[mc32]

Mostly true but there are a few good channels with very practical information for picking up new skills (gardening, woodwork, playing an instrument, etc) as well as looking up troubleshooting information.

Those too would be lost.

Sure some drag out three minutes into fifteen, but whatever…

[YurgenJurgensen]

In the olden days, those people wrote for things we called ‘magazines’. Without infinite free content at people’s fingertips, actually paying for curated content will likely make a comeback.

[Aurornis]

Magazines primarily make money through advertising.

Even that “curated” content is often the result of a company’s PR professionals sending free gear for review and possibly wining and dining the writers.

[mc32]

It’s a bit harder to find stuff in a magazine that helps troubleshoot a water pump at night…

[YurgenJurgensen]

I’m going to shock you, but you can pay for magazine-like content through the Internet right now.

[mrguyorama]

That information used to come with the water pump

[mc32]

How many people keep those docs around? It’s also easier to search on YT than rifle though the pump manual which may include all failure modes…

[justapassenger]

You do realize that sponsored stories aren’t modern invention? Magazines were full of it too, sometimes disclosed, most often not.

[YurgenJurgensen]

And? They’d be banned too.

[runarberg]

In fact they were, and perhaps even still are, however regulators have simply stopped enforcing consumer protection laws in the past 20 years. Neo-liberalism reigns supreme and Ronald Regan became the king of Europe.

[littlecranky67]

Nothing would be lost, it would just be somewhere else. Meta and Google monopolized content and ads.

We had the usenet, irc, ftp and small hobbiest websites long before those companies existed. It actually helps if you can remember 1996 or maybe 1998.

[inigyou]

If it's really that good, you'll pay for it with the money you saved in advertising. You're paying for the ads, don't forget. Plenty of people used to pay for things like woodworking classes, back when there was money. Doing a woodworking class in person at a woodworking shop will teach you much better than youtube.