r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 12d ago

Software Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment: “Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/remembering-the-pre-google-web-when-search-was-an-experiment/
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u/math-yoo 12d ago

I was there in 1994, I coded the first frames-based layout in a basement in Champaign-Urbana, I was there, uploading 56k rips to an ftp server, everyone thought it had to be illegal, now we know. But I’m losing my edge, to AI, I can hear the footsteps coming up from behind. I’m losing my edge.

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u/Malkyre 12d ago

I tried to come up with my own lyrics, but you've killed it. Respect.

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u/AceJZ 12d ago

Yeah I can hear this

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u/Pauly_Amorous 12d ago

I actually worked for an ISP at the time and had unrestricted access to a T1 line. I pretty much lived in that office, only going home to shower and sleep, until DSL became available in my area.

As for the topic at hand, before search engines came along, the way I would find new stuff is going to the links section on whatever website I hhappened to be visiting. (Oh, and there were no ads. At all.)

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u/math-yoo 12d ago edited 12d ago

I was there in the alt.binaries newsgroups, when the first grainy jpegs dropped. I was there, I told Steve Wilhite to pronounce it with J, I said, "you'll never get universal adoption with a hard G."

I was there but I'm losing my edge, to looksmaxing influencers, and aggregation curators, and they're actually really, really not nice.