men’s” Restroom and it’s always been that way.

You’re not the person the meme is targeting. Way to ignore the first 3 panels.

You are correct, this wasn’t targeted at me and I didn’t fully absorb the content before replying to it. I’m going through a rough patch and it clouded me for a bit.

Should we also show “empathy” to Klansmen who joined up because they claim to feel disenfranchised by society?

There’s a chasm of difference between empathizing with a Klansman and empathizing with people who followed a normal, and I use that word loosely, cultural track. The two are so distinctly different that comparing them is absurd.

Your idea of empathy is why the Andrew Tates of this world can thrive.

That guy and the way he lives his life are disgusting, do not associate me with them.

Every lonely man who doesn’t fit the played out internet stereotype of an incel. You likely see several of them a day.

Whew Lad, you must be projecting.

I’m a man, I’m lonely. Why? Because I spent the last 30 years building a career and my social circle is tiny. My personal hobbies and interest took a back seat to building my company, helping my wife through a 2nd and then 3rd Masters Degree, and raising my Son.

Personal Hygiene? Showered at least every day. Dress Well? I’m in collars, slacks, and dress shoes at least 5 days a week. Smell Good? Yeah, got it covered. Smile? Yeah, got it covered. Show Respect? Yeah, got it covered. Practice Good Manners? Pretty rich coming from you.

Go outside and stop blaming women for everything.

You have a child’s understanding of the world around and lack empathy. Go read a book.

This meme is pathetic and offensive.

I have my smoke / CO detectors, KIdde Z-Wave units, tied to my Home Assistant setup. HA will push a notifier to my phone if the smoke or CO alarm goes off and it’s able to track the battery life and let me know I need to change them before they start beeping.