It's a bit scary when you find yourself explaining this to people on /. of all places. You're not alone.

And anyone who agrees with this post is most likely not posting content to the internet with the same zeal to connect and share as they once had. I'm surprising myself by actually posting.

For me, the problem is that where most content on the Web was out on public pages, it now hides behind a Facebook etc. login screen. I don't use that service, so when I hit that login screen, I close the tab. After a while, it leaves you with a sick feeling.

The real problem is not that these older/better internet services aren't around anymore, but that most people don't look at every available option first, and then choose Facebook etc. They have learned that there is only Facebook and then commercial sites for buying/building things. They may as well not exist - so the argument that they are still there is mostly irrelevant.

  As an example, the "young folks" (college/highschool age folks ) that I've convinced to use IRC with me have come around to my understanding, and feel basically the same way I do. But they wouldn't have known it was there, or how to use it. Back in the day, there was an incentive to learn about it. That incentive is gone - so it doesn't really matter if the services still exist or not.

The M1 Garand could fit EIGHT in the clip!

Teachers are afraid of the fact that information is now cheap. Youtube and Wikipedia offer far more value than a school full of average teachers. The only wars in the history of this world have been wars for information, if you think of everything as a form of information. The difference here is that the commodity itself is finally available without considerable loss of blood or investment of resource, and the purveyors of the commodity have traditionally been traditional teachers.

Use SeaMonkey! I've made the switch recently, after being a die-hard Firefox user since the beginning. I couldn't be happier. The interface is old-school, and it functions well enough for the simple work for which I use a browser. Just try the darned thing - you'll be very happy you did. If you're the kind of person (like me) that was seething with every release of new "features" in Firefox (awesomebar, et al.), give SeaMonkey a try.

It makes me very sad to say it, but I've moved on from Firefox, (and I don't like to touch Chrome or IE), but then again - the world seems to have moved-on from the ideal of clean code and efficient applications, as much as it has moved on from that old idea of language evolving logically from etymologically sound roots.

There's no stopping the tide, but there are indeed viable options. I highly recommend reading Paul Venezia's post about quarantining services to specific browsers. It's not hard to do. Use Chrome for watching crud on Youtube or using any Google services, (and nothing else!), and block it on your usual browser with NoScript, etc. Use a different one for Facebook (if you use that gawdawful service), and block the scripts on your usual browser. It's a simple solution, but it probably helps mitigate tracking a tiny bit.

Can anyone provide any good reasons to not use SeaMonkey?

"News for nerds, stuff that matters..."

As a person who has played LOTRO since beta, and has lead a large kinship the whole time, I have witnessed all of the best people leave, now including myself. The departures have been 100% due to the changes that came with the move to free-to-play. It's actually quite relieving, because I never had an intention to lead a large MMO guild, but the game was so good, was so convincing and immersive, that it didn't feel like I was playing an MMO, rather, it felt like I was engaging Tolkien's world. It definitely doesn't feel like that anymore!

Aye, for when you're done reading the column on how Global Warming killed the Mayans, e.c.

The fbo synopsis states,
"This is a synopsis of proposed contract action FA4452-12-R-0013... The Government plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a minimum of 63 and a maximum of 18,000, iPad 2, Brand Name or Equal devices. This equipment will be utilized as Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) for flightcrew members and trainers..." at the fbo.gov solicitation page, for what it's worth.

Googlecide = "Killing Googles"?

Hear, Hear! Unfortunately, when I hear myself saying that, it means the end result will be the opposite.

I'm willing to bet that I'm cringing more than you, but they will indeed be called "MakerSpaces", unless a more irritating term can be concocted.

I use a pencil, you insensitive clod!

This is actually one of the few times that response isn't hyperbolic. The pen is like a keyboard without a delete key; I prefer clean, correct code, whether the context is machine-readable or human-readable code.

The Ask Slashdot article about living without internet access at home sounds more relevant to me suddenly.

Who knows, but someone should tell him about Slashdot, the cool new techie Web-site.

Weird - I would never have suspected something like this would be going on.