Discussion What do you miss about the “old” internet?

[stellabelle]

Something that I've been griping about recently is missing the "old" internet. The browser thread sort of inspired me to share these thoughts.

I miss the "old" YouTube - the one where you didn't have to use a google account and it didn't just automatically use your name. I especially miss YouTube without all of the ads.

I miss the old Reddit. The one that didnt force you to download their app if you're browsing via mobile. I miss the Reddit without ads. I miss the Reddit without censorship.

I miss the old google - the one where you search and you click the link and can copy the link from the search bar, instead now you have to click the original link to go to the website and share the content. So it's an extra step. The google links don't work.

I miss the days where targeted advertising wasn't exactly a thing - it was just everyday advertising.

Now, I hate Facebook and what it's done to society, but in the old days I miss original posts, not a clusterfuck of shares and memes and garbage. There were meme sites for that purpose. I miss the lack of targeted ads. I miss using the service without their stupid separate messenger app.

I miss the "old" Instagram - yes without ads, and without "influencers". I miss the direct message feature that doesn't tell you someone is typing or has opened their camera. It's so invasive.

I miss the old tumblr and it's adult content and ability to browse without the damn app.

Hell, I even almost miss MySpace and exploring different artists, customizing your own page with HTML (in the oldest setup), and reading the bulletin board.

This is all I've come up with for now. What do you guys miss about the times of the past online?

 

[Johnnythefox]

Napster was good while it lasted, the internet has just turned into one big shopping centre. You can't do anything without advertising being rammed down your throat.
I have a theory that the internet will be broken up and access to content will become similar to TV. Different subscription options will determine what you can access.
Google seem to think they own the Internet, you have to sign into this and sign into that, the Internet is going down the tubes like everything else.

 

[Othermind]

No reactionaries shoving propaganda down your throat 24/7.

 

[Sinbad]

It took companies a while to figure out how to commercialize the internet. These were the days...

I visited mostly german sites so no point in listing these sites here but I do want to mention knuddels.de. This site was the SHIT in Germany back in the days (2003-2005)

 

[NumbItAll]

I miss when web design wasn't obnoxiously horrible with excessive blank space, unnecessary features, newsletter offers, and autoplay videos everywhere making many websites borderline unnavigable. Other than that, not much. There have been plenty of advancements too. I don't miss slow loading times, popups, worse security, etc.

 

[\Quail\]

Reddit is such shit nowadays. Apart from a tiny amount of outliers, every subreddit is filled with edgy /pol/-types. At least in the cringey /r/atheism-days the pedophiles and chuds kept to their own subreddits.

I wish Javascript wasn't basically mandatory to do anything

Almost every website is dependent on Google and Amazon services which sucks. There is no such thing as a "Google-free experience" on the modern web.

 

[Eren]

I miss when the web was something really simple, without bloated technologies that consume CPU and RAM to do something as simple as displaying a web.

 

[15dec]

I miss spamming my brother on MSN Messenger and playing random web games

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

I miss the old messengers a lot, like Yahoo, MSN and AOL. I remember setting it up so that any time a fly honey came online it would make a cash register noise, lol. I was super proud of myself for that.

Then just the old email services and search engines, where things seemed more detailed and interesting. At one point we seemed to go from actual web pages to these enlarged, simplified interfaces that I can't stand. Apps are annoying as hell too, especially when you can't even browse websites anymore without being prompted to install their bullshit app. Like why do I need an app for a web page? I have a browser on my phone.

I miss the old humor pages as well. Bash.org, Fugly, ebaumsworld etc. Those were the days.

 

[15dec]

I also miss when AdventureQuest was actually good, sigh. Never liked the updates

 

[Memento Mori]

It took companies a while to figure out how to commercialize the internet. These were the days...

I visited mostly german sites so no point in listing these sites here but I do want to mention knuddels.de. This site was the SHIT in Germany back in the days (2003-2005)

U remember Habbo? lol


Times of ICQ/MSN and oldschool social media instead of FB, YouTube was really 'broadcast yourself' and not that...well, don't know how to describe this. Now the whole internet is just a big AD itself, for anything and anyone. Never used reddit in my life, just to search for one song^^

Some day we're gonna have brain chips to pay stuff and do stuff, and we get holograms of ADs all day long for toilet paper, tooth brushes and life insurances while taking a shit, sitting in the doctors waiting room or actually dying :(

"BUT WAIT! That's not all! If you sign now before you die, we'll even add a 80% reduced MARM0R GRAVESTONE to your life insurance! 6500000$ Just today and just now! But wait, don't you think that's all - if you sign now, you'll get *ONLY today and ONLY in the next 10 minutes* free duvet covers for the bed you die in! Are you sure you want to close this ad? This offer lasts only 30 (!!!!!) more seconds and your life lasts 10 more seconds, if you want to quit - please fill out this captcha with different pictures of bicycles.

