Hacker News Reader

Comment by comboy | Hacker News Reader

Regulations become so ridiculous that we all move to decentralized and hidden web where they don't need to apply.

We won't. A few might. You will get a few hidden places here and there. But nowhere near the amount of creators and consumers (not just you and me, but everyday internet users) a platform like YouTube combines. Because once such a place becomes common enough to attract enough visitors to keep it viable for creators it must be so available it cannot be hidden. And the regulations will catch up.

I don't think many would argue that the content was in any way worse back when the internet was used by a much smaller population. At the end of the day, the content that is really useful and that you actually want is rarely created by an army of everyday internet users. It's created by the dedicated and the ingenious, and those are the types that will migrate quickly to the hidden places.

Look at how hard some of these creators are already struggling with getting enough patreons. How much do you think will survive in a hidden place? I'm not talking about the 1m channels that by now could just sign up with a publisher, but many of the sub 100k gems out there. Dedication and ingenuity will get you nowhere if you can't put bread on the table. Even with all its flaws YouTube has enabled a whole new world of creators to reach out to and be found by a crowd.

Back when the internet was decentralized as I remember it as a kid, all of the people you call "everyday internet users" weren't even on it yet. At best, they were on AOL. Usually, though, they just watched TV.

So what's wrong with creating a new space for savvy internet users who appreciate the freedom of a decentralized web?

If your going to have professional services somewhere in the system, you need to pay them. Pretty much every electronic payment and banking system in the developed world is hooked into tax & money laundering systems, which means anonymous & 'dark' money is effectively illegal.

And professional systems are simple things too like web hosting, on top of content creation.

I'd like to see a decentralized web without commercial services of any kind but I suspect I'm way too idealistic for that.

Really, I just want to see the internet of the early days recreated. I doubt it's ever going to happen, though.

Doesn't this exist already? Fire up TOR, brave the wilderness of hidden services.

Unfortunately, any site or service whose primary appeal is "we keep users hidden and accept what others don't" is going to first attract the effluvial outflux of toxic "content" that other sites reject, which then makes the service utterly unappealing to anyone else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com