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PhysicsForums and the Dead Internet Theory
An exposé no one will read, about the widespread falsification of user posts in PhysicsForums, a scientific community founded in 2001. This is a microcosm of the death of the human-written Internet.
There are smaller examples within PhysicsForums history of a thread getting split (due to some off-topic but nevertheless useful) discussion, or a post getting deleted but then restored with a newer ID, or a database hiccough causing re-assignment, or various other entirely justifiable small-scale edits. It probably feels odd to see us write thousands of words fighting for the integrity of a community neither of us is part of, a tiny speck on the Internet trying desperately to survive, an enclave of a different era that is trying to hold on at all costs. But when communities compromise their morals and the core of their identity to stay afloat, and destroy the very bedrock of their commitment to their users and to some degree to the broader idea of the Internet, we have to wonder… was it worth it?
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