[HN Gopher] Tell HN: Bash.org is no more
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Tell HN: Bash.org is no more
        
       Bash.org was a cornerstone of the old internet. It was a collection
       of silly quotes from IRC channels everywhere, many of which dated
       back to the 90s. And now it is no more.
        
       Author : Khaine
       Score  : 487 points
       Date   : 2024-01-11 11:17 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
       | h2odragon wrote:
       | Thanks to the folk who put it together and ran it nearly 20
       | years. I wonder how much the whole thing cost?
       | 
       | Kind of thing that gets put together as a "hey this is cool"
       | project, it runs and people use it, so we'll just leave it up...
       | months later its _more_ popular, the original authors of the
       | system moved on, but no one can just pull the plug now. this is a
       | _public resource_ , so we'll just keep feeding it.
       | 
       | Years later, someone may go through and fix the design problems;
       | or not. It might be no one figured out how to resolve the
       | dependency on PHP2 or Python1 the original code may have had.
        
         | cqqxo4zV46cp wrote:
         | I'd feel kinda sad if bash.org wasn't using Perl or something.
        
           | toyg wrote:
           | IIRC it smelled of php.
        
             | diggan wrote:
             | Definitely PHP, I seem to remember it being mentioned in
             | some blog/news post sometime.
        
           | shawabawa3 wrote:
           | surely it should have been written in bash
        
             | pas wrote:
             | of course it should have been ported to BoB (Bash on Balls,
             | the modern portable slick web framework)
        
               | dymk wrote:
               | And favored framework among the CBT community
        
         | mrweasel wrote:
         | Was the Bash.org code available somewhere? I'd love to have a
         | look at it, just for fun.
        
       | jiripospisil wrote:
       | Huh, it really looks like it's not coming back this time. It has
       | been offline for ~6 months. At least most of the quotes are
       | backed up.
       | 
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20230701000000*/bash.org
       | 
       | https://gitlab.com/dwrodri/bash_irc_quotes
        
         | toyg wrote:
         | Would make for a nice webservice, like those
         | Pokemon/StarWars/etc apis.
         | 
         | Ironically, those quotes will likely survive a lot of more
         | modern content. Even viral stuff, these days, will disappear
         | incredibly quickly - bat an eyelid and the imgur link is
         | broken, the twitter post is paywalled, the reddit thread is
         | taken down... And any private service like Discord or Slack
         | will happily burn everything after a few months.
         | 
         | "The internet does not forget" is such a massive lie.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | The Internet only forgets stuff you wish it wouldn't, and
           | remembers everything you wish it wouldn't.
        
           | mulmen wrote:
           | > "The internet does not forget" is such a massive lie.
           | 
           | This is a warning, not a guarantee.
        
         | jwilk wrote:
         | What do they mean by "cleaned"?
        
           | kotaKat wrote:
           | "The numbers missing from the sequence correspond to the
           | quotes that are either still pending review or have been
           | rejected. However, my dataset is by no means considered to be
           | proven complete."
        
         | 0xbadcafebee wrote:
         | Ooh, we should make a Fortune database out of them! (Am I the
         | only person still using 'fortune' as their shell motd?)
        
       | bayindirh wrote:
       | It was down for a couple of months already. However, the IP and
       | server seems to be there. Maybe the person who keeps that up will
       | restart the daemons when they remember they operate one of the
       | nostalgia cornerstones of better part of the internet.
       | 
       | Maybe the server's password is hunter2. Let's see whether can I
       | access it.
       | 
       | Edit: Nope. Seems firewalled.
        
         | Scarblac wrote:
         | Almost, the password is ********.
        
           | bayindirh wrote:
           | I can't read it. _pfft_
        
             | miroljub wrote:
             | That's because of the HN security. It prints all passwords
             | as stars.
             | 
             | You can try putting your HN password in a comment, it would
             | be visible only by you, and the others will not see it.
        
               | meepmorp wrote:
               | hunter1
        
               | markx2 wrote:
               | Close.
               | 
               | hunter2
        
               | meepmorp wrote:
               | Wait, how did you see my password?
        
               | test1235 wrote:
               | we see it as asterisks ... you see it as hunter2 and not
               | **** 'cos it's your password
        
               | theginger wrote:
               | What? I just see stars
        
               | CoastalCoder wrote:
               | Get to a doctor!
        
               | pigeons wrote:
               | What? I just see stars
               | 
               | Have you seen a doctor?
               | 
               | No, just stars
        
               | dllthomas wrote:
               | Ready when you are, Raul.
        
               | notarget137 wrote:
               | How about ****** Did it work?
        
               | tomrod wrote:
               | Oh wow, you kiss your mother with that mouth?
        
               | actionfromafar wrote:
               | I use my fingers to type passwords and ehh...
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | I guess you're right. My HN password is *****.
               | 
               | When I edit, I can see it, but when I save the comment,
               | it becomes starred. It even randomizes the length every
               | time I save.
               | 
               | Brilliant!
        
               | GTP wrote:
               | But this also means that they know your plaintext
               | password, meaning that they're saving passwords in
               | plaintext. Given that this is mostly a technical
               | community, it's much more the risk of keeping a database
               | of plaintext passwords than the benefit of being able to
               | obfuscate passwords in comments.
               | 
               | EDIT: thanks to another commenter, I understood that
               | what's happening in the above comments is just a meme and
               | HN isn't storing plaintext passwords. Sorry for the
               | misunderstanding.
        
               | Volundr wrote:
               | In case you're unclear why your being down voted, comment
               | chain is a riff on one of the more famous bash.org
               | quotes: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hunter2.
               | 
               | HN does not actually know your password or hide it in
               | comments.
        
               | Duanemclemore wrote:
               | (whistles softly as he changes password from a string of
               | twelve asterisks to ******)
        
               | mewpmewp2 wrote:
               | > HN does not actually know your password or hide it in
               | comments.
               | 
               | Does it not know? What if I post it in this comment? My
               | password is *****.
        
               | svnt wrote:
               | What actually happens is more complex: when you type a
               | *******, HN tries to log in once for every string in your
               | *******, and then when it succeeds it goes back and
               | replaces that string with a randomized length of
               | asterisks.
        
               | BuildTheRobots wrote:
               | (sticking with the obliviousness for a moment,) Would
               | they need to store the plaintext password? Hashing every
               | word typed isn't efficient but it's possible to achieve
               | without knowing the plaintext.
               | 
               | It reminds me of Facebook allowing login even when you've
               | mistyped your password:
               | https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/214814/why-
               | can-...
        
