Slashdot Mirror
15 Websites That Changed the World
nuke-alwin writes "To mark the web's 15th anniversary, The Guardian is reporting on 15 websites that changed the world. Everything from commercial sites like eBay and Amazon to social collaboratives like Wikipedia and Slashdot made the list." From the article's comments on Blogger: "Content was once made by companies for passive consumption by people. After Blogger, people were the content. They wrote about and read about their friends, their opinions, their cats. (There was a lot about cats in the early blogs.) None had a huge audience but collectively they were massive. Now you see TV networks saying: 'We've gotta get on the web because that's where the audience is,' says Williams."
Founded: 2004 by Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm
users: alot
What is it? One of the only filesharing sites able to stick it to the man. Even after dealing with police.
Hopefully eventually able to trigger positive discussion and evolution in copyright laws.
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
..just ain't that influential.
Barely a blip on the radar screen.
have changed the world. Not as individual sites. What is remarkable is how little claim most of these sites have to world changing status.
Google is the strongest contender. But even Google did not invent the search engine, it "merely" improved it greatly. The Altavista engine, in its day, was a marvel, and it introduced on-line translation. But at the same time Altavista launched, there was Lycos and Excite.
As a class search engine sites have certainly changed the world. But they appear to me to be a natural development of the web.
It is possible that a web site like the Drudge report might tip an election and change the world but it hasn't happened.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What the hell does 5.5m users per month mean? AFAIK the user IDs aren't even at 1m yet.
I was a /.er for a while beforehand, but when the Columbine shootings happened and then the massive backlash against kids who "don't fit in" sparked the Hellmouth series I was hooked. Slashdot helped to change the world due to those two stories.
Katz was a fucktard but the Hellmouth series were groundbreaking.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Interesting, he's going to go down in history with similar status as Gutenberg. One of the very very few people alive who will still be referenced in 500, 1000 years where even kings, prime ministers and presidents will be forgotten.
Deleted
I like Flickr much better than DA. Flickr is a little bit less snobby, and its easier to ignore the plethera of angsty goths. Granted the signal to noise ratio is much higher on Flickr, but as a whole I think the quality of people is a bit better.
Speaking of, why aren't the social websites (yes, I could call them Web 2.0, but then I'd have to go shoot myself) such as del.icio.us, or Flickr? Granted del.icio.us has not actually changed much in-itself it started the whole social thing that is so prevelant these days.
And how has a software homepage changed how we use the internet? Whatabout Winamp.com, or iTunes.com? It is rather absurd, the most time people spent on Napster's page was to find where the download link was. And while I'm bitching why is Blogger.com there? Didn't LiveJournal come first on the free blogging scene? Perhaps even, to be blasphemous, Google should be replaced with Yahoo, since Google was only really following in the footsteps of Yahoo, and can be seen (in the eyes of 10 years ago) as the Yahoo of today.
How has Slashdot changed the internet, or how people experience it? It brought strange, long-running, inside jokes to the unsuspected masses? Increasing the general FUD content of the world? Validating fat kids in their mothers basements as having something to say? Sporadically downing random websites across the lands? Slashdot, the Mongol invation of the internet.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
And... blogger.com, really? I would think that livejournal would have been a better choice for the "dragging down journalistic standards/bluring the line between infotainment and slice of life." category...
I was wondering why not LiveJournal, too. They were both created in 1999 (and according to Wikipedia, LJ was March compared with August for Blogger). LiveJournal also combined it with the social networking aspect, which I don't believe Blogger does(?). It wasn't the first social networking site - but are there any earlier ones still going today? And were there any earlier social networking sites that combined it with "blogging"/journalling?
Not to mention the source being open, and having spawned many other sites. Does that apply to blogger?
(Though I disagree it's "dragging down journalistic standards" - LiveJournal is primarily used for journalling and discussions with friends, not "pretending to be a journalist" like many blogs - but nonetheless, LJ can be used for stereotypical standalone blogging if you wish.)
