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Using the internet like it's 1999

joshblais.com

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Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#31

Post by drfloyd51 »

Loughla wrote: post #10
boudin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closer to 2 as it was rarelly running at full 56kb/s. Although, being patient was part of the experience as well

I was a lot more careful about clicking things when it took a full minute to load. Now I know that it'll be open in less than a second and I can leave immediately if I need to, so there's WAY less thinking beforehand.

When I found my first tabbed browser. Netcaptor. It changed everything. Open in new tab. Open in new tab. Open in new tab.

Go back to the first tab which has finally finished loading. Consume.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#32

Post by t-3 »

icedchai wrote: post #22
vunderba wrote: post #4

If it were 1999, most people would still be browsing the web on their US Robotics 56k modem (at best). This page is about 1 MB of assets (500kb gzip compressed if your browser supported it) , so it would have taken at least a minute just to finish loading.

I got my first cable modem in 1998! All sites were still built for dialup, so everything was incredibly fast.

Some sites were fast. Some sites had pictures and it took long enough to load that I would sometimes make a sandwich while waiting.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#33

Post by II2II »

kyledrake wrote: post #16

> On your router, you can and should setup blocklists for various malicious and nefarious domains, advertisements, adult content, etc. This is not “1999-esque” in practice, but is a requirement for the modern web. I worked on a Geocities archive restoration. There was a boat load of porn (including illegal porn), malicious domains, spamvertising, malware, predators, political extremists, etc on the 1999 web, and you…

> If anything, my work on 90s site archival has taught me that the web has always been a place with a lot of dark places, and the narrative that the old web was some sort of pure innocent place that became evil is not matched by evidence.

No argument there. That said, I think the big difference between the 1990's and today is that everyone knew the nefarious places and people existed but, for the most part, you actually had to seek it out. I am not suggesting that it was hard to find. Perhaps the worse of the worse was easier to find. On the other hand, it wasn't quite the same thing as algorithmic feeds. For example: I absolutely refuse to view anything remotely political on some sites (including reputable news sources or material that is clearly satire) since that is the surest way to be fed extremist crap. How far those feeds will 5ake me, I simply do not want to know.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#34

Post by deadbabe »

I think it’s time to give up on the old web.

What made the old web cool, is that it was the first time we can communicate with so many random people in far away places digitally and share information through cool web pages.

That novelty has mostly died now. Communicating with people in distant lands is mundane now. And there is little new things to share that we haven’t already seen or heard before.

So what’s the point of the web now? Maybe the internet will become purely a utility for exchanging data for infrastructural and business purposes, and the idea of using the internet as a source of entertainment or recreation will fade away.

It would be nice to retreat back to an analog world, where the internet still exists, but only as a layer of glue in the background that orchestrates multiple technologies that power our world, and nothing more.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#35

Post by icedchai »

t-3 wrote: post #32
icedchai wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got my first cable modem in 1998! All sites were still built for dialup, so everything was incredibly fast.

Some sites were fast. Some sites had pictures and it took long enough to load that I would sometimes make a sandwich while waiting.

Not with cable (3 megabits down, 128kbits up!) Almost everything was fast.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#36

Post by krapp »

deadbabe wrote: post #34

I think it’s time to give up on the old web. What made the old web cool, is that it was the first time we can communicate with so many random people in far away places digitally and share information through cool web pages. That novelty has mostly died now. Communicating with people in distant lands is mundane now. And there is little new things to share that we haven’t already seen or heard before. So what’s the poi…

Tons of people still use the internet as a source of entertainment and recreation. Just because you're too jaded to care doesn't mean the rest of the world is.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#37

Post by vunderba »

icedchai wrote: post #22
vunderba wrote: post #4

If it were 1999, most people would still be browsing the web on their US Robotics 56k modem (at best). This page is about 1 MB of assets (500kb gzip compressed if your browser supported it) , so it would have taken at least a minute just to finish loading.

I got my first cable modem in 1998! All sites were still built for dialup, so everything was incredibly fast.

Nice! We were one of the first families on the block to have a 33.6 kbps modem, and were the envy of every filthy peasant who still had a 28.8 back in the day.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#38

Post by vunderba »

alex1138 wrote: post #21
vunderba wrote: post #4

If it were 1999, most people would still be browsing the web on their US Robotics 56k modem (at best). This page is about 1 MB of assets (500kb gzip compressed if your browser supported it) , so it would have taken at least a minute just to finish loading.

Yeah, but you know something? Flash worked damn near perfectly even on potato connections

I know flash had its downsides - but messing around with Macromedia Flash to make stupid little animations back in the day was so fun.

Plus Silverlight made Flash seem like a dream.

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#39

Post by [deleted] »

Loughla wrote: post #10
boudin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closer to 2 as it was rarelly running at full 56kb/s. Although, being patient was part of the experience as well

I was a lot more careful about clicking things when it took a full minute to load. Now I know that it'll be open in less than a second and I can leave immediately if I need to, so there's WAY less thinking beforehand.

[deleted]

Re: Using the internet like it's 1999

#40

Post by kungfuscious »

A lot of these recommendations seem prudent. I especially like the idea of POSSE for using social media without actually using it (every time you open a site to post is an opportunity to be ensnared). Completely stripping the browser from your smartphone is a bit extreme and excessive for me, but doesn't invalidate the other reccomendations.
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