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I Miss the Old Internet

misc-stuff.terraaeon.com

191–200 of 317 posts

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#191
post #30
post #5

I generally agree. I've taken to appending "reddit" to many of my search queries, because flawed though it is, reddit is one of the few places you can read an actual human thought. It feels like nearly all content on the internet is some de-personalized corporate "content marketing" blog at this point. Just give us your email address and we'll send you a PDF (and a drip marketing campaign.) I think the old internet w…

Do you not find Reddit to be a bit of a cesspool? I tend to avoid it for that reason, but how true it is probably depends on which subreddit(s) we're talking about.

Do you prefer discord or slack closed discussion channels that cannot even be searched without being part of their closed community ? There's no sharing there. Reddit shares with the rest of the world.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#192
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the old internet is still there but hidden behind the 100th search result page. I often times wish search result were ranked by how genuine the page seems to be, measured by the ratio of content over ads. Indeed, the less advertisement on a page and the more likely it is written by an actual human being with something to say. Sadly, I suspect ranking to works exactly the opposite.

Maybe we need to bring back "web rings" and blog rolls.

Web rings were indeed great. "Sites similar to ..." queri3s in search engines are not a good replacement.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#193
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4chan is outright fantastic in some aspects. /g/ is actually quite useful and friendly, especially the DPT (Daily Programming Thread), more-so if you're a beginner. /trv/ (travel) is just good and perfectly slow where you won't feel pressure to keep up with a thread because it will still be there tomorrow. /fit/ has good information and really encapsulates what happens when the internet meets bro-gym culture. Compare…

Is it still? I thought /pol/ ate the whole site and drove everyone who wasn't a Nazi or edgelord troll away.

It's as good as it ever was. If anything, it's probably better since 8ch imploded.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#195
post #2

The Old Internet was much smaller. Much, much smaller. I don't think it can scale.

When the Old Internet was a small part of my life, it felt huge. The New Internet is a huge part of my life, and feels small.

Just well said. Sad at the same time.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#197
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've taken to appending "reddit" to many of my search queries, because flawed though it is, reddit is one of the few places you can read an actual human thought. Same. It's the only place to find the sort of genuine, informed opinion that used to be common on the first page of Google results, on a wide variety of topics, without an awful lot of digging.

I am six months into reddit detox. The amount of time I have back is amazing. Only semi social site I read is this one. I have internet down to BBCNews, NHK, Reuters, HN, a few comics, Ars, next platform, the morning paper, Matt Levine and el reg. I am much happier :)

BBC fell of the wagon for me in the last 2 years especially.

Been checking out The Independent more so lately.

Just thought I’d share as I used to read BBCnews daily.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What those people really need is to have their opinions challenged by outsiders. That used to happen more on the early internet. Keep in mind that they didn't leave Reddit because they wanted to leave. They left and made Voat because they were banned. Now they don't have to interact with people that have dissenting opinions, and they can ban you if you dissent. Reddit is relieved because their users are no longer exp…

One of reddit's most common in-jokes is the moderation team on /r/the_donald banning literally anyone who wasn't pro-Trump while allowing white supremacist posts on their subreddit. So they were doing that anyway.

> One of reddit's most common in-jokes is the moderation team on /r/the_donald ...

This right here is my point. I know that and you know that. I don't subscribe to that subreddit.

But I still hear about what goes on there sometimes, because you know, reddit, stuff leaks out a little if it's popular.

So that wouldn't be an in-joke if they weren't self-aware that they're outcasts on reddit. Now tell me a voat in-joke, because I don't know any.

Do you know what goes on at voat? I don't, so I just made an account. What I see looks like a community isolated, not a community scorned. It's much worse than any unmoderated community on reddit could ever be. That's what I think is dangerous.

From my point of view, reddit dropped the banhammer and this thing called Voat popped out.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet

#200
post #41

> You have to enter the exact name of the website to find it on Google. MayVaneDay is also mirrored on I2P, TOR, and Dat...You have to look really hard for them now, and the best way to find them is through links from similar small websites Without getting into the argument of whether Google deliberately makes these sites hard to find, it doesn't really support the author's thesis that the old Internet was any better…

> The modern Internet is far from perfect, but the diversity and quantity (and arguably, quality) of voices is far better than when the Internet catered mostly to college-age kids and academics, i.e. people with access to free, high-speed Internet portals.

Ironically, I could not share this article itself on Facebook, because it apparently violated community guidelines. So yeah...

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