What is the worst mainstream website and why?

[shinobu]

Everyone here can agreed that twitter is the worst and most toxic piece of garbage humanity has ever done in recent times, everything has good things, bad things, but twitter is irredimible.

Sadly Twitter is where a lot of artists post their art. I created an account there to follow a lot of japanese artists, and the good thing is I have no clue what they're saying
I also follow a lot of software and hardware people, which are pretty fine. I don't know why, but the reverse engineering communities and custom hardware makers are kind of immune to the problems that are found everywhere else in Twitter.

You still get recommended trash all the time, so I stopped using it a few months after I made it (and I never tweeted anything either)

 

[mydadiscar]

Conflicted between Twitter, Discord and TikTok. They are all part of the same system, no?
Tumblr isn't all that bad anymore, the crazies moved to Twitter. Pinterest fucks with Google image results but seems fine. Plebbit mostly sucks but has some interesting communities that otherwise would not have been so large or even come together to begin with if it hadn't been for plebbit facilitating them. Instagram is shit, but not quite as bad as the three mentioned at the beginning. It is just mediocre shit. Same with Facebook, but mostly because it is populated by boomers, which makes it shit but there are no zoomers around to make it too shit. YouTube is a mixed bag. 4chan depends, some boards are still sorta comfy but I prefer altchans.

 

[darth shart]

I've been using discord to keep in touch with a core friend group - the late 00's gamecube sleepover diaspora - in a server we set up in 2016 to play whatever game, what was popular back then, Overwatch? PUBG? I don't remember. We were shooting people.

I don't even play video games anymore (I'm too cool, busy, and alpha male) but that server is how I've kept up with the people I value the most in this world. I'm not very close to my family and if I had my druthers, these are the people I'd be spending my special moments with. Instead, we've got the group discord. I also advanced in my career materially by learning to code our utility chat bot.

I'm not active in any discord communities not revolving around people I've met corporeally, and I am not familiar with how the platform is more broadly used. Something about what came first, the transsexual or the egg, dunno.

those other websites I'm largely ambivalent towards - they serve roles I don't feel directly impact my life in a negative way, while also being a venue for dystopian chemical hijacking for manufacturing consent of the governed and selling hamburgers. Guess you have to break some eggs to make a ladyboy.

 

[SolidStateSurvivor]

At some point or another I have actively used all of these (with the exception of Pinterest and Tumblr.)

Firstly (and I know it's controversial I actively defend this platform) I'd like to start off by saying if you chose TikTok then I have a hunch you only have a skewed secondary understanding of it. Despite the wanna be influencer types/thirst traps they push into your feed on a fresh account, once their algorithm has a decent understanding of what you like it becomes just as wild as early YouTube was. I've seen TikToks ranging from how to make TNT (in Minecraft) to earnest cringe to legitimately interesting content. It's pretty entertaining but definitely addicting.

I think the massive mainstream backlash against TikTok stems from a combination of it being a serious competitor to established social media and it's moderation policies being much more loose (at least when it comes to conspiracy theories and ideology.) At times it shines a light on uncomfortable truths and genuine disparities that can really get the noggin jogging.

As I have said before on this forum, Twitter is without a doubt the worst website on the net. The global town square has become the greatest means of distributing propaganda ever devised and is (most likely) staffed with feds. It has lead to real world violence, riots, and even revolutions. It has artificially given a platform to propgandists of the state and corporation (what's the difference at this point?) who are given all the support needed to push nonsense as a hard coded fact.

4chan gets an honorable mention since a few murders/shootings can be tied back to it. The whole Qanon thing is another mark against it, although I more so blame 8chan and it's leakage onto Facebook for the real world insanity that's caused.

Obligatory for me to mention YouTube is ass nowadays but it's real world impact is pretty harmless overall.

 

[№56]

At some point or another I have actively used all of these (with the exception of Pinterest and Tumblr.)

Firstly (and I know it's controversial I actively defend this platform) I'd like to start off by saying if you chose TikTok then I have a hunch you only have a skewed secondary understanding of it. Despite the wanna be influencer types/thirst traps they push into your feed on a fresh account, once their algorithm has a decent understanding of what you like it becomes just as wild as early YouTube was. I've seen TikToks ranging from how to make TNT (in Minecraft) to earnest cringe to legitimately interesting content. It's pretty entertaining but definitely addicting.

