7 ms·

My personal journey: Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, HN

time0ut 9y ago
Slashdot, Reddit, Ars Technica, HN here, though I still read Ars every day.
kbenson 9y ago
That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. but I'm a bit weird with account creation. A service generally has to really prove its worth before I bother to create an account. I spent a couple years on HN before before bothering with an account and commenting, and it took way longer after that until I finally found some Reddit communities that made me want to create an account (and even now, I comment sparingly), even though I looked at it occassionally.
- matwood 9y ago
  > That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. Same, except I started with CompuServe, then MSN before /. I visit a few reddits now, but I still don't really like the feel for some reason.
DrScump 9y ago
Based on other responses here, I guess I'd be dating myself to say mine started with Usenet.
- isostatic 9y ago
  Compuserve, MSN (no not messenger), Usenet, Slashdot, Fuck Beta, Soylent, HN
  - brk 9y ago
    Prodigy. BBSes. Usenet. /.. HN. Digg. Reddit. Gave up on /. around the time cmdrtaco got married. Gave up on digg sometime before the downfall. Have stuck with HN (was fairly early here). Reddit on and off.
- Baeocystin 9y ago
  Mine was Quantum-Link.
  - tedivm 9y ago
    I used to go outside and talk to people.
    - Camillo 9y ago
      I have, to this day, never once used any kind of social media or forum, not even HN.
- tyingq 9y ago
  BBS, Fidonet, Usenet, ... Someone will oneup this too with Arpanet or similar :)
  - dbcurtis 9y ago
    I talked to the other hams in high school using Morse code and a vacuum tube transmitter. And get off my lawn. :) I've actually joked about building a Bluetooth telegraph key to make texting more concenient.
    - Someone 9y ago
      I assume you already have the Morse key USB keyboard? (https://mitxela.com/projects/morse_code_usb_keyboard_mk_ii https://mitxela.com/projects/morse_code_usb_keyboard_mk_ii)
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    PLATO
    - tyingq 9y ago
      That's exactly the sort of thing I figured would one up me. Ironically, too young to have been exposed to PLATO.
- earenndil 9y ago
  I discovered (although I still use all these platforms) IRC, reddit, usenet, HN (in that order).
- kawera 9y ago
  BBS, Compuserve, Usenet, The Well, Slashdot, MeFi...
  - samstave 9y ago
    I was grounded for a month after I ran the long distance bill to $926 calling a BBS in San Jose from Lake Tahoe. We put in a Warez bbs on the north Lake Tahoe cad server. Fun times
epx 9y ago
Slashdot, Gizmodo, Slashdot, HN here :)
cecilpl2 9y ago
Same here, with some Fark mixed in with Slashdot.
HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
I prefer proggit to HN these days. This place is mostly political commentary. The rules around engagement - while outwardly all about having a good conversation - just make this whole place feel passive aggressive and limp-wristed. A lot of the trolls and flaming on proggit is funny. HN feels too much like that episode of South Park where Kyle moves to San Francisco and everyone is huffing their own farts.
- Double_a_92 9y ago
  True. On HN i mostly don't even bother to write my own opinion if it's not in line with the mainstream. It will just get downvoted to death instead of sparking a discussion...
  - colejohnson66 9y ago
    ArsTechnica is even worse
  - Clubber 9y ago
    Agree. Apparently it's ok to downvote people you disagree with, rather than crap arguments. I've mostly lost interest. Too bad too, it was really great for a while.
  - meko 9y ago
    as someone stuck in dead comment hell for what I assume was massive down votes for writing an unpopular opinion, I feel that.
voodootrucker 9y ago
The Register, slashdot, Ars Technica, Hacker News + Reddit
justinzollars 9y ago
I went from Digg to HN. Skipped Reddit. I find that place to be a bit nasty and a really bad source of information.
- rnd0 9y ago
  I skipped Digg; it seemed always seemed irrelevant to me (EDIT: that's just my personal perception -obviously I was wrong). My personal journey was: BBS -> Usenet -> Slashdot -> phpbb/vb forums -> Ars -> Reddit -> HN I haven't had any problems with Reddit as far as technical information goes, but I mostly go there for non-tech subs (eg AskHistorians). I absolutely get what you mean about it being nasty though -it took me years and years to break down and finally make an account because of the nastiness.
- irrational 9y ago
  You need to skip the main/popular parts of Reddit and choose your subreddits carefully. I personally spend a lot of time in r/boardgames which is an amazing community.
mark-r 9y ago
My social media experience started with the program I wrote myself, in 1975 for a 300-user timeshare system. That's the last time I was even close to the forefront. Didn't pay any attention to Myspace until it was obvious there was no need to. I've completely avoided Facebook because I've never trusted them.
irrational 9y ago
I've never heard of Digg, but I still read Slashdot (though it has certainly gone downhill since the 90s), Reddit (at least certain subreddits like r/boardgames), and HN daily.
- simonh 9y ago
  > I've never heard of Digg Ok, now I'm officially an old man.
  - irrational 9y ago
    The strange thing is, I've been using the WWW since 1995 (and the Internet since the late 80s). I don't know how I missed Digg, but it's not because I'm a newbie ;-)
- godzillabrennus 9y ago
  This will date me but at one time Digg had a section that ranked how influential of a user you were on their platform. There was a superstar who used the alias "MrBabyMan" that ruled the roost. I was in the top 100 users back in those days. I loved their platform. It's a shame what they did with it. It is my opinion that Reddit has gotten away with a terrible UI compared to what Digg once had. If you liked Digg you might also like: https://barnacl.es https://barnacl.es https://voat.co/ https://voat.co/
  - samstave 9y ago
    Where is Kevin rose these days?
    - icebraining 9y ago
      He's been doing a podcast since 2016: https://www.kevinrose.com/ https://www.kevinrose.com/
DonHopkins 9y ago
AMRAD BBS, Bruce's NorthStar Horizon BBS, NBS-TIP, MIT-DM ITS, ZORK, UNTALK, Essex MUD, INFO-MICRO, SF-LOVERS, ITS-LOVERS, UNIX-HATERS, BANDYKIN, TANSTAAFL, LECTROIDS... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15080221 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15080221 Keith F. Lynch wrote up some interesting history of the net from his perspective: http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html
nol13 9y ago
Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, HN... Soylent News!

