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I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

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Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#161

Post by ipaddr »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #62
markus_zhang wrote: post #17

I actually enjoy today's Internet much more. I'll lay out the reasons: 1) Easy access to many high quality contents. For example HN is a good platform for accessing new knowledge. Note that I say "access", not "learn". Reading HN sometimes give people the false impression that they are learning new knowledge, which usually is not the case. I treat HN as a platform to get a peek at certain new knowledge, but reading b…

Counterpoint. It is disappointing to me that most of the "web sites" people interact with now transfer more data on a single page load than an entire operating system and applications from 25 years ago, when you could get "on the internet" with a PC running Windows 3.11 and Trumpet winsock, or Slackware. And, yeah, a lot of that is because of much higher quality media, but a lot of it is advertising and tracking, too…

A lot more people and more voices adds abut

But the quality of even photos have been downgraded since phones.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#162

Post by uncertainrhymes »

superasn wrote: post #139

Is there a term for when people reminisce something and think those were the days at the same time think everything contemporary has gone to the dogs? Like my uncle who is an old car enthusiast who thinks ambassador was the greatest car ever made in India yet if you are really objective about it was truly a bad car (wrt milege, comfort, safety, design, etc). I feel the same reading the comments here. Really don't mis…

Old.

I kid, but it does seem a function of age. I've always seen a dividing line between people whose fondest memories are in the past, versus how much they look forward to making new memories.

I am right in the middle right now, and trying not to let it swing too far into curmudgeonness.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#163

Post by ratww »

DavidVoid wrote: post #116
ratww wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the same thing. What everyone misses are the personal, hobbyist, non-commercial websites. This was replaced by things like Facebook, Wikia, Pinterest, Twitter, Medium, which are both constrained and ad-ridden. A bit of that old web still live in places like Tumblr. The "every site looking the same" thing is fine, however, and still preferred for commercial sites, government, newspapers, startups, other utili…

> A bit of that old web still live in places like Tumblr. It will be a sad sad day when/if Tumblr gets shut down. I really appreciate the fact that users can customize their own pages in many more ways than just changing their profile picture and header image, it gives it a lot more personality than you can get on Instagram/Tumblr/Facebook. It also has a timelessness that you don't really get on other sites, at least…

Tumblr really got it right, IMO.

    - It has all the tools for newbies (WYSIWYG)
    - It has tools for advanced users (HTML editors)
    - It has a marketplace for templates for those in-between
    - It has the "good" social features (follow, republish)
    - It doesn't use too many dark patterns
    - It's not a walled garden that blocks or pollutes Google search results, like Facebook or Pinterest
    - It has no "algorithm" encouraging people to consume the same bullshit as in Twitter/FB/Youtube
    - It encourages people browsing specific blogs instead of doing pointless doom-scrolling
Of course it also has a lot of problems, but I'd say they're mostly social and not related to how the platform is built. On the other hand the same issues happen on Twitter and Facebook, so...

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#164

Post by ori_b »

ozim wrote: post #41
ori_b wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about the design, it's about the commercialization.

Thing is commercialization made it easier for people to express themselves and actually start using that resource. Commercialization made it form "only nerds sit in there" to "everyone is on the internet and it is cool", if there would be no commercialization, internet for masses would still be a silly toy. Just like going to the Mars - it is just a "hobby" for NASA, most of people on Earth are not giving a damn that…

> Thing is commercialization made it easier for people to express themselves and actually start using that resource.

Yes, it certainly did make it easier for people to leave turds in the communal pool.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#165

Post by bombcar »

sen wrote: post #130
fabbari wrote: post #34

I miss text. It seems now that whenever I search for 'how to do X?' there is a lot of video results for sometimes very trivial things. A 10 minutes video with the usual 'subscribe and hit the bell icon', a word from the sponsor, a long winded introduction and then "click on menu, then click on this item, then select the size".

Spam that right arrow on your keyboard to skip through and find the relevant part. I refuse to listen to all the filler drivel that’s designed purely to pad it out behind 10min for the increased algorithm love. Then we’re supposed to sit through sponsor ads when we already pay for YouTube premium. I’m all for patreon and supporting creators but it’s gotten ridiculous. Multiple “sponsor” sections in a single video and…

Sometimes a quick glance at the comments will have someone timestamping the useful parts.

And - hey! If the only solution was in a video snap off a quick blog post! You can even link the video and maybe it’ll help someone in the future.

Modern web has become less and less “write” and more “read” and that contributes to the downfall imo.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#166

Post by vkk8 »

torh wrote: post #52
j_wtf_all_taken wrote: post #46

Its still there, its just buried under all the other crap. As more and more people generate content, more and more bullshit exists. Unfortunately, Google etc. - despite all their big announcements - can obviously not keep up filtering out that bullshit. We drown in bullshit. Where's the semantic web that was promised? I wonder if we're still paying for the mistakes that were made with the whole XML stuff ...?

I have been playing with the idea of making good old internet portal. A curated list of links to the good stuff. No FB, medium, Instagram or anything like that.

Additional properties it should have:

* Basic HTML only, no Javascript

* No user interaction (comments, etc.)

* Gets updated occasionally but not all the time, perhaps a few times a year

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#167

Post by bitwize »

ms123 wrote: post #65

Come say hi at the Midnight ( https://midnight.pub ) if you miss the old internet. :) I built it for those reasons.

Flashing back hard to alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo, where a bunch of William Gibson wannabes would write for each other as an audience, set within a "virtual bar" known as the Chatsubo.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#168

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

npteljes wrote: post #74
barney54 wrote: post #60

This sentiment of missing an older internet is one reason like like Hacker News. Slash dot was great in the day. Digg was so great in the day. Then the early days of Reddit were great. I’ve been her for over ten years and Hacker News is still good. So thank you to the team that runs Hacker News and everyone who comments for making it a good place to come to.

I agree. I think HN in the perfect combination of the old internet, with the text-only posts, and the web 2.0 way of doing likes and threaded conversations. And, of course, the moderation keeping it all in check. I'm grateful that I can come here every day.

Includes the very worst part of echo chambering though.

Don’t like someone OR their comment? Just do your part with three other people and it’ll be faded, once it’s faded other people will join in hiding the bad man who said the bad thing - and gone!

No more contrarian opinion, we protected other people! Everyone agrees now. How wonderful.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#169

Post by bombcar »

ipaddr wrote: post #137
kasey_junk wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fwiw I’m old enough to remember people deriding the internet for replacing more pure bbs’ and newsgroups with flashy websites like /. and digg.

The internet killed bbses. Bbses were local (or not) more personal, easy to make longterm friends, meetups in malls died with the bbses. I miss bbses. I resisted the internet switch for as long as possible. I remember the last c64 release..wasn't it monsters of mayham.. the graphics were amazing and the gameplay fast. Sort of like a mario world. BBS could be elite where you needed references. It could be local family…

Some BBSes evolved into forums but even those were different.

We lost the “local” based internet groups and we only really have “subject” based groupings anymore.

Re: I Miss the Old Internet (2019)

#170

Post by vkk8 »

emptyparadise wrote: post #153
barney54 wrote: post #60

This sentiment of missing an older internet is one reason like like Hacker News. Slash dot was great in the day. Digg was so great in the day. Then the early days of Reddit were great. I’ve been her for over ten years and Hacker News is still good. So thank you to the team that runs Hacker News and everyone who comments for making it a good place to come to.

This orange website is truly a fascinating place. We reminisce about the old, less commercialized internet while rubbing shoulders with the people who made it the way it is today.

Indeed. I find it extremely ironic how people here - of all places - are sympathetic to this sort of stuff.
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