4 ms·

One thing I appreciate about the internet, even nowadays, is learning about people I've never met. This isn't talking to them necessarily. It can just be someon

One thing I appreciate about the internet, even nowadays, is learning about people I've never met. This isn't talking to them necessarily. It can just be someone I could imagine striking up an interesting conversation with if I did meet them someday. As an American who grew up in a way that I felt was somewhat typically (but perhaps less so nowadays) suburban middle-class, I similarly appreciate reading thoughtful comments from people who grew up in different circumstances and didn't necessarily have it as easily as I did. Where I have most frequently encountered these voices is here and on Reddit and on Metafilter (which I first discovered here on HN). If I can dig up a good example, I'll add it to this comment. Finally, when I think about that old spirit of the internet that I think you're talking about, and places where it still may prevail, I'd like to offer as an example Erowid. I'm not a contributor, I don't even read it that often. But it just comforts me that sites like this still exist: https://www.erowid.org/ https://www.erowid.org/ So I don't think the good old internet is dead. You just have to know where to look.

freehunter 8y ago
I think you're spot-on. The web didn't die, there's just more people on it now. And if you go where all the people are (Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, etc), places that didn't exist in the old web, of course you're going to get a different experience than you had back then. Even the difference between Hacker News vs lobste.rs is night and day. What you want may actually just be "fewer people on my web". I still feel the old web/Internet a lot. BBS still exists, and it's not popular but shit there weren't a lot of people on the web back then anyway. phpBB still exists and plenty of the sites are still active. Logging into Guild Wars 2 feels a lot like logging into GW1 or DAoC or my favorite UO shard. Playing Quake is still playing Quake. There's nothing stopping you from having a UT2004 LAN party other than you not wanting to have a LAN party. Hell, MUDs are still a thing, and they're just as popular as ever. Perhaps it's not the web that's changed... perhaps it's us? As they say, you can't go home again. Stopping by my parents house is still the same home I grew up in, but Doug and Rocko's Modern Life aren't playing on the TV anymore, and there aren't any freezie-pops in the freezer. Not because they can't be, but because I don't really want it to be like that anymore. Every experience you loved, you can find again. If it seems like you can't, then you probably don't actually want that experience. You're looking for something far less tangible than an MSN chatroom.
- dhruvkar 8y ago
  >> Even the difference between Hacker News vs lobste.rs is night and day. I'm curious, what are the differences? I'm not on lobste.rs except as a casual observer and it seems similar to HN.

freehunter 8y ago

I think you're spot-on. The web didn't die, there's just more people on it now. And if you go where all the people are (Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, etc), places that didn't exist in the old web, of course you're going to get a different experience than you had back then. Even the difference between Hacker News vs lobste.rs is night and day. What you want may actually just be "fewer people on my web". I still feel the old web/Internet a lot. BBS still exists, and it's not popular but shit there weren't a lot of people on the web back then anyway. phpBB still exists and plenty of the sites are still active. Logging into Guild Wars 2 feels a lot like logging into GW1 or DAoC or my favorite UO shard. Playing Quake is still playing Quake. There's nothing stopping you from having a UT2004 LAN party other than you not wanting to have a LAN party. Hell, MUDs are still a thing, and they're just as popular as ever. Perhaps it's not the web that's changed... perhaps it's us? As they say, you can't go home again. Stopping by my parents house is still the same home I grew up in, but Doug and Rocko's Modern Life aren't playing on the TV anymore, and there aren't any freezie-pops in the freezer. Not because they can't be, but because I don't really want it to be like that anymore. Every experience you loved, you can find again. If it seems like you can't, then you probably don't actually want that experience. You're looking for something far less tangible than an MSN chatroom.

dhruvkar 8y ago
>> Even the difference between Hacker News vs lobste.rs is night and day. I'm curious, what are the differences? I'm not on lobste.rs except as a casual observer and it seems similar to HN.