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StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

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Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, the reddit I visit is wonderful. Full of helpful, technical people. I guess because I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means, or which I am (I must be one, I suppose) I post/hangout in all technical forums (pfsense/proxmox/vim/android) and pretty much without exception people are lovely. Android gets a bit catty becau…

> I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means Political apathy is toxic. You don't have to be obsessed with politics but it's everyone's civic duty to understand the basic principles and players of our political system. Low voter turnout and low-information voters were major factors in Trump's win. You may think you don't car…

That's a bad way to put things. You can disagree with the outcome of the 2016 election, but it was a _feature_ not a _bug_ of the system the US has in place. The voters who got their way are equal in their right to their preference as you are to yours.

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means Political apathy is toxic. You don't have to be obsessed with politics but it's everyone's civic duty to understand the basic principles and players of our political system. Low voter turnout and low-information voters were major factors in Trump's win. You may think you don't car…

That's a bad way to put things. You can disagree with the outcome of the 2016 election, but it was a _feature_ not a _bug_ of the system the US has in place. The voters who got their way are equal in their right to their preference as you are to yours.

The feature/bug metaphor fails to take into account tradeoffs. Every political system has pros and cons, and which one you choose to describe the system reveals your politics.

For instance: the voters are not equal in their right to preference. Delegates are equal in their right to preference. This means the person with the popular vote lost. So, do you value the republican vote or the democratic vote (government, not party)? There’s no objectively better option; it’s a pick-your-poison type deal.

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, the reddit I visit is wonderful. Full of helpful, technical people. I guess because I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means, or which I am (I must be one, I suppose) I post/hangout in all technical forums (pfsense/proxmox/vim/android) and pretty much without exception people are lovely. Android gets a bit catty becau…

> I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means Political apathy is toxic. You don't have to be obsessed with politics but it's everyone's civic duty to understand the basic principles and players of our political system. Low voter turnout and low-information voters were major factors in Trump's win. You may think you don't car…

I focus on being a good person (as best as I can) and I care about being happy. Worrying about what a bunch of quarreling children are doing, with very limited scope to impact or change any of it, is detrimental to being happy. I am under no illusion that the changes driven by Government affect me, in many ways. There's a decent chance ol' trumpy might let off a bomb, ruining hundreds of thousands of lives. Maybe, if it hits New Zealand, that of mine and my children too. But I still chose not to care/worry about it. I focus on enjoying the time I have with my family, trying to teach them to be happy. If they find an interest on politics makes them happy and excited, that's great! I'll encourage that 100%. But I don't care.

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#104
post #12
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. Many hours in college that I should've spent studying were spent "stumbling". Digg came along, and later Reddit and HN and I spent a lot less time using StumbleUpon, but it was AWESOME for its time.

I was considering dropping Reddit and going back to StumbleUpon, because I realised that it is very hard to use reddit without making it another filter bubble, which defeats the purpose of information discovery. Plus, the fact that SU doesn't have a toxic comment section makes it better imho. I am sad that it is gone.

But StumbleUpon did have a comments section right? Could have sworn there was some kind of voting system, which allowed reviews...

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#105
post #29

I loved stumble upon until the pages I was shown veered from my interests and began to feel like either spam or obvious paid content. It was annoying and the issue that eventually pushed me off after 3-4 years of use. I'm a bit sad to see this news. Maybe my view became jaded, but with this timing I have to wonder if it's related to GDPR. A profile of your interests and favorite sites is the kind of information a com…

I felt the same, it lost its charm. It seemed like there were many paid articles coming up and I didn't feel the categories worked all that well.

Ultimately it seems reddit did a better job at categorising links for peoples interests with a transparent voting system...

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, the reddit I visit is wonderful. Full of helpful, technical people. I guess because I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means, or which I am (I must be one, I suppose) I post/hangout in all technical forums (pfsense/proxmox/vim/android) and pretty much without exception people are lovely. Android gets a bit catty becau…

> I have zero interest in politics or anything even slightly political - I can't even describe what left wing vs right wing actually means Political apathy is toxic. You don't have to be obsessed with politics but it's everyone's civic duty to understand the basic principles and players of our political system. Low voter turnout and low-information voters were major factors in Trump's win. You may think you don't car…

Most online discussion sites (reddit and HN, for example) focus overwhelmingly on US politics. This is significantly less relevant for the billion-odd people who use the English language internet but do not live in the USA.

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#108

StumbleUpon was "unique" in the aughties sense of the word. Before Reddit and Digg made things Hot or Not this was the place to go for interesting content. It wasn't loud or or overly verbose; it sent you to great sites before SEO and paid media killed content. Maybe I'm just waxing nostalgic on the implementation as well as the time. IDK. I hope Garret, Ali and the team at Mix do great things.

StumbleUpon : launched 2001, November.

Hot or Not : launched 2000, October.

edit: Reddit: 2005 (I joined in early 2006 or so)

Digg : 2004, not that much before reddit. Stumbleupon and hotornot.com both predate these by a lot. There was also Myspace before Digg, and Tribes before that.

Re: StumbleUpon closing after 16 years, accounts can be migrated to Mix

#110

Stumble upon was one of my first contracting jobs. In second year university back in 1999/2000 (more than 16 years ago?) I had a little freelance project for them to write an Amazon like recommender system. Super small project money wise and I just ended up delivering a math paper like result. I suspect they never used it and instead just contracted with someone else.

2000 seems so long ago, but then I realize I was a "mere" 23 y/o at that time. Now that makes me feel old.
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