Internet Nostalgia

[FortuitousFluke]

So this came about due to a discussion in another thread about the evolution of the word "troll" (don't get me started on pronunciation either). Back when I started using the internet (probably mid to late 90's) a troll was a relatively harmless person who basically poked fun on message boards and forums. Usually it would just be harmless stuff like outlandish comments or suckering people into believing something that clearly was untrue. A good troll (few and far between as I consider that it was a bit of an artform) was extremely valuable to an online community and generally speaking were quite well thought of in many circles.

Fast forward to today and the word troll has become synonymous with chumps who like to sling abuse and make death threats.

This all got me thinking, the internet has changed so much from the days when I first started using it, AOL dial up and all. I guess some of the things I miss about those days is the closeness of the communities that existed, coupled with the feeling that everything was brand new, and that new grounds were constantly being trodden. These days the internet feels like a sprawling and dehumanised web of stuff I've seen before. That's not universally true of course, good communities like OCUK still exist, and obviously innovation happens everyday, but because of the scope involved I suppose it no longer feels wholly innovative.

So I was kind of wondering how people here feel about the ways in which the internet has evolved over their lifetimes. Is it constantly evolving and improving or are there really big aspects that you truly miss from the days when you first started using it?

As I said in the previous thread there's a good chance I'm old before my time but a bit of nostalgia is good for the soul, though I suppose this could devolve into a heated argument over the continued relevance of ASCII art.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

It was but the new ways are 24/7

Also these days it seems like a good portion of a kids life is lived online in terms of interaction with friends etc, it effectively segregates them from that social aspect. I suppose it's the modern equivalent of "you can't sit with us".

 

[FortuitousFluke]

I have to, how can there be any questions about the pronunciation of troll it is just roll with a t on the front.

With the elongated o sound? That's how I would pronounce it. However a good proportion of journalists seem to be using the shortens o sound as in trolley.

Dancing baby, been a while since I last saw that. Loving the nostalgia around cheat sites and platforms like gamespy too. I was a shameless fan of cheat code central back in the day, and I still used gamefaqs up until a few years back. Something about reading walkthroughs as one massive wall of text that just appeals to me, and I somehow appreciate the effort of some dude writing a 500 page walkthrough comprised solely of text more than someone creating a wiki or mixed media article.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

-Online time being valued, as in literally valued because you were paying by the minute so for example everyone would log on to play an arranged game at 8pm and you'd be playing within minutes, not waiting around ages for players to turn up and get ready. If people were online they'd generally be active, not idle

I remember my dad bringing home our seconds of, the first that was internet ready. I can remember his self satisfaction as he set up the internet for us (including 150 minutes free browsing) and then i vividly remember the blood draining from his face when the first phonebill came in. He opted to pay extra for unlimited browsing after that, and back in the day the monthly on unlimited access was not cheap.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

MSN and ICQ were great.

Sod Tinder, meet some great girls via ICQ random chat!

I miss msn. Except the malicious emails you used to get that would spam porn links to everyone on your msn friends list. Weird thinking these days that ok would get home from school and then wait with anticipation for people to log on.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

A troll in the old days is a word used by people who cannot handle any attack on their opinions.

So a "troll" was a person who enjoys to debate any topic with people on the internet. But as people can see account names, over time it becomes evident that one person basically argues with everyone opinions, seemingly always having the opposite view for the duration of the thread. This person is then just called a troll.

Which is sad, at school we had debates all the time when i was like 13-15 or so, the teacher told us a topic and who would argue for each side, this i think is one of the best things to do IMO, as it expanded my mind that their are always different points of view to every topic, to think critically and to always question why.

Choosing to argue a point that you don't agree with isn't a virtue surely? The point of debate is to sway people to your viewpoint, but if you've just picked a viewpoint for the sake of having a debate then whats the point? As an intellectual excercise, to hone ones skill sure but other than that I don't really get it.

As an example I once got into a debate with a northern irish friend about the IRA and British involvement in Ireland. I didn't really have a strong view but he clearly did, we were out drinking so i was just enjoying a debate, but it became clear that he was passionate about the subject so i told him I was going to drop it purely because I could see it was important to him, and that I didn't have a position so i would just being debating for sport which I felt would be doing him a diservice.

Debate for debates sake isn't always positive.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

The thing I've noticed a lot at times with some members on this forum as I'm sure it is like on many others, some people just want to debate with you just to "pwn" "rekt" "destroyed" you.

There is a lot of unneeded hate brewing just for kicks. Or it just exposes who they really are.

I think the medium lends itself to that kind of behaviour too. Anybody taking that kind of approach to a debate in person is going to find it extremely hard going against anybody even moderately well versed in the subject they're discussing. With the internet if you get stumped you can just Google it, and even if you're wrong you can still find something that will sound plausible and back up your argument.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Insulting opinions, not people. to take an insult on your beliefs and transition that to a personal attack means your opinion is you. You do not see a problem with that?



Its not to sway others exactly, but to point out problems in their ideology, to show them another view exists to everything, to teach something.. and as an exercise for yourself also.

It is not a disservice to anyone to question why or to explain why something is wrong. Now its not PC to question someones beliefs or opinions.. And that's why you have all these lunatics running around speaking nonsense all the time.

Beliefs are tightly bound into identity, people can take a criticism of their beliefs extremely personally because in a lot of instances it is an attack on them (not intentionally of course). Look at religion for example, it plays a huge part in how people view themselves.

In most arguments though it's not black and white enough to be able to say it's right or it's wrong. In the context of a debate about the troubles for instance it's extremely nuanced and I didn't have the interest or the information to be able to debate honestly. I would effectively have been toying with his strongly held views just for my amusement, basically real world trolling. To me it was some stuff is read in an article, to him it was lived experience spanning back generations, and not good experience at that. Sometimes it's just not right to engage on a subject when you don't have the same stake in it as the opposing side. That's not to say the debate shouldn't happen, but in that circumstance I wasn't the right person to tackle the subject, even though I could have.