Deep down, the internet is about people October 14, 2006 7:23 AM   Subscribe

Deep down, the internet is about people. Sure it's an interconnected set of computers following simple machine instructions, but the driving force behind it all is people connecting with other people. The human network is good way to describe what the internet has become. It is ingrained in our everyday lives. We email coworkers, friends, and loved ones. Our lives are captured by digital cameras and shared online. We read blogs for their personalities and unique take on the world. Even dry data like bank balances and weather forecasts have become ways to accentuate and improve your daily life.
- Matt Haughey
posted by caddis to MetaFilter-Related at 7:23 AM (88 comments total)

no, the internet is about PONIES ... i want a PONY ... PONY, PONY, PONY, NOW!!!
posted by pyramid termite at 7:49 AM on October 14, 2006


SOYLENT GREEN HUMAN NETWORK IS PEOPLE!
posted by matthewr at 7:50 AM on October 14, 2006


Great, another chance to read this!

Seriously, if you're not logged in, it appears on almost every page. As a freakin' image.
posted by reklaw at 7:55 AM on October 14, 2006


Deep down, the internet is about pornography. Sure it's an interconnected set of computers following simple machine instructions, but the driving force behind it all is people downloading porn. The porn network is good way to describe what the internet has become. It is ingrained in our everyday lives. We download, save, and watch porn. Our sex lives are captured by digital cameras and shared online. We read blogs for their pornographic links and unique kinky videos. Even dry data like bank balances and weather forecasts have become ways to pretend you are using the internet for something else.
- Meatbomb
posted by Meatbomb at 8:06 AM on October 14, 2006 [2 favorites]


Sure it's an interconnected set of computers following simple machine instructions tubes...
posted by carsonb at 8:06 AM on October 14, 2006


Let's see...

Edit --> Find --> *typey-typey* "porn"

Nope. They all missed it.
posted by Cyrano at 8:07 AM on October 14, 2006


Deep down, everything is about people. Sure it's this, that, and the other thing, doing what they do, but the driving force behind it all is people connecting with other people. The human network is good way to describe what life has always been. It is ingrained in our everyday existence. We talk to coworkers, friends, and loved ones. Our lives are captured by photography and shared memories. We read books for their personalities and unique take on the world. Even dry data like bank statements and weather reports have always been accentuating and improving your daily life.

some day, dude, you are gonna need a real job, you know that, don't you?
posted by quonsar at 8:17 AM on October 14, 2006


some day, dude, you are gonna need a real job, you know that, don't you?
posted by quonsar

Metafilter is valued at 1.5 million on blogshares
posted by delmoi

I dunno, quonsar...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:42 AM on October 14, 2006


And the conversion rate between blogshares and those old-school MSM dead-tree Web 1.0 real dollars is about 1,000,000:1.
posted by matthewr at 8:44 AM on October 14, 2006


You sayin I can take her home today for a buck fifty?
posted by Rhomboid at 8:49 AM on October 14, 2006


Deal.
posted by matthewr at 8:50 AM on October 14, 2006


Woo. Now don't go trying to upsell me on any of that anti-rust coating bullshit for the elephant saddles...
posted by Rhomboid at 8:59 AM on October 14, 2006


Even dry data like bank balances and weather forecasts have become ways to accentuate and improve your daily life.

Depending on the balance and the weather, of course.
Matt: I'll forgive you if you're too young to remember that we had bank balances and weather forecasts before the internet.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:43 AM on October 14, 2006


Yah, but I'm sayin', that TruCoat, you don't get it and you get oxidization problems.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:44 AM on October 14, 2006


Depressing that the Web 1.0/2.0 turd was dropped so early in what could have been a great discussion.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:45 AM on October 14, 2006


Deep down, everything is about people.

except cthulhu ... he's all about raw meat
posted by pyramid termite at 10:09 AM on October 14, 2006


There aren't... people... in here, are there?

