Ask HN: What do you miss about the web in the '90s?

Yahoo Messenger :'(

Good thread ;) That deep psychedelic flavor. That Mondo 2000 ethos. Will it make a comeback in 2020s?

Josh Harris tours his company Pseudo.com in Soho NYC circa 1999.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqBGjCmHyvk

"I miss that kind of clarity" -- Wabash

The lack of relentless corporate eavesdropping, and a sense of limitless possibility. The adventure of it, while still a shadow of earlier years, was still real too. The lack of a social media “culture”, the dominance of irc and forums. Fewer people with less to offer and more to say, because even though it wasn’t hard to get online, it wasn’t just mashing a thumb on a phone either. The lack of techies claiming to be “saving the world.”

Above all? The weirdness, yet to be “toned down” in the name of profit.

Webrings. Inline links to other people’s related content. The sense of exploration and discovery.

Benign advertising models.