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I have been looking for appropriate replacements to it but I haven't managed yet. Niche internet forums were my favorite place on the web when I was a kid and t

I have been looking for appropriate replacements to it but I haven't managed yet. Niche internet forums were my favorite place on the web when I was a kid and they were infinitely better than modern social media, but pretty much all of them are gone nowadays...

salad-tycoon 3y ago
What was that one that had something about “church of the screaming electron.” Wish I could remember the name. Many are clamoring for a Reddit killer. Maybe just need a Reddit model killer. Return to multiple forums, smaller and more specialized. Maybe part of the reason why people are increasingly at each other’s throats is because, online, everyone is subjected to everyone’s opinions. This leads to “Nancy “seeing “Bob” write an opinion about sexuality/religion/politics which infuriates her and she sends off a tweet storm to avenge herself, directing attacks onto Bob and his like. “charlene” sees her compatriot being attacked and launches a tweet storm at Nancy and all her followers which then “Charlie” sees and can’t believe the level of stupidity and hate and intolerance in the world so he sets out to make it right… by launching a tweet storm which then is seen by etc etc. Also, I think they’re used to an idea that the internet was like Las Vegas. What happens there stays there. Not so, now you have a bunch of angry people slinging electrons at each other, many of the just absolutely floored at how stupid and hateful other people are, their eyes are opened, they go into work or their family function with this knowledge and launch a tweet storm, or a brick, but in the “real world.” Like squabbling children or hen pecking, a little is necessary but sometimes you have to separate them before they destroy each.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > What was that one that had something about “church of the screaming electron.” Temple of The Screaming Electron (In original BBS incarnation, “& the Temple of the Screaming Electron”, only looking it up because of your comment did I find out that the BBS I spent a while with outlived the BBS era as an internet forum.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOTSE https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOTSE
  - salad-tycoon 3y ago
    Thanks, yep TOTSE… that’s it! A lot seedier than I remembered, side bars pretty much say it all. https://web.archive.org/web/20070710135400/http://www.totse.com/en/_faq/totse_faq.html#wtf https://web.archive.org/web/20070710135400/http://www.totse....
- WeylandYutani 3y ago
  A Reddit killer would run into the same problems as Reddit. Greedy fucks who just want to make money, insane moderators, the government who doesn't want you to host hate messages.
  - KSPAtlas 3y ago
    In concept, the threadiverse (Lemmy/kbin) should be able to overcome a few of these. In practice, we have yet to see
    - skinner927 3y ago
      The only way is a truly decentralized system, but that’ll never happen. As long as someone has to pay to host someone else’s content, we run into problems.
      - WeylandYutani 3y ago
        Yes I've learned over the years to always ask: where does the money come from. Sure a small hobby forum can be funded out of someone's pocket but something the size of Reddit? Not a chance.
sneed_chucker 3y ago
A lot of the PhpBB and derivative sites are still up and active, they're just extremely undiscoverable on modern search engines.
HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
There are still lots of them. Unfortunately, many of them are overrun with ads. I don't mind advertising (on these sites it's at least pretty well targeted), but it does slow them down.

salad-tycoon 3y ago

What was that one that had something about “church of the screaming electron.” Wish I could remember the name. Many are clamoring for a Reddit killer. Maybe just need a Reddit model killer. Return to multiple forums, smaller and more specialized. Maybe part of the reason why people are increasingly at each other’s throats is because, online, everyone is subjected to everyone’s opinions. This leads to “Nancy “seeing “Bob” write an opinion about sexuality/religion/politics which infuriates her and she sends off a tweet storm to avenge herself, directing attacks onto Bob and his like. “charlene” sees her compatriot being attacked and launches a tweet storm at Nancy and all her followers which then “Charlie” sees and can’t believe the level of stupidity and hate and intolerance in the world so he sets out to make it right… by launching a tweet storm which then is seen by etc etc. Also, I think they’re used to an idea that the internet was like Las Vegas. What happens there stays there. Not so, now you have a bunch of angry people slinging electrons at each other, many of the just absolutely floored at how stupid and hateful other people are, their eyes are opened, they go into work or their family function with this knowledge and launch a tweet storm, or a brick, but in the “real world.” Like squabbling children or hen pecking, a little is necessary but sometimes you have to separate them before they destroy each.

dragonwriter 3y ago
> What was that one that had something about “church of the screaming electron.” Temple of The Screaming Electron (In original BBS incarnation, “& the Temple of the Screaming Electron”, only looking it up because of your comment did I find out that the BBS I spent a while with outlived the BBS era as an internet forum.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOTSE https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOTSE
- salad-tycoon 3y ago
  Thanks, yep TOTSE… that’s it! A lot seedier than I remembered, side bars pretty much say it all. https://web.archive.org/web/20070710135400/http://www.totse.com/en/_faq/totse_faq.html#wtf https://web.archive.org/web/20070710135400/http://www.totse....
WeylandYutani 3y ago
A Reddit killer would run into the same problems as Reddit. Greedy fucks who just want to make money, insane moderators, the government who doesn't want you to host hate messages.
- KSPAtlas 3y ago
  In concept, the threadiverse (Lemmy/kbin) should be able to overcome a few of these. In practice, we have yet to see
  - skinner927 3y ago
    The only way is a truly decentralized system, but that’ll never happen. As long as someone has to pay to host someone else’s content, we run into problems.
    - WeylandYutani 3y ago
      Yes I've learned over the years to always ask: where does the money come from. Sure a small hobby forum can be funded out of someone's pocket but something the size of Reddit? Not a chance.

sneed_chucker 3y ago

A lot of the PhpBB and derivative sites are still up and active, they're just extremely undiscoverable on modern search engines.

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago

There are still lots of them. Unfortunately, many of them are overrun with ads. I don't mind advertising (on these sites it's at least pretty well targeted), but it does slow them down.