Ask HN: What websites that were sold/abandoned/don't work anymore do you miss?
Basically that.
Mine is this tiny old community. It was called Impish Idea, and it was a writing criticism thing. I joined it late in its lifetime, after watching for a long time. I had maybe a few months of active commenting on it. I was commenting as 'Brooklyn', not my real name.
Once it had been bigger, but when I joined it was tiny. Me, someone who could make new posts and not just comments, and a few other people. But I loved it. It felt like the sort of place where I could actually have discussions. It was far away from SEO-optimized stuff. It was real. Genuine.
And then one day, it showed a 'database unavailable' thing. As I'm writing this, it still does. No explanation, no nothing. Just 'database unavailable'. All of it that wasn't archived is gone, including the last post (I think--I don't know) that was made to it.
I have no way of contacting anyone on it. It's just gone. And I miss it. It was one of the first communities I joined that wasn't Facebook-y social media.
I was just wondering what other sites like that you guys have, small communities or sites that vanished. Or ones that haven't been updated in ages. Or ones that were sold off and became different.
I hope this community continues for a long time. A similar one I was involved with was ukriversguidebook. It's still up, but barely gets any posts anymore. It was a forum for collecting river guides and information as well as a phpbb for discussing kayaking and canoeing. I used to read it every day and contribute guides sometimes, but this kind of thing has all gone to Facebook which is ok for transitory discussions but doesn't work as a historical document for discussions or information.
Incidentally after all the furore on here I'd assume reddit was largely dead now, but since starting playing console games this year I've realised how heavily used it is for gaming tips.
Old Facebook, when the Wall was just recent posts from real friends, not whatever level of hellish crapvertisement propaganda it is today.
Dont howl over the joys that were; fire up a forum and make those joys live again.
Not on Google’s watch
https://discuss.bootstrapped.fm - a forum for small internet business owners. we still have the archive tho!
Geocities.
Delicious.
News in one place via feeds.
Is there an alternative now?
Revue, i started a newsletter and was 17 weeks in, then Elon took over Twitter and shut it down
Ffffound.com Salon.com WebMonkey (the one from the 90s) CBCRadio3 Rdio Anandtech Twitter
Easily, Fucked Company tops the list for me. Never has there ever been a more entertaining website. But also it was like staring into an abyss.
Is blind like that? It’s too toxic for me
TC: 0
2go. It was amazing. Miss it a lot
I am obliged to mention Dark Sky - purchased by Apple and deatomized. They supposedly rolled some of its data into the default _OS weather apps but it doesn't feel the same and the UI is completely gone, which imo was the best part. (Plus I primarily use Android.) I used to go everywhere by bicycle and the ability to know at a glance precisely if and when it was going to rain was invaluable.
The latest default weather from Google in Android (might only be Pixel?) is actually a decent substitute for the basics, although it's still not as reliable and well-thought-out as Dark Sky was.
Luboš Motl's blog The Reference Frame .. it was a unique resource of awesome quality for its physics content ... He may have been rather toxic in certain contexts, but not even close to the limits of what a rational society would accept from someone this good.
Bookdepository
explicit word that may displease amazon fanboys amazon!
They were the only way to order books to Thailand for a reasonable price
When they shut down I could only buy e-books on Kindle
fuckedcompany.com Layoffs are back. Time to fire it up.
Google reader
Orkut, a real social network that connected us to friends and family, before the newsfeed ruined everything
Groklaw.
digg and stumbleupon
Not so much an answer to your question, as the sites are still around, more than what made the sites enjoyable is gone.
OSNews - while Thom does well, there’s just not as much great content anymore, nor discussions.
Reddit/Slashdot - I think so many of these discussion sites died once Trump and MAGA came around, a bit of it started back with the Tea Party crazies too. So many discussions get overtaken by crazy political posts.
DeviantArt - I used to enjoy that site, now it’s just filled with AI crap.
I used to subscribe to a magazine called Computer Arts. They had a section where they showcased sites with amazing design and UX, lots of Flash fun. That died with Flash and every site being designed around a layout that allows the most ads that can be placed on it.
Long form content sites died too, or are hidden behind paywalls. Surfing the web just isn’t enjoyable anymore.