*looks around nervously*
posted by languagehat at 10:33 AM on October 14, 2006


Yeah, but only for a given value of "people."
posted by Cyrano at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2006


Of course I voted for Mathowie
posted by Cranberry at 11:39 AM on October 14, 2006


Damn you third-party voters! If you'd only voted for Kerry, we wouldn't be in this mess!
posted by languagehat at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2006


Seriously, if you're not logged in, it appears on almost every page. As a freakin' image.

Dang. You weren't kiddin'



Mefi is hella ugly when you log out.
posted by scarabic at 11:59 AM on October 14, 2006


What about the tubes? Won't someone please think of the tubes?
posted by brain_drain at 12:00 PM on October 14, 2006


WHITE KIDS ON DOPE!!
posted by pyramid termite at 12:12 PM on October 14, 2006


The internet is a series of white punks on dope.
posted by scarabic at 12:17 PM on October 14, 2006


Yeah, the ad is ugly and isn't what the ad people described to me. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to even review it, they just posted it so that's why it's kind of ugly.

some day, dude, you are gonna need a real job, you know that, don't you?

I swear I heard an old man shout that at the local rock band that got a record contract. They might have been rocking out on his lawn though.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 1:05 PM on October 14, 2006


Modest, much?
posted by keswick at 1:22 PM on October 14, 2006


I voted for Matt's answer, and I didn't even bother reading any of the others.
posted by msali at 1:28 PM on October 14, 2006


damn kids are ruining my lawn.
posted by quonsar at 1:34 PM on October 14, 2006


The enourmous ads on posts when you're not logged in are annoying and useless. Please stop the ad-hattery. Please stop.
posted by blasdelf at 1:44 PM on October 14, 2006


I'm not really sure if the 'blog shares' valuation is in any way valid.

(Actually given metafilter's Alexa rank and demographics, I think it could sell for a lot more)
posted by delmoi at 1:46 PM on October 14, 2006


Deep down, the internet just needs to be held. It's ok, internet. It's ok.
posted by allen.spaulding at 2:15 PM on October 14, 2006 [1 favorite]


Modest, much?
posted by keswick


God, you're a petty little child.

Unless you were kidding.
Then you're just a wild little scamp! What darndest thing will you say next?!?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:22 PM on October 14, 2006


holy. shit. I thought scarabic photoshopped that screenshot, but no, it's real. I'd join here just to get rid of the horrible, ugly ads.
posted by bob sarabia at 2:42 PM on October 14, 2006


The message is simple. If you haven't coughed up your $5 yet, screw you.
posted by crunchland at 2:57 PM on October 14, 2006


Well, yeah. It's only $5.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:10 PM on October 14, 2006


Definitely explains why this place's been such a ghost town lately.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:25 PM on October 14, 2006


Look at the Internet! It thinks it's people!
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:15 PM on October 14, 2006



posted by quonsar at 4:28 PM on October 14, 2006 [1 favorite]


In the end, people is about people, when they're about.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:45 PM on October 14, 2006


Deep down, the internet is now about selling shit to people. I'll call it the 'ad network'!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:48 PM on October 14, 2006


JPEGs for screenshots makes baby jesus cry.

PNG PEOPLE, PNG! NO ARTIFACTS
posted by Rhomboid at 6:19 PM on October 14, 2006


I LOVE INTERNET. DO INTERNET LOVE ME?
posted by TwelveTwo at 6:32 PM on October 14, 2006


I can't seem to CONTROL THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE. I think it's a side effect OF THE UNFREEZING PROCESS.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:38 PM on October 14, 2006


I loved your definition Matt, but I guess that goes without saying since I reposted it here. I think you captured the personal aspect of the internet very well.
posted by caddis at 6:38 PM on October 14, 2006


Modest, much?

I didn't mean it in a "haha I make money and you don't" way, I meant it in a "why do you have to wish failure on others?" way. I was trying to be subtle and added a winky joke at the end.

How about this: Imagine you go home for a holiday dinner, and a cousin says she quit her insurance job to be an artist and is selling paintings and has a gallery representing her and all is well. Then Uncle Bob says "you know, you're going to have to get a job someday."

