Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#71

Post by krapp » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:23 AM UTC

baristavibes wrote: post #62

Not to diminish the quality of the content in the answers of other respondents, but don't link directories and self hosted HTML blogs filter for a certain potentially unwanted writer bias? i.e. 30-something, male, agorist, nostalgic for the old internet, oddly niche hobbies, English as first or second language, ...

>but don't link directories and self hosted HTML blogs filter for a certain potentially unwanted writer bias? i.e. 30-something, male, agorist, nostalgic for the old internet, oddly niche hobbies, English as first or second language

I suspect the bias is wanted, consciously or not. Part of the nostalgia for the 'old web', which this specific thread is a subset of, is for a return to the sense of homogeneity and community from when the web was primarily the playground of white male adolescent nerds, a culture with common referents and ideals. It's a kind of "white flight" from the modern web in that sense.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#72

Post by manuelmoreale » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:26 AM UTC

mkl wrote: post #65

manuelmoreale wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. You’re the first person to ask for same tab opening. But it might make sense for this particular case. I’ll have a think.

I think trust people to know and do what they want: left click or middle click. The problem with making the new-tab choice for them is they can't click in such a way as to keep the same tab. I have literally written browser extensions to fix auto-new-tab links, it's that frustrating.

This is a compelling enough argument for me to switch the default.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#73

Post by yreg » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:27 AM UTC

braingenious wrote: post #36

Turn on posts from banned users on this site. I’ve seen some genuinely deranged stuff on here. One time a poster got into a really heated debate about censorship and ended up posting links to a detailed guide on how to commit suicide for some reason! It wasn’t particularly fun but it was genuinely an odd thing to come across on today’s internet.

I respect the people who have been banned years ago, know it, and instead of creating a new user continue to post dead comments, screaming into the void.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#74

Post by raniceyue » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:29 AM UTC

I have 2

- http://whale.to

- https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/

Both are crazy conspiracy theory websites

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#75

Post by manuelmoreale » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:30 AM UTC

P5fRxh5kUvp2th wrote: post #66

manuelmoreale wrote: post #21

Few ways, in no particular order: - are.na seems to attract people who have odd interests and it’s full of quirky websites - webrings are still a thing and there’s a bunch out there worth checking out - directories like https://512kb.club/ are usually full of interesting sites - by following links on blogs and sites you find interesting - some cool forums are still out there ( https://forum.agoraroad.com/index.php )…

Do you or anyone else have webrings that are interesting for someone who is into programming, math, fantasy, and sci-fi ? I knew a few were still around, but I'm not aware of any that are actively maintained. I'm aware sci-fi is technically fantasy, but that categorization has never sat well with me.

Sadly no, nothing that specific comes to mind. I'm personally part of the Indie Web Webring but that's as far as I go when it comes to involvement with web rings.

That said there's a few listed here you might want to check https://sadgrl.online/cyberspace/webrings.html

And if none of those is what you're after I say be the change you want to see in the world and start a new webring!

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#76

Post by billyhoffman » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:31 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #71

baristavibes wrote: post #62

Not to diminish the quality of the content in the answers of other respondents, but don't link directories and self hosted HTML blogs filter for a certain potentially unwanted writer bias? i.e. 30-something, male, agorist, nostalgic for the old internet, oddly niche hobbies, English as first or second language, ...

>but don't link directories and self hosted HTML blogs filter for a certain potentially unwanted writer bias? i.e. 30-something, male, agorist, nostalgic for the old internet, oddly niche hobbies, English as first or second language I suspect the bias is wanted, consciously or not. Part of the nostalgia for the 'old web', which this specific thread is a subset of, is for a return to the sense of homogeneity and commu…

It’s a flight from SEO optimized nonsense and junk food content. I don’t care at all if a creator looks like or thinks like I do. I want to read interesting content.

As an example, Gemini has a strong collection of LGBTQ+ and furry creators. I am in neither of those groups, and I’m enjoying the content immensely. Not because of how the authors identify, but because they are writing with passion and detail into interesting topics. That’s what I crave

Attributing desire for “the old/weird web” to Some kind of identity monoculture is a disservice.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#77

Post by shiomiru » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:34 AM UTC

OrangeMonkey wrote: post #64

narrator wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the idea that the u.s government has a secret space program that is flying around the universe under our noses with godlike technology hateful/racist/bigoted? Is it now racist/hateful/bigoted to believe in alien technology conspiracies just because anything that's not official government information can be automatically labeled as such? I think the whole solar warden thing and the universe of b.s around it is…

Its the new communism. Anything I do not like is racist/hateful/bigoted .

Feels similar to the new McCarthyism.

Anything I do not like is communist.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#78

Post by krapp » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:44 AM UTC

billyhoffman wrote: post #76

krapp wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but don't link directories and self hosted HTML blogs filter for a certain potentially unwanted writer bias? i.e. 30-something, male, agorist, nostalgic for the old internet, oddly niche hobbies, English as first or second language I suspect the bias is wanted, consciously or not. Part of the nostalgia for the 'old web', which this specific thread is a subset of, is for a return to the sense of homogeneity and commu…

It’s a flight from SEO optimized nonsense and junk food content. I don’t care at all if a creator looks like or thinks like I do. I want to read interesting content. As an example, Gemini has a strong collection of LGBTQ+ and furry creators. I am in neither of those groups, and I’m enjoying the content immensely. Not because of how the authors identify, but because they are writing with passion and detail into intere…

Except there's plenty of interesting content on social media platforms and "commercial" sites. Lots of content by LGBTQ+ and furry creators. Plenty of writing with passion and detail on interesting topics, although granted much of that writing is for video.

And as far as Gemini goes, I suspect it's far more homogeneous, culturally and politically, than even the early web was.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find the weird parts of the web?

#79

Post by manuelmoreale » Mon, Sep 12, 2022, 11:54 AM UTC

pdinny wrote: post #33

manuelmoreale wrote: post #21

Few ways, in no particular order: - are.na seems to attract people who have odd interests and it’s full of quirky websites - webrings are still a thing and there’s a bunch out there worth checking out - directories like https://512kb.club/ are usually full of interesting sites - by following links on blogs and sites you find interesting - some cool forums are still out there ( https://forum.agoraroad.com/index.php )…

I've found some really interesting reading on are.na. Something that I particularly enjoy about that mode of discovery is that it is more about curation and discovery. The smallness of the community (it feels small at any rate) means that there doesn't seem to be a big incentive to degrade the overall quality by using SEO-like tactics.

> Something that I particularly enjoy about that mode of discovery is that it is more about curation and discovery

Agree and also it feels like no one on the platform has anything to earn from their curation and as a result they use the platform as an actual tool for themselves. And so most collections are views into other people's interests and passions.