What happened to the internet? Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I remember having intelligent, meaningful conversations on the internet. I learned a lot of useful, evidence based information, and when I passed it on, it was appreciated. But slowly, the nature of most interactions degraded and became frustrating. Now I occasionally visit forums that I used to appreciate as a gathering place of experts, and I no longer want to mingle. Some of my favorite forums are inactive or gone. Seems like people ask stupid questions that don't seem important, and people who have no expertise give advice that totally contradicts experts with credible evidence, and misinformation multiplies. I got tired of contradicting people who became popular because they were empathic, advocated a popular myth or spoke with authority while they made stuff up. Seems like most groups got taken over by one or two 'experts' who defend their space against anyone who corrects them with new evidence and it becomes an echo chamber/ fanclub. Posting links to scientific papers that contradict such advice were met with derision denigrating science in favor of new age bullshit or personal experience. I got banned from a site for posting science articles that contradicted what the sites guru was advocating! Where did all the smart people go? It seems the internet is like TV- a great concept but the bar continued to lower until there is most crap. So what do you think were the reasons for this change in the quality of internet interactions? I'm mulling around increased advertising, the internet is now easier for ignorant people to participate, society/humanity is going to hell, it's no longer nice to be more intelligent than other people, Russian trolls, or the general trend for people to be more divisive. Opinions? Or do you think the internet has better quality information than it did before and I'm just cynical?