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Seriously where will we get this info anymore? I’ve depended on it for decades. No matter how obscure, I could always find a community that was talking about so

Seriously where will we get this info anymore? I’ve depended on it for decades. No matter how obscure, I could always find a community that was talking about something I needed solved. I feel like that’s getting harder and harder every year. The balkanization of the Internet + garbage AI slop blogs overwhelming the clearly declining Google is a huge problem.

HumblyTossed 10mo ago
Usenet?
- Forgeties79 10mo ago
  I guess? I feel like it’s too small now. It can’t cover all my interests
seb1204 10mo ago
Keep using SO?
- Forgeties79 10mo ago
  When I grew up shakes fist at clouds I had a half dozen totally independent forums/sites to pull on for any interest or hobby no matter how obscure. I want it back!
  - wiether 10mo ago
    The discoverability, both from the outside and within is absolute trash, but the closest I find of those old forums nowadays are Discord servers.
    - Forgeties79 10mo ago
      Agreed, it’s the discoverability that’s the real problem here at the end of it all. All the veterans are pulling up the drawbridges to protect their communities from trolls, greedy companies, AI scraping, etc. which means new people can’t find them. Which then means these communities eventually whither and stop being helpful resources for us all.
  - hattmall 10mo ago
    It's true though, and the information was so deep and specific. Plus the communities were so legitimate and you could count on certain people appearing in threads and waiting for their input. Now the best you have are subreddits or janky Facebook groups .
nerusskyhigh 10mo ago
My genuine impression is that communities moved from forums to discord. Maybe that's why they are harder to find
- nyargh 10mo ago
  And discord is a terrible tool for knowledge collection imo. Their search is ok, but then I find myself digging through long and disjointed message threads, if replies/threading are even used at all by the participants.
  - roncesvalles 10mo ago
    Not to mention, it's not indexed by search engines. It's the "deep web".
    - nyargh 10mo ago
      Yes, its a treasure hunt every single time when some project has most of their discussions on discord. It's awful imo.

HumblyTossed 10mo ago

Usenet?

Forgeties79 10mo ago
I guess? I feel like it’s too small now. It can’t cover all my interests

seb1204 10mo ago

Keep using SO?

Forgeties79 10mo ago
When I grew up shakes fist at clouds I had a half dozen totally independent forums/sites to pull on for any interest or hobby no matter how obscure. I want it back!
- wiether 10mo ago
  The discoverability, both from the outside and within is absolute trash, but the closest I find of those old forums nowadays are Discord servers.
  - Forgeties79 10mo ago
    Agreed, it’s the discoverability that’s the real problem here at the end of it all. All the veterans are pulling up the drawbridges to protect their communities from trolls, greedy companies, AI scraping, etc. which means new people can’t find them. Which then means these communities eventually whither and stop being helpful resources for us all.
- hattmall 10mo ago
  It's true though, and the information was so deep and specific. Plus the communities were so legitimate and you could count on certain people appearing in threads and waiting for their input. Now the best you have are subreddits or janky Facebook groups .

nerusskyhigh 10mo ago

My genuine impression is that communities moved from forums to discord. Maybe that's why they are harder to find

nyargh 10mo ago
And discord is a terrible tool for knowledge collection imo. Their search is ok, but then I find myself digging through long and disjointed message threads, if replies/threading are even used at all by the participants.
- roncesvalles 10mo ago
  Not to mention, it's not indexed by search engines. It's the "deep web".
  - nyargh 10mo ago
    Yes, its a treasure hunt every single time when some project has most of their discussions on discord. It's awful imo.