Priviblur as a Tumblr front end isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s worth knowing about

well said. you’re supposed to have roses with your bread, fellas

Depends on the subforum, naturally, but the whole place is unquestionably a big waxy cheese wheel of old internet. The paywall, the heavy moderation, regulars who’ve been posting brainy takes in megathreads for years… it still all works like a charm.

Find someone who knows their shit on a topic you care about and hit the ¿ to see their posts and jump in to great moments of earlier discussion. Encounter them again being smart about some other awesome thing. Skip pages of fast threads except for posters you want to see. No upvotes, ya use yer words. That’s a tasty slice of a rare flavor.

Forums are detox for algorithm sickness. Still one of the finest tenbux you can spend.

I’ve seen web writers claim that the original brain trust of Weird Twitter started from a Something Awful clique

The blowtax shock-site days are long gone. With occasional exceptions in containment areas like the pink forum and the debate forum, SA’s culture is acceptable-to-laudable these days. Effortposts on the leftist board are a life-changing force for personal betterment, and goons remain some of the most charitable nerds anywhere.

And despite all of that, it is still funny.

Yes, and it still kicks ass. Come home, goon.

If you do your browsing on mobile, check out the Awful app.

accuarte

Mentally pronouncing this to rhyme with “jacquard” makes me miss Homestar Runner.

I’m more grateful for paywalled Web 1.0 platforms from two decades ago than I have been in a long time. Metafilter’s FanFare section is low-volume but particularly satisfying for thoughtful movie chatter. It’s fun when bursts of comments in an old thread are years apart between a title’s theatrical release and arrival on streaming.