The Useless Web | Hacker News

    <script type="text/javascript"> 
      //Technically, this will be accurate...
      try {
        document.write("NO");
      } catch(err) {
        document.write("YES");
      }
    </script>

IIRC, the /robots.txt (now sadly missing) used to read, ``the robots will not save you''.

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liamzebedee 688 days ago | link

http://ducksarethebest.com/

  <!-- jQuery? more like crayQuery -->

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nateabele 688 days ago | link

I disconcur with the evaluation criteria. It took me to this website, which is anything but useless: http://heyyeyaaeyaaaeyaeyaa.com/

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ht_th 688 days ago | link

Agreed. I got to play with http://www.koalastothemax.com/

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sdoering 688 days ago | link

That one really stuck... 5 Minutes later, i was still staring at the screen and hitting reload for another round...

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bonobo 688 days ago | link

That one was my favorite, I spent half an hour uncovering the picture of a kitten. Sadly it was not a koala as advertised.

It's comparable to bubble wrap IMO.

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LefterisJP 688 days ago | link

I also got the same website. Damn it's stuck in my mind right now

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BCM43 688 days ago | link

For those without flash, what does it do?

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tholman 688 days ago | link

It actually checks for flash support, and removes any flash websites from the potential list... so its a good experience all-round.

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aw3c2 688 days ago | link

Plays some stupid He-Man cartoon music video.

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bonobo 688 days ago | link

This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ5LpwO-An4

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arscan 688 days ago | link

Based on the handful of sites that it sent me to, I'd rename this "The Creative Web".

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sharkweek 688 days ago | link

The internet is still pure magic to me. Sure I have understanding of the tech but the personality and connectivity is just overwhelming when I pause and really think about it. Sure there's plenty of junk, but it's all part of a huge overall societal benefit.

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motters 688 days ago | link

Not forgetting http://zombo.com/

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Dove 688 days ago | link

Wow. About every three years I find out that zombo.com still exists, and am surprised and delighted all over again.

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powrtoch 688 days ago | link

There's a "submit" link at the bottom, which is probably the coolest thing about this.

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ctdonath 688 days ago | link

"Strange how much human progress and achievement comes from contemplation of the irrelevant." - Scott Kim

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jacquesm 688 days ago | link

If you're short on time don't buy his book inversions. And if you know someone who is short on time then don't buy it for them as a Christmas gift either.

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[deleted]

seiji 688 days ago | link

Good old days? Have you seen the source of this page?

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elimisteve 688 days ago | link

From the title, I was hoping to read a crushing indictment of web developers for mostly creating useless crap.

Sadly, it's more like the opposite: a shiny button inviting us all to view useless crap.

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teeja 688 days ago | link

Some of those are definitely not useless to kids. Remember when you were a kid and some crabby old biddy gave you crap for 'wasting your time'? I do. As for adults and the web: How 'useful' is porno? (Same principle)

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acomjean 688 days ago | link

The useless pages reborn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Useless_Pages

with memepool.com updating again its like the 90s...

now only if Grant Barret would start posting articles to worldnewyork again, we'd have come full circle. (all thats left is an archive of broken links....)

http://grantbarrett.com/old-format-archives

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tossacct 688 days ago | link

you're the man now dog - looping audio with gifs

Good example - http://jeffgoldblum.ytmnd.com/

www.ytmnd.com started 2001 - memes and fads. Mostly gradeschool level humor: sophomoric, casual racism, sexism every ism you'd like to mention. Equally hilarious and offensive.

http://yourethemannowdog.ytmnd.com

http://jurassictourettes.ytmnd.com/ - mashup of jurassic park and "tourettes guy", watch the best parts of jurassic park in 10 minutes

http://ytmnd.com/sites/top_rated/alltime

http://ytmnd.com/info/about

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gagege 688 days ago | link

I can't believe http://tunnelsnakes.com/ isn't on there.

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mmailman77 688 days ago | link

WTF.......http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/

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crisnoble 688 days ago | link

If you want to got to all the useless sites with one button click: http://jsfiddle.net/crismanNoble/jjAaf/embedded/result/

Warning:

1)Put headphones in.

2) Your computer might crash hard.

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mmariani 688 days ago | link

Where the internet ends? http://www.wwwdotcom.com

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guimarin 688 days ago | link

endoftheinter.net

and it never ends. there is always something beyond the end of the world.

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dzuc 688 days ago | link

I'm impressed with how much consistent traffic this site has been sending my way: http://s3.amazonaws.com/arena_images/56036/original_90541c1f...

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edmond_dantes 688 days ago | link

Anything that's a subdomain of http://ytmnd.com.

Personal favourite: http://youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons.ytmnd.com/

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TazeTSchnitzel 688 days ago | link

http://rainbowstalin5.ytmnd.com/

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nathan_long 688 days ago | link

Hilarious.

It doesn't fit in with these sites, but my favorite useless site is still Beedogs: http://www.beedogs.com/

The best part is clicking for more beedogs repeatedly and reading what it says.

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p4bl0 688 days ago | link

Doesn't work for me (Firefox 10). But the list of URLs is available in the JavaScript here: http://www.theuselessweb.com/js/uselessweb.js.

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mkenyon 688 days ago | link

Photosensitive Seizure Warning!

Wiggling your mouse at http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/ (one of the possible sites) will trigger it.

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recycleme 688 days ago | link

http://superbad.com/

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acomjean 688 days ago | link

I love superbad.

Its been around for a while, and with this reminder I see its been updated.

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undergroundhero 688 days ago | link

Wow, I got lost in there.

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sktrdie 688 days ago | link

Interesting what the http://isitchristmas.com/ site is doing. It's using websockets. Anyone can figure it out?

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jacquesm 688 days ago | link

I could have really used that in about '85 or so, unfortunately the web wasn't around.

Family relationships were at an all time low and I simply didn't realize the date and showed up for work. The security guard informed quite clearly that I wasn't supposed to be where I was (at my desk, debugging some crappy COBOL program). I was wondering if I'd gotten the time wrong, never once thought to check the date...

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bobbijvoet 688 days ago | link

My console logs all people visiting the site, and also where they are from. The author also took the time to translate yes and no to various languages. I got 'Nee' for example, that's Dutch for no.

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TazeTSchnitzel 688 days ago | link

Used the Chrome Inspector. Looks like mouse movement tracking. It's bi-directional too, I see the frames of mouse movement from other people. I think perhaps this was supposed to show fake cursors of other people on the site, but it isn't working?

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halvsjur 688 days ago | link

That looks like it. Too bad there's no websocket support in Firebug.

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majke 688 days ago | link

Whatever it does, it's using SockJS to do it :)

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matteodepalo 688 days ago | link

Awesome, but it misses the epic http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

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FigBug 688 days ago | link

I submitted my site: http://www.wasteaguid.info