Comments on: The Most Depressing Blog in the World http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/ WE PRIDE OURSELVES ON OUR HUMILITY Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:59:00 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Robotech_Master http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-124655 Robotech_Master Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:20:59 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-124655 Just thought I'd mention, I've written a guide to how to archive all your ficlets, along with all the prequels and sequels people wrote to them. http://terrania.us/saveyourbabies.html Just thought you might want to know. Just thought I’d mention, I’ve written a guide to how to archive all your ficlets, along with all the prequels and sequels people wrote to them.

http://terrania.us/saveyourbabies.html

Just thought you might want to know.

]]> By: KaT Adams http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122720 KaT Adams Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:26:07 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122720 As much as I rip into AoL and its general populace (and its continued existence), I will be a little sad to see it go, too. I met my first girlfriend there, and she's still one of my closest friends. I 'adopted' my little sister there. I first played with putting my words online amongst those folk. I got into roleplaying and games of that sort. I first found out how I could manipulate this incredible thing called "the Internet". I had my first webpage and even still have my second AiM Screen name as active and happy. AoL was always the crutch for the internet, but it did get so may of us walking. Here's to AoL *slainte* As much as I rip into AoL and its general populace (and its continued existence), I will be a little sad to see it go, too. I met my first girlfriend there, and she’s still one of my closest friends. I ‘adopted’ my little sister there. I first played with putting my words online amongst those folk. I got into roleplaying and games of that sort. I first found out how I could manipulate this incredible thing called “the Internet”. I had my first webpage and even still have my second AiM Screen name as active and happy.

AoL was always the crutch for the internet, but it did get so may of us walking. Here’s to AoL *slainte*

]]> By: erinslick http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122197 erinslick Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:40:09 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122197 Scalzi, it is terribly depressing. As one of the people who helped to plan the shuttering, (against my vehement opposition) I do feel awful for the people still there who actually have to pull the plugs. It's a horrible feeling! Scalzi, it is terribly depressing. As one of the people who helped to plan the shuttering, (against my vehement opposition) I do feel awful for the people still there who actually have to pull the plugs. It’s a horrible feeling!

]]> By: Brooks Moses http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122170 Brooks Moses Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:44:55 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122170 Mego @33: I find the claim that AOL "ruined" Usenet to be a bit shortsighted. Sure, in the mid-1990s when it was happening, we didn't have hindsight on it yet so all analysis was shortsighted -- but, looking back, I think the picture is a bit clearer. Usenet, for better or worse, was a thriving community for at least a decade after the start of Endless September. Without that influx of newbies, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been; I think it would have dwindled and died sooner and much more thoroughly than it did. (Not only quicker than it has now, but more thoroughly. Many pockets of it still thrive -- especially if you look outside what used to be the old core.) I wasn't part of pre-1994 Usenet, but I was part of a local newsgroup culture that had a lot in common with the antediluvian Usenet culture. It thrived, it was a wonderful place of community and everyone knew how it worked and who everyone was. Which, though we didn't really realize it at the time, was a fatal flaw: there were no new people coming in. And people graduated, or got bored, and suddenly and more quickly than I expected, it hit a tipping point where the conversations lost critical mass, and now it gets a half-dozen posts a year. My guess is that, save for AOL and what followed from it, that would have been Usenet in about 1999 or so. Mego @33: I find the claim that AOL “ruined” Usenet to be a bit shortsighted. Sure, in the mid-1990s when it was happening, we didn’t have hindsight on it yet so all analysis was shortsighted — but, looking back, I think the picture is a bit clearer. Usenet, for better or worse, was a thriving community for at least a decade after the start of Endless September. Without that influx of newbies, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been; I think it would have dwindled and died sooner and much more thoroughly than it did. (Not only quicker than it has now, but more thoroughly. Many pockets of it still thrive — especially if you look outside what used to be the old core.)

I wasn’t part of pre-1994 Usenet, but I was part of a local newsgroup culture that had a lot in common with the antediluvian Usenet culture. It thrived, it was a wonderful place of community and everyone knew how it worked and who everyone was. Which, though we didn’t really realize it at the time, was a fatal flaw: there were no new people coming in. And people graduated, or got bored, and suddenly and more quickly than I expected, it hit a tipping point where the conversations lost critical mass, and now it gets a half-dozen posts a year.

My guess is that, save for AOL and what followed from it, that would have been Usenet in about 1999 or so.

]]> By: Andy Smith http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122127 Andy Smith Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:38:55 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122127 While I'm inclined to agree about hating AOL, nobody else made the internet accessible like them. So while I cursed all the 10 year old morons who suddenly invaded my newsgroups, most of those 10 year old morons have since grown up and become pretty cool folks, in no small part due to their participation on the net. So hate 'em sure, but don't forget that they made the net accessible. While I’m inclined to agree about hating AOL, nobody else made the internet accessible like them. So while I cursed all the 10 year old morons who suddenly invaded my newsgroups, most of those 10 year old morons have since grown up and become pretty cool folks, in no small part due to their participation on the net.

So hate ‘em sure, but don’t forget that they made the net accessible.

]]> By: Mego http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122115 Mego Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:07:39 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122115 I'm with #11. AOL ruined something I enjoyed quite a bit back in the old days. I'm not sorry to see them go. I’m with #11. AOL ruined something I enjoyed quite a bit back in the old days. I’m not sorry to see them go.

