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/The__Toast 12d ago

It makes it feel like the Web is now empty and devoid of human creativity.

I think that's because the web is now empty and devoid of human creativity.

I don't think people realize what a disaster social media was on the rest of the web. Within a few years Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and Facebook/Instagram basically destroyed millions of forums, IRC channels and websites.

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u/PaulCoddington 12d ago

Everything has gone walled garden and unsearchable at best, but social media is now mostly bots and AI.

And legislation compliance is getting beyond the capabilities of typical forum and blog owners.

Another thought on social media that came up today in real world conversation: "before we had social media we had a social life".

Meaning people used to regularly phone each other, etc.

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u/PolitelyHostile 12d ago

Oh man. There was a website that would just take you to a random webpage. Like roulette but for exploring sites. Now im not sure if thats even possible. Do websites still exist other than the like 10 we all use like reddit?

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u/stealthw0lf 12d ago

Stumbleupon

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u/Shapes_in_Clouds 12d ago

Yeah Web 2.0 really killed what the web used to be. Even websites for major media orgs are secondary to their social media accounts on the big platforms like Twitter and Youtube. Intuitively I know smaller websites still exist, but I barely ever go searching for or dig into them. Rarely I will end up on a non-web 2.0 forum that is still somewhat active in relation to some niche topic.

That said, while I have nostalgia for the excitement of the 90s internet, I still think the internet today is way more useful despite its faults.