Hacker News Reader

That argument works well against generic RETVRN sentiments, but I don't know if it applies to regretting how a subculture changed when acted upon by the outside world. Is "I wish we hadn't been invaded and conquered by people with very different values" incoherent?

View on HN

They weren't people with very different values. In general, they were our friends and neighbors who hadn't figured out how to use a web browser yet.

The apart-ness that some original netizens imagined for themselves was always fantasy and, I would argue, destructive fantasy when it crossed over to belief in personal elitism. Is being online to the exclusion of real world relationships with those physically adjacent to us building a new, better culture, or the digital equivalent of hiding out in the woods?

Early adopters and enthusiasts always have different values. That's why we act differently toward technology in the first place.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com