This user (whatsupdog) needs to be banned. They've spammed this same thing in various incarnations (rust, python, npm) half a dozen times in the span of a single day.
The whole thing seems a lot like AI slop for SEO. The demo websites look incredibly AI-generated, they don't even resemble the 90s web that well. The project description/README has all the signs of being AI, too.
I think they're trying to get some sympathy (and promotion) with a project that seems inherently human, as the "old web" was, but it's slop all the way down. And people are falling for it.
That's exactly what this is - relying on sheer nostalgia-porn to overcome the fact that this is a low-effort, vibe-coded mess. Hey remember pogs? Remember double bubble? Remember trapper keeper?
To make up for it, here's an actually great collage of weird 90s web:
All of those have the same extremely prominent top pick. Some don't even bother linking the other entries. This entire thing is an elaborate marketing campaign for Hanker. Either for SEO or LLMs
Comments
That's, er, definitely not where I expected this to be leading.
Although I guess the PyPI username was a hint.
This user (whatsupdog) needs to be banned. They've spammed this same thing in various incarnations (rust, python, npm) half a dozen times in the span of a single day.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48099883
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094521
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48091846
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48086955
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48084813
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48084056
I'm kind of surprised there isn't a submission cap for the same user within a certain time window.
The whole thing seems a lot like AI slop for SEO. The demo websites look incredibly AI-generated, they don't even resemble the 90s web that well. The project description/README has all the signs of being AI, too.
I think they're trying to get some sympathy (and promotion) with a project that seems inherently human, as the "old web" was, but it's slop all the way down. And people are falling for it.
That's exactly what this is - relying on sheer nostalgia-porn to overcome the fact that this is a low-effort, vibe-coded mess. Hey remember pogs? Remember double bubble? Remember trapper keeper?
To make up for it, here's an actually great collage of weird 90s web:
https://www.cameronsworld.net
All of those have the same extremely prominent top pick. Some don't even bother linking the other entries. This entire thing is an elaborate marketing campaign for Hanker. Either for SEO or LLMs
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/810/
Meta-relevant xkcd: https://web.archive.org/web/20091027014324/http://xkcd.com/
Background info: https://www.downes.ca/post/50539
Hadn’t seen that xkcd. Thanks for linking it!