Dotcom Era Fads 274
prostoalex writes "Nostalgic USA Today looks at the fads of the dotcom boom era. The Dancing Baby, HamsterDance, I Kiss you dot org and the phrase 'All your base are belong to us' made the list."
The Tao is like a glob pattern: used but never used up. It is like the extern void: filled with infinite possibilities.
I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:5, Funny)
Some days they seem like a thing of the past that might never come back [slashdot.org].
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:5, Funny)
I think that's because Steve is still about and Apple are going from strength to strength.
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:3, Insightful)
No, Apple just has a hell of a lot of really smart people in marketing
Can you say Powerbook? Can you say OSX? Can you say G5?
They do have a lot of smart people in marketing, but their products currently kick Wintel's ass all over the place as well.
And I use both on a daily basis, so I *am* in a position to know. Are you?
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:5, Interesting)
1991: gopher
1992: Linux, Krol's "Whole Internet Guide"
1993: Apple Newton, Mosaic, Andrea Chen, Doom
1994: Bill Bixby haiku
1995: Yahoo, Greencard spam, Netscape IPO, DejaNews, eBay, Altavista
1996: JenniCam, Palm Pilot, WebTV
1997: dancing baby, Slashdot, 1st weblog
1998: Drudge Report, Google, HampsterDance, iMac, DMCA, PayPal
1999: TiVo, Everquest, Napster, Epinions, Y2K
2000: AOL-TW, bubble pops, ArsDigita University, All Your Base
[Lots more] [robotwisdom.com]
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:4, Funny)
Pre dot-com days. (Score:2)
Of course it didn't take long to figure out some interesting uses the web had over Gopher. I had an interesting website that used RIP graphics. It only worked if you were
Re:Pre dot-com days. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Pre dot-com days. (Score:2)
Oops.
The references to Canter & Siegal stunned me, as I did not expect it from USAToday. Followed up by a reference to Kibo blew me away. Kibo is the reason for the intentional misspelling of an semi-obscure word to create my handle. (The intercap helps with greps of newsfeeds, but
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:2)
1998: Drudge Report, Google, HampsterDance, iMac, DMCA, PayPal
So that's why I keep thinking "hamster" is spelled with a "p". I had always wondered about that. Plus, pipingdesign.com was founded in 1998, an obvious glaring omission.
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:2)
Re:I Think They Forgot One Thing (Score:4, Funny)
Don't forget the sweating, dancing, and screaming Ballmer videos! I've been trying to, but the images are burned into my brain..
What about Goatse? (Score:3, Funny)
It's you! (Score:4, Funny)
I beg your pardon (Score:2, Funny)
In Zero Wing, the preposition comes before the direct object.
They set up us the boom is more correct.
Sheesh, me to need publish grammar?
Ah but... (Score:3, Insightful)
How many more times am I going to have to forward this darn "5 cents donation for every forward for the liver transplant" email and end this flower to people you love!!! email. I think I am destined to see the Hampster Dance at least once a year for the rest of my life as every female in the world forwards it to me.
Re:Ah but... (Score:3, Funny)
You lucky b***rd, all I get form those females is viagra ads and those enlarge your p***s in five simple steps. Which reminds me, is there anyone in the
all you bases are belong to us (Score:3, Funny)
Nerdy colors (Score:3, Funny)
"All" trendy companies of 1999 had sleek logos in grey and orange (oh, yes, I used to work for one of those...).
Re:Nerdy colors (Score:2)
You kicked my dog... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You kicked my dog... (Score:4, Informative)
I don't remember that one, so I looked it up
http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/mydog.htm [funnyjunk.com]
It's a shockwave file, and it's not bad. Not bad at all
-- james
Score -1, Racist drivel (Score:2)
Not so say quite offensive.
Re:You kicked my dog... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You kicked my dog... (Score:5, Interesting)
Nah mate, I'm Australian. There's not much we'll take offense at over here :-) You can even look us in the eye and tell us our beer stinks, and we'll just laugh at you. Tell us our politicians are dickheads, and we'll probably even buy you one of those beers! :-)
If, for some reason, you're offended by my looking you in the eye and calling you a 'Paki', then it is your solemn duty to look me in the eye and call me a 'stinking kangaroo f*cker'. In turn, it is my duty to look offended for a couple of seconds, then burst out laughing, and proceed to buy you one of those aforementioned beers.