*close (x)*

Congratulations! You're the 1.000.000th visitor of YouTube! Get your free iPad now to make a selfie of your death!
Share on YouTube Facebook Instagram

*close (x)*

Are you sure you want to miss this chance? Klick Cancel to win an iPad while dying now..."

*dead*


wait for it. XD

 

[Othermind]

Most of the times I think nostalgia warps our perception of things and selective memory does the rest of the job presenting a period of our lives as better than it actually was.
However I don't think it's the case with this, the internet was actually a better place back then. I mean, seriously, what has actually improved other than purely mechanical things like better streaming (not always the case) etc.?
Webpage design has gotten considerably worse, now they're a cluttered mess of ads and social media tie-in and are virtually unbrowsable unless you're running a script blocker.
Chatrooms like MSN were not perfect but at least it was actual communication with other human beings other than vomiting your whole life on facebook or instagram to fish for attention.
Youtube was admittedly always pretty shitty but at least it wasn't filled to the brim with low effort, flavor of the month, over the top cringey content to make a quick buck and the algorithm didn't constantly prod you with neo-nazi recommendations.
You could actually discuss hobbies on various boards, 4chan included, without reactionaries coming in and shitting up every conversation.
Steam wasn't a dumping ground for asset-flips and straight out scams.
Fucking.Twitch. Did. Not. Exist.
This just off the top of my head...I mean aside from a few idiots, is anyone seriously going to remember post-2014 internet in, say, ten years with any degree of fondness? I strongly doubt it.

 

[netrezven]

Hacking modem cards for internet and selling them at school. Counter strike with friends.

 

[Johnnythefox]

 

[15dec]

I remember going to my sister's house just so I could use her Facebook account to play this

 

[faex42]

Something that I've been griping about recently is missing the "old" internet. The browser thread sort of inspired me to share these thoughts.

I miss the "old" YouTube - the one where you didn't have to use a google account and it didn't just automatically use your name. I especially miss YouTube without all of the ads.

I miss the old Reddit. The one that didnt force you to download their app if you're browsing via mobile. I miss the Reddit without ads. I miss the Reddit without censorship.

I miss the old google - the one where you search and you click the link and can copy the link from the search bar, instead now you have to click the original link to go to the website and share the content. So it's an extra step. The google links don't work.

I miss the days where targeted advertising wasn't exactly a thing - it was just everyday advertising.

Now, I hate Facebook and what it's done to society, but in the old days I miss original posts, not a clusterfuck of shares and memes and garbage. There were meme sites for that purpose. I miss the lack of targeted ads. I miss using the service without their stupid separate messenger app.

I miss the "old" Instagram - yes without ads, and without "influencers". I miss the direct message feature that doesn't tell you someone is typing or has opened their camera. It's so invasive.

I miss the old tumblr and it's adult content and ability to browse without the damn app.

Hell, I even almost miss MySpace and exploring different artists, customizing your own page with HTML (in the oldest setup), and reading the bulletin board.

This is all I've come up with for now. What do you guys miss about the times of the past online?

I miss Orkut which predated MySpace but was never a success in the USA. It was big in Brazil and I had just become genuinely fluent in Portuguese. There were all sorts of wars going on as well as fairly peaceful supportive communities. It was a very big world. I learned never to ever assume that the American I thought I was "talking with" was actually an American and not a Brazilian. They never believed I wasn't a Brazilian: 'Because Americans never learn Portuguese".Some Brazilians living in my state knew that I was an American because we talked about things only a resident would know.. I never tried to hide it. I never changed my name. They just assumed it was fake, likely because some Brazilians fluent in English took on American identities and the prior reason cited. Besides Brazilians I made friends in the small American community and with with people from Pakistan and India. I have one "friend' left from those days, an American who is on Facebook.
I had a few nice friends on MySpace.
There was always constant battles going on no matter what platform I used or where the person was from. And the brawling fostered a closeness with people on your side so you felt you belonged to something.

