I was a regular on grex from the mid-90's to the mid-00's. It was a different time and a different world, both technically and socially. Every user (accounts were free and anonymous) got *nix shell access and email. Their old (but pretty feature-rich) conferencing system (think bbs) was the social center of the place. Non-profit, volunteer-run, and (IIR) the only real perk to being a "member" (small monthly donation required) was voting for Board members.
As the internet took off, their little high-trust system attracted more "un-benevolent, un-interested in improving" sorts of users. That wasn't so good for attracting/retaining good staff & users. Ditto the "bright lights, big city" allure of big-name web sites, for citizens of grex's "small town".
ArchiveBot (from ArchiveTeam, separate from but trusted by archive.org) is crawling it right now, it will get up on archive.org sometime after it is done:
This is very sad. I've been at sdf.org for 20 years and always knew grex as "that other, similar place". Every once in a while, SDFers would talk up the positive aspects of grex and a bunch of people would join up and play games, chat etc.
> Grex is a public access Unix and computer conferencing system, featuring ongoing bulletin board discussion areas (called conferences), multi-user chat channels, Internet email, and more. Grex is supported by our users, and is run entirely by volunteers. Access is free, but donations are always welcome.
So is it a bit like the various "tilde" servers out there? [EDIT: Removed the link to tildeverse.org as they redirect traffic from HN]
If you're going to browse a website that's known for being full of awful tech-bros, racists, and fans of paul graham, it's usually best to avoid advertising that to the rest of the internet.
Most sites are too lazy to do anything based on referrer, but there are several sites out there that go the extra mile to put out a welcome mat to people coming from this wretched site.
No, I think you've confused "I don't like these people and if you don't like them either here is an easy way to avoid them" with "they're stomping on my rightgs!!!!1!!!!!1!!! waah!"
> Welcome to Grex
a public service promoting free speech and public access on the Internet
That statement has much different connotations in 2023 than it did when it was written. At first, I assumed Grex was some kind of Parler-style right-wing website.
Somewhere between the advent of Gamergate and the advent of Trump-style fascism worldwide. Hate promoters codified abuse of the Internet’s legacy of free speech courtesies, into endorsing and accepting hate speech as a permissible form of “free” speech. They also co-opted the Libertarian movement’s definition of “freedom” to include hate speech, which enables a lot of plausible-deniability support for hate.
I don’t assume that anyone promoting unrestricted speech is a hater, but I certainly give then a wide berth regardless, as they’re usually too naive or in denial to be safe company to keep. US law no longer offers sufficient protection against hate speech to allow me to refer to “free speech” comfortably.
I hope this helps you comprehend why others might react badly to sites such as Grex; I tried to convey a viewpoint that seemed unfamiliar, even if it might be unpalatable. I don’t expect agreement and I don’t seek it, so please don’t view this as an attempt to change anyone’s mind.
Yeah, sure. "Fascism". Until last year my country had such a "fascist" president too. Now we have a communist in power whose reaction to such "fascism" is the regulation of the internet and social media.
This censorship is what you actually want when you say "US law no longer offers sufficient protection against hate speech". You should be careful what you wish for.
As the internet took off, their little high-trust system attracted more "un-benevolent, un-interested in improving" sorts of users. That wasn't so good for attracting/retaining good staff & users. Ditto the "bright lights, big city" allure of big-name web sites, for citizens of grex's "small town".
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