u/roamingandy

I posted this as a random idea on r/goodopensource a few days ago as a test and got some interest, so i'll post it here too:

Honestly, the internet is a painful place to be now. Everything on it seems to be designed solely for profit over utility, pushing to extract users personal data, and trying convince us to sign up to subscriptions.

You can't even google for things now as it shows you who is paying to find you, ahead of what you are looking for.

My suggestion for taking it back is:

1. We create an 'de-shittification' check-list for all the ways the internet has been fucked up

2. Form a community of mods, like Wikipedia's moderators.

3. We build a new browser with a built in search engine that only lists pre-approved sites.

4. Any user can submit a site to be listed on the search engine, if they think it passes our de-shittification list. Mods then review and approve it.

5. Any user can report a site that is in violation of a clause on our shit list. Nice big [!] button on the browser.

6. We actively encourage people to rebuild popular sites, with all the shit removed (and branding changed), then list them as an 'alternative to' which users can search. Like Facebook, but with your friends and community events, rather than politics and influencers.

7. We encourage self-hosting and community hosting ideas, to keep costs down and reduce the need for to monetise everything. Also self-ownership or community ownership, over companies.

There seems to be an army of devs who've lost their jobs to AI and greedy companies who want to keep more profits for themselves. A shitty internet that pretty much everyone hates.

That does feel like an opportunity, doesn't it?

As far as i'm aware this doesn't exist, but it should. A bit like the Fediverse, but for rebuilding the internet rather than social media without walled gardens (though many fediverse projects could be listed).

I'm just spit-balling here, but if others think its a good idea i'm fully in for setting up the build.

If you agree its needed, what should be on the De-shittifaction List?

To give an example and get started:

1: No user data collection (beyond account creation where needed).

2: No pop up ads

3: No targeted ads

4: No walled-garden social media

5: No political ads pushed via social media

6: Social media algorithms must be opensource and promote healthy content, over out-rage and drama.

7: No addictive design, taking ideas or working with, groups like Time Well Spent, IndieWeb, Solid, The Calm Technology philosophy, etc

Imho, Web devs built the internet, were told to make it shitty, and are now being told they aren't needed because AI can make it far more shitty than we/they ever could.. why don't we build it again with blackjack and hookers the way it always should have been?

Honestly, the internet is a painful place to be now. Everything on it seems to be designed solely for profit over utility, pushing to extract users personal data, and trying convince us to sign up to subscriptions.

You can't even google for things now as it shows you who is paying to find you, ahead of what you are looking for.

My suggestion for taking it back is:

1. We create an 'de-shittification' check-list for all the ways the internet has been fucked up
2. Form a community of mods, like Wikipedia's moderators.
3. We build a new browser with a built in search engine that only lists pre-approved sites.
4. Any user can submit a site to be listed on the search engine, if they think it passes our de-shittification list. Mods then review and approve it.
5. Any user can report a site that is in violation of a clause on our shit list. Nice big [!] button on the browser.
6. We actively encourage people to rebuild popular sites, with all the shit removed (and branding changed), then list them as an 'alternative to' which users can search. Like Facebook, but with your friends and community events, rather than politics and influencers.
7. We encourage self-hosting and community hosting ideas, to keep costs down and reduce the need for to monetise everything. Also self-ownership or community ownership, over companies.

As far as i'm aware this doesn't exist, but it should. A bit like the Fediverse, but for rebuilding the internet rather than social media without walled gardens (though many fediverse projects could be listed).

I'm just spit-balling here, but if others think its a good idea i'm fully in for setting up the build.

If you agree its needed, what should be on the De-shittifaction List?

To give an example and get started:

1: No user data collection (beyond account creation where needed).

2: No pop up ads

3: No targeted ads

4: No walled-garden social media

5: No political ads pushed via social media

6: Social media algorithms must be opensource and promote healthy content, over out-rage and drama.

7: No addictive design, taking ideas or working with, groups like Time Well Spent, IndieWeb, Solid, The Calm Technology philosophy, etc

Imho, Web devs built the internet, were told to make it shitty, and are now being told they aren't needed because AI can make it far more shitty than we/they ever could.. why don't we build it again with blackjack and hookers the way it always should have been?

In the past everyone has been obsessed with 'get-rich quick' and 'what return will i make'.