]]> By: Andy Smith http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-122060 Andy Smith Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:20:23 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-122060 Isn't "Closing Time" a song about (re)birth? "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" I'm counting this as subtle optimism and docking your "depressing" rating 10 points. Isn’t “Closing Time” a song about (re)birth?

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end”

I’m counting this as subtle optimism and docking your “depressing” rating 10 points.

]]> By: Bananas in the Falklands http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-121899 Bananas in the Falklands Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:04:12 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-121899 Never ever used aol - a friend did but aol did not work in vista - when he upgraded* to vista aol lost his business. If aol cannot support vista without there software crashing then surely aol deserve to die? Expect the same for yahoo. * a mistake Never ever used aol – a friend did but aol did not work in vista – when he upgraded* to vista aol lost his business.

If aol cannot support vista without there software crashing then surely aol deserve to die?

Expect the same for yahoo.

* a mistake

]]> By: Thomas Allen http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-121894 Thomas Allen Sun, 07 Dec 2008 06:16:34 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-121894 Never liked AOL, though Ficlets sounds like a cool idea. I recall at least three times over the years where AOL charges mysteriously appeared on one of my credit cards --two of them were from purchasing computers at CompUSA, even though I had declined the "100% TOTALLY FREE FOREVER AOL account" both times. Seems AOL's annoying-as-hell marketing extended to offering incentives to CUSA salespeople. I started with dial-up bulletin boards, moved to CompuServe, left there for MSN (blech), landed on Mindspring, which then bought Earthlink, and here I've stayed for about twelve years. If Verizon ever builds FIOS into Philadelphia (Comcast is vigorously defending their monopoly), I will certainly consider that as the next step. Never liked AOL, though Ficlets sounds like a cool idea. I recall at least three times over the years where AOL charges mysteriously appeared on one of my credit cards –two of them were from purchasing computers at CompUSA, even though I had declined the “100% TOTALLY FREE FOREVER AOL account” both times. Seems AOL’s annoying-as-hell marketing extended to offering incentives to CUSA salespeople.

I started with dial-up bulletin boards, moved to CompuServe, left there for MSN (blech), landed on Mindspring, which then bought Earthlink, and here I’ve stayed for about twelve years. If Verizon ever builds FIOS into Philadelphia (Comcast is vigorously defending their monopoly), I will certainly consider that as the next step.

]]> By: Brooks Moses http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/12/06/the-most-depressing-blog-in-the-world/#comment-121892 Brooks Moses Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:26:19 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=5596#comment-121892 Lisa @14: That was one of the benefits, though -- because AOL _was_ "internet-for-dummies", it was a significant part of the transition between the internet's social circles being a place for computer geeks (as they largely were, pre-AOL), and being a place for people in general. And even if a lot of people "outgrew" it after a few months, that doesn't mean it was useless for those months. I'm sure to a considerable extent this was a matter of "steam-engine time" and someone else would have done it if AOL didn't -- and there were plenty of places, such as BEVnet from the town next to my hometown, doing it too -- but AOL was nonetheless a big part of it. I don't actually have fond memories of my own AOL account, though. When I was setting up networking on my home computer when I started grad school, I found myself in the chicken-and-egg situation of needing to download a program from the campus network to be able to dial in to connect to the campus network. And I thought I was clever by deciding to use one of the AOL CDs (or perhaps it was a floppy disk still, but I think this was one of their first CDs) to make an end run around the problem. It would have been great -- except that the campus network website had a two-minute timeout between giving you the login webpage and receiving the reply with your password, and after a half-hour of trying, I had to conclude that AOL's connection was simply too bogged down with users to load the page and submit the form within that window. So I went to campus with a floppy disk, and called AOL to cancel, and after answering lots of, "No, even if you give me two extra free months, I don't want the account" questions, got it cancelled. Meanwhile, I just made the connection that, since I still use AIM for my online chatting (for reasons unrelated to that AOL account), the imminent death of AOL affects me directly. Wonder how long those lights are going to stay on.... Lisa @14: That was one of the benefits, though — because AOL _was_ “internet-for-dummies”, it was a significant part of the transition between the internet’s social circles being a place for computer geeks (as they largely were, pre-AOL), and being a place for people in general. And even if a lot of people “outgrew” it after a few months, that doesn’t mean it was useless for those months.

I’m sure to a considerable extent this was a matter of “steam-engine time” and someone else would have done it if AOL didn’t — and there were plenty of places, such as BEVnet from the town next to my hometown, doing it too — but AOL was nonetheless a big part of it.

I don’t actually have fond memories of my own AOL account, though. When I was setting up networking on my home computer when I started grad school, I found myself in the chicken-and-egg situation of needing to download a program from the campus network to be able to dial in to connect to the campus network. And I thought I was clever by deciding to use one of the AOL CDs (or perhaps it was a floppy disk still, but I think this was one of their first CDs) to make an end run around the problem. It would have been great — except that the campus network website had a two-minute timeout between giving you the login webpage and receiving the reply with your password, and after a half-hour of trying, I had to conclude that AOL’s connection was simply too bogged down with users to load the page and submit the form within that window. So I went to campus with a floppy disk, and called AOL to cancel, and after answering lots of, “No, even if you give me two extra free months, I don’t want the account” questions, got it cancelled.

Meanwhile, I just made the connection that, since I still use AIM for my online chatting (for reasons unrelated to that AOL account), the imminent death of AOL affects me directly. Wonder how long those lights are going to stay on….

]]>