Before I joined the Fediverse, it felt like the Internet was composed of only 4-5 social media sites and a bunch of corporate news articles, with only a couple of old remnant sites that looked out of place like a historic church in a business district. All of a sudden, though, it feels like people are creating lots of new sites. I’ve been exploring the other Fediverse sites since then, and playing around with Marginalia.nu/hearing about them from other people, and it seems like the “real” web that we were told about in the 2000s is thriving again, albeit in the shadow of the big sites where 90% of people will never see it.
Yep, I feel like I’m 20 again (born in 1980, been through BBS, dialup, ADSL, cable, altavista.com and many other things)
Im only 19, but I got a glimpse of it as a kid. It’s great that i’m able to experience what this is like for the first time, most of the internet felt so hopeless before.
I’ve been on the Internet since I was 15 so in 1995. I was on ICQ, Usenet and other old technologies. Internet sure has changed a lot since. But I’m excited to be part of the fediverse, it is still in its infancy but I think it will become big. Hopefully not big enough to get riddled with adds or get bought by google or others.
eddit: for the old folks like me: geocities, hotmail and more “recently” digg
Have you noticed how many of us old shits there are in the fediverse? It’s a disproportionate number. I think many of us miss the freedom and chaos that the internet once was and are looking to recapture the excitement that the internet lost at least a decade ago.
This! Yes, you’re absolutely right. Its the new gen that’s never seen proper blinking warez sites that have OK buttons floating around so you can’t click em… Joking aside, fediverse is awesome.
;-)
We don’t miss the freedom. We know that we have a choice. We’re from the age of web communities being twenty to thirty people large. In those days communities were small. Now we’re shouting in a crowded room, to be heard. It’s nice to migrate, and find places where we’re heard, without having to be loud.
Yup, I went through all those same stages and am loving the Fediverse. I had forgotten how it felt to have to EXPLORE. To find good content, to see something that’s (only mildly) outside my comfort zone, to use a tool that’s still a WIP. I spent 15 years on Alien Site and it was just the same jokes, the same content, all the same topics, the endless commercialization of every word you say.
No it’s not as easy to find content here. No the apps aren’t as polished. But it really feel like how I felt back in the BBS or Slashdot days. I hadn’t realized how miserable I was with the current state of the internet until I abandoned all the mainstream sites.
You’re an allosaur of the web like me. ;-). We were here before even the dinosaurs. ;-)
I am sure that part of it is how discoverability has diminished over time. It seems there are fewer ways to find interesting independent things on the web. But, I’m also sure that some of it is there’s fewer cool things to find.
With that said, please enjoy endless.horse, which is one of those cool things the likes of which I wish finding were easier.
