AutoLink: One year later, the web is still there
Remember AutoLink? You might have forgotten, because after many months of overheated hyperbole, it's still part of the Google toolbar, and the net hasn't devolved into the morass of rewritten links that some people were absolutely convinced was about to happen. Here's an example of the overheated rhetoric that was being deployed - The Register write an article titled "Google AutoLink: Enemy of the people?" That article was written in March, 2005.
Things have gone awfully quiet since then - almost as if the loudest objectors noticed that it was not, in fact, the end of the web as we know it, and decided to stop writing on the subject. This illustrates a problem that blogs and online media share with their older cousins in print, TV, and radio - it's very easy to declare disaster, create a blogswarm of posts agreeing that "something must be done". After awhile, people start to notice that the sky isn't falling, so - in their best Emily Litella voice they mumble "never mind" - and move along to the next pseudo-disaster.
The main difference on the web is that dissenting voices get a chance to object - something which is mostly not possible when the mainstream media has one of their drive-bys.
Comments
[Aristotle Pagaltzis] March 10, 2006 7:44:39.997
I don't know whether either alternative is preferrable. The way the 'net works does not really help a whole lot; instead of concerted panic you get a flamewar cacophonia. I guess it is *better*, but it's not actually *useful*. Anyway, people always run after the latest in hype or panic. After all, if the sky isn't falling and salvation isn't coming either, that leaves you with... not much happening. What kind of news is "by and large, society is working passably; we still have last year's problems but we're muddling through"? How boring. Noone likes boredom. People can't stand anything less than the idea that their lives are boring. Life is far more exciting if you run after every panic and every hype like a headless chicken. It's a lot of pointless commotion, but at least it keeps things interesting. Right?