Dammit Internet, be more funny!

Yes, yes, there's a Funnyordie.com, Adultswim.com, Collegehumor, Break, Ebaumsworld, JibJab, Cleanguys.com (snicker), and good ol' YouTube, but is it just me, or have these sites lost their luster?

Traffic would indicate that no, they haven't, and I'm just a disgruntled curmudgeonly misanthrope. But I don't think traffic is a good metric; in fact, I would argue that increased traffic is a sure sign that the general quality of their content is going down. Here's the equation: the more content a site has, the more traffic it gets. With sites like YouTube this is especially true, since the content is being created AND promoted by thousands of individuals. An increase in contributors, though, means that a number of people are posting content that is essentially garbage, with very little entertainment value. In addition, in order to produce massive amounts of content, the cost of the content must perforce go down. And with lower costs must come lower production values. From the perspective of these sites, this is an acceptable, even desirable equation. Push the content, maximize impressions, cash in.

So what's the solution? I haven't thought it out that far. I've already made the problem worse by writing a severely unfunny post. It's also difficult to avoid YouTube, which is simultaneously the definitive source for video on the internet and the most egregious offender. I'd say that we can all help by vetting ourselves. Don't post garbage on your blog. Don't watch pointless kick-in-the-balls videos or man-fall-down fare. In short, the only way we can force content providers to give us the funny is by ignoring the asinine.