Closer to home, the term "Paki" here in Australia really doesn't carry any further than a description of one particular group of folks we play 'World Cup' cricket against. (The fact that I refer to 'world cup' and another country in the same sentence should alone prove to you that I'm not an American! Americans don't invite other countries when they hold 'International' sporting competitions!!!).
In any case, in this context, I'm just quoting the sound bite - no offense intended.
Re:You kicked my dog... (Score:2)
While I'm on the topic, I guess I should point out that we play cricket against the "Kiwis" (New Zealanders), the "Poms" (British), the "Windies" (West Indians), the "Pakis" (Pakistani's), and a bunch of others. All of those slang terms (yes, including "Paki's") are used openly and regularly in polite conversation, and even in prime time television adver
Re:You kicked my dog... (Score:2)
OT Packie as in package store (Score:2)
In vermont, on the other hand, the gas stations sold single beers and i was allowed to work in a microbrewery at the age of 18. Go figure!
dot com era continued... (Score:2, Funny)
All Your Base is post-Dot Com (Score:5, Interesting)
It was early 2001 (sheesh, that long ago?) and it was picked up by the Google Zeitgeist [google.com] at the time.
Kibology is probably pre-Dot Com as well. Maybe they meant to talk about lavish parties and venture capital being burnt?
At least we never really had a Dotcom era to speak of in New Zealand...
Re:All Your Base is post-Dot Com (Score:2)
all my base are still belong to you!
Re:All Your Base is post-Dot Com (Score:2)
But like other flashes in the pan, it retreated as quickly as it had appeared.
They obviously don't read slashdot.
-j
Re:All Your Base is post-Dot Com (Score:2)
See here [google.com] for 1993 commentary, including a post by Larry Wall.
Re:All Your Base is post-Dot Com (Score:2)
That's true, but it the era is a valid period of time that the fads occurred in (well, most of them).
Though then again, they only are fads. It's not like we are going to stop see them continue to come and go. As the fads really have nothing to do with the dotcom boom itself, perhaps it would have been better to simply start with "Nostalgic USA Today looks at past internet fads".
Dont Forget (Score:2, Offtopic)
The thing about the dot-com boom... (Score:4, Interesting)
Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to live through a boom/bust cycle like that. Kindof a Millenium Burnout Party, I guess.
And that's one fad they forgot: the Millenium.
Re:The thing about the dot-com boom... (Score:2)
Re:The thing about the dot-com boom... (Score:2)
I doubt it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Wow, you mean I'm going to get to be an executive vice president of a million dollar corporation again!
All Your Base Are Belong to Us (Score:3, Funny)
The theme still lives on popping up on gaming message boards from time to time and providing a good laugh. Also the porn dot cum still lives on. Nostalgic? Yes. Slow Sunday? Yes. Sleepy? Yes. Loser? Yeeeeeeeee (damn 'S' key died on me)
Another net fad that should die (Score:5, Funny)
This is all well and good... (Score:3, Funny)
Tierce
What about material things? (Score:4, Interesting)
no need to read : (Score:2, Funny)
so; RTFST!"
History of 'All Your Base (Score:5, Informative)
Toaplan releases a port for the Sega Genesis console with the addition of an intro scene, which is then translated into english (very poorly) and released in the United States.
Toaplan goes out of business.
Someone from a Zany Video Game Quotes website notices the poor translation, and highlights the game.
Overclocked.org does a humorous voiceover of the Zero Wing intro in a fake Wayne Newton voice.
Dozens of game-related messageboards begin to post quotes from the parody, and images altered to show the phrase.
Most of the threads lose interest and die off quickly as the trend is pronounced dead countless times.
The Flash movie/video is released with images from the threads and music taken from the origional game someone had added the phrase "all your base" to.
AYB explosively expands to the general (non game messageboard-reading) public.
The origional site for the video is shut down within hours due to excessive traffic, and moves to PlanetStarsiege.
