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Internet Artifacts

(neal.fun)
681 points mikerg87 | 5 comments | 13 May 25 11:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.872s | source
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dev-slash-zero ◴[15 May 25 06:45 UTC] No.43992459[source]▶
I also would consider Digg to be the direct predecessor of Reddit. If I recall correctly it was more popular until possibly as late as 2010.
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1. throwawaycities ◴[15 May 25 12:02 UTC] No.43994117[source]▶
Digg is being relaunched - with Alexis on board.

A bunch of the early internet brands are being rebranded/relaunched which is collectively is being branded as the nostalgic internet.

Napster, Limewire, Digg, GeoCities…to name a few

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2. latexr ◴[15 May 25 12:22 UTC] No.43994267[source]▶
> A bunch of the early internet brands are being rebranded/relaunched

More like recycled to lend credence to dubious grifts and tangential services. Digg is all-in on AI; Napster is another paid music streaming service; Limewire is another file locker and an AI cryptocurrency¹; GeoCities I’m not aware of a revival.

> which is collectively is being branded as the nostalgic internet.

Nothing about that is nostalgic or remotely related to the old internet. The names are the same and some founders may have returned, but the values and technologies are entirely different.

¹ Whatever that even means in practice. Double-dip on a pile-on of grifts, can never have too many hyped technologies!

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3. throwawaycities ◴[15 May 25 12:57 UTC] No.43994540[source]▶
Besides GeoCities - the rest are being relaunched by SV VCs and PE groups.

Napster was acquired and relaunched in crypto a few years ago and just resold for $100M+ to a metaverse company immediately following a new raise at a $1B+ valuation.

So yeah it’s acquiring historic IP by VC/PE to resell to friends that are using someone else’s funds. Considering the .com boom and era of publicly traded big tech giving golden parachutes to friends (buying their companies and shutting them down) - it’s very nostalgic.

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4. rchaud ◴[15 May 25 18:31 UTC] No.43997880{3}[source]▶
Napster is so old that I remember its DMCA-compliant reboot from 20 years ago. My college gave students free access to it, all the music was a DRM'd WMA file. Most people who used it also downloaded a DRM-removal program to be able to put it on shared drives and MP3 players.
5. rchaud ◴[15 May 25 18:38 UTC] No.43997957[source]▶
"Alexis on board" has about as much value as saying "Richard Branson is an investor". The difference in their goals now vs when they were young and hungry is in orders of magnitude. They are old, out of touch and spread too thin to do anything noteworthy in rebooting an old brand. They're lending their name for credibility, in exchange for equity and board seats.