History is an edit war
This week: Wi-Fi, Wikipedia, the dead internet, other people's emails and crypto cruises
Hi friends. Today is September 10, 2021.
It’s been 31 years since some nerds laid the groundwork for Wi-fi, sparking profound innovations in the way we troll now. The internet didn’t make trolls though. It turns out some people are naturally jerks. I feel like that conclusion didn’t merit a study, but I just report the links! Onward!!
If you read anything this weekend
“One Woman’s Mission to Rewrite Nazi History on Wikipedia,” by Noam Cohen in Wired. Did the internet need yet another studious feature on the arcane politics and personalities of Wikipedians? Sure, yes, why the heck not, especially since the dynamics of Ksenia Coffman’s obsessive editing campaign also repeat across lots of other newsy subjects. (“History is an edit war. Truth, factual and moral, hangs in the balance” !!)
“The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books,” by Daniel A. Gross in The New Yorker. If you, like me, became a devout user of a friendly little e-book app called Libby during the pandemic … then you might be equally surprised to learn that Libby is actually owned by a private-equity firm and makes many millions of dollars each year off the public library system.
“Maybe You Missed It, But the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago,” by Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic. A new conspiracy claims that everything on the internet is actually faked by the U.S. government. They had me until the “government” part. (Something like 40+% of web traffic is actually bots!)
“Maybe-Future California Governor Kevin Paffrath Got Mad At Me Over A Joke, So I Interviewed Him,” by Drew Magary in SFGate. This Q&A with the Gamestonk YouTuber currently ranked second in California’s recall election polls (yes, really!) published a few weeks ago. But it feels worth revisiting on the eve of that reelection — in part as a glimpse at the politics of the meme stock movement, insofar as that exists, and in part because Magary pulls no punches and it’s pretty solid entertainment.
“The Devil Wears Allbirds,” by Emilia Petrarca in The Cut. Apparently the zenith of any career in fashion media now is a gig with Big Tech. Which feels very fitting, and very telling … if not quite the stuff of great chick lit.
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Postscripts
Revisiting the viral video that roused 9/11 truthers. Explaining the appeal of … Sonic the Hedgehog porn. Is Gawker still Gawker if it’s nice? (I for one still think it’s funny that Leah Finnegan called a baby “hipster scum.”)
This week, in funny and ill-fated grifts: freedom phones and cryptocurrency cruises. Impossible type. Cringe reaches new heights. NFTs as status symbols. On the amazing voyeurism of getting other peoples’ emails. On the myriad charms of Enya and Casa de Papel. Last but not least, how AI would write/ruin 15 classic novels.
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards.
— Caitlin