Slashdot, Reddit, Ars Technica, HN here, though I still read Ars every day.

That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. but I'm a bit weird with account creation. A service generally has to really prove its worth before I bother to create an account. I spent a couple years on HN before before bothering with an account and commenting, and it took way longer after that until I finally found some Reddit communities that made me want to create an account (and even now, I comment sparingly), even though I looked at it occassionally.

matwood 9y ago
> That makes me feel even more weird about going Slashdot, HN, sometimes-Reddit-but-mostly-HN. Same, except I started with CompuServe, then MSN before /. I visit a few reddits now, but I still don't really like the feel for some reason.

DrScump 9y ago

Based on other responses here, I guess I'd be dating myself to say mine started with Usenet.

isostatic 9y ago
Compuserve, MSN (no not messenger), Usenet, Slashdot, Fuck Beta, Soylent, HN
- brk 9y ago
  Prodigy. BBSes. Usenet. /.. HN. Digg. Reddit. Gave up on /. around the time cmdrtaco got married. Gave up on digg sometime before the downfall. Have stuck with HN (was fairly early here). Reddit on and off.
Baeocystin 9y ago
Mine was Quantum-Link.
- tedivm 9y ago
  I used to go outside and talk to people.
  - Camillo 9y ago
    I have, to this day, never once used any kind of social media or forum, not even HN.
tyingq 9y ago
BBS, Fidonet, Usenet, ... Someone will oneup this too with Arpanet or similar :)
- dbcurtis 9y ago
  I talked to the other hams in high school using Morse code and a vacuum tube transmitter. And get off my lawn. :) I've actually joked about building a Bluetooth telegraph key to make texting more concenient.
  - Someone 9y ago
    I assume you already have the Morse key USB keyboard? (https://mitxela.com/projects/morse_code_usb_keyboard_mk_ii https://mitxela.com/projects/morse_code_usb_keyboard_mk_ii)
- pjmlp 9y ago
  PLATO
  - tyingq 9y ago
    That's exactly the sort of thing I figured would one up me. Ironically, too young to have been exposed to PLATO.
earenndil 9y ago
I discovered (although I still use all these platforms) IRC, reddit, usenet, HN (in that order).
kawera 9y ago
BBS, Compuserve, Usenet, The Well, Slashdot, MeFi...
- samstave 9y ago
  I was grounded for a month after I ran the long distance bill to $926 calling a BBS in San Jose from Lake Tahoe. We put in a Warez bbs on the north Lake Tahoe cad server. Fun times

epx 9y ago

Slashdot, Gizmodo, Slashdot, HN here :)

cecilpl2 9y ago

Same here, with some Fark mixed in with Slashdot.