Lycos ponders how "All your Base" was transformed from obscurity to a top 50 search practically overnight.
Mainstream media begin to notice the trend, and stories appear in Time Magazine, USA Today, Fox News, The Los Angeles Times, Tech TV, Wired, and many others.
As the 'remix' used in the video goes from 58 hits a day to several thousand per day, mp3.com notices the track has been ripped directly from the video game and pulls the music off their site due to copyright violations. It is later returned unchanged.
The trend continues to grow as it expands into nearly every corner of the web.
Large websites like Angelfire and Hewlett Packard sneak "all your base" references into their designs.
"All Your Base" is pronounced dead several times every day, yet it's 15 minutes of fame continue for some reason...
Re:History of 'All Your Base (Score:2, Insightful)
Now, things can be famous for being famous. Once things were famous for being great. Then they could be famous for being popular. Now, having been famous is enough.
Don't forget.. (Score:2)
AYB didnt fade (Score:2, Informative)
Hell, people are STILL sending it to me.... (Score:2)
s been September for at least 5 years now, maybe longer. I keep getting the same stuff every time a new relative gets connected. Thank God for Snopes [snopes.com] as a place to send these people every time I get a cookie recipie email.
Dot com? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, the internet is perfect for memes like 'all your base' to flourish; it takes no effort to forward an url to everyone you know; I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows at least one individual who regularly sent messages where the To: field was longer than the rest of the message combined. A swift (and usually repeated) larting usually took care of these eventually, but in a lot of cases that just meant that their list was transferred to Bcc: instead.
Two things that I noticed around that time that didn't make the list: The warning about GoodTimes, and the now-legendary one-line email that you had to scroll through eight metres of crap and and a myriad '>>>>>' of variable length in order to read 'Check it out!!!!!!!!!' followed by an asinine url that leaves you wondering why the fuck anyone'd want to send it in the first place, let alone forward it to the universe.
Of course,
What the hell is a 'grit' anyway?
Re:Dot com? (Score:3, Informative)
It's a kind of coarse cornmeal, and is prepared similarly to oatmeal ("instant grits" exist, as well as the old fashioned kind). The cooked grits can then be used in a variety of different recipes. Grits are generally eaten in the southern regions of the USA, though of course the Native Americans originated the concept (since corn, after all, came from the Americas, not Europe).
Grits were also featured in My Cousin Vinny. What they have to do with Natalie Portman, I co
Grits, Larts and Clue Sticks (Score:2)
What the hell is a 'grit' anyway?
And what does this have to do with Natalie Portman. The slashdot search function fails me.
While you're at it, what is a "LART"? Is it like a clue stick [wordspy.com]? Which should be applied first, and when?
Re:Dot com? (Score:2, Informative)
(LART) Something large, heavy and painful, used to
respond appropriately to particularly annoying lusers.
The alt.sysadmin.recovery FAQ recommends the following
LARTs. A 2x4 works fine, but a real professional needs
something a little more effective. Unfortunately, this is a
very personal thing, and no consensus has yet been reached on
the group. Everything from a simple, 7.65mm Walther (for the
Bond fans only, it's not a very good gun) to a 15
Mirsky's Worst of the Web... (Score:3, Informative)
Sadly, most people have never heard of it now...
What about l3375p34| and ....? (Score:4, Insightful)
All your base are not a flash in the pan! (Score:5, Funny)
Use in every post, for great justice!
What I say!?!?
Someone set us up the long-running gag!
All our taste are belong to bad.
Slashdotisms (Score:5, Interesting)
--
In Soviet Russia... jokes trace back you.
Re:Slashdotisms (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Slashdotisms (Score:2)
Curiously, the guy then later wrote a somewhat pro-mac entry here [kottke.org] (see halfway down the page)
Re:Slashdotisms (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Slashdotisms (Score:2)
Geez, has it been four years already?
Re:Slashdotisms (Score:2)
C'mon guys, what are we doing here? Slashdot hasn't yet started
In The Beginning...... (Score:2, Informative)
Related advertising link (Score:2)
Internet controlled coke machines/coffee makers (Score:2)
allyourbase even hit microsoft, (Score:2)
http://www.microsoft.com/Office/clippy/images/rol
(official site here [microsoft.com])
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US! (Score:2)
Obviously, the autor of the article has NO IDEA what he's talking about.
