Ask Lemmy

Programming. Telling a machine "build x feature" is nervewracking because I do not know what it's doing and more importantly boring because it takes all the joy out of writing code. Even the LLM completions I do not use because I have seen what it has done to my coworkers' brains. I will think about the problem. I will write the code. I will know what it does. It will be of me, not of some averaging machine.

May the LLM era end in darkness and the gnashing of teeth amen.

Fixing a car.

I'd much, much rather twist some carburetor screws or replace a fuse than have to try to troubleshoot some encrypted CANBUS acceleration sensor that is required for my suspension to work properly.

Shaving with a double edged razor rather than a cartridge one. The whole process is much more meditative and rewarding when you actually focus on the moment and take the time to do it properly. Gives a better shave too.

I prefer how Nazis were dealt with in the past

Ventrillo / Teamspeak > > > Discord

I miss physically owning software, movies, and music, not having to pay a subscription for car features like heated seats or more horsepower. I miss getting a complete game that was usually mostly glitch free on day one you got it on CD/DVD.

Socializing.

No social media to distract people. Nobody staring a phones. Nobody recording themselves for streaming.

You memorized phone numbers or wrote them down. You called or got called to meet up at some place and everyone went from there.

Photography. Film was so advanced, having a layer for each major colour, every film stock has a different feeling. The only downside was cost, but you only took a picture when you were sure it is a good picture. Now we have tons of digital garbage because we take 100 pictures at once.

I liked connecting to irc servers and setting up a znc bouncer (also an on ramp into self hosting!) way better than anything matrix and discord do.

We had mumble for voice chat and that was perfectly serviceable.

Japan mostly skipped PCs (outside of offices). Since their phones were ahead of the curve, a lot of stuff was designed for them. That means that a bunch of stuff is either exclusively done through some shitty mobile app, fax, or in person. There was a brief phase where PC versions did exist, but those are almost all being neglected or decommissioned now. I much prefer to do things on a PC with a nice, clear, big screen, especially if I need to use some translation tool since the text tends to expand (learning thousands of kanji for stuff like legal and taxes is hard).

I do miss physically owning media. A lot of physical media still decays, though, so not a panacea.

Software programs that were much more tested and completed before release.

Software development where we think things through, define requirements, define states, etc. before any code is committed. I do think PoCs are fine to throw something against a wall but, if it works, the proper version should go through those design phases before anyone writes a line of code. Cheap components and fast machines and networks have made people lazy which makes software worse in a number of ways quite often. No vibecoding. No AI/LLM shoved into everything. I think they can have uses in certain contexts (rephrasing questions, generating examples/docs in projects with bad/no docs, etc.), but hate how they are being shoved into everything.

An internet not run by corporations. I think a lot of people do see it through rose-tinted glasses (we still had trolls on BBS, UseNet, IRC, etc. and other bad actors), but a lot of things were much better.

Third spaces. Places where people of different backgrounds would interact in some common way. Sure, some were echo chambers just like online communities today, but many were not and let people interact together rather than just being othered to the point of fear and reviling.

I much prefer AD&D 2.5 rules to anything around today (and TSR still existing, but that ship has sailed).

In the 90s, I felt like I knew so much about computers, both the hardware and the software, but I've definitely fallen off from all the improvements in the past 20 years, and I'm so Goddamn lost now. I miss those simpler times when it was more about the physical aspects of a PC and less about the technical aspects.

I want back my Dumb TVs!! I dont want everything to be connected!

Just pop in a magnetic screwdriver bit holder and you have strong power and perfect control.

It countersinks with ease but without the risk of screwing too deep like its electric counterpart all too easily does.

I want a phone where I am able to reach the top and the bottom of the screen without shifting my grip. Also being able to comfortably store in a pocket would be nice

It grinds my gears that programs are called 'apps' now. On phones it was normalized immediately, so, sure. Computers run programs, though, god dammit.

I prefer pressing buttons and turning nobs in the car.

I love a manual shift car, feels so much better to drive than automatic. Make bread from just flour, water, and salt, sourdough is an older method than dry yeast but it works better for me.

I also love radio, literal airwaves, works when the wifi goes down, battery radios can work during emergencies but also I just love the tech it is so old and so cool. And getting music curated by humans (we have a local community station) is great.

Modern tabletop miniature painting is dominated by contrast paints and airbrushes. This is especially true of small time commission painters.

I personally only use my airbrush for priming, and only use contrast paints for intensely limited purposes like glazing. For the vast majority of my painting I use methods taught in the 80s and 90s.

I personally like the results, and I like to think my methods give my pieces a "voice" that helps me stand out from other local commission painters which deliver interchangeable looking results.

I don't dislike airbrushes (which I know were used by certain niche painters back in the day, but weren't in common use generally) or contrast paints. I know some people take the time to get good results with them, however I think the majority of people applying them do it in a sloppy manner and the effort it would take to prep or clean up the results to a standard I would accept seems like more work than just doing it traditionally.

TV.

I hate the smart-TV workflow, its a terrible user experience: Turn the TV on... wait for the smart-TV OS to load... land on an app menu... navigate around and choose an app... wait for the app to load... select a profile... wait for the list of shows to load... scroll almost endlessly through shows... choose a show, finally... wait for the video to load...

I miss when you turned the TV on and it was just instantly playing whatever channel you last had on, with one single interaction. I miss not having to make the conscious choice of what to watch and feel overwhelmed by so many options. I miss TV programs being a common experience, like an event, that everyone would be talking about together the next day, instead of everyone watching their own thing on their own schedule.

Software engineering.

Back in my day(™), it was an engineering role, where science reigned. Anyone even attempting "vibe coding" would've been rightfully laughed out of the room.

It's a task that should take concerted effort, with specific goals and performance metrics in mind. Just getting the task done wasn't and shouldn't be good enough.

mail ! I mean, email is great, but mail is fantastic. It doesn't make a bunch of sense in this isntantaneous world of ours, but if you just slow down a little, and write letters, and WAIT for a reply, you find yourself more attuned to your own pace, if that makes any sense

Would love to pay a mortgage instead of paying rent

Driving manual (stick). I have an automatic now only because the model/trim I wanted doesn’t come any other way but if I could have got it in manual I would have. This car has less personality than my last one because I operate it rather than driving it. I literally have less of a connection with it.

Playing music on a record player. The ritual of removing the record from the sleeve, placing it on the deck, cleaning it, landing the needle. Listening to an album.

Cooking on gas instead of a halogen hob. Sure halogen is great and super easy to clean but gas is visceral and ‘real’. I also like to cook over charcoal or, even better, wood.