- cross-posted to:
- internet@lemmy.eco.br
- technology
- hackernews@derp.foo
loobkoob ( @loobkoob@kbin.social ) 50•8 months agoWell I’m just glad Harry Mack managed to release his 100th episode of “Omegle Bars” this week. He decided to take a break from doing Omegle-based content at the right time, it seems.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Harry Mack’s a freestyle rapper. He has (had) a series where he’d ask strangers on Omegle to give him a handful of words and then create a full song out of them on the fly. And not just saying those words then immediately moving on like most freestyle rappers do; he actually creates entire verses on the topics he’s given and really raps around them. Plus he’d be calling out things the people were doing as they react to him, responding to things they say, mentioning things he can see in the room, etc, as he raps.
Here’s one of his freestyles that’s really stuck with me ever since I first saw it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehcA4zCeaPI
He takes what are some fairly negative, “cry for help” words from the girls and turns them into a really beautiful, positive rap overall. He’s a very positive guy in general, and I’ve watched him consistently since I discovered him. Binging his videos got me through a breakup, in fact.
My own experiences with Omegle have either been penises or just bland, and it’s not something I’ve used for many years as a result. But videos like Harry Mack’s show what wonderful things could come from it and I do think it’s a huge shame it’s gone. It feels like another part of the old internet’s gone, and that we’re moving even closer to the sanitised, heavily-monetised internet run by megacorporations. I hate that.
swearengen ( @swearengen@sopuli.xyz ) 39•8 months agoWow that was a great read. Leif comes across as very perceptive on multiple fronts here.
Unfortunately I think his warning about the internet ending up like “souped up TV” is looking more likely by the day.
Right now it’s quite easy to force a site or service to bend the knee to outside pressure. No matter how right or wrong that pressure is. People will go after hosting and ISPs, if that doesn’t work they’ll tie people up directly in the courts. You must provide real contact info and be willing to play ball if you operate on the old web.
Embracing encryption is the only thing I can think to do to avoid that. Which honestly kind of sucks, because while true anonymity would save sites like Omegle who act in good faith and police themsevles in a reasonable manner, others that don’t will also be protected. I think the pros out weigh the cons with anonymity but that is a hard pill to swallow for many.
interdimensionalmeme ( @interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ) 4•8 months agoSolutions needed, how to get the great masses seamless access to the dark web.
And how to we make dark web DNS addresses not be stupid garbage ?
DudeDudenson ( @DudeDudenson@lemmings.world ) 4•8 months agoYou’ll just end with companies making the “dark web” mainstream and just turning it into shit just like they’re doing with the regular web
interdimensionalmeme ( @interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ) 2•8 months agoAs opposed to remaining in the festering shit pile that old web is becoming ?
DudeDudenson ( @DudeDudenson@lemmings.world ) 1•8 months agoJust saying making the dark web easier to use isn’t a solution, as soon as it gets mass adoption you’re right back to square one
interdimensionalmeme ( @interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ) 1•8 months agoNo the underlying structure is going to change the nature of it. Yes it will eventually get corrupted and the next thing will address that too.
Cassus ( @Cassus@lemm.ee ) 2•8 months agoI’d rather take garbage addresses instead of the current trend of enshitification.
interdimensionalmeme ( @interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ) 1•8 months agoWell then that’s going to be an irrelevant nerd clubhouse
BartyDeCanter ( @BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org ) 4•8 months agoOnce upon a time the entire internet was an irrelevant nerd clubhouse. Those were good days.
interdimensionalmeme ( @interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ) 2•8 months agoActually yes, but it also was great to get everybody in here. It’s the vultures and their advertising friends that ruined the internet
StraightArrow ( @StraightArrow@feddit.de ) 22•8 months agoSad news.
I tried Omegle years ago close to when it came out and it was fun entertainment for a short while, though I didn’t stick around because one of the issues was that if you ended up striking an interesting and wholesome conversation, you’d never meet this person again and this bothered me.
Reading its epitaph shows there was a lot of work done on it to maintain it and catch evil users, so I’m much more impressed now.
RIP Omegle, you were a nice experiment!
Faresh ( @Faresh@lemmy.ml ) English2•8 months agoI didn’t stick around because one of the issues was that if you ended up striking an interesting and wholesome conversation, you’d never meet this person again and this bothered me.
Couldn’t you have offered some permanent contact such as social network profile to remain in contact with that human?
averyminya ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 1•8 months agoFacebook was too new/personal and MySpace was basically already dead. There were few other forums that were “universal”.
AOL was popular but I never got on it. IRC was good but complicated for people not on it. Everything else was basically forums, so if you were lucky and they had Gaia Online or IMVU then maybe you’d have a chance.
Personally, I think that whole idea is what made Omegle have great potential. The fleeting experience of brief friendships are far less common today than they used to be. How many playdates did you have with friends that only ever happened maybe 5 times total? How many people on planes or travel busses did you converse with, never to see or hear from again? This is the human experience and in a way it’s still there but now it’s just “ghosting” because you “can” stay in contact.
I dunno. Personally I think the guy I met on a plane at 13 who is still reaching out to me on Facebook over a decade later is kinda weird, regardless of intent at this point, and I could see Omegle having the same issue in that regard.
All this said - email was pretty safe and I was surprised it wasn’t utilized more often for this purpose. It was a legitimate issue for online friends back in the day when it probably didn’t need to be, lol.
jimmydoreisalefty ( @jimmydoreisalefty@lemmus.org ) English19•8 months agoThanks for sharing!
Looks like this is the norm now, Technofeudalism is here, goodbye capitalism.
Following the censorship over the years, looks similar to what happened with legacy media (main stream media).
Quote included in post:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” — C.S. Lewis
In short, the Internet opened the door to a much larger, more diverse, and more vibrant world than I would have otherwise been able to experience; and enabled me to be an active participant in, and contributor to, that world. All of this helped me to learn, and to grow into a more well-rounded person.
In recent years, it seems like the whole world has become more ornery. Maybe that has something to do with the pandemic, or with political disagreements. Whatever the reason, people have become faster to attack, and slower to recognize each other’s shared humanity. One aspect of this has been a constant barrage of attacks on communication services, Omegle included, based on the behavior of a malicious subset of users.
Fear can be a valuable tool, guiding us away from danger. However, fear can also be a mental cage that keeps us from all of the things that make life worth living. Individuals and families must be allowed to strike the right balance for themselves, based on their own unique circumstances and needs. A world of mandatory fear is a world ruled by fear – a dark place indeed.
Unfortunately, what is right doesn’t always prevail. As much as I wish circumstances were different, the stress and expense of this fight – coupled with the existing stress and expense of operating Omegle, and fighting its misuse – are simply too much. Operating Omegle is no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically. Frankly, I don’t want to have a heart attack in my 30s.
Feyter ( @Feyter@programming.dev ) 13•8 months agoCan someone explain in short what problem people had about Omegle?
Was it that you can say things (and show things) there to a random person without any good possibility to trace it back to you because it’s anonymous and more “temporary” then something like Lemmy for example?
Or was it just a witch hunt without any real reasonable structure?
leanleft ( @leanleft@lemmy.ml ) English1•3 months agosimilar to craigslist personals.
and look how much better the world is now. /sarcasm