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Does anyone remember websites?

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Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#121

Post by JohnBooty »

inetknght wrote: post #40
ambrosite wrote: post #30

I do remember those websites. For me, the difference is that now the Web is much more useful, but back then it was a lot more fun. True, you could sometimes waste hours following random links hoping to find something good, but the thrill of discovery when you stumbled across a gold mine of information was a huge part of the appeal. Nowadays, anyone with a basic understanding of search engines can find almost anything…

Useful? I would argue that it's actually a lot less useful today.

I think the Internet's gotten worse in general (and, specifically, less useful) over the last decade except for one thing:

YouTube is insanely useful for learning how to do basic household stuff, minor car repairs, that kind of thing. Insane.

Mundane? Yeah, but life is like at least 50% handling mundane shit like that. Maybe 90%. Maybe 95%?

Want to know how to repair some brick stairs in front of your house? Sharpen a lawnmower blade? Mulch a garden? Seal a driveway? Change the cabin air filter on a 2008 Mazda 3? Make pancakes using campsite cooking tools? Multiple videos for each. Perhaps even dozens.

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#122

Post by chubot »

userbinator wrote: post #80
ambrosite wrote: post #30

I do remember those websites. For me, the difference is that now the Web is much more useful, but back then it was a lot more fun. True, you could sometimes waste hours following random links hoping to find something good, but the thrill of discovery when you stumbled across a gold mine of information was a huge part of the appeal. Nowadays, anyone with a basic understanding of search engines can find almost anything…

Nowadays, anyone with a basic understanding of search engines can find almost anything they want within seconds. Almost anything popular and rather insipid, yes. Try to find more detailed information on very specific topics, however, and you'll discover that search engines like Google have been optimising more and more for the former content, making it harder to find the latter. I don't think that's a good thing at a…

This brought to mind this site which got attention several years ago:

https://millionshort.com/about

Maybe 5 or 10 years ago. It's a search engine that filters out the top N websites.

However I just tried it and it seems to be poorly maintained -- it's crashing on certain queries, and giving me captchas after only a few searches.

Some people noticed this problem many years ago, and here is a solution which didn't quite work. But it might be something to learn from in attacking this problem.

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#123

Post by nl »

millstone wrote: post #24
nandemo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a nightmare before tabs were a thing.

why?

The combination of the instability of Windows 3.1/95, terrible window management, 14"/15" monitors and uncontrolled pop-up windows was dreadful.

Windows NT made the browser crashing your computer a little less common.

Linux wasn't any better - the only graphical browser then for Linux was Netscape, and and that was even less stable on Linux than on Windows.

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#124

Post by [deleted] »

themodelplumber wrote: post #3

This is pretty harsh critique. I first got on the web in 1992 and what we have now is a paradise compared to what we had then. Sure, you may have to look with intent for what you want, but freely coasting around the web has always carried liabilities. It used to be "you'll find lots of junk" and the junk has simply diversified since then. I also noticed the author doesn't even use a single hyperlink in his own articl…

[deleted]

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#126

Post by mindcrime »

walrus wrote: post #115
jordanb wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alta Vista allowed LexisNexis style querying against the web. It was magical. I only reluctantly switched off of that search engine after they quit indexing the web and their database became uselessly stale. I always hoped that Google would add that functionality. Perhaps as a premium, paid service. But that ended up not being the business model they went with.

What is 'LexisNexis style querying'?

I think he's referring to the ability to use boolean expressions and other more sophisticated operators. See, for reference: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~hschmidt/srch.html

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#127

Post by q845712 »

JohnBooty wrote: post #116
rayiner wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is not great for finding stuff. I’ve complained at length about how bad it is for doing research, but recently I’ve also found it’s totally useless for finding things like reviews of products (unless it’s something like the new iPhone). It’s like legitimate reviews are a casualty in the war between Google and clickbait SEO crap.

This is true. The only way I can find product buying advice is: 1. To find a community of enthusiasts and see what they have to say about products in that space. This works pretty well for products that actually have enthusiasts. 2. Go to Amazon and read a product's bad reviews. The good reviews are nearly useless. But, with bad reviews, you have to weigh the number of bad reviews against the product's popularity. If…

I bought a subscription to Consumer Reports and have been happy with the two purchases I made on their recommendation (headphones in the $100 range, and a new food processor). Do you consider them compromised? It's actually just about time to renew my subscription and i've been wondering whether I should.

I've also used your strategy of reading the bad reviews on Amazon!

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#129

Post by zephyrfalcon »

dfps wrote: post #14
themodelplumber wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some bigger websites at the time were like mazes with some of the words on each page hyperlinked to other pages on the site that were about each of those separate topics, and you had to open up multiple links from each page otherwise you'd lose them, and you wanted to read every word.

One notable example from the 90s that I was referring to with this statement was a site that had many, many pages about unusual science/mystery/gnosis/anarchism. I haven't been able to locate it. (- the author)

There is this one that sort of fits the bill: http://www.sacred-texts.com/

But that might not be the one you mean... I recall one with a black background... hmm.

/edit/ I also found this one: http://www.crystalinks.com/ ...I (probably badly) archived a copy of it around 2000/2001, back then many pages had dark graphical backgrounds. It seems that has changed.

There was also the Temple of the Screaming Electron, which has since disappeared. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOTSE

Re: Does anyone remember websites?

#130

Post by StavrosK »

dbrgn wrote: post #78
ambrosite wrote: post #30

I do remember those websites. For me, the difference is that now the Web is much more useful, but back then it was a lot more fun. True, you could sometimes waste hours following random links hoping to find something good, but the thrill of discovery when you stumbled across a gold mine of information was a huge part of the appeal. Nowadays, anyone with a basic understanding of search engines can find almost anything…

I found http://lygte-info.dk/ (website about batteries, chargers, and more stuff like that) through a search engine when looking for specific information about a LiIon cell. But then I started clicking through that maze of links and found so much useful information that I would never have thought of searching for. I spent hours "trapped" on that page. The navigation is crappy (randomly interlinked handwritten HTML-pa…

Jesus, that website must have taken years to make. The reviews are so in-depth, fantastic. I've been looking for someone that reviews USB chargers, as they go into mains voltage and are dangerous if not shielded properly. Amazing resource, thanks for linking it!
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