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Omegle 2009-2023

omegle.com

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Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#261

Post by lazide »

dragonwriter wrote: post #245
lazide wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who thinks the internet ‘just get’s worse’ never had a full Usenet feed in the 90’s. shudder

Honestly, 1994-1996ish web was in some ways worse -- yes, there was horrible stuff on Usenet, but you could avoid the worst of the text stuff pretty easily, and to be assaulted by any media other than text you had to expend at least a little effort. In the early web, you were just a poorly chosen search term and click away from some truly awful media.

We don’t talk about 2 girls 1 cup anymore. Or goatse. Ugh, man those were a rough time.

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#262

Post by paulpauper »

hu3 wrote: post #177

Amazing. This post is 1 hour old and Wikipedia is already updated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegle "Omegle (/oʊˈmɛɡəl/[1]) was a free online chat website that allowed users to socialize with others without the need to register. The service randomly paired users in one-on-one chat sessions where they would chat anonymously using the names "You" and "Stranger". It operated from 2009 to 2023." ... "On November 8, 2…

Wikipedia is so fast, soon they will predict the news

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#263

Post by fullspectrumdev »

rvcdbn wrote: post #27
willk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to her is tragic. However, I don’t think warnings or age verification would change anything. Kids are going to do things regardless if there is a warning or age verification system. I think the best thing we can do for our children is talk to them, and to start talking to them early.

Basic age verification is pretty easy, no? I’m not sure about the details but this seems like a pretty low bar for a site like this. Not that I’m advocating it be required but just that if it were me I would not make something like this without at least making the best possible attempt at age verification.

Age verification in a way that is both robust and privacy respecting is an impossibility.

Pick one.

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#264

Post by cplusplusfellow »

eru wrote: post #247
ijustlovemath wrote: post #198

This is devastating. I have so many fond memories of meeting fellow weirdos over text. The days where StumbleUpon always took you somewhere exciting, cool, beautiful, interesting, funny, or novel. Where you looked at what people did with The Web 2.0 and only marveled at the possibilities of what could come. Truly feels like the death of one of the old guard, a Usenet-of-the-2010s. I even used it during pandemic times…

> Where you looked at what people did with The Web 2.0 and only marveled at the possibilities of what could come. Truly feels like the death of one of the old guard, a Usenet-of-the-2010s. This is funny to me, because I am old enough to remember when web 2.0 was new, and people were nostalgic for 'web 1.0'. (And, of course, it's turtles all the way down with nostalgia.)

I was growing up when the first people got BBS' and CompuServe. I don't miss the days of dial-up.

I miss the days just as you learned Google could answer questions you asked in free-form, without the censorship and advertisement preferences they give today. Those were better days on gonewild also.

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#265

Post by animitronix »

dragonwriter wrote: post #231
eddiewithzato wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The magic died when majority of the population got access thanks to the iPhone and androids that came.

> The magic died when majority of the population got access thanks to the iPhone and androids that came. ...for those too young to think the magic died with Eternal September. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

So that's what Green Day was signing about

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#266

Post by [deleted] »

eru wrote: post #247
ijustlovemath wrote: post #198

This is devastating. I have so many fond memories of meeting fellow weirdos over text. The days where StumbleUpon always took you somewhere exciting, cool, beautiful, interesting, funny, or novel. Where you looked at what people did with The Web 2.0 and only marveled at the possibilities of what could come. Truly feels like the death of one of the old guard, a Usenet-of-the-2010s. I even used it during pandemic times…

> Where you looked at what people did with The Web 2.0 and only marveled at the possibilities of what could come. Truly feels like the death of one of the old guard, a Usenet-of-the-2010s. This is funny to me, because I am old enough to remember when web 2.0 was new, and people were nostalgic for 'web 1.0'. (And, of course, it's turtles all the way down with nostalgia.)

[deleted]

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#267

Post by bpicolo »

Blahah wrote: post #103

Gives me chills, that was so heartfelt and raw. Hurt on all sides, but this is a bit like losing access to a public space because someone committed crimes there. One of the greatest things Omegle enabled is this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhzHV9QD0Is (Harry Mack freestyling for random Omegle matches, it was a series of 90+ episodes and brought me and others so much joy during COVID)

This definitely may have destroyed the career of a large number of widely popular youtubers... It certainly destroyed their format anyway.

Imagine they'll hop to a different platform.

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#268

Post by Izkata »

echelon wrote: post #10
veeti wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Omegle: Suing the website that matched me with my abuser" https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64618791

> As a young girl, Alice (not her real name) logged on to the popular live video chat website, Omegle, and was randomly paired with a paedophile, who coerced her into becoming a digital sex slave. Nearly 10 years later the young American is suing Omegle in a landmark case that could pave the way for a wave of lawsuits against other social platforms. This is fucked. We shouldn't have to put safety padding on everythin…

> Should we ban kitchen knives because they're sharp?

How about spoons? https://nypost.com/2019/05/16/police-station-mocked-for-phot...

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#269

Post by [deleted] »

ethanbond wrote: post #84
cortesoft wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it interesting that the "magical period" seems to be determined by your age. For me, the internet has already lost its magic by the time the mid 2000s came around, well before Omegle came out in 2009. For me, the magical period was the early 90s, when I was growing up. In 15 years, are people going to be talking about the current internet as the time when the magic was there? It seems more about the magic of c…

Also would comport with the explanation that the Internet just gets worse and worse. Will be interesting to see if kids who grew up with TikTok et al. will, as adults, view it as affectionately as we view our childhood form of the Internet. I do think there's something to be said of an overall trend toward more consumption, less production.

[deleted]

Re: Omegle 2009-2023

#270

Post by falsenapkin »

sugarpile wrote: post #154

Elsewhere in the thread this article with an embedded video was linked: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64618791 The video, showing a BBC “journalist” attempting to ambush Leif, is one of the most… existentially disgusting? videos I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s so utterly performative. Such a transparent attempt by the “journalist” at painting himself as a certain sort of person. Not a single genuine emotio…

In that video he asserts through the closed door that Omegle hasn't done anything "for the children" and then in the article they have one measly line about how Omegle actually has been productive on that front. The text now on the Omegle site seems to support that they did what they could as well. Of course they're not going to get a good conversation with him when that's how they're going to frame it compared to reality. Whether Omegle was doing enough or should exist to begin with are different arguments but the premise of "Omegle is doing nothing" appears very wrong and I imagine offensive to creator/employees.
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