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!
WHOHOOOOOOO!!!! ZERO WING RULZ!
Internet fads (Score:2, Interesting)
I've been a hardcore netizen since 1998, when I used to dial up from my uncle's home to a text-only shell account with a 1,500 bps modem :-) I remember waiting minutes to download a single JPEG file, then transferring it to my local machine using Kermit [columbia.edu], and opening it up in Internet Explorer 3.0 on Windows 95, only to realise that it's the wrong one! Those were the days when I learnt to use Pine [washington.edu] and Lynx [browser.org], my favourite mail/www combo.
Those were the days of Internet su
Re:Internet fads (Score:2, Insightful)
Um, dood, I hate to tell you this, but there's a majority of people here that were netizens when Yahoo [yahoo.com] didn't even exist, so your bragging is quite a bit less than impressive. Now give me back my Geritol...
Re:Youngster (Score:2)
Don't forget good'ol gopher. And IRC, or, if you're into hardcore stuff, 'talk'
The main problem with e-mail was that there were very few people who had an address. Today, everyone has three or more...
JAVA GURU WANTED (Score:2)
Now if you really were a Java Guru you certainly wouldn't need a stupid recruitment agency to get you work. Daft recruitment Ads top my list of tiresome dotcom fads.
Another they forgot... (Score:2, Interesting)
Truly a timeless classic.
Etymology. (Score:2)
Call me old-fashioned, but more than anything else, I think the above sentence summarizes the tech boom for us.
In comparison, consider this usage from 1961, as quoted [oed.com] in the OED:-
That's right folks; before 1990's,
meme (Score:2, Informative)
various cybercultural oddities (a.k.a. memes) over the years have made a fleeting impact on Net culture
I didn't think a meme was a cybercultural oddity. I thought it was a (usually false) idea whose character was to spread through human consciousness in a viral manner (e.g. - all small bandages are Band Aids (tm), the SR-71's fuel is the consistency of peanut butter, etc.).
This brings up a question. Has the idea of a meme become a meme?
Re:meme (Score:2, Insightful)
All your base going strong (Score:2, Insightful)
ohhhh don't i wish! When i don't here this phrase 10 times a day I'll finally be able to take the plugs out of my ears
Many (Score:2, Interesting)
ebaumsworld [ebaumsworld.com] and maybe many new fads?:)
Changes to the Workplace from the Dot Com days (Score:5, Interesting)
The Dot Com days made many changes to the work place which are both positive and negative.
Many of the positives which have been fading, taken away or restricted
Very relaxed dress code (shorts, jeans, sandals, hiking boots/sneakers)
Telecommuting
Flex Time ( work longer on Mon/Tue, take Fri off)
In-house gourmet lunches
Game room and outdoor games
Few of the negatives which are now flourishing
Oursourcing to India
H1-B Visas
Corporate executives throwing their weight around by reducing pay, taking away benefits such as flex time, telecommuting, vacations
One company that epitomizes the positives is Google's Culture [google.com]. They are one of the few Dot Com type companies still around.
On the dress code, many companies have brought back dress codes especially the legal and finance industry. Where I work at, we are subcontrctors to Boeing on a government contract. Their top manager has a strict dress policy of having to wear a tie, slacks and dress shoes. This means no jeans along with hiking boots/sneakers/tennis shoes. This dress code even applies on trips on weekends and if you come in on a Saturday. Their work hours are strict 8 to 5. Those rules don't apply to us, YET ! There are rumblings in the Boeing group to force us to comply with those rules since they hold the purse strings. I take Thursday and Friday afternoons off just about every week but Monday and Tuesday are long days though. I also wear jeans everyday as well. We are in one of the top outdoor recreational states of Colorado.
