5 ms·

Given how worried everyone is about the AI slopocalypse where the internet is drowned in LLM-generated junk content maybe it's time for a resurgence of human cu

by simonw 9mo ago

Given how worried everyone is about the AI slopocalypse where the internet is drowned in LLM-generated junk content maybe it's time for a resurgence of human curated directories like this one.

gesis 9mo ago
Let's bring back the webring.
- 8organicbits 9mo ago
  I joined a web ring last year, but I'm uncertain about it. Modern web rings tend to automate updates to the next/prev buttons, so I'm never sure what I'm linking to. The web ring owner acts as curator, but I don't know how much effort they put in to keep slop or other undesirable content out.
- BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
  I'm part of one and I don't think it really promotes discoverability. What could work would be some kind of search engine restricted to said webring to make a button to list similar articles. At least I would click on such a button!
  - sixeyes 9mo ago
    I'm on the Merveilles ring and it has such a local/"neighbourhood" search, hosted by one of the members: https://lieu.cblgh.org https://lieu.cblgh.org Pretty cool, and seems easy to set up
- roxolotl 9mo ago
  The no ai webring is full of really unique stuff. There’s definitively people out there still doing webrings. Now we need a metawebring. https://baccyflap.com/noai/ https://baccyflap.com/noai/
  - cosmicgadget 9mo ago
    Slop sucks and all, but those abandoned "let's make pages look like geocities" sites are pretty tiresome.
    - washadjeffmad 9mo ago
      Because you don't find them visually interesting or because of their content? There's a whole world of modern unindexed handcoded html + light js sites that really hearken back to the mid-90s web, and they're often part of webrings.
      - gesis 9mo ago
        My mtg site is kind of one of those. I use a static site generator, but I wrote the html templates and CSS myself to match the aesthetic I wanted. I have robots.txt configured to keep it mostly unmolested, but I don't think it's fully unindexed. That said, it's not very evocative of 90s web style. I do not miss those days (despite being the owner of a webhosting/design company at the time).
        ZeroQL 9mo ago
        mtg as in magic the gathering?. You can't mention a personal website without linking the website itself i would love to take a look
        gesis 9mo ago
        Since you asked... https://thenethervoid.com/ https://thenethervoid.com/ There isn't a whole lot there currently, since I'm pretty slow to post. I'm working on some deck analysis pieces currently and have some community-focused articles in draft form on my laptop.
      - cosmicgadget 9mo ago
        Yeah I have indexed a lot of em. I'm specifically talking about the ones that try to resemble the archetypal personal geocities site with tiled backgrounds, gifs, and whatnot. I've found that these predominantly were created as part of a web fad and were quickly abandoned. I am all for handcoded html, SSGs, and minimal-to-no js.
- kogasa240p 9mo ago
  As someone who wasn't around in their true heyday I'm all for it.
  - gesis 9mo ago
    Webrings were cool, and I wish I could find some for my own niche hobbies that were curated by dedicated parties. I also miss Guestbooks, but know that they'd just be a cesspool now.
myth_drannon 9mo ago
It was tried before (e.g. Dmoz) and it does not work after it becomes popular. I'm thinking more like just taking all the text files from 80-90s and making a separate static, frozen in time internet.
- simonw 9mo ago
  Dmoz was trying to replicate the Yahoo! style of directory, which requires being comprehensive. Today we don't need comprehensive, we need maximum signal and minimum noise.
  - zozbot234 9mo ago
    If you're not trying to be comprehensive it's not a real directory, it's just an ordinary "awesome-list".
    - johnnyanmac 9mo ago
      would you call HN just "an awesome list"?
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        Yes. With comments.
        a10c 9mo ago
        Not really. Awesome lists are mostly curated by an individual, the bar for making it on that list isn’t the same as HN where the community decides the popularity of the entries
  - vaylian 9mo ago
    I'd like to argue that Wikipedia also tries to be comprehensive within the limits of relevant topics. And overall, Wikipedia still seems to be going strong.
bookofjoe 9mo ago
Hear! Hear!
deadbabe 9mo ago
Yup. Search engines will basically be dead. Anything you’d type into a search engine you will probably prompt from an LLM instead. But hand curated human directories should in theory have a very high signal to noise ratio. Every link should take you to a quality site.
NookDavoos 9mo ago
The first blog i found on this website was full of ai generated image slop https://www.bankeronwheels.com/ https://www.bankeronwheels.com/
- consulinho 9mo ago
  There is no ai in the content, in fact it's probably the best finance blog in Europe - the ai likely used it to be trained on. Cover images probably yes but they use their own characters. Anyways, cover images are not what you're there for. Content is absolutely top notch.

by simonw 9mo ago

Given how worried everyone is about the AI slopocalypse where the internet is drowned in LLM-generated junk content maybe it's time for a resurgence of human curated directories like this one.

gesis 9mo ago

Let's bring back the webring.