               | GTP wrote:
               | Yes, that's true. But since HN is famously hosted on a
               | single not-so-powerful server, that would be unlikely to
               | be the employed solution.
        
               | BuildTheRobots wrote:
               | Considering how laggy the comment box is on reddit, it
               | makes me wonder if they're not already doing something
               | similar, but client-side in js. I guess it would expose
               | the salt though.
        
               | GTP wrote:
               | Exposing the salt isn't an issue, it can (and should)
               | even be a different one for each account.
        
               | latexr wrote:
               | > Hashing every word typed
               | 
               | Wouldn't work if your password contains spaces.
        
               | bbarnett wrote:
               | But it does! They, instead, hash each letter
               | independently, that's how they can do this.
        
               | KETHERCORTEX wrote:
               | They just hash every substring that can be a password.
               | 
               | Don't write long comments. Show some love to HN's server
               | carrying its O(n^2) burden.
        
               | Tainnor wrote:
               | I love that some 20-30 years after that famous chat
               | somebody still fell for it.
        
               | asztal wrote:
               | *****? That's amazing! I've got the same password on my
               | luggage!
        
               | nirui wrote:
               | This has to be a joke.
               | 
               | The only way it can be realistically implemented involves
               | the storage of clear-text user password to enable string
               | replacement during comment submission. Either that or
               | converting user comment to a prefix/suffix table (or
               | something similar) and then hash each item to search for
               | a match. Both option is ridiculously unnecessary.
               | 
               | Anyway, my HN password is ****. I bet it don't work.
        
               | thomaslord wrote:
               | Fortunately with modern serverless architecture, it's
               | possible to make this performant! Just split up each
               | comment into words and dispatch each word to a queue
               | where AWS Lambda workers can check the words against the
               | user's password hash. It might cost $20 to process each
               | comment, but at least it'll autoscale to handle any
               | comment volume you throw at it!
        
               | Affric wrote:
               | Can passwords include spaces?
        
           | zellyn wrote:
           | I love each and every one of you who have posted into this
           | subtree, although it's bittersweet if bash.org really is
           | going away... <3
           | 
           | https://archive.is/0y1yT is the archive of
           | http://www.bash.org/?244321
        
             | romwell wrote:
             | FIY, your archive link is not working too at the moment.
             | 
             | What do we do?
             | 
             |  _Sigh_
             | 
             | I put on my robe and wizard hat
             | 
             | https://web.archive.org/web/20190228221758/http://www.bash.
             | o...
        
               | RainaRelanah wrote:
               | Works for me. Do note that archive.is blocks CloudFlare
               | DNS.
        
               | romwell wrote:
               | Works for me now too, probably the server was not
               | handling the load.
        
               | philsnow wrote:
               | This has bitten me before; now my pihole has this line in
               | its dnsmasq configuration
               | server=/archive.is/archive.ph/8.8.8.8
               | 
               | so that even if I'm using cloudflare dns for everything
               | else, it will query 8.8.8.8 for those two domains
        
           | imgabe wrote:
           | Hey, how did you get my Hacker News password?
        
             | CoastalCoder wrote:
             | > Hey, how did you get my Hacker News password?
             | 
             | Relax, they didn't. Your password is 3 characters longer.
        
           | hunter2_ wrote:
           | Indeed, over the years a symbol gets added for
           | length/complexity/rotation purposes.
        
             | opello wrote:
             | _chef 's kiss_
        
         | raverbashing wrote:
         | So you're saying the server pings but nobody knows where it's
         | at?
        
           | bayindirh wrote:
           | Host resolves, packets are dropped (ICMP timeouts, but
           | nothing is "unreachable"). My sysadmin gut says that the
           | server is there, behind a firewall, and the webserver is
           | down/stopped, or the firewall is killing everything.
           | 
           | The IP is not shared. It reverse-resolves, too.
           | 
           | So, it's not dismantled and thrown to side.
           | 
           | Looks like the hosting provider, Idologic, got bought by
           | Stablepoint. Maybe they have somehow blocked the site during
           | the merger?
        
             | PcChip wrote:
             | Whoosh
        
             | toyg wrote:
             | One of the most famous quotes was about a server that is
             | online and pings, but the sysadmin doesn't know anymore
             | where it physically is.
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | Ah, I probably missed it because we had the following
               | dialogue _at the office_.                   <senior-
               | sysadm> Hey bayindirh, is the log server up?
               | <bayindirh> *SSHs to server* Yes, it's up and running
               | nicely.         <senior-sysadm> Where's that thing in the
               | system room?         <bayindirh> *Scratches head* Umm, I
               | don't know?         <senior-sysadm> Go find it, we'll
               | upgrade it to newer HW.         <bayindirh> Uh, OK.
               | *leaves desk to dig the system room*.
               | 
               | P.S.: I'm the one who installed that server physically
               | and configured it in the first place. :D
        
               | INTPenis wrote:
               | I once resolved a similar situation by having the PC
               | speaker play the simpsons theme song.
        
               | inversetelecine wrote:
               | Funny, we used to do the same with random pcs in our lab
               | that people would setup and forget about. We used the
               | Duke Nuken 3D theme song from when the game first loaded.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | Ah the fond days of being able to identify a machine
               | remotely by ejecting its CD-ROM drive.
        
               | alsetmusic wrote:
               | You mean the cup holder?
        
               | bluedino wrote:
               | Famously it ends with the server being behind drywall or
               | something after some construction project.
        
               | susam wrote:
               | Yes, it is this one:
               | 
               |  _< erno> hm. I've lost a machine.. literally _lost_. it
               | responds to ping, it works completely, I just can't
               | figure out where in my apartment it is._
               | 
               | Source: http://web.archive.org/web/20230610235249/http://
               | bash.org/?5...
        
               | renewiltord wrote:
               | Gotta use audible pings and leave the PC speaker plugged
               | in haha! Many network devices have a "blink management
               | LED now" feature for the same reason.
        
               | shagie wrote:
               | There was a lab I hung out in back in college. The nature
               | of the room and the devices that we had in there, there
               | was 10bT, 10b2, and 10b5. Twisted pair, coax, and thick.
               | 
               | The someone had what was termed "the connector of evil".
               | Apparently coax and thick had the same signal... just
               | thick was more rigid about where you connected into it. (
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10BASE5 and
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_tap ). The
               | connector of evil looked like a 10b5 terminator on one
               | side and 10b2 on the other... and passed the signal
               | between them.
               | 
               | When adding another computer onto the 10b2 segment, we
               | would invariably disrupt the wave in the wire and some
               | devices would drop off.
               | 
               | The trick was to have each machine ping -f one of the
               | systems on 10bT and redirect its output to /dev/audio. If
               | the machine was making noise, it was good. And so then
               | we'd fiddle with different lengths of coax between the T
               | connectors until everything was buzzing away.
        
