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Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

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Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#21

Post by hestefisk »

dharma1 wrote: post #12

Yes, IRC in the 90s was amazing. I think Reddit captures some of that, Twitter not so much. Matrix/Riot is cool (the redesign just launched - https://riot.im/app ) and has the same concept as IRC of a universe of chat rooms you can just join (Vs separated workspaces like Slack). Discord too, though perhaps more tech/gaming audiences than the wider mix of IRC in the 90s, and again the topic specific servers are discon…

I have just created a Matrix room for us to chat in. Just open https://matrix.to/#/#hackernews:matrix.jensenwaud.com

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#22

Post by vertex-four »

avian wrote: post #11
jaequery wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, IRC is still alive (mainly Freenode), albeit on life support, lol. As for other services, the problem is that it's become (or becoming) scattered (Slack, Riot, etc). AOL as much as ridiculous it was, it was fun, because pretty much everyone was gathered in one place.

Freenode hosts only free software-related channels as far as I know. There are still some small servers out there, but they are getting rarer. One I used to frequent just recently shut down because it was hit by massive amounts of disgusting spam. https://freenode.net/news/spam-shake

Freenode hosts a ridiculous amount of social channels, albeit usually for niche purposes or centred around specific people.

The spam has been stopped recently, at least where I’m hanging out.

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#23

Post by LifeLiverTransp »

jsilence wrote: post #17
znpy wrote: post #14

My feeling is that the whole internet was somehow better back in the day. On most platform, you just needed your nickname of choice and an email address, and you were good to go. If something didn't go well, you could just come up with another username (and maybe another email address) and start anew.

Also in the good old internet it was a crowd of early adopters discovering and enjoying something new. Nowadays everbody is on and the systems people get on first are intentionally designed to foster toxic behaviour.

Its like that one toxic flat-house whereeverybody is in constant row with everybody, as a replacement for valueable social interaction. Seems lonely people are rather in a fight, then truely confined to social isolation.

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#24

Post by avian »

vertex-four wrote: post #22
avian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freenode hosts only free software-related channels as far as I know. There are still some small servers out there, but they are getting rarer. One I used to frequent just recently shut down because it was hit by massive amounts of disgusting spam. https://freenode.net/news/spam-shake

Freenode hosts a ridiculous amount of social channels, albeit usually for niche purposes or centred around specific people. The spam has been stopped recently, at least where I’m hanging out.

I'm glad that the spam has stopped, but the damage to smaller servers has been done. After months of having channels constantly flooded with revolting stuff I doubt people are coming back, even if admins find the energy to put servers back online.

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#25

Post by karpour »

I missed them for a long time, but I found that there are lots of groups on Telegram (I know there are lots on Discord as well but I don't like the bloated UI too much) Telegram is at least semi-open and there are IRC gateways as well. I would prefer if it was easier to just drop in and out of channels like in IRC, but at least there are many of places to discuss special interests and meet people again!

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#26

Post by brianpgordon »

> And now, the only thing that comes closest in chatting is Reddit/Twitter. It is more of a QA forum though and not really real-time.

You're looking for Discord. Find an open server on one of the index sites or ask your friends if they can invite you to ones they hang out in.

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#27

Post by conductr »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #16

Good old nostalgia. I miss IRC, simple hand-written HTML websites and forums. Now everything seems to run through Facebook or one of their peers, with little to no room for custom touches and design, everyone just paints within the lines. I also kind of miss the days of movies on VHS, physically going and renting movies, music on CDs, not having millions of media choices accessible within seconds. Though I have to sa…

Browsing and discovery within a blockbuster store was far superior to what any of the steaming apps have given us. I absolutely loathe the process of trying to find something to watch these days

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#28

Post by Macha »

karpour wrote: post #25

I missed them for a long time, but I found that there are lots of groups on Telegram (I know there are lots on Discord as well but I don't like the bloated UI too much) Telegram is at least semi-open and there are IRC gateways as well. I would prefer if it was easier to just drop in and out of channels like in IRC, but at least there are many of places to discuss special interests and meet people again!

Given some people commenting how they liked the screen names and anonymity of irc, it's hard to see telegram being a replacement with its requirement for a phone number identifier

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#29

Post by PerfectElement »

In 20 years, today's teenagers will be talking about "the good days when Twitter and Instagram were all the rage". I think that part of what you miss is the feeling of being young, with an open road ahead of you, fewer responsibilities, and hormones in full force, making life seem much more colorful.

Re: Tell HN: I miss the chatrooms of the 90s

#30

Post by johnkpaul »

PerfectElement wrote: post #29

In 20 years, today's teenagers will be talking about "the good days when Twitter and Instagram were all the rage". I think that part of what you miss is the feeling of being young, with an open road ahead of you, fewer responsibilities, and hormones in full force, making life seem much more colorful.

Yes this is so true. I feel like the major difference between me now and the me that I feel nostalgic about is the free time that I no longer have after multiple children.
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