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Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

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Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#81

Post by MetaWhirledPeas »

shevy-java wrote: post #5

Webpages dying is probably one of the biggest design flaws of the original web. I am not saying old content needs to be preserved forever, but so much content has factually been lost over time. Old logs from text-based MUDs for instance, even for MUDs that still exist today.

> Webpages dying is probably one of the biggest design flaws of the original web.

Let me introduce you to the alternatives: print media, film, stone engravings. That stuff tends to get burned and shattered and it takes FOREVER to make copies.

I'm being cheeky but I don't know what design change you could possible make to the web to make webpages not die.

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#82

Post by s0rce »

Gormo wrote: post #43
bradley13 wrote: post #34

2009-2014? That's not the old web. Or I'm old. Take your pick.

Yeah, I'd say "old web" is early '90s up through about mid-2000s or so. Geocities, Tripod, Angelfire, lots of standalone web forums, the early blogosphere, no social media, etc.

I think there are a few eras. Pre-graphics, then pre-Google search, then pre-social media/public facebook.

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#84

Post by binarymax »

jperras wrote: post #57

I would posit that "old web" could be defined as the period before Google Search became public ( But maybe that's more a measure of my own age and perceptions rather than an accurate representation of the various eras of the internet/web...

That’s the Cretaceous web. I miss it fondly.

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#85

Post by b3ing »

mattkevan wrote: post #65
bradley13 wrote: post #34

2009-2014? That's not the old web. Or I'm old. Take your pick.

I’m old and it’s definitely not the old web. I consider the old web to be when PNGs were sliced with Fireworks and laid out in tables. 2009-2014 is Web 2.0, back when people still thought social media was a good idea.

2003-2009ish was Web 2.0, part of it was CSS/web standards and AJAX and blogging becoming more mainstream

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#86

Post by tesin »

ryandrake wrote: post #77
z_rho_one wrote: post #14

Remember the good ol' days when we all thought that everything on the web would exist for eternity and over.

I remember the naive implication/expectation that a URL would be permanent. That once a file is identified by its URL, you could bookmark it and it would always be there. And absolute worst case, if someone really, really, really had to change a file's URL, they would politely return 301 Moved Permanently, and feel very bad about it. Now people don't give a shit about URLs. Webmasters casually move files around all t…

"Webmasters" - now there's a term I haven't heard since 1998!

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#87

Post by goodmythical »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #80

Here's a contrarian timeline: maybe the old web will return? My reasoning: when the "old web" was great, most people thought the internet was for nerds. Sure even casual users would forward funny emails to their friends, but when it came time for news most people would read the paper or watch the nightly broadcast. When they paid for their Big Mac they'd lay down cash. There were plenty of people using the internet,…

I haven't checked it out personally, but this is my impression of all of the webs that aren't the world wide web. Like the meshtastics, the new freenet, some web 3.0

It being harder to join has the effect of their being a smaller more engaged user base. Less likely that there will be pressure from corporate interests, more likely that every user has a vested interest in both production and consumption.

edit: And of course, you'll see the same in dedicated niche forms and spaces like HAM radio. I imagine the folks TXing EME have a particular flavor that is well maintained.

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#88

Post by phendrenad2 »

z_rho_one wrote: post #14

Remember the good ol' days when we all thought that everything on the web would exist for eternity and over.

It seemed reasonable, because keeping things up on the internet was becoming cheaper. We failed to see that capitalism would even demand payment for such trivial things.

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#89

Post by -0_0- »

Levitating wrote: post #31
sumtechguy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even Archive.org is rather limited in what it keeps. I know of a very large site that recently disappeared. archive only has part of the web html part of the site. Everything else is either gone or non accessible.

That's not my experience

There needs to be some kind of "murphy's law" for this style of comment. "For any comment on the internet where someone points out an issue they've encountered with technology, there will inevitably be a reply from someone else sharing that they haven't personally experienced it."

Re: Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

#90

Post by Razengan »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #80

Here's a contrarian timeline: maybe the old web will return? My reasoning: when the "old web" was great, most people thought the internet was for nerds. Sure even casual users would forward funny emails to their friends, but when it came time for news most people would read the paper or watch the nightly broadcast. When they paid for their Big Mac they'd lay down cash. There were plenty of people using the internet,…

Allow me to switch to asshole mode for a minute:

"Things used to be so good" is mostly rose-tinted glasses: What exactly WAS the "old web" anyway?

100s of half-baked sites hosted on Geocities, Yahoo, about pointless stuff? Epilepsy simulator websites splattered with gif-vomit? Everyone and their grandmother asking you to install their 10 toolbars?

Honest, serious question: What actually was of objective substance on the old internet that's nowhere to be found now?

You can find random pointless stuff now too, just that except Geocities/Yahoo it's Intsagram/TikTok/Twitter etc.

If you mean self-hosted websites, they're still here, and nothing's stopping you from creating your own.

If you loved all the Flash toons on Newgrounds etc there's unironically a lot more shorts and animations on YouTube or even Vimeo now, if you but search for them (the old gods like Weebl, David Firth are still there, and I suggest Sechi, DoodletmeGo, Nondescript Video Club, and からめる to start with then let the algorithm soak up the weirdness)

Just as the "internet" supplanted newspapers, magazines, and broadcast television for many people,

and how the newspapers replaced the town criers before them,

why shouldn't the "internet" be supplanted by a more accessible medium?

There's so much crap on the "old" and "middle age" internet: ads, scams, anal mods, trolls, bandwagons, vote wars, low-effort content and other repetitive noise that could be bypassed by just asking AI about something and make better use of your limited mortal lifetime, like watching that anime you've been putting off for years.

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