I have an opposite reaction for what I assume are reasons we agree on.
Social media has been a transparent race to the bottom for many years. The sooner it is shittified beyond repair the better. AI flooding content to them should help speedrun its descent, or maybe I’ve giving the average user (above child age) too much credit.
WW2 produced some diplomatically-brilliant world leaders. I think you could say that any situation that's headed in an unsustainable direction is being affected by accelerationism. In fact, the old observation "a fool will become a master if he perseveres in his folly" is much about the same thing.
I think accelerationism specifically refers to doing it on purpose. I doubt many of the decision-makers in WW2 were driven by a desire to elevate and support corrupt institutions as much as possible in the hopes that the corruption inherent in the system would lead to a collapse and people would have no choice but to cooperate towards a brighter and more progressive tomorrow.
And anyone that wants to use WW2 as a model for their theory of change is also (I hope) glossing over the abominable death toll. "Once sufficient 10s of millions of people die, everyone will be so horrified and traumatized by the widespread death and destruction that they'll be have no choice but to collaborate to enact the better world I'm picturing," beyond relying on an n of 1 and ignoring the decades of cold war that ensued, is also...hard to argue is worth it.
I think so. These sites can be hardened by relying on people following who they know, but the slop ruins discoverability. That's also partially the reason people moved to TikTok from older, more dumped-on platforms.
It's the authenticity, but even more than that it's the saturation of inauthenticity. Even if there's oodles of authentic content, if there's enough inauthentic content to drown it out, you enter a vicious cycle where plummeting interactions and new authentic content both deed each other.
I have a hypothesis that network effects kick in for social interaction before they do for monetisation, which is why the advertisers/influencers/propagandists/scammers(/trolls, though this is different) are in a constant state of hunting down and infesting whatever platform good-faith users have most recently fled them too. Part of it is likely that smaller communities are more robust and have an easier time identifying and repelling smaller-scale incursions, but I suspect a big part is that smaller communities simply aren't worth the investment of larger incursions, especially since they'll more easily be ruined before any real payout.
Anyway, I agree with you that "quality" (as in effort and craft) is lower on the list of factors than authenticity, which makes complete sense. There was a time when a well-crafted ad was worthy of note, but ads have been so sneaky and pervasive that I think many people are desperate to have a spontaneous interaction or experience that's not trying to sell them anything.
The Gorsuch concurring is quite the read, but wish more Americans internalized its final paragraph (excerpts below).
Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. ...
But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.
I agree with Gorsuch, and I love this idea, but until the legislative branch abandons procedures that prevent the deliberation from happening in the first place, this will keep happening.
There is a balance to be struck to avoid a completely ineffectual congress but I'm not sure a legislative body biased towards action is one you would actually want. Making it easier to kill bills than pass them has a natural stabilizing effect which I think is a net good for the country.
I keep Control Panel for YouTube [1] up to date with the latest YouTube shenanigans. Most recently: restoring the Related sidebar layout with the giant thumbs, if you're not hiding them.
Shorts are hidden and redirected if you land on one externally by default, and it _was_ also restoring the sort by Upload date filter UI, until YouTube went and killed that in the API ;_;
If you're using Firefox you could set up a userContent.css to apply the necessary CSS overrides to youtube.com, otherwise you'd need an extension to do that.
Unhook is solid. I’m building Maxxmod [1] (shameless plug). The goal is similar in spirit, but with more granular control, a structured admin panel with live previews.
Still in development, but feedback from the HN crowd is very welcome. The site includes interactive prototypes and screenshots that give a clear picture of what it’s aiming to become.
Sorry, I initially mixed it up Unhook with UnTrap [1] because of the similar name. UnTrap's Chrome version seems maintained (February 2026 [2]), while the Firefox version seems abandoned too (December 2024 [3]).
One of my goals with Maxxmod is to avoid that abandonment pattern.
For anyone whose Unhook has stopped working, I cannot recommend Youtube Redux enough. I originally installed it because I hate the new layout, but it is amazing in all the options it allows, including disabling infinite scroll and removing shorts altogether.
Some of the Unhook options are broken nowadays I think. Its that or one of my other 10 YouTube extensions I now have to deshittify that damn page. Disable translate, SponsorBlock, Disable AutoPlay, some better thumbnail thing..
Does it still work for you? Unhook hasn't been updated in years and doesn't work for shorts anymore, on Firefox. It's still worth it to get rid of the suggested videos though.
It works fine for me, I have not noticed degradation
> doesn't work for shorts anymore, on Firefox
I do get shorts in search results, but if I click they do not load (the audio plays but no video). For the purposes it fills, that blocks them enough for me.
At a big enough scale, previously large differences are effectively 0.
50k/mo is 600,000/yr vs 360/yr at 30/mo. Thats existential for a 1MM/yr company. Neither register on a balance sheet for a 1B/yr company. They are both closer to 0 than being a major cost.
But saying that 200 million and 30 are in the same ballpark is not true in 99.99% of contexts.
Even 50k and 30 I would not say are in the same ballpark. I've worked for major corps and of course a cost saving of 50k/month would not register for the overall company but it probably would for my team. A saving of 30/month is probably not worth spending any considerable amount of time on in most non-personal contexts.
> I feel like sticky nav and sidenotes aren't particularly unusual?
Not unusual, but you used them with taste and restraint, like the rest of your layout and animations. That's something that HN comments like, I think. Notice the distinct lack of "OMG some fancy presentation trick ! Litteraly unviewable!" comments that often happens when an unusual layout is presented (and often with reason; but sometime to a fault).
I guess the main praise your page UI is that it looks, well, like a page. But augmented I guess ?
Personnally I really like the way you used a grid to separate the content from the nav. I like that you used both the left sidebar for nav and for the header number (re-using the same space for multiple purpose feels elegant, because those purpose are secondary to the content, if that makes sense). And I like that the grid anchors your eyes by fencing the different chapters along with the nav. (and now that I mention it, it feels weird that the headings are outside their chapters, but it didn't felt like that upon first reading).
Lived in Denver for the last 15 years and own a company. You couldnt pay me to have office space in Denver simply by virtue of i'd rather spend commuting time doing something more fun. This applies to just about everyone i know here as well. Many come to Denver for the outdoors and the activities, commutes cut into that time.
Well, depending on the state, you can come into illegally America and work for below-minimum wage under the table, have several children (legal citizens through birthright citizenship) and then attain benefits on behalf of those children who, on paper, live in a household with little or no income.
None of this is made up. I grew up with several friends that had this arrangement and later in life attained citizenship, usually through military service, and told me the reality of their upbringing. It’s a complex environment.
Approximately 40-45% of _all_ US residents, natural-born or immigrant, receive more public benefits than they pay in taxes. Consider if an immigrant making a below-average wage could actually fit into both categories.
I'm not against immigration, just pointing out the flaw in your argument.
Social media has been a transparent race to the bottom for many years. The sooner it is shittified beyond repair the better. AI flooding content to them should help speedrun its descent, or maybe I’ve giving the average user (above child age) too much credit.
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