               | sph wrote:
               | And decades before the Raspberry Pi.
        
               | frantathefranta wrote:
               | Happened to me recently when moving. Couldn't find one of
               | my zigbee temperature sensors, but it was still reporting
               | information diligently, so it had to be somewhere in the
               | house. Took about 6 months before I found it.
        
               | aspenmayer wrote:
               | Where was it?
        
               | frantathefranta wrote:
               | Anticlimactic, partly unpacked moving box. I was mostly
               | surprised it was able to re-join the mesh while being in
               | a completely different spot, something that a lot zigbee
               | chips struggle with.
        
               | aspenmayer wrote:
               | I'm reminded of the time I dropped a Juul behind/beside a
               | makeshift workshop table and it magnetically attached
               | itself a foot or so below to the freestanding metal
               | shelving unit directly next to it.
               | 
               | I don't advise using Juul products for this and other
               | reasons.
        
             | mynameisash wrote:
             | This sounds complicated. I should grab my robe and wizard
             | hat.
        
           | bluedino wrote:
           | Hah! I see you've never dealt with Rackspace hosting.
        
         | cbsks wrote:
         | That was a few years ago now... it's probably up to hunter19 at
         | least.
        
           | sph wrote:
           | * At least 1 capital letter is required
           | 
           | * At least 1 number is required
           | 
           | * At least 1 symbol is required
           | 
           | These days it's probably 'Hunter2024!'
        
             | mathrawka wrote:
             | Hunter2 holds such a special place in our hearts, let's
             | keep politics out of this!
        
               | cogman10 wrote:
               | Besides, we know it's Hunter2028! No way he's running
               | this cycle.
        
               | sph wrote:
               | I'm so European I didnt even make the connection to your
               | politics
        
           | davchana wrote:
           | My work password changes every 90 days. It is at 52nd
           | iteration now.
        
             | soperj wrote:
             | You don't go back to 0? Generally you can after the 24th
             | iteration. Also congrats on sticking with it for nearly 13
             | years!
        
         | boring_twenties wrote:
         | They should have made everything available as a torrent or
         | something
        
         | hangonhn wrote:
         | Did you put on your robe and wizard hat first?
        
       | c0l0 wrote:
       | Someone needs to put on their robe and wizard hat and fix this
       | properly :'(
        
         | Havoc wrote:
         | I cast a level 99 resurrect spell on the server
        
         | belthesar wrote:
         | Easy there, bloodninja.
        
         | sergiotapia wrote:
         | "I pry apart that battleship you call your ass" xD - what a
         | tremendous loss!
        
         | shagie wrote:
         | ... and wand. https://i.imgur.com/SQjQz.png
        
       | ricardo81 wrote:
       | >old internet
       | 
       | Reminds me of Gigablast disappearing, a search engine that was in
       | the spotlight in the early 00's, a sole developer competing
       | amongst AlltheWeb and Google.
       | 
       | When their site disappeared there was barely a mention.
       | 
       | I guess since the mass of geocities was uprooted it's become the
       | norm, the churn of the web and generally accepted. archive.org is
       | great, but it does seem strange how transient information has
       | become on the web. HN and archive.org have good memories.
        
       | vanjajaja1 wrote:
       | can't they just put all the quotes on wikipedia or twitter or
       | something
        
         | ricardo81 wrote:
         | far better off as an independent entity beyond those
         | centralised place's ever changing rules.
        
           | hn92726819 wrote:
           | Is it? It was its own private entity and now it's offline
           | probably forever.
           | 
           | Edit: I think it'd be far better off on Wikipedia than
           | Twitter
        
             | viraptor wrote:
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38950912
             | 
             | Mirrors still exist
             | 
             | (Also, Twitter already deleted old data, so these quotes
             | wouldn't be much safer there)
        
             | ricardo81 wrote:
             | Yes, for the reason mentioned but also because it has a
             | longer lifespan than Wikipedia and Twitter to date.
        
         | Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote:
         | Wikipedia deletionists would cull it. Twitter is going down the
         | drain if you believe the popular opinions but it would mess up
         | the formatting anyway.
        
           | themaninthedark wrote:
           | Wikiquotes?
        
         | nayuki wrote:
         | Wikipedia isn't an appropriate place for Bash quotes because
         | Wikipedia is an encyclopedia about broad concepts. Also,
         | Wikipedia as a policy is not a primary source.
         | 
         | Wikiquotes could be appropriate. Submitting a dump of the
         | entire database to Archive.org could be appropriate. (For
         | example, Archive.org hosts user-submitted dumps of things like
         | product manuals, old TV shows, old computer games.)
        
           | perryprog wrote:
           | Considering the quotes have an unknown, and almost certainly
           | not public domain or CC BY-SA license[1], they wouldn't be
           | appropriate for any Wikimedia project.
           | 
           | [1] And even if submitting required licensing the
           | contribution under some Wikimedia-friendly license,
           | considering each person included in a quote would also have
           | to agree to such a license... and I have a feeling bloodninja
           | wasn't following up their conversations with "would you mind
           | sending me a signed release of the above six (6) messages
           | under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license
           | version 3.0?"
        
         | astrodust wrote:
         | Twitter itself got deleted.
        
         | nosrepa wrote:
         | It's all on archive.org
        
       | eugenekolo wrote:
       | Always surprised when some of these sites shut down. The
       | operating cost seems low and putting on a few ads (ethical, non-
       | intrusive, etc.) can net you passive $100+/mo.
        
         | michaelcampbell wrote:
         | It's more than money, they still require care and feeding.
         | 
         | At some age (and I'm getting to that), you just tire of being a
         | sysadm, esp. for "home"/hobby stuff.
        
           | kekebo wrote:
           | A historical archive of something should allow for robust,
           | non-interactive ways to persist. Maybe there should be
           | standards for this. In the mean time we can find gratitude to
           | archive.org and similar services
        
           | bayindirh wrote:
           | Even if it's a static HTML, you need to patch your webserver,
           | OS, and migrate the whole stack to newer versions.
           | 
           | This is why I'm scaling down my home infrastructure to SBCs
           | and run everything on Debian with stock package repositories.
           | It reduces tons of burden to something very manageable.
        