HumanDrivenDev 9y ago

I prefer proggit to HN these days. This place is mostly political commentary. The rules around engagement - while outwardly all about having a good conversation - just make this whole place feel passive aggressive and limp-wristed. A lot of the trolls and flaming on proggit is funny. HN feels too much like that episode of South Park where Kyle moves to San Francisco and everyone is huffing their own farts.

Double_a_92 9y ago
True. On HN i mostly don't even bother to write my own opinion if it's not in line with the mainstream. It will just get downvoted to death instead of sparking a discussion...
- colejohnson66 9y ago
  ArsTechnica is even worse
- Clubber 9y ago
  Agree. Apparently it's ok to downvote people you disagree with, rather than crap arguments. I've mostly lost interest. Too bad too, it was really great for a while.
- meko 9y ago
  as someone stuck in dead comment hell for what I assume was massive down votes for writing an unpopular opinion, I feel that.

voodootrucker 9y ago

The Register, slashdot, Ars Technica, Hacker News + Reddit

justinzollars 9y ago

I went from Digg to HN. Skipped Reddit. I find that place to be a bit nasty and a really bad source of information.

rnd0 9y ago
I skipped Digg; it seemed always seemed irrelevant to me (EDIT: that's just my personal perception -obviously I was wrong). My personal journey was: BBS -> Usenet -> Slashdot -> phpbb/vb forums -> Ars -> Reddit -> HN I haven't had any problems with Reddit as far as technical information goes, but I mostly go there for non-tech subs (eg AskHistorians). I absolutely get what you mean about it being nasty though -it took me years and years to break down and finally make an account because of the nastiness.
irrational 9y ago
You need to skip the main/popular parts of Reddit and choose your subreddits carefully. I personally spend a lot of time in r/boardgames which is an amazing community.

mark-r 9y ago

My social media experience started with the program I wrote myself, in 1975 for a 300-user timeshare system. That's the last time I was even close to the forefront. Didn't pay any attention to Myspace until it was obvious there was no need to. I've completely avoided Facebook because I've never trusted them.

irrational 9y ago

I've never heard of Digg, but I still read Slashdot (though it has certainly gone downhill since the 90s), Reddit (at least certain subreddits like r/boardgames), and HN daily.

simonh 9y ago
> I've never heard of Digg Ok, now I'm officially an old man.
- irrational 9y ago
  The strange thing is, I've been using the WWW since 1995 (and the Internet since the late 80s). I don't know how I missed Digg, but it's not because I'm a newbie ;-)
godzillabrennus 9y ago
This will date me but at one time Digg had a section that ranked how influential of a user you were on their platform. There was a superstar who used the alias "MrBabyMan" that ruled the roost. I was in the top 100 users back in those days. I loved their platform. It's a shame what they did with it. It is my opinion that Reddit has gotten away with a terrible UI compared to what Digg once had. If you liked Digg you might also like: https://barnacl.es https://barnacl.es https://voat.co/ https://voat.co/
- samstave 9y ago
  Where is Kevin rose these days?
  - icebraining 9y ago
    He's been doing a podcast since 2016: https://www.kevinrose.com/ https://www.kevinrose.com/

DonHopkins 9y ago

AMRAD BBS, Bruce's NorthStar Horizon BBS, NBS-TIP, MIT-DM ITS, ZORK, UNTALK, Essex MUD, INFO-MICRO, SF-LOVERS, ITS-LOVERS, UNIX-HATERS, BANDYKIN, TANSTAAFL, LECTROIDS... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15080221 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15080221 Keith F. Lynch wrote up some interesting history of the net from his perspective: http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html http://keithlynch.net/history.net.html

nol13 9y ago

Slashdot, Digg, Reddit, HN... Soylent News!