4 ms·

I'd hardly call it the "old internet". It is very niche, and has not been around that long really - like what 2003 or something? Nothing compared to e.g. Geoci

I'd hardly call it the "old internet". It is very niche, and has not been around that long really - like what 2003 or something? Nothing compared to e.g. Geocities which was early-mid 90s IIRC which I'd argue had more relevance to people than 4chan.

emptyfile 2y ago
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davedx 2y ago
Geocities was going strong in the late 90's too! My first homepage was hosted there on Tokyo Towers.
MagicMoonlight 2y ago
22 years is old. Nobody knows what geocities is, it has no relevance. It’s like talking about brands of telegraph wire.
- crtasm 2y ago
  Geocities was the place to create and visit homepages for a large percentage of people using the internet in the 90s. You can see its influence in games such as Hypnospace Outlaw and modern hosts like Neocities.
  - karn97 2y ago
    Hypnospace outlaw and neocities, both even less known lol
    - crtasm 2y ago
      What are the most popular games on Steam that focus on interacting with a 4chan-like website?
      - sickofparadox 2y ago
        There are none because people can just go on 4chan and post.
        crtasm 2y ago
        Until now. But I hope they are able to get back up and running.
dfxm12 2y ago
"Old Internet" doesn't have a very defined meaning, but I think it has more to do with design and functionality than a hard date. While I don't think relevance matters, 4chan is much more relevant than you think. Having a niche is part of the old Internet. Websites used to be niche, but deep, instead of websites like Wikipedia, which are broad and shallow (compare the Castlevania dungeon [0] to the Wikipedia article for Castlevania, for example). Then compare 4chan's limited number of boards with reddit's endless subs. 4chan's design is early web 2.0, doesn't require you create an account, allows (pseudo) anonymous posting, content is mostly unfiltered, unmonetized, free & thought of as ephemeral, etc. 0 - https://castlevaniadungeon.net/dungeon.html https://castlevaniadungeon.net/dungeon.html
- mattlondon 2y ago
  > 4chan's design is early web 2.0, doesn't require you create an account, allows (pseudo) anonymous posting, content is mostly unfiltered, unmonetized, free & thought of as ephemeral, etc. That is hardly unique. There are any number of phpbb (and other) boards that allow mostly the same that were/are/will continue to be the same. The only difference is the clientele and noteriaty, but I'd argue 4chan is basically the same thing as somethingawful is/was in that regard. People act like 4chan was this ground-breaking thing but it was just one of many many similar boards. Also for 4chan, you'd only go to 4chan to go to 4chan. People went to geocities and xoom and angelfire and all the other old internet things for niche website content from individuals, not because of the site that hosted it. It's like going to a bar to chat vs going to a library to study: going to the bar/4chan is an undeniable part of the culture, but let's not pretend it is anything significantly different amongst a constellation of other chat/forum sites (somethingawful, fark, ebaumsworld, discord, IRC etc etc etc)
  - dfxm12 2y ago
    The point wasn't about if 4chan is unique.
    - mattlondon 2y ago
      Exactly.
Andrex 2y ago
Web 2.0 and before is now considered the old internet.
johnnyjeans 2y ago
It is not very niche at all. 4chan served a gigantic volume of traffic.
PhunkyPhil 2y ago
Side note: When you google "Geocities" the results are in comic sans

emptyfile 2y ago

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davedx 2y ago

Geocities was going strong in the late 90's too! My first homepage was hosted there on Tokyo Towers.

MagicMoonlight 2y ago

22 years is old. Nobody knows what geocities is, it has no relevance. It’s like talking about brands of telegraph wire.

crtasm 2y ago
Geocities was the place to create and visit homepages for a large percentage of people using the internet in the 90s. You can see its influence in games such as Hypnospace Outlaw and modern hosts like Neocities.
- karn97 2y ago
  Hypnospace outlaw and neocities, both even less known lol
  - crtasm 2y ago
    What are the most popular games on Steam that focus on interacting with a 4chan-like website?
    - sickofparadox 2y ago
      There are none because people can just go on 4chan and post.
      - crtasm 2y ago
        Until now. But I hope they are able to get back up and running.

dfxm12 2y ago

"Old Internet" doesn't have a very defined meaning, but I think it has more to do with design and functionality than a hard date. While I don't think relevance matters, 4chan is much more relevant than you think. Having a niche is part of the old Internet. Websites used to be niche, but deep, instead of websites like Wikipedia, which are broad and shallow (compare the Castlevania dungeon [0] to the Wikipedia article for Castlevania, for example). Then compare 4chan's limited number of boards with reddit's endless subs. 4chan's design is early web 2.0, doesn't require you create an account, allows (pseudo) anonymous posting, content is mostly unfiltered, unmonetized, free & thought of as ephemeral, etc. 0 - https://castlevaniadungeon.net/dungeon.html https://castlevaniadungeon.net/dungeon.html

mattlondon 2y ago
> 4chan's design is early web 2.0, doesn't require you create an account, allows (pseudo) anonymous posting, content is mostly unfiltered, unmonetized, free & thought of as ephemeral, etc. That is hardly unique. There are any number of phpbb (and other) boards that allow mostly the same that were/are/will continue to be the same. The only difference is the clientele and noteriaty, but I'd argue 4chan is basically the same thing as somethingawful is/was in that regard. People act like 4chan was this ground-breaking thing but it was just one of many many similar boards. Also for 4chan, you'd only go to 4chan to go to 4chan. People went to geocities and xoom and angelfire and all the other old internet things for niche website content from individuals, not because of the site that hosted it. It's like going to a bar to chat vs going to a library to study: going to the bar/4chan is an undeniable part of the culture, but let's not pretend it is anything significantly different amongst a constellation of other chat/forum sites (somethingawful, fark, ebaumsworld, discord, IRC etc etc etc)
- dfxm12 2y ago
  The point wasn't about if 4chan is unique.
  - mattlondon 2y ago
    Exactly.

Andrex 2y ago

Web 2.0 and before is now considered the old internet.

johnnyjeans 2y ago

It is not very niche at all. 4chan served a gigantic volume of traffic.

PhunkyPhil 2y ago

Side note: When you google "Geocities" the results are in comic sans