             | tomrod wrote:
             | Non-sysadmin here. For static HTML, why is server
             | patching/OS needed if things are locked down?
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | A webserver like Apache and NGINX are way more complex
               | than they look. It's sometimes possible to exploit bugs
               | with benign/simple requests, even if you don't run
               | advanced stacks on them. See [0] for example.
               | 
               | If you're not running strict firewall rules to limit your
               | SSH access and if you expose other services outside, they
               | also need constant patching against newer attacks.
               | 
               | Lastly, security standards evolve. Your SSH and SSL
               | layers need to be kept up to date to patch holes and add
               | newer algorithms while deprecating others, further
               | reducing the attack surface [1].
               | 
               | [0]: https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50383
               | 
               | [1]: https://lists.mindrot.org/pipermail/openssh-unix-
               | announce/20...
        
               | toyg wrote:
               | Because no software is perfect, which means every lock
               | has weaknesses that sooner or later get found out.
               | Chances are that, say, a Linux 2.x server that was
               | considered "very secure" in 2005 would now be pwned in a
               | few hours.
        
               | mschuster91 wrote:
               | Because both the Linux kernel and whatever SSL and web
               | server stack you use regularly have their remotely
               | exploitable vulnerabilities.
        
               | boring_twenties wrote:
               | Static HTML means you don't have your own code to worry
               | about vulnerabilities in. Vulnerabilities in the server
               | or OS software don't just go away.
        
             | jefftk wrote:
             | If it's static HTML you can put it on Github Pages and
             | leave it alone.
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.
               | 
               | Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't.
               | 
               | :)
        
             | johnklos wrote:
             | "Even if it's just static text, you need to patch your OS,
             | update your text editor and migrate the whole document to
             | newer versions."
             | 
             | Nah. That's bull. A static site can be put on a web server
             | and the site never needs to be updated again. I have web
             | sites people started hosting on my servers in the '90s that
             | are still there, still serving, and haven't been touched in
             | twenty years.
             | 
             | Sure, I update the servers and software, but the actual
             | amount of work needed for the site is, quite literally,
             | zero.
        
               | redcobra762 wrote:
               | Which ones? ...for research purposes only, of course.
        
               | johnklos wrote:
               | I have several dozen that go back at least two decades,
               | but I don't think I should post them without asking the
               | owners. OTOH, here's a rather public one:
               | 
               | http://www.baloneypotd.com/
        
               | TylerE wrote:
               | Someone has to run the server. That's the point.
        
               | KomoD wrote:
               | For $100+/mo you can easily have someone manage that.
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | For simple servers, unattended upgrades and an automatic
               | mail whenever server needs a restart (like kernel
               | updates) is enough. I'd put that $100 to a piggy bank
               | every month instead.
        
               | TylerE wrote:
               | Easily said when it's not your $100/mo for something that
               | no longer interests you.
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | > Sure, I update the servers and software, but the actual
               | amount of work needed for the site is, quite literally,
               | zero.
               | 
               | I think this is what I said? Quoting myself:
               | 
               | > Even if it's a static HTML, you need to patch your
               | webserver, OS, and migrate the whole stack to newer
               | versions.
               | 
               | I don't think I said "you need to update/patch the
               | webpage itself".
               | 
               | Huh. The password masking algorithm changes some words
               | possibly.
        
               | johnklos wrote:
               | I was making the point that the web server can just keep
               | getting updated by virtue of being part of an active
               | server. Separately, the site doesn't need any updating /
               | maintenance.
               | 
               | The same person or people who run the servers aren't
               | necessarily the same person or people who make the web
               | sites.
               | 
               | People can just as easily have static sites on SDF.org.
               | There'd be no reason for anyone to fret about whether the
               | servers are up to date.
               | 
               | Also, nobody ever needs to "migrate the whole stack to
               | newer versions". That's just not a thing with a static
               | site.
        
             | progman32 wrote:
             | Stick it on s3, tell cloudfront to serve from the bucket,
             | and let that sucker run almost unattended till aws shuts
             | down.
        
               | bayindirh wrote:
               | Why complicate everything when I can serve it with webfs
               | (a tiny webserver), from a tiny SBC from a cabinet in my
               | room, or from a VM and concentrate all my services to it
               | while paying not too much money and have all the
               | flexibility in the world?
               | 
               | I don't like to use oversized tools for small jobs. Also,
               | it's not fun.
        
         | hombre_fatal wrote:
         | > a few ads (ethical, non-intrusive, etc.) can net you passive
         | $100+/mo.
         | 
         | No way. That's barely true of Adsense anymore much less
         | whatever non-Adsense network you have in mind. And not for a
         | dead site like bash.org.
        
       | BlackJack wrote:
       | So sad to hear that. QDB brought me so much joy to read.
        
       | dale_glass wrote:
       | Wasn't it already dead for ages?
       | 
       | I remember back when it got popular it seemed to stop accepting
       | submissions after a short time.
       | 
       | And the hunter2 stuff got stuck on the top list forever, probably
       | because the mechanism is self-reinforcing by making it easiest to
       | vote for the stuff already on the top.
        
       | joenot443 wrote:
       | Anyone got a screenname for the dev originally behind it?
        
         | diggan wrote:
         | Maybe this helps?
         | 
         | > Managers: Ninety
         | 
         | > Moderators: Amanda, vx0, kastein
         | 
         | I'm guessing they might be around on Libera or Freenode
        
       | LeonM wrote:
       | Oh man, that is so sad to hear.
       | 
       | bash.org has given me endless laughs. It always cheered me up.
       | 
       | Its too bad the the top 100/200 hadn't changed in years. I guess
       | that's because IRC has been mostly dead for a while now (no more
       | new submission) and that the voting algorithm favored a self-
       | feeding feedback loop. Nonetheless, it was fun to come back once
       | every few years and re-read the top quotes.
       | 
       | Hopefully someone revives the site. Hopefully it's just that the
       | server needs some love or something. Do we have any idea who is
       | behind it?
        
         | MOARDONGZPLZ wrote:
         | > Its too bad the the top 100/200 hadn't changed in years.
         | 
         | I checked it every couple years or so when I remembered some
         | part of some top quote and wanted to get the full thing. I
         | always saw the top quotes never changed, so I just assumed the
         | entire site wasn't really updated.
        
         | gaws wrote:
         | > _I guess that 's because IRC has been mostly dead for a while
         | now_
         | 
         | False
        
       | munro wrote:
       | I just had an argument over IRC with a stranger on the internet
       | last week. We're still out there.
       | 
       | I thought the humor on this site hadn't aged well, but this one
       | got me:                   < pronto> :(         < GiftdKook> Turn
       | that frown upside down!         < korozion> ):
        
         | thunderbong wrote:
         | Sorry, I don't get it!
        
