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"Finding interesting stuff" maybe. But finding a lot of the things I used to find some years ago is just not possible anymore. Somehow searching changed as wel

by VvR-Ox 7y ago

"Finding interesting stuff" maybe. But finding a lot of the things I used to find some years ago is just not possible anymore. Somehow searching changed as well as the ecosystem of the web itself. The big global players dominate nearly every inch of the web and many sites look like clones of each other. There is a lot more effort being put into censorship and also more threats to ordinary users in my opinion. When I loved to use the web it was like a big playground and it seemed that the most people there where extremely curious and open-minded. Today there is so much hate - no real discussion (this community is a rare anomaly considering this argument) and I think it's not about discussions for these people who spread hate. Also it's all about the money. In the earlier days people used to write blogs and create sites just for fun but today everyone wants to get some money or measurable attention (likes, views, followers etc.). Constantly you are being bothered by advertisement which gets more invasive from time to time, cryptominers and other malicious software that creeps into your system if you just click on the wrong link. Don't remember that from the beginnings and I'd love to experience that again some day.

shadowgovt 7y ago
I'm wondering how far back you're going, because when I think of "the old web" I think of being intentionally misdirected to a worthless website that had temporarily won the SEO fight and "Punch The Monkey And Win A Prize" flashing ads. Not to mention popups, pop-unders, and all manner of ad-spread malware taking advantage of under-policed ad networks coupled with near monoculture of OS. Today's internet experience is much improved
- VvR-Ox 7y ago
  I am going back to the 90ies. In my opinion it was much easier to block those popups etc. as they've not been as invasive as the current malware. Of course back then there was already stupid things as well but it scaled and got a lot worse I think. I suppose you talk about the experience as a user? Because as an admin etc. things got a lot more complex since then.
superkuh 7y ago
All you have to do is be the change you want to see in the world. There's plenty of us out there still living the dream of the 90s. Your descriptions sound like you're still stuck on the big platforms where money rules everything. Just stop. Start hosting your website from home. Code it by hand. Don't care if anyone but you likes or sees it. It's the best you can do.
- VvR-Ox 7y ago
  I've been there & have done that, thank you ;) For my own services it's okay to host them from home but "the web" just doesn't work like this anymore. Do something big and you'll want to get things like DDoS protection - talk to customers about projects and just realize that they won't scale on your mini server at home while the internet connection is much too slow and unreliable. I have started like you describe it and I learned some things on the way but the industry and the web have changed. Of course there is tiny companies who can still get their static website from a freelancer guy but this guy has a lot more responsibility and tasks to fulfill nowadays. In my opinion back in the 90ies you could play around in a naive way without getting hurt or hurting anyone seriously. Today it's about a lot of cash, there is more laws, censorship and other malicious entities (go back in time and tell the people about bitcoin-mining in their browser and DDoS attacks against centralized services like CDNs that bring down half of the WWW). Put a server on the web that isn't hardened properly and have a look at the logs - this is some new level in comparison.
  - superkuh 7y ago
    >Put a server on the web that isn't hardened properly It's easy. Just don't do/enable dynamic things. There's no need for anything more than a static webserver in 99% of cases with personal websites. And static webservers ship very secure by default. There's not a lot of remote exploits in nginx or the like. It's much more risky to use a web browser with javascript enabled.

by VvR-Ox 7y ago

shadowgovt 7y ago

I'm wondering how far back you're going, because when I think of "the old web" I think of being intentionally misdirected to a worthless website that had temporarily won the SEO fight and "Punch The Monkey And Win A Prize" flashing ads. Not to mention popups, pop-unders, and all manner of ad-spread malware taking advantage of under-policed ad networks coupled with near monoculture of OS. Today's internet experience is much improved

VvR-Ox 7y ago
I am going back to the 90ies. In my opinion it was much easier to block those popups etc. as they've not been as invasive as the current malware. Of course back then there was already stupid things as well but it scaled and got a lot worse I think. I suppose you talk about the experience as a user? Because as an admin etc. things got a lot more complex since then.

superkuh 7y ago

All you have to do is be the change you want to see in the world. There's plenty of us out there still living the dream of the 90s. Your descriptions sound like you're still stuck on the big platforms where money rules everything. Just stop. Start hosting your website from home. Code it by hand. Don't care if anyone but you likes or sees it. It's the best you can do.

VvR-Ox 7y ago
I've been there & have done that, thank you ;) For my own services it's okay to host them from home but "the web" just doesn't work like this anymore. Do something big and you'll want to get things like DDoS protection - talk to customers about projects and just realize that they won't scale on your mini server at home while the internet connection is much too slow and unreliable. I have started like you describe it and I learned some things on the way but the industry and the web have changed. Of course there is tiny companies who can still get their static website from a freelancer guy but this guy has a lot more responsibility and tasks to fulfill nowadays. In my opinion back in the 90ies you could play around in a naive way without getting hurt or hurting anyone seriously. Today it's about a lot of cash, there is more laws, censorship and other malicious entities (go back in time and tell the people about bitcoin-mining in their browser and DDoS attacks against centralized services like CDNs that bring down half of the WWW). Put a server on the web that isn't hardened properly and have a look at the logs - this is some new level in comparison.
- superkuh 7y ago
  >Put a server on the web that isn't hardened properly It's easy. Just don't do/enable dynamic things. There's no need for anything more than a static webserver in 99% of cases with personal websites. And static webservers ship very secure by default. There's not a lot of remote exploits in nginx or the like. It's much more risky to use a web browser with javascript enabled.