I think the massive mainstream backlash against TikTok stems from a combination of it being a serious competitor to established social media and it's moderation policies being much more loose (at least when it comes to conspiracy theories and ideology.) At times it shines a light on uncomfortable truths and genuine disparities that can really get the noggin jogging.

As I have said before on this forum, Twitter is without a doubt the worst website on the net. The global town square has become the greatest means of distributing propaganda ever devised and is (most likely) staffed with feds. It has lead to real world violence, riots, and even revolutions. It has artificially given a platform to propgandists of the state and corporation (what's the difference at this point?) who are given all the support needed to push nonsense as a hard coded fact.

4chan gets an honorable mention since a few murders/shootings can be tied back to it. The whole Qanon thing is another mark against it, although I more so blame 8chan and it's leakage onto Facebook for the real world insanity that's caused.

Obligatory for me to mention YouTube is ass nowadays but it's real world impact is pretty harmless overall.

I've seen a good number of actually funny/interesting/creative TikToks uploaded to other sites, so I believe what you say about the content there not being as bad as most internet dissidents think. My problem with TikTok isn't with the videos themselves, it's the way the platform is set up to deliver those videos in an endless stream of short soundbites that merge into a homogeneous flow of "content." It's like a hyper-exaggerated version of television. The viewer isn't making a deliberate choice to spend his time watching something, he just sits down in front of the app and lets the algorithm spew stuff he likes into his face. Old YouTube was like this too, and you could say similar things about most popular Web 2.0 sites, but TikTok takes it to the extreme. The whole thing feels like a step in the wrong direction, sacrificing individuality and interactivity for greater engagement. That said, I also think the interesting people on TikTok are only using it because there isn't a better option out there.

 

[guy who is so high]

>reddit​

Never got into it. From my experience, most users are just pretty annoying.

4chan​

Never used it. I like a lot of jokes from it, but I feel like I'm too sensitive for it...

Twitter​

What a shitshow. I mostly use it to follow artists, which seems to keep stupidity out most of the time. Still, when I come across it, it's really stupid. Twitter's algorithm is based on hatred and emotional reactions, so the «trends for you» are typically shit you don't want to see, at least for me.

Instagram​

Terrible. I hate that if you're an artist, most expect you to have an account there.

Facebook​

My mom went down the TERF rabbit hole there, now she thinks I was groomed into being transgender, even though I didn't know any other trans people at the time. Does anyone other than boomers actually use it BTW?

Tiktok​

The worst IMO. It destroys your attention span, spies on you, and lets any teenage dipshit spread misinformation about things that already have a lot of stigma attached to it. If I see another kid «switching» on camera, I'll go even more insane.

Youtube​

I use it as background noise all the time, usually video essays, but certain aspects of it are really shitty and/or broken. I hate the shorts thing they're trying to do now.

Tumblr​

Most crazy people have left it for Twitter, it's a lot better now. It's easier to ignore dumbasses now as well.

Pinterest​

Good for art references/inspiration, bad for art sources.

Discord​

It's a bit of a shame there aren't many alternatives to it, but I use it the most out of anything here. I wish they got their shit together and actually make a proper Linux version.

 

[Orlando Smooth]

My vote was for Twitter, and the only other consideration was potentially TikTok simply because it's Chinese spyware.

While >reddit is cringe and terrible, there are still some very small communities that seem to be more or less ok. There's a good sub for a rural area in which I want to live eventually where posts are basically just local news, pics of beautiful landscapes, and people seeking advice on specific situations. No shit flinging, groupthink, or degeneracy. I also feel like it can still be good for some of the more obscure music genres. But really the reason that I think Twitter is so much worse, is because >reddit has no impact on the real world in the way that Twitter does. Sure you might get predictable AMAs from politicians or whatever, but you don't have "journalists" shaping the narrative on >reddit, Trump doesn't shitpost there, cancelations don't originate from >reddit, etc. Nothing else comes close to Twitter in terms of real world impact, for better or for worse.

 

[ETierhuman]

tiktok is a hellspace of shitty moderation. They ban u for cursing but allowed furry porn. People keep arguing and misinformation is spread like wildfire.