           | another-dave wrote:
           | People say "turn that frown upside down" as a phrase to mean
           | "don't frown, smile!"
           | 
           | But the poster flipped the emoji so it was a frowning face
           | pointing right, then a frowning face pointing left
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | "Turn that frown upside down" means to smile, instead, :( to
           | :)
           | 
           | But the chatter just flipped the whole face, so it's still
           | sad: :( ):
        
           | crindy wrote:
           | "Turn that frown upside down" is a way of saying - don't be
           | sad, be happy. Instead of having the corners of your mouth
           | point down (frown), have them point up (smile). The joke is
           | that if you move the eyes to the other side of the mouth, it
           | remains a frown.
           | 
           | Expectation
           | 
           | :( becomes :)
           | 
           | Subversion
           | 
           | :( becomes ):
        
             | stevage wrote:
             | It's a very American expression. In British culture a frown
             | refers to a forehead expression, not a mouth expression.
        
           | ihaveajob wrote:
           | The intended goal was to get the other person to reply :) by
           | inverting the mouth. Instead, the whole "frown face" was
           | inverted.
        
           | prook wrote:
           | And you never will!
        
             | sph wrote:
             | Geez, the number of people that don't recognise bash.org
             | quotes saddens me.
             | 
             | https://web.archive.org/web/20230401050146/http://bash.org/
             | ?...
        
         | phibz wrote:
         | .bef Duck friends
        
           | nullhole wrote:
           | You're trying to befriend a non-existing duck!
           | 
           | (some sort of duck game for HN could be neat. Can't see why
           | it wouldn't be possible...)
        
         | nickjj wrote:
         | I remember a similar quote that was something like:
         | <user> :b         <someone> how did you make that backwards d?
        
           | z500 wrote:
           | I remember that one! It was d-_-b
        
           | ryankrage77 wrote:
           | There's also,                 <user 1> <3       <user 2> 3>
           | wait how do you do that       <user 2> e> nvm figured it out
        
         | swozey wrote:
         | I know everything is logged but I basically quit using irc when
         | tons of channels started having bots that would log EVERYTHING
         | in a room to public urls.
         | 
         | But it is really cool that I can read channel logs from events,
         | like 9/11.
        
       | pmlnr wrote:
       | My all time favourite:
       | 
       | <Khassaki> HI EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!
       | 
       | <Judge-Mental> try pressing the the Caps Lock key
       | 
       | <Khassaki> O THANKS!!! ITS SO MUCH EASIER TO WRITE NOW!!!!!!!
       | 
       | <Judge-Mental> fuck me
       | 
       | https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.bash.org/?835030
        
         | bayindirh wrote:
         | This is my favorite "brain brown-out" moment:
         | <i8b4uUnderground> d-_-b         <BonyNoMore> how u make that
         | inverted b?         <BonyNoMore> wait         <BonyNoMore>
         | never mind
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20230709002522/http://bash.org/?...
        
           | inversetelecine wrote:
           | I want to believe the "d" in inverted being right next to the
           | "b?" is what set the lights off right away.
        
         | sph wrote:
         | Also, from memory:
         | 
         | <h|tler> HOW CAN YOU TELL IM 13 BY HOW IM WRITEING???????
        
           | jwilk wrote:
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20021129061103/http://www.bash.o.
           | ..
        
         | throwaway_08932 wrote:
         | CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!!!!!!!!!
        
       | adhesive_wombat wrote:
       | This is what happens when you don't use a proper capital-S Stack.
       | Probably they weren't even using Kubernetes and a separate multi-
       | cloud management DB for monitoring their data pipeline ingest.
        
         | daneel_w wrote:
         | On-point sarcasm. Have an upvote.
        
         | halfmatthalfcat wrote:
         | Rather they have some bare metal, FTP-ing files directly to
         | prod, right?
        
           | MrDarcy wrote:
           | At least one thing has stayed constant: bash brings up both
           | the kube cluster today as it brought up the prod server in
           | the 90's
        
             | hhh wrote:
             | Generally brings them down, too.
        
       | zomg wrote:
       | total bummer. i had contributed a bunch of great convos over the
       | years. is there a mirror?
        
       | poisonborz wrote:
       | There were also national versions, e.g. http://bash.hu is still
       | online. Would love to have a collection, there is far too little
       | sociological/folklore research about the net.
        
         | kratom_sandwich wrote:
         | http://www.ibash.de for Germany :-)
        
           | Sakos wrote:
           | I think I recognize some of these from bash.org. Are all of
           | these just translated? xD Or maybe I read them somewhere else
           | ... god, it's been so long.
        
             | k__ wrote:
             | There was another site, called german-bash.org, but it went
             | down last year :/
        
           | balou23 wrote:
           | Newfangled stuff... german-bash.org was the original.
           | 
           | Has also been dead for 2 years now. I found a 20 year old
           | quote of mine on archive.org. How time flies.
        
             | viddi wrote:
             | Not quite. The very first German bash.org clone is
             | https://bash.pilgerer.org/
        
         | kqr wrote:
         | https://warpdrive.se/ is a Swedish variant.
        
           | diggan wrote:
           | That reminds me about the time when I used to run a similar
           | website but focused on quotes from the IRC run by Flashback
           | Forum (one of the larger/the largest? discussion forums in
           | the Nordics).
           | 
           | Apparently I put the source for the site on GitHub
           | (https://github.com/victorb/Flashback-Citat [12 year old PHP
           | code!]) but I cannot find any actual archive of any of the
           | quotes nor the running website, sadly :/
        
         | akho wrote:
         | bash.im, the Russian version, was replaced with a "NO WAR"
         | message for a while, and now it's gone.
        
           | skjoldr wrote:
           | bash.org.ru/bash.im is now bashorg.rf
        
             | akho wrote:
             | Different team.
        
         | CrlNvl wrote:
         | https://danstonchat.com/ (previously bashfr.org) for
         | France/French speaking countries
        
         | theshrike79 wrote:
         | https://ircquotes.fi is the Finnish equivalent
        
         | frantathefranta wrote:
         | https://lamer.cz/ in Czech Republic. Definitely thought that
         | was the original long time ago.
        
