what is your favorite part of the old internet?

[ryha11a]

for me, it probably has to be when i was in middle school. we were given macbook airs to do our work on and they let us take them home, so before i really had a laptop this is what i had to browse the internet on.

i used to spend tons and TONS of time on Kongregate.com (before it SUCKED!) playing different multiplayer games with random people. peak of flash games honestly...makes me wish i had made a newgrounds account during its peak as well. i loved to play everybody edits and shellshock live 2. i still have my old login too which makes it all the more sad when im able to log into the website, see how they've EVISCERATED the sauce from that website, browsing through old messages and friends lists. coolest part, each game had its own dedicated chat room next to the flash game window, so you could chat with people playing the same game OR just whoever was online on the website at that moment!

i think what a lot of us, or at least I miss about the old internet is the sense of connectivity it brought. i don't feel connected at ALL when i just scroll and like posts all day on instagram or twitter (IT ISNT X!!!), but i did feel connected when i would randomly make a friend playing the same game as me. and i feel more connected writing down this post on this forum board than i do on modern platforms!

anywayz, i just wanted to hear everybody elses stories / memories from the past, learn about what i missed out on and check it out!

[nihil0]

KONGREGATE..... I haven't heard that name in years omg. I used to play Falling Sands (1 and 2) often because I thought it was fun to just make up little scenarios for the little dudes and check out everyones' setups.

I just looked it up and IT LOOKS SO BAD?! They gave it the spyware flash game site treatment, what in the Deviantart Eclipse bs is that???


Apart from that I remember I used to religiously play the Barbie.com flash games, I was obsessed with Mermaidia, Race Car Cutie and the art game that I can't remember the name of right now. I'm glad stuff like ruffle and numuki are around to archive these things

[ryha11a]

LMAO IKR?! site looks like you would get a virus from it if you clicked on anything ;w; there was NO NEED for them to gut the site like that

barbie games sound nostalgic, i was on the opposite end as a child, i was absolutely gaming on the hot wheels website playing all their games xD

btw unrelated, but i saw your website and think its super dope :> gonna use it as a bit of inspiration for my site

[Eunice]

I know I've said this before, but I miss the women's groups. The Gardenhouse, for example, Netsisters, The Garden of Friendship, which were the biggest ones. There was so much "community" in them. We all made personal websites, and there were groups set up to help with that. There were lots of committees and groups, within each one. If it was your birthday or wedding anniversary, they would make special pages for you, and add gifts. I just miss it all so much.

[nihil0]

I know I've said this before, but I miss the women's groups. The Gardenhouse, for example, Netsisters, The Garden of Friendship, which were the biggest ones. There was so much "community" in them. We all made personal websites, and there were groups set up to help with that. There were lots of committees and groups, within each one. If it was your birthday or wedding anniversary, they would make special pages for you, and add gifts. I just miss it all so much.

That sounds so lovely! While I guess we have rings and cliques still kicking around, I guess we haven't had anything that in-depth form yet, I remember a lot of fan groups, specifically fanfiction groups, around when I first started surfing the web, though it wasn't really my favorite because those turned very catty very quickly lol, your groups sound a lot better, I know we'll all find that kind of community again eventually :]

LMAO IKR?! site looks like you would get a virus from it if you clicked on anything ;w; there was NO NEED for them to gut the site like that

barbie games sound nostalgic, i was on the opposite end as a child, i was absolutely gaming on the hot wheels website playing all their games xD

btw unrelated, but i saw your website and think its super dope :> gonna use it as a bit of inspiration for my site

No way!!! tysm! Your site is wonderful too, I'll be sure to nab your button :D

[dream]

I know I've said this before, but I miss the women's groups. The Gardenhouse, for example, Netsisters, The Garden of Friendship, which were the biggest ones. There was so much "community" in them. We all made personal websites, and there were groups set up to help with that. There were lots of committees and groups, within each one. If it was your birthday or wedding anniversary, they would make special pages for you, and add gifts. I just miss it all so much.

Sounds wonderful. There is something to be said for setting. For gathering in a warm, cozy mountain cabin a day away versus a sterile waiting room twice the size down the road. A place of one’s own, created, worthy of the label home, warm, welcoming to others, pictures drawn, framed by hand, hung on the wall painted on a whim that one day when rain startled all. Those communities and the many like them then were nothing short of the human experience digitized. Once tasted, you’ll never cease in the pursuit for more.

