[HN Gopher] Zombocom is a well of deep wisdom (2021)
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Zombocom is a well of deep wisdom (2021)
 
Author : hdk
Score  : 126 points
Date   : 2022-01-22 10:35 UTC (12 hours ago)
 
web link (expmag.com)
w3m dump (expmag.com)
 
| Trasmatta wrote:
| I literally just went to Zombocom last night (you can do anything
| there, after all). I can't help but stay for the full audio loop
| every time. It makes me so happy that the site is still up and
| functional after all this time. To me it's like a small link back
| to the past when the internet felt more fun.
 
  | EvanAnderson wrote:
  | I periodically visit http://www.31337.com/ just to make sure
  | it's still content-free for a similar reason.
 
    | infotropy wrote:
    | I'm just sad that humanskullwarehouse.com appears to be
    | defunct.
 
  | whatshisface wrote:
  | Zombocom has stayed active for longer than many actual,
  | revenue-having businesses. Zombocom is more reliable _than the
  | average Google product._ I will gladly accept Zombocom platform
  | lock-in, because it is a name I can trust.
 
    | Trasmatta wrote:
    | I was convinced the death of flash would mean the death of
    | Zombocom, but the fact that somebody took the time to migrate
    | it to HTML5 makes me so, so happy.
    | 
    | I should never have doubted it. After all, the unattainable
    | is unknown at ZomboCom.
 
| endorphine wrote:
| I remember zombocom from back in the day. This was a meme before
| memes were cool.
| 
| Fun fact: one of the first websites I made as a kid, in 2001,
| hosted in Geocities, is still around but I'm embarrassed to share
| it.
| 
| Edit: maybe not so fun for people other than me and my friends
| from that time
 
| pcwalton wrote:
| Zombo.com stopped Firefox development for a day back in, oh, 2011
| or so. Somebody noticed that new tests were failing and the tree
| ended up being closed for new commits while the problem was
| investigated. Turns out that a month or so prior someone added a
| test that loaded zombo.com, and the site had gone down. This may
| not have been a coincidence, as all the racks of test machines
| had been running that test nonstop and effectively DDoSing
| zombo.com for a month.
| 
| Anyway, that's why the test servers are now firewalled.
 
| f38zf5vdt wrote:
| > The site's creator, Josh Levine, did not respond to an
| interview request.
| 
| I'm guessing maybe he's a little sad or fatigued that his lasting
| public legacy is a meme website from the dot-com era.
 
| staplung wrote:
| Surprised that no one has mentioned https://theuselessweb.com.
| 
| That's how I was first introduced to Zombocom, among many, many
| others.
 
| dane-pgp wrote:
| > Queen Elizabeth ... has never granted an interview.
| 
| I or II?
 
| mantis_shrimp wrote:
| The piece was fine. I'm just not a fan of the characterization
| that this is an old thing that gen x people don't appreciate it
| because it doesn't sell ads?
| 
| This is the most gen x thing I've seen all day, and don't worry
| the new generation is just as sick of this ad-infested internet
| as everyone else, we just didn't know there was another way.
| 
| It's... Naive, imagining that this kind of content doesn't exist
| anymore. It exists, peruse reddit for 5 mins and you will find a
| similar site. But now we have so many apps that bring real value
| to our lives, I think what people really miss is the feeling of
| the internet being a toy, rather than a mature system that has
| both value and consequences.
 
  | [deleted]
 
  | bee_rider wrote:
  | And anyway, Zombocom was the kind of dumb humor that we
  | (millenial teenagers, at the time) loved. Next they'll try to
  | tell us that Badger Badger Mushroom embodied the fact that GenX
  | was over lyrics, or something.
 
    | Natsu wrote:
    | Wouldn't one use Leekspin for that?
    | 
    | Ah tsi tsup ari dik ari dil ...
 
| dumbfounder wrote:
| I like to open about 7-8 zombocom tabs about 1-3 seconds apart.
| Give it a try. You can do much more of anything.
 