         | jwilk wrote:
         | Polish: http://bash.org.pl/
        
         | mgdlbp wrote:
         | ccTLDs, inexhaustive
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20100222/http://bash.org.az
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20070217/http://bash.org.by
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20060424/http://bash.org.il
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20071022/http://bash.org.kg
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20061203/http://bash.org.lv
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20090830/http://bash.org.md
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20060101/http://bash.org.pl
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20090421/http://bash.org.ro
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20040611/http://bash.org.ru
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20110523/http://bash.org.tj
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20080105/http://bash.org.ua
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20101117/http://ibash.org.pl
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20070609/http://ibash.org.ru
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20091004/http://bash.cc
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20030805/http://bash.cx
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20080315/http://bash.ee
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20040608/http://bash.hu
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20090322/http://bash.im
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20060205/http://bash.lv
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20180314/http://bash.no
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20060112/http://bash.ro
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20080219/http://bash.tj
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20120114/http://bash.tk
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20061115/http://ibash.de
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20160109/http://ibash.im
        
           | mgdlbp wrote:
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20040212/http://bash.fi
           | 
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20070227/http://qdb.gr
           | 
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20060402/http://qdb.hu
           | 
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20040420/http://qdb.us
        
         | 20after4 wrote:
         | Wikimedia has their own bash.org clone:
         | https://bash.toolforge.org/random
        
       | 6510 wrote:
       | I remember first being pointed to the site for having said:
       | _Wanting a man who doesn 't smell is like wanting a woman who
       | doesn't talk._
       | 
       | Its importance was immediately obvious.
        
       | susam wrote:
       | The last snapshot in the Wayback Machine seems to be from 19 Jul
       | 2023:
       | http://web.archive.org/web/20230719193319/http://www.bash.or...
        
       | incomingpain wrote:
       | Is everyone abandoning bash?
       | 
       | Zsh?
       | 
       | Fish?
        
         | justusthane wrote:
         | Wrong bash. Bash.org didn't have anything to do with the shell,
         | it was a database of funny IRC quotes.
        
           | incomingpain wrote:
           | I tried going to the website, but well it's no more. Guess
           | I'll be taking my downvotes and flagging now for being an
           | idiot.
        
             | kstrauser wrote:
             | I upvoted for your gracious acceptance.
        
       | gtirloni wrote:
       | Last successful archive (July 2023):
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20230719194509/http://bash.org/
        
       | _0xdd wrote:
       | Oh man. This would be the perfect site for ProtoWeb to restore.
        
       | lazycog512 wrote:
       | I still wonder if those two ever met up at the beach.
        
       | Demiurge wrote:
       | One of my all time favorite sites on the interenet, I am glad
       | there is an archive version.
       | 
       | IRC and being ASCII only had their benefits. These days, Discord
       | displacing IRC, for most people who even have PCs, there is a
       | much different vibe of re-posting meme pics and gifs, or even
       | youtube videos.
       | 
       | Yet, I don't know if this is because of the higher production
       | requirements, or not, but there isn't a database of spontaneous
       | funny moments.
        
         | naremu wrote:
         | Ironically, many of the "respectable" discord servers (i.e.
         | revolving around hobbies people under the age of 18
         | aren't/can't get into) seem to not allow cross-server emojis
         | (which mostly stops all usage of them and discourages gif-
         | memeing as well).
         | 
         | Combined with "compact" mode in user settings, I find myself
         | having a vaguely IRC-like experience in the servers worth
         | participating in.
         | 
         | Terrible shame how many of us have come full circle just to do
         | the same things on the corpo's surveillance state owned land
         | instead of our own.
        
           | Demiurge wrote:
           | Yeah, I am getting prompted to subscribe and pay to even
           | participte. Perhaps it's part of the larger theme of
           | capitalism and monetization consuming all parts of human
           | existence, including those that come from a purely artistic
           | or communicative self expression. It's supposed to be part of
           | the technological progress that builds us up, as a society,
           | but I am strugging to fill the bash.org void.
        
           | crtasm wrote:
           | A lot of the Discords I've experienced have a dedicated
           | channel for gifs/memes, seems to work quite well.
        
           | Vorh wrote:
           | The reasoning behind the banning of cross-server emojis in
           | most "respectable" servers is that you can split an image
           | into a 5x5 grid of "emoji" and post images in channels you're
           | not supposed to. It's a mess.
        
         | sph wrote:
         | > being ASCII only
         | 
         | Somehow, in the age of TikTok and Discord, ASCII art has
         | survived
         | 
         | <insert amogus ASCII art here>
        
         | opan wrote:
         | >IRC and being ASCII only had their benefits.
         | 
         | I still use IRC every day and you can send unicode emoji,
         | Japanese, etc. just fine (via external tools or copy/paste
         | typically). It's up to the client/terminal emulator/font on the
         | other end to make it look right. Plus posting links to
         | images/videos, either at random public spots or ones you just
         | uploaded to a filesharing site, is pretty common.
         | 
         | I have only been to bash.org a handful of times, but multiple
         | channels I'm in have their own bots that can store quotes and
         | spit them back out later, so it's a bit more small and local
         | than bash.org. It's only for single-line messages, though, so
         | not the same as capturing a whole conversation. I do also
         | occasionally grab some lines to dump in a text file for
         | personal enjoyment.
        
         | dihrbtk wrote:
         | IRC doesn't actually specify an encoding for messages, only
         | limiting each message to 512 bytes IIRC. This could and did
         | cause encoding issues when dealing with non-english language
         | text.
        
       | panzagl wrote:
       | If they forgot the root p/w its hunter2
        
       | jdlyga wrote:
       | The server that runs it probably got updated to Windows 10
        
       | that_guy_iain wrote:
       | My fav quote of all time was:
       | 
       | <erno> hm. I've lost a machine.. literally _lost_. it responds to
       | ping, it works completely, I just can't figure out where in my
       | apartment it is.
        
       | 1970-01-01 wrote:
       | i'm going to become rich and famous after i invent a device that
       | allows you to stab people in the face over the internet
       | 
       | We aren't encouraged to have this kind of fun on public forums
       | anymore. I don't know why exactly, but I do know we're not better
       | off for dropping this humor.
        
         | redcobra762 wrote:
         | Oh please, if you've interacted at all with a video game
         | community in the last decade you know this kind of humor is
         | alive and well...
        
           | LAC-Tech wrote:
           | It is, but it will get you banned.
           | 
           | Has no one else noticed the rise of censorship evading slang
           | among zoomers? Eg saying "unalive" instead of "kill". I
           | remember there was a big file with a bunch of these for
           | chinese youth I found fascinating some 15 years ago. And now
           | we have to do it too.
        
             | redcobra762 wrote:
             | Oh yeah because burdening children with the challenges
             | of... using slightly different words... is a real shame.
        
               | LAC-Tech wrote:
               | Are you saying censorship is fine because people can just
               | use other words?
               | 
               | There really is no point engaging with you then.
        
