4 ms·

Tell HN: Reading old forum threads and abandoned Reddit profiles makes me sad

13 points by behnamoh 3y ago

Every now and then, I find myself going down a rabbit hole of old forum threads and Reddit posts during a Google search. It's oddly sad when I come across accounts that haven't been active for a long time. It feels like wandering through an abandoned town, where every empty house used to be full of life. These threads contain bits and pieces of people's lives - their hopes, dreams, worries, and questions - and it's quite moving to see these incomplete stories and the silent echoes of their past online presence. These old conversations bring back memories of how the internet used to be, sparking a strong sense of nostalgia. They remind me of the simpler times of the past and how our online interactions have evolved over the years. The combined feeling of nostalgia and the noticeable absence of the once-active users heighten a sense of loss and sadness.

seanthemon 3y ago
At some stage years down the line folks will say the exact same thing about the internet now, maybe even your post! so instead of floating around nostalgia island, enjoy what you have right now, live in future's nostalgia.
- meiraleal 3y ago
  maybe in 10 years after the burst of the VC bubble we will reminisce the great hackernews times. Makes me wonder if hackernews is already a separated community from YCombinator that wouldn't go down with the end of the VC dictatorship.
  - clubm8 3y ago
    >Makes me wonder if hackernews is already a separated community from YCombinator Speaking as an antifascist who once parked a Ford Focus on Sand Hill Road amongst super cars and stole a few glasses of the finest bourbon from Zuck's shindig that was in the same venue as the bar some Stanford types insisted on going to because they don't need to worry about money so they disdained the nuthouse. "The News" will remain separate, and it's probably a good thing. You have a good community here -- I disagree with many people, but I keep coming back because they accomplished what Slashdot failed to do. (A place where I don't have to here grown ass men talk about how they want to pour hot grits over underage film stars, where we can be the kind of anonymous that only happens when people can guess, but never know, who's three nodes or seven proxies away.)
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
mikewarot 3y ago
I wonder how things are going to change now that free money has gone away, and profit is top of mind again in business. Hosting content requires moderation, and without lots of free money, that's got to be pared down quite a bit, society wide. Will the laws change to reflect this? Will social expectations? I'd hazard a guess that AI would be used to fill in, but as it's currently subsidized by the same free money, it'll probably get a lot more expensive too.
gnz11 3y ago
The most memorable forums that I was ever a part of were the ones that lead to real life friendships and connections. When I think back, those forums were just enablers to connect with people in real life and have shared, real experiences. Now the "social" Internet is nothing more than another consumption funnel with no real intention of getting people to be more social.
clubm8 3y ago
>These old conversations bring back memories of how the internet used to be, sparking a strong sense of nostalgia. You might be looking with rose tinted glasses. I joined Something Awful just as they were closing the file forums in my teens -- I thought they were just worried about the legal issues around stuff like AXXO rips, not... the terrible things. All my life, I had folks from that place keep me purposefully precarious and police my responses to said precarity. The early internet was a total shit show, and I'm forever traumatized it took as long as it did into "Hard Candy" for me to realize that guy was not only bad, but abnormal. (And later on, it amused me greatly when some ex army dude was like "You can't say things like that" when I listed it on my OkCupid and said "Why wouldn't I want a girlfriend who enjoys movies about forcing pedophiles to jump off the roof?") The friends I made, I made in real life -- it was "The Internet" who invaded my work, invaded my university club, and in one case, a college Democrats kegger where I met my first girlfriend with insults that used to live entirely online, when I was nothing but kind to the best of my ability once I became a man. (Maybe if you went to more museums and Vagina monolugues, and spent less time getting teenagers high in the back of the MC Chris tour bus, you too could meet a "MILF" and not need to perpetually throw all ages shows for narcissistic supply, rude little man who forgets there's no such thing as "pre med" at our university) Not you, parent... it's dark out, and I'm having a bad day, for for some of us, the dream of the 90s was an utter nightmare followed by an Eternal September 11th, never reaching this so called "real world" where we'd have the rights and opportunities of the late stage capitalists and... not exactly philanthropists... who made it this way.

13 points by behnamoh 3y ago

seanthemon 3y ago

At some stage years down the line folks will say the exact same thing about the internet now, maybe even your post! so instead of floating around nostalgia island, enjoy what you have right now, live in future's nostalgia.

meiraleal 3y ago
maybe in 10 years after the burst of the VC bubble we will reminisce the great hackernews times. Makes me wonder if hackernews is already a separated community from YCombinator that wouldn't go down with the end of the VC dictatorship.
- clubm8 3y ago
  >Makes me wonder if hackernews is already a separated community from YCombinator Speaking as an antifascist who once parked a Ford Focus on Sand Hill Road amongst super cars and stole a few glasses of the finest bourbon from Zuck's shindig that was in the same venue as the bar some Stanford types insisted on going to because they don't need to worry about money so they disdained the nuthouse. "The News" will remain separate, and it's probably a good thing. You have a good community here -- I disagree with many people, but I keep coming back because they accomplished what Slashdot failed to do. (A place where I don't have to here grown ass men talk about how they want to pour hot grits over underage film stars, where we can be the kind of anonymous that only happens when people can guess, but never know, who's three nodes or seven proxies away.)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

mikewarot 3y ago

I wonder how things are going to change now that free money has gone away, and profit is top of mind again in business. Hosting content requires moderation, and without lots of free money, that's got to be pared down quite a bit, society wide. Will the laws change to reflect this? Will social expectations? I'd hazard a guess that AI would be used to fill in, but as it's currently subsidized by the same free money, it'll probably get a lot more expensive too.

gnz11 3y ago

The most memorable forums that I was ever a part of were the ones that lead to real life friendships and connections. When I think back, those forums were just enablers to connect with people in real life and have shared, real experiences. Now the "social" Internet is nothing more than another consumption funnel with no real intention of getting people to be more social.

clubm8 3y ago

>These old conversations bring back memories of how the internet used to be, sparking a strong sense of nostalgia. You might be looking with rose tinted glasses. I joined Something Awful just as they were closing the file forums in my teens -- I thought they were just worried about the legal issues around stuff like AXXO rips, not... the terrible things. All my life, I had folks from that place keep me purposefully precarious and police my responses to said precarity. The early internet was a total shit show, and I'm forever traumatized it took as long as it did into "Hard Candy" for me to realize that guy was not only bad, but abnormal. (And later on, it amused me greatly when some ex army dude was like "You can't say things like that" when I listed it on my OkCupid and said "Why wouldn't I want a girlfriend who enjoys movies about forcing pedophiles to jump off the roof?") The friends I made, I made in real life -- it was "The Internet" who invaded my work, invaded my university club, and in one case, a college Democrats kegger where I met my first girlfriend with insults that used to live entirely online, when I was nothing but kind to the best of my ability once I became a man. (Maybe if you went to more museums and Vagina monolugues, and spent less time getting teenagers high in the back of the MC Chris tour bus, you too could meet a "MILF" and not need to perpetually throw all ages shows for narcissistic supply, rude little man who forgets there's no such thing as "pre med" at our university) Not you, parent... it's dark out, and I'm having a bad day, for for some of us, the dream of the 90s was an utter nightmare followed by an Eternal September 11th, never reaching this so called "real world" where we'd have the rights and opportunities of the late stage capitalists and... not exactly philanthropists... who made it this way.