| iratewizard wrote:
| Did they really try to write a "deep" think piece on a homestar
| runner-era joke website?
 
  | whoomp12342 wrote:
  | I agree, articles like this is what's wrong with the internet
  | today. While I absolutely love zombo com, it does not merit a
  | writeup and 2 minutes of my time to read said article
 
    | machinerychorus wrote:
    | > this is what's wrong with the internet today.
    | 
    | This is what's RIGHT about the internet today! Anyone can
    | create a website and put whatever they want on it. You may
    | have a specific vision for what makes a "good" website, but
    | you don't get to control what other people post. If you don't
    | like it, ignore it! The internet isn't meant to be a
    | homogenous bulletin board, it's meant to be a way for
    | everyone to share whatever information they want to.
 
    | mcphage wrote:
    | Maybe an article that takes 1:43 to read?
 
    | alexb_ wrote:
    | Not everything that is created on the internet is made
    | special for you. Nobody is forcing you to read this, and
    | clearly other people here enjoy the write up, so calling it
    | "what's wrong with the internet today" seems... extreme
 
    | _jal wrote:
    | Totally. This took the place of clickbait that could have
    | made me feel insecure while generating a fraction of a penny
    | for some private equity group.
    | 
    | Where's the civic mindedness today?
 
  | Rinum wrote:
  | Why not? Look at all the upvotes it's getting.
 
    | mhb wrote:
    | Look at all the anti-vaxxers.
 
    | iratewizard wrote:
    | The upvotes are explained by the reddit tourists who
    | destroyed their own site and have nowhere else to go.
 
  | bitexploder wrote:
  | It's an anchor point to be philosophical about the current
  | state of affairs. It isn't really about Zombocom.
 
| ta988 wrote:
| There is also perdu.com (lost in French)
| 
| Don't worry, we are going to help you. You are here.
| 
| It has been here for decades.
 
  | mrweasel wrote:
  | The where a Danish site that I absolutely love, it was a bit of
  | a meme in it's own right. For 10 year or so, it was just a
  | centered text say: "Det skal nu nok ikke regne med" (Danish
  | for: Don't count on it).
  | 
  | That's it, that was the entire site.
 
| kingcharles wrote:
| Off-topic, but seeing Zombocom again reminded me of a video and I
| can't find it anywhere. It was a popular funny video about 15
| years ago.
| 
| Basically there is a brand new startup and they are waiting for
| their CEO to arrive. Bicycle messenger turns up and gets mistaken
| for the CEO. Startup doesn't even know what they actually do
| (Beanie Babies?). CEO finally turns up, fires everyone.
| 
| Anyone remember this video? Know where I can find it?
 
| 7thaccount wrote:
| I spent a long time on it trying to solve the puzzle once.
 
| prewett wrote:
| It seems like the site has changed since 2001 or whenever I first
| saw it. My memory of it was that it was a lot more subtle: just a
| white screen with lavendar circles that faded in and out on the
| screen. I also don't remember the audio having background music,
| but I could have misremembered that.
 
  | birdyrooster wrote:
  | The music was definitely there back in the day
 
  | spikej wrote:
  | It used to all be flash based. One update is definitely the
  | change to using CSS, etc.
 
  | avisser wrote:
  | It def always had that light elevator music.
 
  | jey wrote:
  | I think it's just that our standards have changed since 1999.
  | Back then, the fact that it wasn't covered completely head-to-
  | toe in Dancing Baby[1] and Hampsterdance[2] gifs made it seem
  | "subtle" and restrained.
  | 
  | 1. https://techcrunch.com/wp-
  | content/uploads/2014/06/babygif.gi...
  | 
  | 2. https://www.deviantart.com/jefftheironic/art/Hampster-
  | Dance-...
 
  | hrydgard wrote:
  | The animation speed isn't the same for some reason but
  | otherwise it's exactly like back in the day.
 
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(page generated 2022-01-22 23:01 UTC)