               | sph wrote:
               | It's not censorship, it's new^H^H^Hbetterspeak (tm). A
               | more friendly and inclusive version of the English
               | language.
        
               | redcobra762 wrote:
               | You call it censorship, I call it freedom of association.
               | These are private organizations deciding what they allow
               | on their own platforms.
               | 
               | But more importantly the "kind of humor" your originally
               | highlighted is absolutely alive, as evidenced by your own
               | point that people use words to get around whatever
               | censorship there is of the most extreme versions of that
               | humor.
        
               | LAC-Tech wrote:
               | The older I get the less useful I think this distinction
               | between "official" and "unofficial" is. "Officially" King
               | Charles can dissolve the UK parliament, but
               | "unofficially" he can't. Power is power and we know it
               | when we see it.
               | 
               | So yes I would call being banned or having your language
               | limited by major global platforms "censorship", despite
               | the fact that officially they're just private
               | organisations.
        
               | redcobra762 wrote:
               | You're just saying you only care about some people's
               | rights and not others. Part of the 1a and the general
               | concept of freedom is that you don't have to put up with
               | people saying stupid shit everywhere, such as in your own
               | home.
        
             | Kronopath wrote:
             | The similarity to China isn't a coincidence. This is all
             | coming from the cultural dominance of TikTok among young
             | people, which (to my knowledge) algorithmically downranks
             | any content that has those words in them.
             | 
             | It's a common Chinese strategy, born of Chinese censorship
             | requirements, which TikTok naturally used when presented
             | with similar-enough problems outside of China.
        
               | LAC-Tech wrote:
               | This goes far beyond TikTok. Twitch, Youtube, the
               | jurisdictions of Canada, the UK, Australia... this is one
               | thing I'm not willing to blame China for, I am just
               | noting how close it is the same thing that China does.
        
             | sph wrote:
             | It's probably from the era of content silo algorithms that
             | really do not like and punish your content for saying
             | certain words, like COVID-19 in mid 2020, or "dead" today
             | (I seem to recall a YouTuber having to beep himself saying
             | that word very recently)
             | 
             | These kids grow and learn with Youtube after all.
             | 
             | Don't blame zoomers, blame American puritanism in tech.
        
               | LAC-Tech wrote:
               | I'm not blaming zoomers, no more than I am blaming
               | chinese youth who have to talk about "aquatic producers"
               | to avoid being censored for even discussing censorship.
               | 
               | Ironically I tried looking for a list of officially
               | banned words on twitch. All I found was journalist spam
               | 'summarising' and telling me how I should feel about it.
               | 
               | One site had a list of 50 words, all of which they
               | censored, literally:
               | 
               | - N-word
               | 
               | - F-word
               | 
               | - C-word
               | 
               | - S-word
               | 
               | - T-word
               | 
               | When I scrolled to the end ( "A*kissing" ), I got a
               | newsletter popup.
        
       | d0odk wrote:
       | Someone remind the admin his password is hunter2
        
       | ryandv wrote:
       | What a shame. IRC is one of the few protocols left of the early
       | Internet that hasn't been aggressively commercialized and
       | colonized by corporate interests, and this is just another nail
       | in the coffin.
       | 
       | Often times I wonder why basically _everything_ must be on the
       | Web, and if all that historical baggage and complexity is really
       | necessary, or even worth it at all.
        
         | agentultra wrote:
         | Even many social services provided by governments in the west
         | are not available to you unless you have access to the web.
         | 
         | Sounds like we're headed in the right direction... if you're in
         | the business of selling shovels.
        
         | kridsdale1 wrote:
         | IRC was commercialized very successfully. It's called Slack and
         | Discord.
        
           | cobertos wrote:
           | Twitch chat also uses IRC
        
             | mondobe wrote:
             | So does the online multiplayer for Worms: Armageddon,
             | ChanServ and all.
        
               | puzzlingcaptcha wrote:
               | IIRC the original Battlenet (Starcraft etc) also used it.
        
               | opello wrote:
               | Yes! We had Diablo 2 Battle.net bots that were IRC
               | clients. :) Fond memories.
        
             | PokemonNoGo wrote:
             | Can you connect to it with a regular client?
        
               | ericbarrett wrote:
               | You could back in the early days (I did it), not sure
               | today.
        
               | themoonisachees wrote:
               | You still can, it's very useful for bots and game
               | integrations because you just need an IRC lib in your
               | language of choice. However, the servers aren't IRC
               | anymore, they just have a compat shim that speaks IRC for
               | those purposes.
        
               | fivre wrote:
               | yes, i use irssi to hold persistent sessions for all the
               | twitch chats im in. doesn't require anything special
               | beyond an oauth token sent as the server password
        
           | s3krit wrote:
           | neither of those things use IRC. unless you're just referring
           | to channel-based instant messaging.
        
             | fivre wrote:
             | the original "protocol not commercialized" sentiment in the
             | OP is a bit odd. nobody commercialized HTTP per se (okay,
             | you could make an argument for SaaS CDN proxies, but i
             | don't think that was the spirit of the original argument),
             | they commercialized things you could deliver using it. the
             | channel-based real time chat model is what mattered, not
             | the intricate details of how the underlying bits are
             | delivered
             | 
             | functionally, Discord and Slack have commercialized that
             | model, with clear and obvious effects for people that were
             | using IRC. every community i was part of via IRC has
             | migrated to those services, and i haven't encountered a new
             | community on IRC in forever, but have encountered plenty of
             | new Discord communities
        
               | ryandv wrote:
               | The particular point about protocols is that IRC is dead-
               | simple to implement. It's all ASCII/UTF-8, CRLF-delimited
               | messages of space-separated tokens. You can get a working
               | implementation with the stdlib of most languages in about
               | 200 lines. The protocol hasn't really changed much over
               | the years.
               | 
               | Contrast with HTTP and other related web technologies,
               | whose specifications are so complex that only the largest
               | tech firms can even dream of building their own
               | implementations, let alone achieving full standards
               | compliance. Moreover, those standards are also often
               | driven by those same corporate interests who own
               | significant usage share in the browser space.
               | 
               | To the extent that corporate interests will advocate for
               | standards in their own self-interest (recent example:
               | Google WEI), I would say that the protocol has been
               | commercialized.
        
             | ascorbic wrote:
             | Even if Slack doesn't IRC it is absolutely based on it,
             | down to slash commands and channel name syntax.
        
               | fernandotakai wrote:
               | i mean, i hope people remember that slack had an irc
               | bridge and it was awesome. i used to use irssi there was
               | no linux slack app.
        
