In the past 19 years, the Internet has changed. Creating a website is more accessible, but most people don't do it. It's much easier to stay close to one of the major platforms where the people are. It seems everyone recently discovered that websites can't exist on ad revenue alone and that tech workers cost a lot of money. Will this continue to centralize content and reduce diversity?

Content itself has changed as well. In order to attract people, we've reverted to emotional tactics. Everyone is stuck in personalization echo chambers. Deceptive headlines grab people's attention and most article text is about instilling a reaction. This has filtered down into how we react with each other in comments as well. It's more common to find personal expressions of rage rather than interesting contributions to topics. You also can't trust if a comment thread reflects the actual sentiment of the population due to the fact that most of the comments might be fake due to bots. We need to gauge ourselves continuously against the unfiltered and unpersonalized sentiment of the world in order to make effective personal decisions, and it is becoming much more difficult to find a reliable source for that information. Where will this information come from in the next 19 years?

At the same time though, new AI technologies like stable diffusion (like midjourney) and large language models (like ChatGPT) have made it much easier for more people to express themselves. I feel like most of our problems come from people's inability to communicate effectively with each other and simultaneously understand whether they are being influenced, and these tools show a lot of promise at changing that. We are at the cusp of having oracle machines and automated assistants. These personal companions, kind of like a fiduciary, will care about us at our most vulnerable and malleable stages in life and help us navigate the world without the threat of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous grifters and malicious actors. To have someone (or something) deeply care about each of our circumstances will be game changing for mental health and personal empowerment. That is a future I want to subscribe to. 👍

Thank you everyone for your continued patronage. The world has changed significantly in that time and websites have come and gone. I'm happy that we have been able to last this long. I hope to see you all in another year!

Happy 19th Birthday, and here's to many more!!! 🥳️🎉🥂

(To think I've been here for 14 of those 19 years... Time sure does fly!)

Wow, 19.
I actually thought the website was older.

Congrats on 19 and hope for another 19
More!

So thankful for Mangaupdates!! Happy bday!

Happy 19th! Can't wait for 20.

________________
Internet Lurker At Heart

MU never found an alternative even into the 2020s so this early Web 2.0 relic continues to not only retain its significance as a database but is also growing due to other sites having collapsed. It is tolerable at best to use on a phone but 2-decade old websites be like that. I have memories from 2006 of using the site as a database despite a 2008 account but didn´t use it to track anything back then due to having a reading list on mangatraders. RIP.

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

I miss the old internet, forums, irc, blogs, scanlators actually trying to bring awareness of titles to be officially licensed etc
It's great to see MU still around and kicking!

Happy Bday MU!
I remember last time I got $10 to buy manga 😁
Thank you MU for the past 10 years, and Manick, thank you for always be here as well 😉

________________
ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ*)笑

Happy birthday! Still my favorite site on the internet. Don’t know what I would do without you guys.

I've been here too long. If this website ever changes I'll cry.

Happy birthday! This place is like that noodle shop tucked away in the corner of a back alley to me, old and look outdated but if something happen to it I'll probably cry, so keep on keeping on and I hope to it reach 20 and beyond ❤️

Yes indeed, Happy Birthday! 🙂

And you're right, I'm continually amazed that after all this time nobody has realized I'm a bot 😀

Happy 19th birthday! I've been here almost 17 of those years 😳 Took a little break in the middle and came right back about 8 years ago. So happy it's still around, and yes I will also cry if it ever changes.

19 Years and mangaupdates is still my homepage on my laptop and phone.
Thank you for keeping the best site alive.

Last edited by narengoku at 5:33 am, Jul 22 2023

Congrats on 19 years of keeping this site live!!