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Where's the feel of the old Internet gone, and what sites do you use? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Xer0@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Hey all. Since the Internet has just been boiled down to the main big social media sites, it feels like the magic is gone. Whens the last time someone said to you "hey check out this cool website"? It's always the same: TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, FB, Reddit, Discord. Forums are basically dead. Chat rooms are dead. Message boards are dead.

I miss that feeling of just discovering interesting or quirky websites. Lemmy is cool because it feels fresh and new, and there's not a boat load of users here yet. But what other sites do you guys use or can recommend? I remember browsing Joe cartoon, Newgrounds, weebls, Ebaums, failblog, damnlol, and a bunch of other stupid but either funny or interesting sites.

Are there sites out there that still have that early Internet vibe? I feel like there is a treasure trove of still active websites out there but I have no idea what they are. Any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated.

Edit: I created !oldweb where these sorts of sites can be shared!

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[–] darkfoe@lemmy.serverfail.party 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No specific recommendation from myself, but I've found a lot of the more "personal" feel of the internet has gone underground, ie, off search engines. A lot in discord, some in matrix, and some showing up here. Odd one still on IRC, but that's slowly shifting to discord/matrix

[–] RadDevon@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes, this is the problem. Search engines used to be a way to find stuff. They slowly evolved into more and more effective platforms for monetizing internet users, meaning the only content you can effectively find now is content that's selling something (or perhaps content that is selling you).

Breaking out of that bubble can reveal that content that isn't built for selling is still there. It's just like you said: it's gone underground. Not by choice but because the ground got moved.

[–] darkfoe@lemmy.serverfail.party 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah, hopefully the explosion of Lemmy and Mastrodon leads to more of the message board level of the internet, only without having to maintain five gazillion accounts and checking them daily for new content. That era was pretty nice and was indexed well by search engines.

[–] fernandu00@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

That was poetic!

[–] Laille@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by in matrix? Never heard of it before.

[–] darkfoe@lemmy.serverfail.party 6 points 1 year ago

Matrix is basically federated discord. It's to discord what Lemmy is to reddit