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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

#141

Post by marcosdumay »

sodapopcan wrote: post #135
tavavex wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't live long enough to see the entire lifetime of HN, but it's definitely part of the old web in my book. Its functionality is the same it's always been, it's rock solid, lightweight and simple. No personalization or engagement maximizing, no modern-style ads. Being spun off from something as big as Y Combinator meant they can run this site almost indefinitely.

The only thing not "old" about it is upvoting, which is one of those YMMV features.

It has the entire web 2.0 neophillia. Discussions stay for a day or so in focus, then they are gone.

This one is almost gone already.

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

#142

Post by juleiie »

prmoustache wrote: post #79
juleiie wrote: post #63

Old web was kind of dumb anyway. You can put on the rose tinted glasses and feel elite about browsing some shitty site 20 years ago or enjoy the fruits of modern design.

> or enjoy the fruits of modern design. Like web pages that load slower with high speed fiber than the old web did on 56k and ISDN connections?

If I want to read a book I have my e reader not a browser. Give me something good. hit my eyeballs with some pigments

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

#143

Post by adrianwaj »

morganf wrote: post #67

I'd define it as the web until the time that Facebook truly took off and conquered the hearts and minds of so many (that was the first huge shot in the losing war of the old web). For example, a key part of the old web was what used to be called the "blogosphere", and the blog's height was those final years before FB (in the ascendancy) and the first years of the FB era (descendancy).

For me the new web came about when if you wanted a website, you hired a web developer. As soon as it become DIY, without your own domain and didn't involve looking at HTML, the new web was born.

Today, if you own your own domain and fiddle with HTML then basically you're still part of the old web.

So basically, the old web required experts to help people get online, the new web negated them through homogenization.

The real experts from the old web basically became startup founders to monetize the homogenization and automation of their worldviews for the less tech-savvy (or specialized) folks.

People pine for the old web, but it was a churning, friggin' mess too. Search results were good though, but only when Google arrived. The standardization and ease-of-use from the new web has been a massive boon. I think things will change as people yearn for a wild-west, where there are new opportunities. The promise of a better life, seeing that the grass is greener, avoiding pain - those things always create golden ages.

Once AI favours people who can afford to pay for the best results.. or surveillance becomes too burdensome or dangerous, then watch this space.

The spirit of freedom always runs into trouble, when considering the notion of:

"Cut off the heads of others to make oneself appear taller."

Surveillance enables this. Decentralize again, but how?

ISPs - help or hindrance? Why/how can ISP charges be diverted to content creators?

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

#144

Post by AuthAuth »

inigyou wrote: post #107
AuthAuth wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Niches nowdays are far deeper and more vibrant than they were 20 years ago. Instead of 1 guys website or 1 fourm with 30 users you now have many discord servers with 1000s of users talking in real time, youtube channels putting out videos and making money, reddit/lemmy aggregating content, the community interacting in real time and building what it needs.

And they have to self censor so they don't get banned off those platforms. There are so many piracy discords where you can't ask how to pirate something because that's against discord rules. I mean really? Why are you using it then?

Most niches dont have to self censor. Even the ones that do still have no trouble communicating their message. I follow a lot of military channels and they post uncensored versions of their videos off yt but there is little reason to go because seeing the gore is not why im watching the video. I still get the entire value of the video from youtube even though you might argue its self censoring.

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

#145

Post by tavavex »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #133
tavavex wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't live long enough to see the entire lifetime of HN, but it's definitely part of the old web in my book. Its functionality is the same it's always been, it's rock solid, lightweight and simple. No personalization or engagement maximizing, no modern-style ads. Being spun off from something as big as Y Combinator meant they can run this site almost indefinitely.

> I didn't live long enough to see... Whoa, careful with your verb tenses! You just wrote a ghost story :)

Have seen. Too late to edit it now...

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

#146

Post by OuterVale »

-0_0- wrote: post #89
Levitating wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

I think you get to coin it.

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

#148

Post by ErigmolCt »

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 think the audience could absolutely shrink back to something resembling the old web. I'm less sure the old web itself comes back

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

#149

Post by ErigmolCt »

tavavex wrote: post #127
monk_grilla wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're participating in it right now. HN is a living example of a simple website facilitating discussion between humans with a shared interest. That's why I come here more than any other news/social site now.

I didn't live long enough to see the entire lifetime of HN, but it's definitely part of the old web in my book. Its functionality is the same it's always been, it's rock solid, lightweight and simple. No personalization or engagement maximizing, no modern-style ads. Being spun off from something as big as Y Combinator meant they can run this site almost indefinitely.

HN is a good example of how little a website actually needs once you remove the requirement to constantly squeeze more engagement out of it. Though to be fair, its audience is unusually self-selecting :)
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