 

[manpaint]

Facebook​

My mom went down the TERF rabbit hole there, now she thinks I was groomed into being transgender, even though I didn't know any other trans people at the time. Does anyone other than boomers actually use it BTW?

Probably depebds on the place, but where I live, young people only use Facebook for it's direct chat functionality (Messenger) and pretty much nothing else.

 

[guy who is so high]

Probably depebds on the place, but where I live, young people only use Facebook for it's direct chat functionality (Messenger) and pretty much nothing else.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about Messenger. Never used that.

 

[guy who is so high]

tiktok is a hellspace of shitty moderation. They ban u for cursing but allowed furry porn. People keep arguing and misinformation is spread like wildfire.

What do you mean «they allowed furry porn»?

 

[ETierhuman]

What do you mean «they allowed furry porn»?

So theres this trend where its like "YOU SINK INTO MY VEINNSSSS" were people turn into a werewolf and some made it into "YOU SINK INTO MY BALLS" and replaced the last slide with a werewolf sucking dick

 

[bnuungus]

>reddit
really isn't as bad as a lot of people here make it out to be. yes, the big subreddits are cancerous hell-holes with wrongthink mentality but most of the subreddits are actually pretty chill places where people aren't braindead. If you put actual effort into tailoring which parts of >reddit your actually view it can be a fun place to visit just so long as you don't pour hours of time into it.

4chan​

It's trash. Finding good conversation is so fricken difficult on that site and it's compounded with the fact that no matter what board you're on you always have to deal with at least some amount of coomer posting.

Twitter​

The worst of them all. Whereas on >reddit it's easy to filter out the insanity twitter will take every opportunity to try to infuriate you. From what I've seen the Catholic side twitter can actually be pretty good but you'll still run across over-zealous crazies that can very easily fuck up your day. The main reason why twitter is bad is the character limit as well as how hard it is to sort through tweets, retweets, and replies in a linear fashion.

Instagram​

Never really had any interaction with this site other than getting a college friend of mine to delete her insta account. If it's anything like it was portrayed as on American Vandal then it's designed to make kids feel worse about their lives so it's garbage.

Facebook​

I've had to use my wife's account for a couple things because facebook won't let you lurk around without an account which is stupid. It's really annoying to navigate and just generally a pain in the ass. That being said, it's extremely useful for getting free stuff. You can find used items in very good condition around where you live in the span of like a day. No joke it's a good alternative to amazon if you're willing to do the delivery yourself.

Tiktok​

so much garbage. I agree with SolidStateSurvivor though in that once it gets a good handle on you it can actually be pretty good. I don't have an account myself but my inlaws all do and there's some legitimately good content on there once you weed out the heaping piles of steamy garbage

Youtube​

I don't really have any problems with youtube. It's terrible at introducing you to new stuff but if you stay away from the political stuff on there it's fairly easy to find good quality videos.

Tumblr​

Your experience on tumblr is exactly what you make it to be. There's the cancerous woke crowd but there are also some of the gnarliest schizo posts imaginable on there. Tailor your feed correctly and it can be pretty fun

Pinterest​

My wife uses it to find recipes and and crochet patterns. Seems pretty neat

Discord​

It's really cool to for keeping up with friends you don't see irl anymore but public servers are so fast paced that it induces anxiety if you try to regularly keep up. But hey, it was a messaging app that was stretched to the absolute extreme of what a messaging app could be so it's understandable that there's visible cracks


Most of these sites fall under a principle that's already true of the rest of the internet: your experience on it is what you make it to be. Sure, the popular stuff on a lot of these websites is absolute shit but if you dig around a bit you can find good communities. Just don't waste hours of time on any of them because that's when you start to have a bad time.

 

[porter]

At some point or another I have actively used all of these (with the exception of Pinterest and Tumblr.)

Firstly (and I know it's controversial I actively defend this platform) I'd like to start off by saying if you chose TikTok then I have a hunch you only have a skewed secondary understanding of it. Despite the wanna be influencer types/thirst traps they push into your feed on a fresh account, once their algorithm has a decent understanding of what you like it becomes just as wild as early YouTube was. I've seen TikToks ranging from how to make TNT (in Minecraft) to earnest cringe to legitimately interesting content. It's pretty entertaining but definitely addicting.