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
notice that even though this is a british site, all but one of the sites mentioned is american.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
I definitely recognize EasyJet, though I question it's status as "world-changing," particularly a "world changing website." As for FriendsReunited - who? I'd also argue against Napster - it was the Napster program and service that possibly had a "world-changing" impact, not so much the website itself.
.com TLD registrar.
As for what they missed -
1) Hotmail, of course. It's really lame now, but it really was one of the catalysts for people adopting email en masse.
2) CNN.com - I mean, just think back to 9/11/01. Many people didn't turn to TV for news, they went to CNN.com (as well as MSNBC.com and a host of other news sites, admittedly, but CNN.com was probably most prominent that day).
3) NetworkSolutions.com, just because for a long time, they were the ONLY
I mostly agree with them.
I have never been on napster.com, but I see why it made the list.
I have never heard of either "blogger.com" or "friendsreunited.com"
slashdot.org - Yay!
salon.com - What? How did this crappy website change the world?
google.com - Duh.. Why isn't this number 1?
yahoo.com - Really? Yahoo?
15. easyjet.com (Budget airline) -- And out of nowhere. Easyjet? Man, I love Easyjet. I fly them everywhere I can. But I don't see how they changed the world or even influenced any other sites very much. This was a really wierd one to be on this list.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Another "my take":
1. eBay.com - PayPal is actually the site that made eBay what it is today. If it wasn't for PayPals payment format people would be very suspect of eBay and fraud would be in the double digit percentile
2. wikipedia.com - Come back in about three years and we'll see. It's neat, it has potential, it's not ready for prime time.
3. napster.com - The site was worthless. If you want to list internet software, sure. At that rate include AIM.
4. youtube.com - This is today's stir. Much like wikipedia, wait a few years and see what's left.
5. blogger.com - Shrug. Blogging is neat for the author but for the most part 99% of them are fodder and rightfully so.
6. friendsreunited.com (School reunion site) - Perhaps. I don't know this one well but if it's anything like Classmates.com it should be listed as an annoyance.
7. drudgereport.com (News site) - "I'll compile links to other news sources and occasionally throw in my own 2 cents". Sounds like a blog.
8. myspace.com - What? Only because it's getting press. It's this years Geocities. In time it will go the way of geocities as well.
9. amazon.com - First webstore to turn a profit, finally a really insightful pick. Amazon has endurance and a great business model that most other larger retailers are trying to rip off.
10. slashdot.org - It's kind of like drudge on technology with a forum. Obviously I visit the site but it's a shell of what it use to be.
11. salon.com (Online magazine and media company) - I have never seen anything truly redeeming on salon that hasn't appeared elsewhere.
12. craigslist.org (A centralised network of online urban communities) - Yeah, fine. Probably more known for all the wrong reasons.
13. google.com (Popular search engine) - Unless Google starts really bringing more to the masses and doesn't let us down on the same level as the Segway did I don't think it will matter much over time. What google does have going for it is it's popularity today.
14. yahoo.com - See #13, think the same thoughts about 5 years ago.
15. easyjet.com (Budget airline) - Give me one good reason.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I'm not sure how you figure that. I work in a huge new and used bookstore (powells.com) and have done so long before Amazon existed. We can't compete with Amazon on new book pricing. Used books are our bread and butter. I might be misunderstanding your post buy when you say Amazon hasn't changed the world of the greatest best seller it sounds like you are talking about content. Amazon hasn't changed what content appears in new books but they have changed where people buy them.
hamsterdance.com
Seriously, time-wasting and silly forwards are a huge part of the Internet. Sure, youtube is listed, but the article emphasizes the usefulness, not the uselessness. The Internet is not such a serious place, after all.
What made Yahoo powerful was it's directory because back in the elder times there were no search engines. If you wanted to find something you either had to go to Yahoo or stumble across it. Of course, most of you are too young to remember that.
No but, yeah but, no but...