In other words, if this bill passes, it would force Discourse (what runs BA) to eliminate the auto-scrolling feature in favor of traditional thread pages.
What Discourse would have to ax, the achievements which attempt to gamify the user experience, this forum would suddenly work a bit more like how it did in the Vbulletin days.
These feature bans would also apply to Youtube and any other site utilizing US-based software. I don’t think endless scrolling is a total loss if done right, but I also wouldn’t exactly mind if threads were forced to have pages again. It is the same with forcing the removal of achievements, though with both I don’t see why it should be mandated. This could also set a dangerous precedent that would lead to website designers having to consult a book of regulations before they do anything.
Well, it is clear that social media companies always try to rig the system to engulf you more and more into their abyss. I personally would support such action.
I realize that my position probably is not a popular one, but this is more to protect the kids or non adults who are not able to think well about all the issues surrounding social media addiction introduced on them.
But we don’t have endless scrolling in BA…
Every thread in BA has an end… Is not the same as some other websites (i.e. FB) where you can keep scrolling down forever.
That depends on what the threshold would be for a scroll to qualify as endless.
Some threads on this forum have more than 600 replies with hours of potential read time, there is also no limit to how long a thread can be, that could qualify Discourse as one site that would need to replace scrolling with pages. I don’t know if the little widget on the side would be enough to save them from this hypothetical regulation (as meanings can always be uncertain, if not downright muddy when it’s government defining it).
Indeed. VLTs are not endless, but still addictive.
Not sure how I feel about this. If, as has been proposed, the companies are bent on physically addicting the I users (I’m not entirely sold on the notion as its commonly presented) they’ll just use a different mechanic with the same result. And regulations should be evaluated not just on how they are intended to be used but also on how they can be abused. Nonsense “They violated my rights, gimme money/free stuff/blahblahblah” cases help no one.
I’ll also note that when companies oppose measures like this it’s not a confirmation of nefarious intent.
I think it’s an excellent idea for platforms like Instagram- I’ve got caught in the trap of the Explore page before, where it automatically loads posts as you scroll according to your interest. That is addictive, and I have to really be careful. I’ve got a timer turned on for Instagram, and you’d be shocked at how fast you can hit 50 minutes a day.
For BA, I don’t think this regulation would apply. There’s no algorithm, the only things loaded are replies. Even with the threads with thousands of replies, you can hit an end point. Even more importantly, the middle points are always the same… nothing changes to meet your interest, so it’s in no way endless scrolling. I’d be interested in seeing this regulation for social media, but for technical forums like BA, it probably doesn’t really apply because it’s a different ballgame.
I’d very much like to have page-by-page as an option to endless-scroll on more sites. Doubt that legislation would be the best way to accomplish this even if that was what he was trying for, though.
The internet represents globalization, the loss of traditional industrial jobs, and the death of the house/two cars/white picket fence post WW2 dream. The GOP can’t reverse the progress that we’ve made, but they’ll be damned if they’re not going to at least put their thumbprint on it.
The funny thing is that globalization was, at one time, a fairly conservative ideal. After all, what better way to combat the evils of communism than a free, laissez faire market that spans the face of the Earth?
Problem is, communism is hardly the fearful specter it once was (despite neverending claims to the contrary), and the only communist country left that could be considered directly competitive to us on the world stage is a major trade partner who’s grown to become better at the capitalism game than we are. What other choice do we have but to gnaw away at ourselves over our own rhetoric?
Honestly, it’s like when your boss, (who plays golf with customers and has never done anything with Windows in his life beyond browsing sports web sites with Internet Explorer), decides to “take an interest” in what you do all day and decides that, (insert technology trend of the week here), is the devil and that he or she will personally save your department from it.
I wish someone would make some laws on more important aspects… I’d think after 30 years and the collapse of brick and mortar that perhaps one major internet law would be proposed. I think the only law I’ve heard of was that internet companies can now limit data if they so choose. In my case I suspect that I compete on a global level with every artist on the planet, where prices fluctuate wildly, which might be a major reason why I’ve never found any employment. In that instance IMHO it would be negative to lock artists to their third world-ish locations, but I’m certain other artist would think otherwise!
Personally, endless scrolling after a while makes the computer sloooow and sometimes you want to keep scrolling from certain point, on twitter, there should be some button that loads the scrolling from a certain date, so I can come back to it later and/on other device…
