
An Online Magazine You Can’t Read Online - elorant
http://nautil.us/issue/63/horizons/the-online-magazine-you-cant-read-online
======
abhiminator
> ... [on online experience] ...it’s kind of like ice cream. Ice cream is not
> found in the natural world, and when you have it you just have to have more
> of it because it meets your needs almost too much.

There's a term for this, it's called a 'supernormal stimuli' [0], first
popularized by Nikolaas Tinbergen, a Dutch biologist who explored the
phenomenon when almost all species of animals he experimented with were drawn
to hyper-attractive _synthetic_ objects of interest (eggs, sexual mates) over
natural ones. [1]

That's the essence of the present day clickbait infested web, imo -- Tech
companies spending billions of dollars to sedate us with barrage of stimuli
that our brains never evolved to cope with in the first place. [2]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus#In_biolog...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_stimulus#In_biology)

[1] [https://lifehacker.com/supernormal-stimuli-is-your-brain-
bui...](https://lifehacker.com/supernormal-stimuli-is-your-brain-built-for-
porn-junk-1575846913)

[2]
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphon...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-
addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia)

------
Jaruzel
This sort of thing assumes that we are _all_ on mobile devices with wifi.

I'm on a desktop, with a hard wired ethernet connection. It's also my work
machine. To go 'offline' I'd have to either pull out my network cable, or go
into network connections and disable the NIC. My work email would start
complaining, and before long someone from IT will probably show up to see why
my machine has fallen off the network.

As others have said... there's also Offline Mode in Chrome.

Now, imagine I'm a less techie user, using the browser that came with my work
PC. I'd have no idea how to go 'offline', or even worse, be physically unable
to. As such this content is out of reach to me.

I hope this sort of trick doesn't become a trend. There's a big difference
between 'not connected to the internet' and 'offline'.

------
newscracker
I like this idea. Some of the comments on the Nautilus interview seem to focus
on how stupid and deficient the technology behind this is or on how someone
doesn’t want to be dictated by a site on how they should consume content. I’d
usually agree on the latter point because of pervasive tracking and ads on
most online sites, but don’t agree with it in this context.

I look at reading this magazine as a choice one makes to experience a readable
list of articles while being disconnected. It’s somewhat rare to get such
experiences online since most sites are geared toward short sensational pieces
and a bunch of other listicles and articles to get you to stay and keep
jumping around on the same site (or send you to another shady site through
Taboola or the rightly named Outbrain or something else).

It’s about you, the reader, choosing to have that experience.

If you don’t want to be disconnected but want to read this magazine, there are
plenty of ways to cheat. The creator of this magazine, Nick Bolin, is not
going to fight tooth and nail to stop you from connecting (as clearly stated
in an answer referring to looking things up while reading print material).
This is not a never ending arms race like in the case of ad blockers vs. ad
block killers.

What will finally matter is whether there is a good audience for the content
and this model. Even if that happens to be a tiny niche, that’s ok. The
creator, at least in my reading of the interview, is not after world
domination or scaling to beat every other site out there that’s currently
fighting for our attention.

~~~
foxes
To me it just seems convoluted. I think the fact that everyone has "cheated"
to see it just shows that people like to take the path of least resistance.

They have created this complicated solution when there is a much simpler one.
How about just NOT loading up your website with tracking / analytics / ads
(shock and horror?). You could still have the same magazine style with no
distractions. At the end of the day it would serve the same purpose?

------
tomhoward
Also discussed on HN a year ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15079619](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15079619)

------
moviuro
Why not link to the original?

Saved you a click (and cookies):
[https://thedisconnect.co/](https://thedisconnect.co/)

> Nautilus uses cookies to manage your digital subscription and show you your
> reading progress. It's just not the same without them.

> Please sign in to Nautilus Prime or turn your cookies on to continue
> reading.

> Thank you!

------
brennankreiman
Good use of PWA service worker features.

------
j45
Similar to ezines that would be downloaded from BBS' and read offline.

The airplane mode idea is nice. With PWA's emerging this could be nice.

------
lowercased
i can't read it at all.

with wifi there's a bit pink box saying "disable your wifi". turning off wifi
does nothing.

~~~
schoen
You could try Firefox with File / Work Offline (I'm not sure of the equivalent
for other browsers).

------
meritt
In chrome network tab or /etc/hosts, block requests to ipv4.icanhazip.com and
it'll think you're offline

~~~
dillondoyle
Or just hit offline checkbox in chrome dev tools

~~~
meritt
Even better. Is there seriously not a better way to check online/offline
status that polling a URL? Seems so sloppy.

~~~
pritambaral
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorOn...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorOnLine/Online_and_offline_events)

