Bash.org (...archive)
To my dismay, I learned today that bash.org went down some time ago (2023). For those who don't know what bash.org is, or was I guess, it's a collection of chat snippets from IRC channels. Sort of a "best of" of the earlier days of IRC. Fortunately, a few archivists preserved the collection, and this is one of those archives. The best are pretty good, the worst are... pretty bad. Lots of racism. There are a lot of entries, some of which are still quoted around the internet today, and they represent a crowd-curated snapshot of what the internet was like around the turn of the century.
A selection of notable pieces in the collection (that is, I just went through and picked some I remember from the days of yore):
hunter2
types of people
lost machine
helping a newbie
inverted b
experiencing nature
neighborhood bonfire
advanced robotics
business acumen
essence of IRC
top minds of IRC
42 replies
I put on my robe and wizard hat.
I specifically did not include that one because I predicted it would be the first comment :) I was pretty close!
Quote: 304642; Rating: 1625;
<Jakosin> what is a .tar
<Rivicen> its used to patch .road files
Can't forget this classic.
You beat me to this comment. Still quite Robe and Wizard Hat.
Oh man, I miss those days.
The internet was simpler back then. Or we were; maybe both.
the internet was better back then. sweeter, more innocent.
Before the Corponation attacked.
There’s lots of good new stuff since then.
But it’s all monetized, and my anger at that outweighs any joy I feel. I blame Reagan.
Thats the great thing.
You can point your finger and blame Reagan for almost anything, and you'd be right a disturbing number of times!
While it isn't the same as the good old days, I'm still on the irc. I have no plans to ever leave.
For me, I lost the community (they’ve been shut down) and I absolutely don’t have the time to lurk until conversation starts up at 3am like I did when I was a teen.
I get that, totally. I found a new community about 15 years ago or so and am part of a few now. They tend to be active most of the time to some degree at least, but not so active I feel like its too crowded. I am sure in the bigger group its always 95% lurkers still and they just chime in sparsely.
Spartacus joins channel
Spartacus changed alias to RandomUser232
RomanSoldier joins the channel
RomanSoldier: Where is Spartacus?!
User1: I am Spartacus!
User2: I am Spartacus!
User2: No! I am Spartacus!
RomanSoldier: Man, fuck you guys.
RomanSoldier leaves channel
RandomUser232: Whew, that was close.
(paraphrased, but this was always one of my favorite entries on the site)
this one is a personal fave
My personal fave: https://bash.rip/?5775
Such a classic.
lol I forgot about that one, thank you haha
Some of these have to be fake. Nothing ever happens.
LOL found one of mine, appreciate the archive link!
haha nice. Hope your back's feeling ok these days :)
Back is OK!
The knee sucks though lol
Which one?
Awwww. Good old *******.
All I see is hunter2
Thanks for the laughs.
I haven't been around for IRC, but I've definitely seen some of your picks quoted before.
It's a cultural touchstone for sure. Back in the day it was a significant part of internet culture. It's still around, it's just not as mainstream as more modern iterations of social media.
Why does this one pack such a punch?
I miss those days :(
I miss the internet being something you logged into, instead of this perpetual misery portal that you were not able to escape from without a wide scale power outage.
It seemed so cool at the time to magically have the internet in your pocket. Little did we know that it was a crack pipe in disguise.
Man what I wouldnt give to go back to how the internet was in the mid 90s.
Logging into it with a screaming modem, simple websites, no corporate enshitification, barely corporation bullshit in general, IRC, AIM.
God that was a great time to be a kid. I miss the simplicity of those days.
I remember back in the days when I went over the data cap and my internet was throttled, this was one of the few websites that still worked
I can't believe you didn't mention bloodninja?
Right? I even put on my robe and wizard hat
I was formally requested in our house to stop saying "I put on my robe and lizard hat" when donning the lizalfos mask in botw
I'd love revisiting these occasionally for a boost of dopamine on long bus rides.
Good ol' bash. Where the men are men, the women are men, and the kids are all FBI agents
The first time I read bash.org I was laughing so hard I was crying and short of breath. I mean I was struggling to get air. Shit was hilarious. I'm happy to see this important archive preserving the content for future generations.
WHO PUT THE COOKIE IN THE COOKIE JAR?
https://p.mr64.net/users/bash
A fedi bot that posts random quotes