Part of the rumblings in Boeing to force us to comply with their rules caused a few problems for me. Back in June/July, I took 4 weeks vacation to do some traveling, go see family and one of the Managers in Boeing told me to cancel my vacation since my focus should be on working instead of taking time off that I have earned and I told him I did not answer to him and he got irate. He told me I will pay for my attitude. The same person got pissed when I happen to be around on Friday all day that they cannot get any work done because of our flex time policy. One of their computers at 4pm went down and the person who can call in left at 11 am. He was demanded that the computer get fixed this instant. He made the comment that we are lazy since we take Friday afternoon off. He fired off some complaints to their top executives.
At Oracle which is in Colorado Springs, they started to restrict people from telecommuting who live within 50 miles of the company building. Last I heard, there is talk to take it away. Those who live in different Mountain towns may have to move if they want to keep their job.
Re:Changes to the Workplace from the Dot Com days (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Changes to the Workplace from the Dot Com days (Score:2)
Somebody was paid to write this? (Score:2, Funny)
Here's a dot-com fad that hasn't gone away just yet: The Dumbing down of the internet.
Dancing baby (Score:2)
As far as I can tell it was a Windows executable which people sent to each other, and which when run displayed an animation of... a dancing baby.
Now unquestioningly running executables that people send you is not a good practice. But the Dancing Baby would encourage people to get into this bad habit because otherwise... well, you do
Mr.T (Score:5, Informative)
Nostalgic (Score:2, Funny)
GIEEF LIVES (Score:2)
(Hey, it seems appropriate for this story)
Reminds me of a short story, "Silicon Follies" (Score:2)
<!--Lifted from the front page -->
Silicon Follies is a serial comedy about life, work, love and war in Silicon
my additions (Score:2)
Scooters. I could literally guess the number of IPOs that had gone through the week before by the number of goateed laptop toters who'd get off the CalTrain and whip out a razor scooter to zip off to work. Man I hated those things.
Whiny Artsy Fartsy tech worker: Seems every company had a few of these sneak in, whether they were .com or not. You know, the people who went clubbing, wore tortise shell glasses, had a couple piercings and the aforementioned goatee and razor scooter (maybe an off shoulder GAP
Was Sun (Score:2)
It was the media that ran the dotcomcrash financial reports, before the market crashed. Remember that the media is owned by about 6 companies. And they don't like competition.
Notice today's fortune (Score:3, Funny)
Newspaper articles (Score:2)
Unfortunately, now we're starting to see the flipside, such as this idiot [sfgate.com] who thinks the Internet was spawned in 1995 and "frankly, the whole thing is starting to get a bit old anyway." Don't let the door hit
Re:I can't believe... (Score:3, Informative)
But when did you ever see this sort of article about the interweb get anything right?
Re:All your base? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:All your base? (Score:2)
Re:All your base? (Score:2)
All your humor (Score:2)
"All your base" is a fad. It's old. It's not funny any more.
It's obviously funny to some, or they wouldn't be using it any more. If you don't like it, well, don't laugh. Nobody's going to take offense.
Re:All your humor (Score:2)
It's also possible that you're placing it in conversations better than I imagine. I can't think of any situations that would make that line funny, but maybe you can.
--RJ
Re:All your humor (Score:2, Insightful)
Not in America. We specialize in taking offense at anything here.
Re:All your base? (Score:3, Insightful)
I laughed at a highly-moderated comment posted just several weeks ago, recounting "All your base" with IBM and SCO taking parts.
Sometimes there is nothing funnier than at a particularly unexpected moment someone making a silly reference -- perhaps as a derivative -- to something like "All your base".
"It's a trap!", something I've seen seen in some fairly weird places, which also seems to be really quite silly, is also humorous at some un
Re:All your base? (Score:2)
Of course not, it's a f#!@ng gazebo!
Re:All your base? (Score:2)
See my other response on this. I just can't imagine any situations where I could toss in that line and have it work. And believe me, I overuse "stock" humor: one person started calling me "Homer" to make me realize how often I said "D'oh"!
--RJ
Re:Actually, Linux was a huge dot-com fad (Score:2)
Re:Actually, Linux was a huge dot-com fad (Score:2)
That comment was an observation that during 1999, Linux was a fad. And in investment terms, that was very much the case. Go and compare stock values for Redhat, VA or any other publically traded linux company then and now and the difference is quite observable. This was reflected in numerous fly-by-night web-ventures that appeared on the web at that time.