What the Internet Could Have Been: Difference between revisions

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If you are old enough you might remember the early days of the internet and how hopefully egalitarian it all seemed. There was no Facebook, no Google, no Amazon, no Ebay, no Uber, etc, etc. Looking back it is now clear that the internet just had too much economic potential for the big money to restrain itself. Instead of offering an egalitarian foundation for exchange of information and ideas. It became what we see today; another instrument where the few can manipulate the many, drawing value from their undervalued information and labor and thereby making the few fabulously wealthy. In exchange the many get wages that seem generous but when it comes down to it they can barely keep up with the rising costs of housing, medical expenses, legal expenses, government services (taxes) and those other costs that seem to be rising so much faster then the official inflation gauges tell us they are. We also get jobs that have boundaries, expectations and supervision that feels much greater than it has in the past.
If you are old enough you might remember the early days of the internet and how hopefully egalitarian it all seemed. There was no Facebook, no Google, no Amazon, no Ebay, no Uber, etc, etc. Looking back it is now clear that the internet just had too much economic potential for the big money to restrain itself.  
 
Instead of offering an egalitarian foundation for exchange of information and ideas, it became what we see today; another instrument where the few can manipulate the many, drawing value from their undervalued information and labor and thereby making the few, fabulously wealthy. In exchange, the many get wages that seem generous but when it comes down to it they can barely keep up with the rising costs of housing, medical expenses, legal expenses, government services (taxes) and those other costs that seem to be rising so much faster then the official inflation gauges tell us they are. We also get jobs that have boundaries, expectations and supervision that feels much greater than it has in the past.


This Wiki is my attempt to resurrect some of that hopeful egalitarian spirit that was present back in the early days of the internet. I'm talking about circa 1992. I'm a believer that the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki] open source software is a foundation powerful enough to create a framework around, that can be a kind of backwater showcase of what the Internet Could Have Been.  
This Wiki is my attempt to resurrect some of that hopeful egalitarian spirit that was present back in the early days of the internet. I'm talking about circa 1992. I'm a believer that the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki] open source software is a foundation powerful enough to create a framework around, that can be a kind of backwater showcase of what the Internet Could Have Been.  
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Here are some of the features we are building that fit that spirit:
Here are some of the features we are building that fit that spirit:


Free Ads  
*'''Free Ads'''  [[Local Help/Services|Here]]
 
*'''Curated information on all topics''' [[Issues/News|Issues/News]] (as opposed to junk info you find on Facebook, Google, Twitter etc)


Curated information on all topics
*'''Personalized member's pages (think Facebook)'''
   
   
A polling platform open to all members
*'''A polling platform open to all members''' [[Special:SecurePoll|Here]]
 
*'''An administrative structure designed to prevent a usurpation of the [[Foundation|founding principals]] or a [[Legal Structure|sell out to the powerful]]'''.


An administrative structure designed to prevent a usurpation of the [[Foundation|founding principals]] or a [[Legal Structure|sell out to the powerful]]. 
*'''A curated Election Information Section'''  [[Elections/Candidates|Elections/Candidates]]


A direct charity platform.
*'''A curated blog section''' [[Howto/Blogs|Howto/Blogs]]
 
*'''A curated Howto section''' [[Howto/Blogs|Howto/Blogs]]
 
*'''A direct charity platform'''[[under construction]]
   
   
A micro-lending platform.
*'''A micro-lending platform'''[[under construction]]
 
*'''An internal discussion platform''' [[Discussion Pages]]
 
*'''A customized search engine''' [[under construction]]


An internal discussion platform.
*'''An electoral process that balances the interests of the ownership of the website with the interests of the users of the website''' [[under construction]]


An electoral process that balances the interests of the ownership of the website with the interests of the users of the website.
*'''A process where users can easily become owners by using the "sweat equity" [[Legal Structure]]


A process where users can easily become owners.
--[[User:Kirk|Admin1 Kirk]] ([[User talk:Kirk|talk]]) 10:28, 5 January 2020 (CST)

Latest revision as of 12:05, 26 May 2020

If you are old enough you might remember the early days of the internet and how hopefully egalitarian it all seemed. There was no Facebook, no Google, no Amazon, no Ebay, no Uber, etc, etc. Looking back it is now clear that the internet just had too much economic potential for the big money to restrain itself.

Instead of offering an egalitarian foundation for exchange of information and ideas, it became what we see today; another instrument where the few can manipulate the many, drawing value from their undervalued information and labor and thereby making the few, fabulously wealthy. In exchange, the many get wages that seem generous but when it comes down to it they can barely keep up with the rising costs of housing, medical expenses, legal expenses, government services (taxes) and those other costs that seem to be rising so much faster then the official inflation gauges tell us they are. We also get jobs that have boundaries, expectations and supervision that feels much greater than it has in the past.

This Wiki is my attempt to resurrect some of that hopeful egalitarian spirit that was present back in the early days of the internet. I'm talking about circa 1992. I'm a believer that the MediaWiki open source software is a foundation powerful enough to create a framework around, that can be a kind of backwater showcase of what the Internet Could Have Been.

Here are some of the features we are building that fit that spirit:

  • Curated information on all topics Issues/News (as opposed to junk info you find on Facebook, Google, Twitter etc)
  • Personalized member's pages (think Facebook)
  • A polling platform open to all members Here
  • An electoral process that balances the interests of the ownership of the website with the interests of the users of the website under construction
  • A process where users can easily become owners by using the "sweat equity" Legal Structure

--Admin1 Kirk (talk) 10:28, 5 January 2020 (CST)

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