4 ms·

> That 2005-2009 period was absolutely the swan song of the pre-corporate internet. Try pre 2000. Nearly every website was made by an enthusiast of some type.

> That 2005-2009 period was absolutely the swan song of the pre-corporate internet. Try pre 2000. Nearly every website was made by an enthusiast of some type. Banner ads just barely existed, and you could reach out and talk to almost anyone who was online. There was also an assumption of politeness and civility.

Teever 4y ago
> There was also an assumption of politeness and civility. lol teenaged me on IRC did not get that memo.
- Clubber 4y ago
  Even back in the BBS days in the 80s, there was always that one guy who was the asshole and trolled people on forums. Once you talked to him one on one, he was actually pretty normal.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  Hmm, I dunno. Even if people were rude I think it was by consensus, not because they felt like they could get away with anything.
  - jrumbut 4y ago
    They felt like they could get away with anything because they could! I think one difference was that you could hide a little friendly community fairly easy and because the meanness and abuse was seen as an expression of real world powerlessness rather than an enforcement of real world power structures.
hbbio 4y ago
Oh yes. Totally unknown people randomly met on IRC in 1994/1995 would send you CDs of their own music, strangers from other countries would invite you to come and stay a couple weeks at their place (that existed again for a while at the beginning of Couchsurfing), etc. The level of trust and friendliness was incredible: There was maybe 0.1% of the population online and we were in awe of this new world.
- hunter2_ 4y ago
  > There was maybe 0.1% of the population online I find that HN roughly equates to that 0.1%, and there are definitely some other high quality corners of the internet where enthusiasts of whatever topic can have excellent discussions, but it's tough to find them among the ever-increasing noise. Now that roughly everyone is online to some extent, what's the next frontier -- what can provide that sort of hidden community? I don't know that "power user" or "computer nerd" will ever be the means of gatekeeping that it once was, so what's next?
  - theluketowers 4y ago
    Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but the closest modern equivalent might be the various VR games / apps that are centred around socializing with other random people (like VR Chat).
ulfw 4y ago
Oh there were banner ads, but most were for link exchanges. Remember those? You'd browse someone's website and a banner ad would promote somebody else's. You could get lost for hours!
- cpuguy83 4y ago
  Web rings!
greyhair 4y ago
That assumption of politeness and civility was well on its way out around 1998. That was the year I recall netnews turning into something resembling an open sewer. By 1999, I had dropped off netnews completely. It had gone from a wonderful community of spaces for almost any topic imaginable, to a constant stream of trolling and porn.

Teever 4y ago

> There was also an assumption of politeness and civility. lol teenaged me on IRC did not get that memo.

Clubber 4y ago
Even back in the BBS days in the 80s, there was always that one guy who was the asshole and trolled people on forums. Once you talked to him one on one, he was actually pretty normal.
Aeolun 4y ago
Hmm, I dunno. Even if people were rude I think it was by consensus, not because they felt like they could get away with anything.
- jrumbut 4y ago
  They felt like they could get away with anything because they could! I think one difference was that you could hide a little friendly community fairly easy and because the meanness and abuse was seen as an expression of real world powerlessness rather than an enforcement of real world power structures.

hbbio 4y ago

Oh yes. Totally unknown people randomly met on IRC in 1994/1995 would send you CDs of their own music, strangers from other countries would invite you to come and stay a couple weeks at their place (that existed again for a while at the beginning of Couchsurfing), etc. The level of trust and friendliness was incredible: There was maybe 0.1% of the population online and we were in awe of this new world.

hunter2_ 4y ago
> There was maybe 0.1% of the population online I find that HN roughly equates to that 0.1%, and there are definitely some other high quality corners of the internet where enthusiasts of whatever topic can have excellent discussions, but it's tough to find them among the ever-increasing noise. Now that roughly everyone is online to some extent, what's the next frontier -- what can provide that sort of hidden community? I don't know that "power user" or "computer nerd" will ever be the means of gatekeeping that it once was, so what's next?
- theluketowers 4y ago
  Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but the closest modern equivalent might be the various VR games / apps that are centred around socializing with other random people (like VR Chat).

ulfw 4y ago

Oh there were banner ads, but most were for link exchanges. Remember those? You'd browse someone's website and a banner ad would promote somebody else's. You could get lost for hours!

cpuguy83 4y ago
Web rings!

greyhair 4y ago

That assumption of politeness and civility was well on its way out around 1998. That was the year I recall netnews turning into something resembling an open sewer. By 1999, I had dropped off netnews completely. It had gone from a wonderful community of spaces for almost any topic imaginable, to a constant stream of trolling and porn.