Uncle Bob would seem like a real asshole, wouldn't he? Telling the cousin to her face that she's going to fail at what she is doing at the moment? That's how I read quonsar's first comment.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:40 PM on October 14, 2006


Mommy, why does Uncle Bob smell like medicine?
posted by koeselitz at 7:00 PM on October 14, 2006


JPEGs for screenshots makes baby jesus cry

There are remarkably few things I'm certain of in life, and this is one of them: Baby Jesus doesn't give a flying batfuck if you use BMP, GIF, TIF, PST or TGA.

Y'know what really makes Baby Jesus cry? Pet snacks that are nasty, cruel imitations of real tasty food like bacon, sausages or those tiny steak cutlet things that look like miniaturized t-bones.

Yeah, Baby Jesus is going to put the everlasting smackdown on those sons of bitches, because Baby Jesus likes dogs. 'Cause you know dog heaven is made of real meat. The regenerating, ever-living, ever-suffering flesh of the industrial managers of animal by-product waste streams.
posted by loquacious at 7:19 PM on October 14, 2006


My all time favorite internet quote: "On the internet, no one knows you're a dog."

So welcome to the human and canine network.

And Baby Jesus really does like dogs.

Yes, matt, I think you correctly got the gist of q's comment, and responded appropriately. Remember, quonsar is the MetaFilter equivalent of the Statler and Waldorf characters on The Muppet Show, contributing to the show by ridiculing it. But seriously, the speed and unpredictability of technological change is such that, sometime in your working future, you'll likely find yourself in a 'real job', working for a large corporation/organization and not doing anything really community-related, if only temporarily. It could always happen. And then you'll owe quonsar (or his estate) an apology.
posted by wendell at 7:45 PM on October 14, 2006


That's how I read quonsar's first comment.

well, the whole "ain't the net new and wunnerful" flavor of internet hyperbole is tiresome, ya know? i mean seriously - everything you said is just as true when you take the internet out of it. i'm glad you are getting the attention, and hopefully some cash - for your definition - but it ain't perzackly profound.
posted by quonsar at 7:54 PM on October 14, 2006


oh, and i laughed out loud at your response. i didn't even understand keswick's comment.
posted by quonsar at 7:57 PM on October 14, 2006


Remember, quonsar is the MetaFilter equivalent of the Statler and Waldorf characters on The Muppet Show, contributing to the show by ridiculing it.

Amazing. That explains so much... like why I like him, for starters, but not to mention the lingering reek of cigars, the not so fresh fish in his pants, the frustrated, groping buggery in the lobby with his silver whiskers tickling my ears and the Seabond-sour breath uttering the most shocking suggestions of things to do in a hot summer barn.

Pardon me. I'm going to go scrub my hide off in a boiling hot shower now. I'll be back... maybe in March. Depends on how much steel wool we have in the house.
posted by loquacious at 8:20 PM on October 14, 2006


There aren't... people... in here, are there?

*looks around nervously*


don't worry, languagehat - ain't nobody here but us sockpuppets.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:12 PM on October 14, 2006


Well, that explains the hand up my ass.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:20 PM on October 14, 2006


mean seriously - everything you said is just as true when you take the internet out of it.

How do you figure? For introverts in the basement like you and I, without the internet we'd be drunken shut-ins with nary a contact with the outside world. The crap I spewed was about how suddenly this stupid network allows these shut-ins to feel connected to other humans. I suppose you could substitue "prison pen pal" with "internet" and it would slightly make sense, but if you think a telephone and writing letters equals the internet, you're way off.

And just to be clear, I wasn't trying to be profound, it's just a fucking ad that was built around asking people to define some lofty term. When I thought about the human side of the internet, I thought of all the great things it has done for me, like say, let me goof off all day and know people all over the world I wouldn't otherwise meet at some shitty desk job.

