• @[email protected]English
    43•1 year ago

    I wonder how long it’ll take before we finally collectively reject the SV ethos that size is the only metric that matters and success is only achieved via monopoly…

    There was a time when Usenet and BBBses and IRC was tiny and yet people still found value through community in those places.

    Maybe, and I know this is a wild idea, platforms don’t have to include every human on the planet to be meaningful, relevant, or valuable.

    • @affiliateEnglish
      5•1 year ago

      this was very comforting to read

    • @indepndntEnglish
      4•1 year ago

      Lately I’ve been seriously thinking about resurrecting my FidoNet node. It looks like FidoNet still exists!

      • @friend_of_satanEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        Nice! I just played through Road To Gehenna and it really made me want to do a modern BBS equivalent.

      • ConvecticusEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        FidoNet does still exist, but it’s commonly called “fight-o-net” for a reason, as there are… some characters there.

        If you do resurrect your node, I’d suggest also picking up FSXnet, as it’s the second largest network, is better maintained, and has a no-politics-or-religion rule that makes it way more pleasant to be on.

        Or, you know, you could call one of the BBSs out there, and make a sysop’s day by being a user, as non-sysop users are not super common, at this point. You can try my BBS at http://bbs.stormbbs.com or telnet://telnet.stormbbs.com, if you’d like to see FSXnet and FidoNet in their current lives.

        But there are plenty of other BBSs out there, too, and my BBS is really only special because I have an ANSI calendar with a different graphic every day that I made 370-ish graphics for. It celebrates a holiday every day.

        And if you’re wondering about BBS networks in general, I recently found out about https://clrghouz.bbs.dege.au/domain/list , which has way more info than I was expecting about what the available FTN networks look like.

    • @whereiskEnglish
      4•1 year ago

      I was an avid Reddit user but dropped it like a stone in the kerfuffle - it took a while but Lemmy has now replaced that 90%

      I’d love to see a content propagation analysis.

      My sense is that a ton of new memes are first shared on Lemmy then shared across to other social media.

      …Ok, so the niche forums don’t have critical mass yet, and you’d have to post to some general thread to get any response - but all the cool and thoughtful people are here, so the level of general discourse is higher, I love it.

    • @friend_of_satanEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      I hear this one loud and clear. I was on the internet in 95, and worked in SV for 20 years, and when I saw the small number for Lemmy in this graphic it made me happy.