Everyone's Packing Up

Everyone's Packing Up widdershins.verja.net

I see a lot of posts about people leaving platforms. This one about leaving Reddit, this one about leaving WordPress, and a bunch of others about leaving Dis...

100 points•speckx•about 7 hours ago•90 comments•

#leaving #everyones #packing #everyones packing #platforms #reddit #lot #wordpress

90 comments

ramon156about 6 hours ago

I spent a lot of my time on the internet because I was lonely in my teens and these connections were exciting. I learned software dev because I was a nerd that loved math and loved the concept of building software, having complete control on how it's done. That was the concept I signed up for.

Software dev today is sitting in front of a prompt bar, sometimes checking the IDE, sometimes some DevOps, but nothing about it excites me anymore. Even hobby projects are dull because they're done in mere days. Choosing not to use LLMs has little to no reward imo.

I'm slowly moving away from software dev because the rose tinted glasses I saw the job as are shattering

mjr00about 5 hours ago

> Even hobby projects are dull because they're done in mere days.

This is only true if your definition of "hobby project" is limited to "initial prototype with basic functionality and a generic corporate-looking landing page".

Yeah, a lot of tools that would have made fun weekend projects can now be one-shot by Claude and aren't even worth sharing, because someone who needs that functionality can just use Claude too. But you can accomplish so much more now. Someone just did a hobby project to reverse engineer NVidia drivers and make them work on Windows XP. Dream bigger!

BatFastardabout 5 hours ago

I agree dream bigger!

If it gets done too fast with LLM you need to think bigger.

socializerabout 5 hours ago

Indeed, your half-broken prototypes that are not worth sharing with the world can be now 10x the scale.

But seriously, I have not seen anyone get far with vibecoded hobby projects. The problem is that removing the pain, the frustration, and the triumph also removes any emotional attachment you have to the project to keep it alive. If it's not making you money, if you're not learning anything, and if everyone can vibecode the same thing... well, it still gives you some short-term rush - as if by magic, your words birthed a piece of software - but then what? Why keep going? Why fix bugs, why keep improving it? If you look back at the past several months of "Show HN"-style posts, it's not pretty.

hollowturtleabout 5 hours ago

> Even hobby projects are dull because they're done in mere days. Choosing not to use LLMs has little to no reward imo. I'm slowly moving away from software dev because the rose tinted glasses I saw the job as are shattering

Try solving a very hard problem or a very good game. Or at least publish some very good polished software, they all sucks! This really is a paradox, all this doomerism and AI that has solved “coding” and it’s “very good now” and we don’t mot only have not good software, but it’s getting worse! Good lord how the heck we get out of this situation?

soundworldsabout 5 hours ago

Which is interesting, because I've always been a musician first and software dev as a side interest, and I feel like LLMs have made the software iteration loop fast enough that it feels as exciting as making music for me.

I wonder if there's some blend of software and other interest that might rekindle that novelty for you?

laxdabout 5 hours ago

Robots in my garage doing woodwork would be nice. They'd be auto-orchestrated by all the spywares and spydevices already in place - and who knowns more about me and my ideas than me. And I don't have to learn anything.

0c3ca83about 5 hours ago

For me, I've always been interested in music -- but now, I can have an AI generate limitless music, far better than anything I can do with less effort.

Imagine if you never had to pick up a guitar, blowing a trumpet, or even opening a tracker ever again.

You could just ask the AI to make music that made your best efforts look like a kindergartener's painting on the fridge. Isn't that a musician's utopia, surrounded by music without lifting a hand to make it?

altmanaltmanabout 5 hours ago

> Which is interesting, because I've always been a musician first and software dev as a side interest, and I feel like LLMs have made the software iteration loop fast enough that it feels as exciting as making music for me.

I don't quite get what you mean by this. Music is a form of expression; it is supposed to be effortless once you are good at it, but software (if we go by a strict definition) is not about expression but about building reliable and efficient systems. Like what do you mean exactly

esikichabout 5 hours ago

Probably not. They made "smart nerd" their whole personality and that is now being challenged, hurts the ego.

eggbrainabout 6 hours ago

Everyone says they are packing up. But most of the people I’ve seen complain either are still on the site they complain about, or left briefly just to realize that other sites aren’t any better and came back.

xanderlewisabout 6 hours ago

I’ve left everything (Facebook, Instagram, I’ve even deleted the YouTube app from my phone, etc.) apart from HN. I occasionally look at Twitter, but only when someone sends me a link.

So there are some counterexamples.

sodapopcanabout 5 hours ago

Me too, except for YouTube. I'm still hopelessly addicted to YouTube, but I'm working on it. I also ditched my smartphone eight months ago and going strong, zero desire to return to it.

Seriously, fuck all this shit. Some people love to say that love of the old web is just nostalgia and they are free to think what they want.

jibaltabout 5 hours ago

Non sequitur. "Everyone is" is nonsense, "most aren't" is correct. Individuals who are: irrelevant, as that was already implied.

P.S. The response misses the point, going for personal rudeness instead of reasoning.

0c3ca83about 4 hours ago

I haven't been on twitter for about 5 years, facebook for about 10, my instagram account lasted 2 weeks before I got tired of it. These sites are pretty easy to leave.

Whatsapp is harder, because people I actually care to talk to use it. I would rather not give facebook a dime of my money.

sodapopcanabout 4 hours ago

I just deleted WhatsApp and told everyone I'm on Signal and if they didn't want it they can call me. But it's not like my "network" is very big or anything, so I guess harder for some people than others.

m463about 5 hours ago

I've left a few sites.

I think the basic premise under there is still valid. Lots of online sites/communities/etc turn into rugpulls. Success leads to management change, then depersonalization, then monetization.

nickelproabout 6 hours ago

[citation-needed]

People don't loudly announce they're not going anywhere and not changing anything, of course you only perceive the ones who do otherwise.

It doesn't mean they there's a wide spread trend.

sodapopcanabout 5 hours ago

I don't have a citation, but as hyperbole goes, it's a growing trend no matter how slow or small.

jibaltabout 5 hours ago

This sort of post is ridiculous ... the vast majority of people are not "packing up", and people are constantly arriving.

bigbuppoabout 4 hours ago

You say that, but the platforms have pretty much reached market saturation. The only way to get more users is for more users to be born, or perhaps some will be forced offline and then eventually come back online because of age gating.

The only growth is in fake bot accounts.

bunderbunderabout 6 hours ago

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about BBSes for the first time in ages.

Online used to feel like an actual place.

Read the full thread on Hacker News →

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