I don't care what people think of some dumb ad, but longtime members taking pleasure telling me I'm going to fail is really bothersome.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 9:31 PM on October 14, 2006 [1 favorite]


I really hope and almost believe that quonsar isn't telling you you're going to fail, mathowie. Heck, at this point, you can't fail, 'cause you've already succeeded in ways many—most—of us can't or won't, in the sense that you can do what you love to do without worrying too much about whether you can keep doing so if the money dries up. You did it without money for so long that maybe the idea of doing it without money again won't be as appealing, but you already did it, so you know you could do it again.
posted by cgc373 at 9:58 PM on October 14, 2006


Before you take it to heart, Matt, consider the source.
posted by crunchland at 11:23 PM on October 14, 2006


indeed,
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 11:32 PM on October 14, 2006


Matt, don't let q get you down. He just has a gruff way of expressing his love, and of course het fits right into your definition being 18th overall on the MeFi Contribution Index and having the fifth highest number of comments here.
posted by caddis at 1:27 AM on October 15, 2006


If you're going to write silly bullshit for ads, it seems a bit rich to complain when people ridicule you.
posted by reklaw at 6:39 AM on October 15, 2006


longtime members taking pleasure telling me I'm going to fail is really bothersome.

matt, you're being overly sensitive. and what recklaw said.
posted by quonsar at 7:40 AM on October 15, 2006


What reklaw said.
posted by keswick at 9:30 AM on October 15, 2006


I think that this is a great ad, a lot less ugly than billions others, with the rare quality for an ad to launch a potentially interesting conversation about a real, actual topic.

It is true that 5 years ago, everybody was talking about the internet as a way to find lots of stuff: porn, yes, but also things to buy and information and references and zillions of any kind of stuff.

And Matt is spot on when he says that what the Internet is becoming everyday more and more is about people.

Basically, nobody knows what Internet is. Have you ever tried to ask a physicist how to describe a space where every point is equidistant from any other point, like we all are, just separated by a click? I have, and the answers are not pretty: they don't know. Unless you like the only 2 answers that make sense for a physicist: "a point" or "an n-brane space". Both are not very explanatory.

So observing that Internet is really about people and made of people - and not of stuff - is at least a clever and undeniable fact. A scientific fact that can be subjected to any kind of proof. A rock solid starting point to begin a scientific description of what the Internet is.

If we had read McLuhan a little better, we would have known for a while that the Internet is about us and made of us. And the next question could be: what is this thing made of us where people are equidistant from each other, like in a point or an "n-brane space"?
posted by bru at 10:05 AM on October 15, 2006


now, that's an (n-1)-brain load of hooey.
posted by quonsar at 11:35 AM on October 15, 2006


"... a space where every point is equidistant from any other point..."

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!


*head asplodes*
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:42 AM on October 15, 2006


Actors call it 'whoreing', but they live with the ridicule cuz it pays the rent. Your call.

Yeah, the ad is ugly and isn't what the ad people described to me.

As someone who has spent far too long with varying degrees of involvement with advertising-types, this made me laugh like a drain. In fact it's probably going to keep me amused for a few days :-)

Now is it me or does Merlin Mann come across like he needs a good hard kick in the bollocks?
posted by i_cola at 12:53 PM on October 15, 2006


Yeah, well, I don't see any ad companies rushing to ask any of us for our opinions on what the Internet is. Were you busy the day they called you, quonsar?
posted by crunchland at 1:23 PM on October 15, 2006


What caddis said.

And "you'll need to get a real job someday" doesn't mean "you're bound to fail." In the meanest sense, which is not the sense q meant it, it means rather "what you're doing isn't serious or dignified." One could say "you need to get a real job someday" and fully expect that the "fake job" will be lucrative. What's more, I hope it's pretty damned clear to you that quonsar doesn't think you're an unserious or undignified person.

The gentle point, I think, of q's jibe was this: the internet hasn't brought about some brand new day of happy people-relating, and saying it has seems to be an attempt to add an amount of 'humanitarian' sheen to something that just doesn't need it. People have been relating since the dawn of time. And, personally, if I value Metafilter, it's in spite of the advances of the internet, not because of it. Metafilter thrives because it's a dinosaur: a minimum of automation, a lot of hard hands-on work, more (though subtler) moderator involvement than any other group blog out there. Add to that the fact that Metafilter appeals to an incredibly diverse body of people in many, many walks of life. Very few group blogs seem able to do that. Interestingly, I think that's because most of them seem to be geared exclusively to the "introverts in the basement."

