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To me the main change that internet got is this: the old internet was like a parallel universe, you picked up a random username, and no matter who you were in r

To me the main change that internet got is this: the old internet was like a parallel universe, you picked up a random username, and no matter who you were in real life, you could socialize and share interest with other people without any prejudice. This is especially important for introverts like me, that if they have to put their real name on something, for example a comment on Facebook, they think about it 100 times, while being anonymous they are more inclined to share things with strangers. You don't have to worry about what people thinks about you, or about prejudice that people have based on your age, your social life, your job, because nobody knows who you really are. The only thing that matters is your contribute to the discussion. I still remember discussions that I made with people that I only recognize by a username, and they were so interesting, much more interesting than everything you can find on Facebook. In the old days you were told to never share your real name on the internet, to always pick up usernames, nowadays companies forces you to register with your real identity, Facebook can even ask you to provide a photo of your ID, and YouTube won't let you watch content for over 18 if you don't identity yourself. There are even countries that would like to force internet companies to ask for the identity of the people! In the old days internet was a place where an introvert that didn't know how to relate with other people in real life could have escaped to share it's interests with other people freely and without any anxiety. Nowadays it's no longer like this, unfortunately. Forums are desert, nobody still uses IRC, and everything is a Facebook group or something like that on a social media platform where I don't want to sign up. Even websites in the old days had comment sections, nowadays you want to comment? Do it on Facebook. There are only a few exception of course (one of this is this website, that I like a lot for exactly this reason). The only website that still maintains the old web philosophy, and the only social media that I use, is Reddit, that still doesn't require you to register with your real identity. But I fear that it will not last for long... Also in the old internet there was a spirit of collaboration and community that I never saw in the modern web. You were a newbie in something, for example using Linux? Sign up to a forum, or ask on IRC, and people would have helped you, helped solving the problem, for free, only for the gratification on doing so. And most of the time even the person helping you to solve the problem learned something new in the process! It was fun for everyone. Nowadays even on the few forum that remained, go and ask a newbie question, and they will tell you "just search on Google", make fun of your ignorance, or something like that.

novok 5y ago
Old internet had a bit RTFM and show your work to solve this before asking questions culture too. And were pretty curmudgeony back in the 90s on irc. Tbh its reasonable to ask people to bother to search for a minute before askinf questions, and if you tell people i tried searching with this before asking, they’re a lot more friendly. That sense of community is there with discord, you gotta use that.
- alerighi 5y ago
  It was different. If you go for example on a Facebook group to ask a legitimate noob question they will not answer you, or make fun of you. In the old days in the forums people were more friendly, and for example explained to others even stuff that is considered simple enough, or pointed up good material to read. The only exception is of course if someone asked a question already answered in another topic, and thus the moderators would have gently invited to continue discussing on the already existing thread and closed the discussion. > That sense of community is there with discord, you gotta use that. Not in that sense. Discord is mainly a platform where you do voice chats. It has four disadvantages: * not everyone wants to talk, for whatever reason, being introvert, not knowing the language so well to have a conversation, not having a microphone on the computer, and a ton of other reason * a forum is public on the internet, someone that is not subscribed to the forum that has a similar problem could read it and find the solution, everyone could register and ask something. Discord servers are not. * forums are textual content, that is preserved in the years. Sometime I have a problem with some old hardware or software and I find my answer in a response in a forum from 15 years ago. It's something that is indexed by search engines, of course even if forums were public, you cannot index voice chats. * the forum had an asynchronous nature, as most of the old web had (take the email, for example). It means that I can start a discussion, and then go back to it when I have time. In the old days I used to check my forums at most once or twice a day, on the evening, check the thread I was following, maybe respond or simply read. Discord is synchronous, either you participate now or you don't.
  - novok 5y ago
    I think that is a specific community culture thing then? FB groups & chats I've used have been really friendly and helpful! Also when people say "use a discord", they are really referring to a text chat discord. It's the new IRC, with all of its good and bad parts. Almost nobody is using audio chat. Discord's audio chat is mostly used in small groups of 3+ for parties in multiplayer games where quick audio communication helps a lot. It's the new teamspeak / ventrilio. Here is a couple examples of community discords: https://discord.com/invite/buildapc https://discord.com/invite/buildapc https://discord.com/invite/obsproject https://discord.com/invite/obsproject There has been a general response to withdraw into more private & semi-private communities although, as a response against the internet outrage mob that could ruin a person's life. That is a big shame.

novok 5y ago

Old internet had a bit RTFM and show your work to solve this before asking questions culture too. And were pretty curmudgeony back in the 90s on irc. Tbh its reasonable to ask people to bother to search for a minute before askinf questions, and if you tell people i tried searching with this before asking, they’re a lot more friendly. That sense of community is there with discord, you gotta use that.

alerighi 5y ago
It was different. If you go for example on a Facebook group to ask a legitimate noob question they will not answer you, or make fun of you. In the old days in the forums people were more friendly, and for example explained to others even stuff that is considered simple enough, or pointed up good material to read. The only exception is of course if someone asked a question already answered in another topic, and thus the moderators would have gently invited to continue discussing on the already existing thread and closed the discussion. > That sense of community is there with discord, you gotta use that. Not in that sense. Discord is mainly a platform where you do voice chats. It has four disadvantages: * not everyone wants to talk, for whatever reason, being introvert, not knowing the language so well to have a conversation, not having a microphone on the computer, and a ton of other reason * a forum is public on the internet, someone that is not subscribed to the forum that has a similar problem could read it and find the solution, everyone could register and ask something. Discord servers are not. * forums are textual content, that is preserved in the years. Sometime I have a problem with some old hardware or software and I find my answer in a response in a forum from 15 years ago. It's something that is indexed by search engines, of course even if forums were public, you cannot index voice chats. * the forum had an asynchronous nature, as most of the old web had (take the email, for example). It means that I can start a discussion, and then go back to it when I have time. In the old days I used to check my forums at most once or twice a day, on the evening, check the thread I was following, maybe respond or simply read. Discord is synchronous, either you participate now or you don't.
- novok 5y ago
  I think that is a specific community culture thing then? FB groups & chats I've used have been really friendly and helpful! Also when people say "use a discord", they are really referring to a text chat discord. It's the new IRC, with all of its good and bad parts. Almost nobody is using audio chat. Discord's audio chat is mostly used in small groups of 3+ for parties in multiplayer games where quick audio communication helps a lot. It's the new teamspeak / ventrilio. Here is a couple examples of community discords: https://discord.com/invite/buildapc https://discord.com/invite/buildapc https://discord.com/invite/obsproject https://discord.com/invite/obsproject There has been a general response to withdraw into more private & semi-private communities although, as a response against the internet outrage mob that could ruin a person's life. That is a big shame.