Revisiting the website graveyard

[Tea]

In responding to the K6-III thread just now, I happened to follow a Google link to Tom's Hardware.

You know, I had honestly forgotten that that site existed. I don't think Tom's had crossed my mind as a place to visit (or even as a place to stay away from) for ... oh ... maybe three or four months. I was a little bored and it did occur to me to surf around there and check out what was new and interesting. But I wasn't that bored.

Maybe next month.

 

[simonstre]

Tom's hardware isn't a good place for reviews?

 

[Buck]

Tom's hardware isn't a good place for reviews?

Not unless you like sensationalism and deceit.

 

[cquinn]

Still goes a long way to place it in the "website graveyard".
AFAIK it is still a functioning site... whether it is good or
bad may be up for debate. There are certainly better
review sites out there, and there are just as certainly much
worse ones.

At the very least Tom's articles provide fuel for other online
forums to dicuss how they could have done it better... :roll:
(Isn't that similar to the same thing Eugene used to get complaints
about... for his "critiques" of other sites reviews?)

You know, this is the second post I've seen in the past couple of
weeks that seems to take pride in mentioning the sites that people
don't go to anymore; is it really becoming that boring around here?

 

[Tea]

Don't be so negative, cquinn.

Pride? No, not quite pride. Something a little different. I used to like Tom's, back years ago when he first started, and for a few years after that. But as the quality gradually declined and the arrogance - never a minor factor even at the very start - increased in equal measure, the place started to bug me. When the dishonesty started to become apparent, I pretty much stoppeed visiting regularly. I used to hit bookmarks, hardware .... hover over Tom's for a moment, then mostly go elsewhere. All that graphics-heavy Java crap bothered me too. But I used to pop in every now and then just the same.

And then tonight when I clicked on a couple of Google links without particularly thinking about what I was doing I found myself looking at that familiar layout again. I hadn't seen it for ages, nor so much as thought about it. So, yes, there was a feeling lying behind what I posted, but it wasn't pride. A much more gentle thing, a sense of (don't laugh!) peace, of closure. In a way, perhaps it was most like the feeling you get when you see a one much-loved ex after a long time, one you broke up with and had all sorts of mixed-up bitternesses and longings and unresolved issues with, and this time you realise that those feelings have just dissapeared somewhere. You no longer brood over old lusts and old wounds, you just say hello and maybe share a hug and go on with your life, feeling a little surprised and rather thankful that those old negativities have dissapeared.

Now that is much to strong an analogy to use here, of course - I doubt that any of us have cared that much about Tom's in either a positive or a negative way - and yet that odd sense of not being irritated any longer had something of that same flavour to it for me.

 

[Buck]

Yesterday, the hours seemed to move by slowly and my web surfing had become boring. Out of the blue, I decided: "Why don't we visit Tom's, it has been a couple of months?" As I arrived at this ‘venerable hardware site’, I paused, looked at the graphics, perused the article titles, and found myself wondering why I was there. There was nothing of interest for me to read, and the Las Vegas style graphics annoyed me, so I moved on.

THG doesn’t interest me anymore.

 

[Tea]

But on re-reading my thread title, cquin, I shold have said "revisiting the bookmark graveyard". That would have been more in keeping with the mood of my post.

(Actually, I haven't had Tom's bookmarked for many a long year, not since he used to be at www.sys.pair.com/somethingorotherIforgetnow For my moderately frequently visited sites, I usually find it easier to type a quick URL into the browser than it is to try to remember what I filed the bookmark under, and on which browser, and on which of my various computers.)

 

[Cliptin]

Yesterday, the hours seemed to move by slowly and my web surfing had become boring. Out of the blue, I decided: "Why don't we visit Tom's, it has been a couple of months?" As I arrived at this ‘venerable hardware site’, I paused, looked at the graphics, perused the article titles, and found myself wondering why I was there. There was nothing of interest for me to read, and the Las Vegas style graphics annoyed me, so I moved on.

THG doesn’t interest me anymore.

I was in the canoe beside you. I only visit Tom's anymore for the news synopsis. It's a same that thing with Van had to happen. As I finished my reading I thought, you know this does have a Vegas feel.

This is the Tom's I remember fondly:
http://www.tomshardware.co.kr/home.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.kr/roadrunner.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.kr/dream.html
http://www17.tomshardware.com/blurb/97q1/970310/index.html

 

[Cliptin]

BTW, the fine folks at Redhill.net.au seem to think Tom's is a fine place to find information.

Anand's Hardware Tech Page and Tom's Hardware Guide are good general hardware sites with a reasonable motherboard coverage. Tom's updates are getting further and further apart but on a good day he gives more technical detail than just about anyone.

 

[Buck]

Nice links Herbie. Obviously, Tom never could get the webpage layout process down very well.

 

[Tea]

Well, it used to be true. Still is, to some extent. But I better update it, I guess.

 

[time]

What don't you replace the link with one to the THG writer who never existed, one Van Smith? :mrgrn:

Hmmm, it's just occurred to me that many people may not even know he's associated with a site: www.vanshardware.com

The name sounds familiar somehow ...

 

[cquinn]

Don't be so negative, cquinn.

Hmmm, negative? Me? My apologies, I was trying to steer the
conversation away from what seems to be a trend towards
unneccessary site bashing...
not just here, but in other forums I've frequented.

But as you say, this is not a matter of pride; and I quite understand
the sense of closure you expressed. There is a saying:
"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert

I think we have the same attitude towards sites like that, but I prefer not
to look at going there as a waste of time, because there are still other
people who seem to find information of value there. Instead I look at
THG as something I don't visit much anymore because I have found even
better things to do with my time.

I also find that most of the sites I frequent are because of the forums
they support. It seems that the better sites have a higher signal to noise
ratio in their online discussions that reflects back on the quality of the
reviews presented. And with other sites I tend to visit those forums with
the same guilty pleasure one gets from passing a car accident.

As for Vanshardware, I'm not sure what to comment on it, except to
say I notice they have opened up online forums now too... using a rather
familar interface. :mrgrn:

 

[Tea]

"Living well is the best revenge". I like that. You know, I'd seen that tag many times, of course, but never realised what it was really driving at. Now that I understand, it's perfect.