If we're being honest, the major driver behind the industry has been 'greed', and it shows. Most projects have delivered nothing of real world benefit, since they weren't driven by it (or loosely at best).

Now that is starting to be accepted, reluctantly, by the community. Now is the time for people to start really looking for projects that have a genuine plan to benefit society, which to me has always been the point of Crypto.

My favourite use-case is that tokens allow us to 'vote with our wallets'. If projects should exist because they benefit society in a way you want to see more of, you can use it instead of Fiat via a crypto credit card and hot-swapping, making the project grow and do more of that good thing.

As opposed to Fiat money which in today's world, appears to fuel greed and a reduction of quality the closer it gets to everything. It is not at all efficient in supporting and growing things which actually improve life quality for our shared societies.

(You could argue the philosophy it runs on infecting crypto is what fuelled the sillyness we've been through, instead of crypto's philosophy replacing it).

If that becomes a philosophical switch back to the roots of crypto before everyone got profit obsessed, what that would mean for 'greedy people' is that they'll be looking to invest in the projects which have the greatest impact for good on society and our world, as those are where people are putting/storing their money. A far better system than we live under today.

For me now is the most exciting time in crypto.

I built a project 5 years back, and never launched it, as every time i went anywhere near crypto-events to look for support, i met wall-to-wall scammers who wanted to use my project to steal your money.. so i got the 'ick', called off the launch and stuck it up on the shelf.

I won't mention it here as that's gonna come across as marketing spam, but now the house of cards has begun falling, i am now actually excited about what crypto can bring to the world again, so today i'm gonna dust it off and begin working on it.

Anyone else feeling that way?

I've been curious about the town for a while and before hopping on a plane i wanted to spend a few evenings watching vids.

I had a direct debit with Via Verde, when changing cards due to a lost one a few payments didn't go through. Around 30 euros. I actually had two direct debits for two vehicles, only one had payments fail.

I tried to pay on their app but they only accept MBway payments, a system which i can't use. I had a Portuguese bank but when i moved they refused to update my address so i stopped using it and lost access to MBway.

I called customer service and asked for another way to pay. Asked if i could pay via IBAN or Swift transfer and was told no. Asked if they could take from my other vehicle, was told no. They suggested i go to a 'Via Verde' office to pay, so i drove to one. It was a service station on a motorway and had no ability to accept a payment.

I called back and was told to go to a different office over 100km away. Again it was a service station selling candy and soda, who looked at me like i was mad.

Called back again and was given a code to pay via an ATM, which didn't work.

Asked if i could send a check, or pay in any other way than MBway and was told no. Then the debt appeared on my account in the AT Portal.

I called them up again to ask what was going on and they said it was now none of their business. I have proof of all the steps, photos of me at the service station and receipts from the ATMs and the emails where i sent that to Via Verde asking to pay, so i sent these to AT via the e-balcao service. They replied that it was Via Verde's issue not theirs and they just enforce the debt.

I sent a freedom of information request to Via Verde to try and recover the phone call recordings of me asking them, even begging them to allow me to pay the debt. They have 'lost' the last 5 calls and only have the 1st one.

In their reply it came out that they had sold the debt to a third party company, who never contacted me, shortly after the 1st phone call.. and almost certainly have 'lost' the other phone calls as they were giving me incorrect advice on how to pay after selling my debt to this 3rd party company.

I have the 1st phone call and it has me asking them to pay and them rejecting all other suggestions and telling me to go to their 'office'. Plus many emails requesting that they provide me any other way to pay that is not MBway.

As far as i can see, this is a very clear case. I tried far beyond what is reasonable to pay this debt. I have no idea why Via Verde sold a debt i was actively requesting to pay, or who this other company is. I wrote to local lawyers and those who replied all agreed it was a clear case, but that it would cost more to fight than to pay.

I'm sorry but i simply don't want to pay thousands of euros due to a company outsourcing their customer service to poorly trained companies with very non-Portuguese sounding accents.

Just a reminder that throughout this process i have had another vehicle and monthly direct debt with Via Verde. I also made a payment to Via Verde about 9 months later via IBAN for the other vehicle when a payment failed, so almost certainly they could have taken my payment, just the customer service staff didn't know how. The fines from AT have snowballed while i'm trying to explain to someone what happened and i can't find anyone who wants to listen.