Mastodawn

the idea that the web ecosystem isn't "open" anymore because of complexity is ridiculous. anyone can still write basic html and javascript and get a site working. you don't have to use flexbox. you could just use nested tables. nobody gives a shit

the web ecosystem isn't open anymore because 5 planet spanning companies richer than god monopolize it now and you can't fix that by buying into the AI slop those very companies are peddling

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/25/ai-might-be-our-best-shot-at-taking-back-the-open-web/

AI Might Be Our Best Shot At Taking Back The Open Web

I remember, pretty clearly, my excitement over the early World Wide Web. I had been on the internet for a year or two at that point, mostly using IRC, Usenet, and Gopher (along with email, naturall…

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Szabó Em, Enigma He-Art Director

3d ago

@eniko a 14k modem, an afternoon with an O'Reilly book, and my sister's dad (who codes databases for a living) taught 9 year old me how to build a website. I was 9 friggin years old the first time I coded a fully functioning website that had a guest book. I was handling input/output and database structures at 9!

If you’re a grown ass adult who drones on and on about how you need an ai slop machine to create a page for you......you've been conditioned to believe you're too incapable of becoming more than you are now. That's the saddest thing I can think of and I pity those that go about their lives like that.

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SYN-ACK

@jadedtwin @eniko I also think it has a lot to do with complacency - people who aren't "technical" enough want to be technical without learning how to be and more experienced technical people who have let their systems get too complex want someone to pawn the grunt work onto while they do the "real" work.

One of the most frightening conversations I've had yet though happened today - I found out that my company is piloting this "AI First" garbage by not only having PMs and POs use AI to define the product requirements but that the designers are now "designing" by vibe-coding functional mockups which will invariably become the basis for the production front ends.

It's all about "multiplying force" and yet also doing the same work with fewer actual humans that need to be paid and also need communication. It exposes the fact that a lot of "technical" people aren't in it for the love of the code or the job, they're just in it for the overblown salaries because, for better or worse even amidst all this job carnage, it's still where the money is.