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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

#121

Post by zem »

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,…

the article already lists one positive - the LLM assistance made the engineering effort to keep their site up and running feasible again. insofar as spam killed the remnants of old web, that is a promising sign.

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

#122

Post by zem »

monk_grilla wrote: post #102
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,…

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.

what would be amazing would be a resurgence of the old style forums, but where users could choose to see a flat or tree view of a discussion (and even customize those views, e.g. the tree could be reddit style without subject lines, or slashdot style with them)

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

#123

Post by Xorakios »

binarymax wrote: post #84
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.

Oh good golly miss molly. I had my first email address at an .edu in 1980, first website in my own real name since 1993. the 2000's are just new kids on the block

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

#124

Post by rockskon »

Razengan wrote: post #90
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…

Newer websites are filtered through what is acceptable from a corporate lens.

The old web culture can't exist because advertisers won't let it exist on modern platforms.

Additionally the spread of information is significantly less organic because of relentless pushes to use algorithmic feeds along with far worse distractions from content than there used to be.

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

#125

Post by zem »

Razengan wrote: post #106
sodapopcan wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What exactly WAS the "old web" anyway? Pre-Google, specifically, pre-PageRank, and even more specifically, pre-SEO. Your post is oddly hyper-focused on pointing out the negatives, probably due to the asshole hat you put on. There were lots of good sites with tons of good, free information, and because the main way people searched was using directories, we weren't inundated with 1,000s of results on the same topic,…

> Your post is oddly hyper-focused on pointing out the negatives because people are hyper-focused on the negatives of the "current" web, or acting like the sites they used to love can't be recreated anymore.. > it was just a bunch of people writing about themselves, their interests, and generally being creative. There still are. on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, 5ch and other Japanese subcommunities.. the fact t…

it's not "another thing", it means that your community forum lives on reddit (or whoever's) sufferance, and is subject to some corporation's capricious and arbitrary whims.

this comment brings up a good concrete example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293553

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

#126

Post by Xorakios »

bradley13 wrote: post #34

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

My first grandchild was born in 2000. And the COBOL panic for Y2K is probably partly my fault because 4 characters were too computational expensive when I wrote code that probably still powers your Igloo ice containers and GEICO insurance policies. 80's tech still persists!

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

#127

Post by tavavex »

monk_grilla wrote: post #102
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,…

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.

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

#128

Post by amazingamazing »

monk_grilla wrote: post #102
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,…

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.

A simple website controlled by VCs, lol

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

#129

Post by NopIdoN »

Anon4Now wrote: post #95

When I think of "old web", I always think of "Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics". Thankfully, it still lives: https://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

I think of "Britney's Spheres" which was rather distasteful iirc

Anyway Britney's 1998 debut album predates The Matrix, includes the song Email My Heart and came on "Enhanced CD" with tags and video. How about that

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

#130

Post by doright »

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 don't believe the old web was filled with people pining about how the current web is awful and them participating in recreating the web they inhabit is better. People on the old web just posted things, because before that there was no non-old web to compare to. But that in itself is what makes the old web so appealing to people wanting it to return. Back then there was no other web necessary to escape from.

So when people construct versions of the old web today, they make a conscious decision to do something most people would not, and by doing so it sometimes comes off as indicating what they think of the other design decisions they chose not to make. It's not a bad thing, but it's not quite the same as it was anymore. That is why some of the spark is gone, in my eyes. It's kind of like counterculture being mistaken as the opposite of culture.

It is even more pronounced when people talk about "the old web" on old web websites all day.

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