[DJoftheCoven]

There are a lot of things I miss about the early internet, but I think one of the biggest things I miss is just... the excitement. I used to be so hyped to get online after a long day outside and the web felt so magical. Stumbling on homemade websites, playing flash games, having search engines that actually gave you what you were looking for instead of ads--actually, that's another thing. I miss when youtube ads were unintrusive. I'm not even that old, but talking to teenagers about what the web used to look like when I was a kid feels so sad because they don't even have a frame of reference for what it looked like before advertising and corporate junk was omnipresent.

I digress. Although the older members of melonland may not consider this a part of the old web, I'll also nominate kids' virtual worlds like animal jam (which does still exist, granted) and fun minigame hubs like the myscene website. They were so lovingly designed.

[eezstreet]

I think the thing that I miss the most about the old web, like the poster above me alludes to, is how genuine it was. Back in those days, if you saw a review of something, you’re basically guaranteed to be looking at what someone actually wrote as an account of their experiences. Sure, there was trolling and bullying, and definitely some degree of people acting in bad faith. But for the most part, the people who were acting in bad faith would stick out like sore thumbs.

These days, I can’t even guarantee that the website itself is actually a legitimate website and not some auto-generated stuff to soak up SEO ad money. Think about it though. The website you’re using to buy stuff is now loaded with fake reviews. The dating websites are loaded with fake profiles, some using AI to seem like convincing matches. There’s people who pay professionals to “text” for them. The video site you’re on might not at some point even be real videos. The forums and social media sites you’re on are definitely cooked with false posters that are trying to push foreign or political agendas.

This is possibly exacerbated by the further slides we’re seeing in the world becoming a trust-free society. Things like anti-theft devices on shopping carts, spamming anti-theft devices on all kinds of things in fact. I don’t feel comfortable letting my children outside, despite the crime rate being lower when I was a kid, just because I can feel myself getting a tongue-lashing by some Concerned Yet Nosy Citizen. Don’t even get me started on the political radicalization going on here in the States.

I think I’ve heard the argument before that the web is “too corporate these days” and I don’t know if that holds up to scrutiny when you consider the sheer scale of the dot-com bubble. We had Super Bowl ads for web companies in the 90s! I think the bigger problem is that corporate greed is what’s ultimately responsible. The pattern of short term stock investment portfolios have utterly wrecked the global financial systems. Why would I waste my time holding my stock in a company that is going to offer only slow return on investment? Regardless of the social or technological good that this company may be doing, of course.

YouTube being more aggressive with ads is just a symptom of this corporate greed. Line needs to go up faster, after all, and Premium would likely make it go up faster.

Unfortunately though I think the cat is a bit out of the bag. The only places that you’re going to see some semblance of the old, trust-included Web is going to be small little forums like this on the Web Revival project. There’s just not a huge incentive to try and manipulate people here because of how low the traffic is.

[candycanearter07]

Unfortunately though I think the cat is a bit out of the bag. The only places that you’re going to see some semblance of the old, trust-included Web is going to be small little forums like this on the Web Revival project. There’s just not a huge incentive to try and manipulate people here because of how low the traffic is.

And there's actual passion behind the projects! You have to go so far out of your way to get something up and there's no real way to make returns off something like Neocities, so it kinda weeds out all the corporate interests and stuff I think.

[GarbCat]

I try to avoid romanticizing or idealizing the past too much as it can have unfortunate side effects to the brain, but a lot of people can agree that it's kind of cool when websites gave you a lot of freedom when you're not logged in/don't have an account, right? I associate this with the web of the past even if some sites are still like this because a lot of major sites have *really* been eroding the privileges of users with no accounts lately. Have you ever tried to open a facebook link on a device you're not logged in on? It's disgusting.
I really love when some websites allow people with no account to interact with the website they're on, to make posts and interact with the community to some extent. There's a lot of very good reasons to disable this sort of thing but it feels like a way more welcoming environment than when you say, click on a Twitter link and the website gets on its hands and knees and begs to you like a dog to pleeeeeaaaase give it your email address just to see this one stupid little meme. pretty please?
Basically I kind of miss the feeling of being a "guest" to a website when you're not logged in, opposed to feeling as if you're staring at the website 50 feet away with a pair of binoculars. Does that make sense? Video-sharing or gaming sites are usually better about this but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if YouTube started walling off video content from guest users for the lulz.