Maybe this already exists. But couldn’t one theoretically create a world within a world that is like the Net we all knew and loved before it was enshittified? I know the wayback machine exists, but I was thinking something that is still alive. IRC chats, forums, flash games (maybe not, with security concerns…), video sites that didn’t suck absolute ass like Corptube, stuff like that.
If it does exist, I am sure this would be the place to find it! Or maybe is a matter of staying off of all modern corp sites. I don’t know. Maybe Lemmy is this fantasy world…
ActivityPub and the fediverse were started specifically to deal with the kind of centralization that has lead to the shit state of the Internet today, so I’d say the fact that you’ve made it here means you’ve kinda found what you’re looking for already. Find and read/write WriteFreely/Ghost/Plume blogs (and shitposts) instead of Substack or Medium, use Lemmy for threaded conversations (and shitposts) instead of Reddit, and Mastodon for microblogs (and shitposts) instead of Twitter. Peertube is not a drop-in replacement for Youtube, but also 90% of the new content on Youtube is garbage today anyway, and there’s nothing stopping you from browsing older videos (with Freetube or similar to block a good portion of Youtube’s enshittified UI).
Plus if you do stick to these off-the-beaten-path alternatives, it’s still a fun time to be a content creator since you’re not focused on maximizing engagement or monetization – which is the true source of the godawful state of the Internet today.
Start off with a different search engine:
Or explore some webrings:
A weblog with the best of the web (no idea how those cats got wedged into scanners, though)
A /c (with links to more /cs):
And as others have mentioned:
And once you’ve found an interesting website, follow its feed in a feedreader / newsreader / news aggregator:
http://wiby.me/ is nice. I hit the “surprise me” a couple of times every morning 👴🏻☕️
IRC is still alive and somewhat kicking on places like freenode, obviously a lot of that kind of culture lives in discord today, but you’ve also got matrix as an alternative to that style, but I can’t say I’ve really clicked with it myself.
A few forums have managed to hang around (not that I recommend it, but I discovered somethingawful is still around recently), and the software to run one is still out there being maintained. Reddit really did a number on these sites though so Lemmy, etc is probably a good tool in the box for this too.
Flash games are dead for a pretty valid reason (security, etc), but sites like newgrounds still have a presence for the kind of stuff you’re thinking of. I can’t say I’ve browsed it in a very long time though. You’ve also got the indie game scene that blew up in the 2010s—I personally feel like that’s scratching the same kind of itch for me at least. Places like humble and itch.io are good sources.
I write a tech blog on Gemini ( https://geminiprotocol.net/) , and read other people’s blogs from the Antenna aggregator on that network . IRC is still quite active for some topics, again on the tech theme libera.chat is the place to go now.
These are sort of along those lines
Protoweb even has a video site called WarpStream
It’s all still there, you just don’t read it because there’s not as much content just like in 2005.
I don’t understand this “the old internet was better” and I was first on the internet in 1985. (Technically bitnet)
What exactly are you looking for?
It’s like moving from r*** to lemmy. It feels fresh exciting and so far untainted by corpos. Plus people here/then we’re actually tech literate since computing didn’t care about the lowest common denominator like today. I’m baffled how many of my friends actually know nothing of technology but they use it every day all day… Thats what we loved about it i think.
It’s called Eternal September and it’s been going on for forever.
You don’t think the current corporate hellhole of the internet is different from the net of 2005?
Yeah corporate has expanded but so has the niches. There’s a huge amount of info in niche hobbies that has expanded over the past 20 years. Although I do hate how everyone makes a YouTube when some info would be better presented as a web page.
Imo things fell apart by the late 90’s when everyone stopped using Newsgroups and switched to Website forums for monetization.
“A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered.” - CS Lewis; Out of the Silent Planet
We can’t go back, but your remembrance of how good it was back then is pleasurable in and of itself. Wishing you well on your journey, time-voyager.
If only we knew how good we had it!
Keep an eye on !webrevival@lemm.ee, search via Marginalia Search, and check out the ooh directory among other things.
Also look out for webrings (or similar) on some of the sites you may find, as they can help you find other likeminded net people.
Some people are trying to bring back some of the old navigation methods, but with some improvements, to keep the open net around.
Speaking of old navigation methods, there are even some web rings alive and kicking:
Wait tho, I thought the idea was to make fun of people who can’t let go of the past.