If we had read McLuhan a little better, we'd know that.
posted by koeselitz at 2:44 PM on October 15, 2006


is that chocolate on your nose, crunchland?
posted by quonsar at 2:48 PM on October 15, 2006


Well, at least it's not bitter.
posted by crunchland at 2:51 PM on October 15, 2006


the internet hasn't brought about some brand new day of happy people-relating, and saying it has seems to be an attempt to add an amount of 'humanitarian' sheen to something that just doesn't need it...

...and saying it has and believing it, well, that's a balloon i just can't resist sticking with a pin.
posted by quonsar at 2:53 PM on October 15, 2006


because i'm mean. and bitter.

*rolls eyes*
posted by quonsar at 2:55 PM on October 15, 2006


Matt is 20 times more successful than you are. I'd say that he probably does live in a shiny, happy internet world. He's paying his mortgage by doing something that didn't exist 20 years ago ... or at least something that was merely a hobby 20 years ago. It's understandable that someone in your position might resent that success, and feel the need to stick pins in balloons.
posted by crunchland at 3:09 PM on October 15, 2006


the internet hasn't brought about some brand new day of happy people-relating, and saying it has seems to be an attempt to add an amount of 'humanitarian' sheen to something that just doesn't need it...

...and saying it has and believing it, well, that's a balloon i just can't resist sticking with a pin.

Who said that?
Who believes it?
Are you making up your own balloons when there isn't any?
You can't deny that the internet has brought some brand new way of people-relating, with all kind of people related content.
That's big enough to be worth an ongoing investigation.
posted by bru at 3:33 PM on October 15, 2006


You can't deny that the internet has brought some brand new way of people-relating

naw. the internet just makes it so you don't have to fly an asshole to Africa to show 'em an elephant pissing.
posted by carsonb at 3:45 PM on October 15, 2006


crunchland hates me. at last!
posted by quonsar at 3:53 PM on October 15, 2006


Yeah, well, I don't see any ad companies rushing to ask any of us for our opinions on what the Internet is.

That's probably because "The Internet is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." doesn't make for good ad copy, and it probably infringing to boot.
posted by keswick at 4:26 PM on October 15, 2006 [1 favorite]


The Internet is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.

If you came up with this, you have finally redeemed yourself in my eyes. I kiss you.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:31 PM on October 15, 2006


probably infringing

OK, so maybe not. Source?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:31 PM on October 15, 2006




because i'm mean. and bitter.

liar, liar
posted by caddis at 5:54 PM on October 15, 2006


Thanks, crunchland. I probably could've found that myself if I'd had my first coffee of the day.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:25 PM on October 15, 2006


longtime members taking pleasure telling me I'm going to fail is really bothersome

Ah, Matthew, don't take it so hard. We (and I speak as one even older and more bitter than quonsar) are just jealous.
posted by timeistight at 9:45 PM on October 15, 2006


For introverts in the basement like you and I, without the internet we'd be drunken shut-ins with nary a contact with the outside world.

I prefer the term shut-WIN.
posted by Marnie at 7:38 AM on October 16, 2006


that would make me a shut-LIN.
posted by quonsar at 10:22 AM on October 16, 2006


... besides, I resent the implication that, now that the internet exists, I'm not drunk.
posted by koeselitz at 12:13 PM on October 16, 2006


He's paying his mortgage by doing something that didn't exist 20 years ago

selling ads.
posted by quonsar at 2:35 PM on October 16, 2006


Don't think that I don't appreciate the fact that it took you 23 hours to come up with that response.
posted by crunchland at 3:41 PM on October 16, 2006


yeah, busy living.
posted by quonsar at 7:14 PM on October 16, 2006


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