I think the massive mainstream backlash against TikTok stems from a combination of it being a serious competitor to established social media and it's moderation policies being much more loose (at least when it comes to conspiracy theories and ideology.) At times it shines a light on uncomfortable truths and genuine disparities that can really get the noggin jogging.

As I have said before on this forum, Twitter is without a doubt the worst website on the net. The global town square has become the greatest means of distributing propaganda ever devised and is (most likely) staffed with feds. It has lead to real world violence, riots, and even revolutions. It has artificially given a platform to propgandists of the state and corporation (what's the difference at this point?) who are given all the support needed to push nonsense as a hard coded fact.

4chan gets an honorable mention since a few murders/shootings can be tied back to it. The whole Qanon thing is another mark against it, although I more so blame 8chan and it's leakage onto Facebook for the real world insanity that's caused.

Obligatory for me to mention YouTube is ass nowadays but it's real world impact is pretty harmless overall.

Second this. TikTok isn't that bad, but Twitter is terrible no matter who you are.

 

[Jade]

I wonder what's the worst subreddit.

r/gamingcirclejerk is probabkly up there. The whole point of the subreddit is making fun of people which brew a very toxic environment.

I'd say either the ones about using hardcore, illegal drugs like heroin, or the ones about torturing animals

 

[bnuungus]

I'd say either the ones about using hardcore, illegal drugs like heroin, or the ones about torturing animals

I'm pretty sure most of those have been shut down at this point

 

[manpaint]

I'd say either the ones about using hardcore, illegal drugs like heroin, or the ones about torturing animals

Right. I forgot how twisted some communities on >reddit are.

 

[darth shart]

I'd say either the ones about using hardcore, illegal drugs like heroin, or the ones about torturing animals

Sure, but r/meth is fantastic. I prefer to indulge in morbid voyeurism of stimulant addicts, as they still have some whimsy about them, the kinds that post the fun stuff about their strange adventures or beliefs about what is or isn't in their walls. The heroin addicts could stand to learn a thing or two from it tbh, they are pretty boring in their throes.

There are some other good subs where people are circling the drain that I find amusing as well. I can't really justify or rationalize that, so I won't try. I'm just not an incredible person. I've always liked schadenfreude from a distance; I will say to be clear I think doxxing or harassing these people is crossing the line, never was a big fan of kiwifarms. I also don't think I'd find an animal torture board very amusing.

 

[Fractalactals]

I'd say either the ones about using hardcore, illegal drugs like heroin, or the ones about torturing animals

What are you talking about, sir. r/meth is hilarious.

Also Twitter is by far the worst website in terms of its effect on users and society in general.
Tiktok is overrated in the hate it gets, because it's from CHYNA and the CIA would much rather get your data than the CCP.
>reddit sucks if you go to any mainstream sub or anything that shows up on r/all, but after setting up filters to block out all the libtard propaganda and politics shit I quite like it. Especially the small subs that aren't filled with bots.

 

[Miku Simpson]

>reddit​

Was a fan when I was 14, but now trying to use it is basically unbearable especially in any of the art sections

4chan​

Honestly know little to nothing about it other than what my boyfriend has told me, so my general impression is not a positive one

Twitter​

Again, tried to use it in my mid teens, but I noticed how all my friends would post almost by the minute with any bloody thought in their heads thinking it's something profound or will become trendy

Instagram​

It used to be really good for any art communities,but now Instagram has just become a wannabee for any other trending app at this point, it's just a crappy hybrid of Tiktok and Etsy sprinkled in with fucking up their algorithm

Facebook​

I only use facebook now to watch pirated episodes of TV shows I like

Tiktok​

Completely fucking up every sector of the modern gen Z. I think it has caused way more damage to uniting groups like LGBT, mental health, disability, basically all the communities which rely strongly on understanding and communication, and is turning them into shitshows. It is also a complete breeding ground for mass hysteria and narcissism

Youtube​

Gone out of it's glory days, still a couple gems out there but you got to search deep though

Tumblr​

Never got to use it surprisingly, and never will thankfully

Pinterest​

One of my alters uses It I think, but from what I've seen the site is a really weird concept

Discord​

I don't really use it other than storing files and info, though also second guessing that because of how unsecure it is