 

[Borghesia]

I miss the pre-reddit days when there was a seemingly infinite amount of smaller message boards / forums for every topic. These boards deserved to be called communities, you could actually recognize people by their nicknames and avatars. You felt the individual behind the user, if that makes any sense. Aggregator sites like reddit never gave me that feeling. And now we've sort of come full circle with reddit censoring CTB talk and most recently anything DNM related. DNM discussion has moved back to the deep web, CTB is mostly found on here. Tumblr banning NSFW content has also sparked a bunch of smaller, tumblr-esque clones.

The days I long for are the ones without any social media exhibitionism, corporate shilling and targeted advertising.

Then again, maybe I just wanna be a teenager once more ;)

 

[Aesthler]

I miss being 13 and dangerously chatting with online strangers on AIM or MSN messenger, I miss a lot of other cringey things I don't really wanna mention actually. On second thought, lets just keep the internet current.

 

[Help_Me]

For me the old internet is something from 1999-2000's without Instagram and other bullshit services and social networks. I did not have an internet back in that days, but a couple of my friends had. So, I miss old web sites written in html, I still love finding them nowadays (there are some web sites optimized for new browsers but made in old style) and surprising how fast they load. I miss the days of icq messenger, when it was popular and it was absolutely ok to ask someone's UIN. Yes, this messenger is still alive (yet, very unpopular), but as far as I know it becomes worse. You can't find people by searching for name, city and age anymore. As for middle 20's, the old YouTube made more sense for me, you could easily rate video from 1 to 5 (stars system rating or idk how shall I call it). The accounts were not using your google account and all nicknames were unique. I miss middle 2000's times when people were discussing something on forums. Yes, we still have it, but most of the old forums are now dead and we had much more thematical ones. Damn, I miss all that stuff. Is anybody here from those old times ?) Before all those instagrams, twitters and other unpleasant services.

 

[Johnnythefox]

anybody here from those old times

I started using the Internet about 97/98, I like to call it the wild west days, it was an untamed new frontier. NTL was my isp and numerous companies were offering free Internet for life.
There was no Google, Facebook,Twitter, instagram or any of the other shit that pollutes it these days.
It's only when the big corporations realised that money could be made that it turned into a pile of shit.

 

[Firecaste]

I miss early youtube, never used Facebook even when it was new, can't say I'm that nostalgic about much else. *shrug*

 

[WhiteRabbit]

I remember being 13 in 1998 and going on AOL chat rooms late at night. I would lie about my age and older dudes would try and cyber sex with me. They would type all this really explict stuff and i'd nope the fuck outta there because I had no idea what to type back.

Not to sound like too much of an old fuddy duddy, but I really feel sorry for kids today. It seems like with social media there is so much more pressure to be pretty, cool, popular, witty...ect. Plus all your embarassing awkward phases and comments are there for all to see.

 

[waived]

when games were more fun on a 56k than they are now

 

[Final Escape]

Lol!

 

[Johnnythefox]

Lol!

I made my own version today and altered my voice.

 

[Final Escape]

I made my own version today and altered my voice.

Cute lol!

 

[CJM]

Mum getting angry at me for using our dial up when she needed the phone...

Oh, and MSN messenger.. ASL?

 

[BaconCheeseburger]

I don't MISS it but I will always be nostalgic for Limewire and the simplicity of downloading songs, with the risk of downloading that 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman' clip!

Obviously it was the right thing to get it shut down, but being a teenager with ever-changing music tastes it was musical heaven!

 

[wiIIow]

I miss old web sites written in html, I still love finding them nowadays

have I got a treat for you.

https://www.cameronsworld.net

"A love letter to the Internet of old
Cameron's World is a web-collage of text and images excavated from the buried neighbourhoods of archived GeoCities pages (1994–2009)."

There's a lot of content here, if you've got the time. It made me feel funny on the inside, 10/10 would recommend.

 

[wiIIow]

My dad was quick to hop onto the internet train back when it was new and exciting, we'd spend a lot of time watching stupid videos and stuff (rathergood, anyone?). Many inside jokes relating to viking cats and liking the moon for years to come abound. He's let me use his computer to play shitty little games, or surf the web via Netscape to search for info on Pokemon or whatever

I miss the little communities I found myself in, I still talk to some of those people to this day. I swear there was an element there (besides the rose-tinted nostalgia glasses) that seems to have vanished today, but idk. There's a lot of stuff about the old internet I miss, I spent a lot of time there as I was growing up. so I guess that's to be expected

oh, and spamming my dad via yahoo messenger with their very intrusive audibles... this was a favorite. I was a fucking delight