8organicbits 9mo ago
I joined a web ring last year, but I'm uncertain about it. Modern web rings tend to automate updates to the next/prev buttons, so I'm never sure what I'm linking to. The web ring owner acts as curator, but I don't know how much effort they put in to keep slop or other undesirable content out.
BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
I'm part of one and I don't think it really promotes discoverability. What could work would be some kind of search engine restricted to said webring to make a button to list similar articles. At least I would click on such a button!
- sixeyes 9mo ago
  I'm on the Merveilles ring and it has such a local/"neighbourhood" search, hosted by one of the members: https://lieu.cblgh.org https://lieu.cblgh.org Pretty cool, and seems easy to set up
roxolotl 9mo ago
The no ai webring is full of really unique stuff. There’s definitively people out there still doing webrings. Now we need a metawebring. https://baccyflap.com/noai/ https://baccyflap.com/noai/
- cosmicgadget 9mo ago
  Slop sucks and all, but those abandoned "let's make pages look like geocities" sites are pretty tiresome.
  - washadjeffmad 9mo ago
    Because you don't find them visually interesting or because of their content? There's a whole world of modern unindexed handcoded html + light js sites that really hearken back to the mid-90s web, and they're often part of webrings.
    - gesis 9mo ago
      My mtg site is kind of one of those. I use a static site generator, but I wrote the html templates and CSS myself to match the aesthetic I wanted. I have robots.txt configured to keep it mostly unmolested, but I don't think it's fully unindexed. That said, it's not very evocative of 90s web style. I do not miss those days (despite being the owner of a webhosting/design company at the time).
      - ZeroQL 9mo ago
        mtg as in magic the gathering?. You can't mention a personal website without linking the website itself i would love to take a look
        gesis 9mo ago
        Since you asked... https://thenethervoid.com/ https://thenethervoid.com/ There isn't a whole lot there currently, since I'm pretty slow to post. I'm working on some deck analysis pieces currently and have some community-focused articles in draft form on my laptop.
    - cosmicgadget 9mo ago
      Yeah I have indexed a lot of em. I'm specifically talking about the ones that try to resemble the archetypal personal geocities site with tiled backgrounds, gifs, and whatnot. I've found that these predominantly were created as part of a web fad and were quickly abandoned. I am all for handcoded html, SSGs, and minimal-to-no js.
kogasa240p 9mo ago
As someone who wasn't around in their true heyday I'm all for it.
- gesis 9mo ago
  Webrings were cool, and I wish I could find some for my own niche hobbies that were curated by dedicated parties. I also miss Guestbooks, but know that they'd just be a cesspool now.

myth_drannon 9mo ago

It was tried before (e.g. Dmoz) and it does not work after it becomes popular. I'm thinking more like just taking all the text files from 80-90s and making a separate static, frozen in time internet.

simonw 9mo ago
Dmoz was trying to replicate the Yahoo! style of directory, which requires being comprehensive. Today we don't need comprehensive, we need maximum signal and minimum noise.
- zozbot234 9mo ago
  If you're not trying to be comprehensive it's not a real directory, it's just an ordinary "awesome-list".
  - johnnyanmac 9mo ago
    would you call HN just "an awesome list"?
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      Yes. With comments.
      - a10c 9mo ago
        Not really. Awesome lists are mostly curated by an individual, the bar for making it on that list isn’t the same as HN where the community decides the popularity of the entries
- vaylian 9mo ago
  I'd like to argue that Wikipedia also tries to be comprehensive within the limits of relevant topics. And overall, Wikipedia still seems to be going strong.

bookofjoe 9mo ago

Hear! Hear!

deadbabe 9mo ago

Yup. Search engines will basically be dead. Anything you’d type into a search engine you will probably prompt from an LLM instead. But hand curated human directories should in theory have a very high signal to noise ratio. Every link should take you to a quality site.

NookDavoos 9mo ago

The first blog i found on this website was full of ai generated image slop https://www.bankeronwheels.com/ https://www.bankeronwheels.com/

consulinho 9mo ago
There is no ai in the content, in fact it's probably the best finance blog in Europe - the ai likely used it to be trained on. Cover images probably yes but they use their own characters. Anyways, cover images are not what you're there for. Content is absolutely top notch.