         | JeffSnazz wrote:
         | I was able to have literally months of logs from a dozen
         | servers streamed to a single app running with 1/256th the
         | memory I have in the laptop I'm writing on, and it was both
         | more responsive and had more features. And you didn't need to
         | deal with anyone's custom emoticons or gif spam. That is a
         | _serious_ loss from my perspective.
         | 
         | Hell, just today I was trying to figure out how to use native
         | emoji in Discord. Turns out, you can't, and they just force you
         | to deal with those god-awful cartoony ones. Ugh. One day
         | someone will come back around and reimplement basic text chat
         | as a "minimal", "sleek", or "uncluttered" experience and we'll
         | come full-circle. Maybe it'll even use XMPP this time....
        
           | Vorh wrote:
           | You actually can, you have to preface your emoji with a
           | backslash.
        
             | JeffSnazz wrote:
             | Oh wow, thank you!
        
           | heyoni wrote:
           | We need to take a serious step back as a society to declutter
           | our digital lives. It's why I want beeper to succeed so
           | badly. It's become atrociously difficult to just transmit
           | text, it never needed to become this bloated of an
           | experience.
        
         | pwg wrote:
         | > Often times I wonder why basically _everything_ must be on
         | the Web
         | 
         | Because for the great majority of users, i.e. those who thought
         | that "the internet" lived inside the blue "e" icon for IE on
         | Win XP, or those who "break their cup holders" [1] they have
         | great difficulty handling the fact that they need to launch
         | different apps on their computer for different purposes and so
         | everything has coalesced around "web based" as the lowest
         | common denominator in an attempt to accommodate everyone.
         | 
         | [1]https://www.ebaumsworld.com/jokes/computer-cup-holder-
         | joke/8...
        
           | krapp wrote:
           | I'm pretty sure the great majority of users nowadays have
           | only ever interacted with the internet through apps on a
           | tablet or phone. And even the dinosaurs who "logged on" when
           | desktops and icons were a thing knew how to launch different
           | apps on their computer for different purposes because that's
           | how Windows worked, and people were using home computers
           | before the web and web browsers even came along.
           | 
           | The decision to appify the web was an economic one made not
           | on behalf of the end user, but corporations. It's cheaper to
           | write a website or a webapp than a native application, to
           | distribute bits than burn a CD or cartridge. It's cheaper to
           | publish in bits than ink and paper. It's cheaper to handle
           | electronic forms than physical, mailed in forms. It's cheaper
           | to send an email than call someone on the telephone.
        
           | mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
           | Do you have any data to support your assertion that a "great
           | majority"(whatever that means) of users in the present "have
           | great difficulty handling the fact that they need to launch
           | different apps on their computer for different purposes"?
           | 
           | Because it seems wildly hyperbolic. We're not in the year
           | 1995 anymore.
        
             | throwitaway1123 wrote:
             | > Because it seems wildly hyperbolic. We're not in the year
             | 1995 anymore.
             | 
             | That's exactly what I was thinking. We're not in the 90s
             | when people thought AOL and the internet were synonyms.
        
           | dubcanada wrote:
           | The great majority of people grew up with the internet at
           | this point, and this is largely not true.
        
         | arccy wrote:
         | not for the want of trying, (see freenode)
        
         | pixl97 wrote:
         | >I wonder why basically _everything_ must be on the Web
         | 
         | NAT. You can thank NAT for making the internet far worse.
        
         | Vicinity9635 wrote:
         | How good IRC is only makes me hate how awful discord is in
         | comparison.
        
       | netprole wrote:
       | i put on my robe and lower my wizard hat
        
       | green-salt wrote:
       | Going through it again I now remember how much of my humor is
       | derived from there.
        
       | allywilson wrote:
       | Contacted their/Stablepoint's support bot:
       | 
       | Today
       | 
       | What happened to bash.org?
       | 
       | Hello there! YR
       | 
       | I will be happy to assist you but it appears that the support PIN
       | you entered might be incorrect. Can you double-check, please?
       | 
       | Yordan R.
       | 
       | I haven't entered any support PIN
       | 
       | Can you please provide me with it as I need to verify the
       | account? YR
       | 
       | You should be able to see your verification number by going to
       | the client area --> Support--> And on the left side you will see
       | your support pin.
       | 
       | Yordan R.
       | 
       | I've not got an account YR
       | 
       | I see that the website you mentioned (bash.org) is hosted with
       | us, it's resolving from our server, but without your support PIN
       | I'm unable to check it further due to security reasons
       | 
       | Yordan R.
       | 
       | OK, can I suggest you reach out to the owner of the site and, in
       | a kind, proactive way, let them know it's not working and the
       | internet is upset with them?
       | 
       | See discussion here:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38950721 YR
       | 
       | Got it, thanks
        
         | Akronymus wrote:
         | > let them know it's not working and the internet is upset with
         | them?
         | 
         | That part seems like a dick move, to me personally. That
         | implies that the site operator did something bad.
        
       | selimthegrim wrote:
       | RIP BibleBot
        
       | jpswade wrote:
       | No doubt now archived forever and available in ChatGPT.
        
       | riley333 wrote:
       | But... but... What happens after I put my robe and wizard hat
       | on?!
        
       | throwaway_08932 wrote:
       | A few years ago, I read all of bash.org from beginning to end. It
       | took about a week of transit rides.
       | 
       | There were a lot of laughs, but a huge proportion of it was slurs
       | directed at Black people and women. It's probably time for it to
       | fade away.
       | 
       | The quotes I remember the most were (paraphrased)
       | 
       | 1. Best ebay review ever -- bought item for my brother who had
       | cancer, item never arrived and my brother died
       | 
       | 2. Something about writing a warranty about installing a cinder
       | block in a window and then throwing it through a window at the
       | Sony headquarters
       | 
       | 3. "There's no such thing as a sin on the battlefield." "Opposite
       | over hypotenuse. dipshit"
        
       | throwawaaarrgh wrote:
       | I put on my robe and wizard hat.... for the last time. :'(
        
       | phibz wrote:
       | RIP #linuxhelp and #linux. Some good times there. Now bash.org is
       | gone its like it never happened.
        
       | ajitmanware wrote:
       | HET
        
       | ajitmanware wrote:
       | HATE
        
       | thegeekpirate wrote:
       | It was one of the only websites that worked on my old Nokia
       | phone, so I'd read it non-stop while on transit.
       | 
       | So long, and thanks for all the fish!
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | I put on my robe and wizard hat...
        
       | MauranKilom wrote:
       | Most recently, I was using bash.org as my go-to non-HTTPS site
       | for captive portal purposes (back when HTTPS Everywhere was a
       | useful extensions). But the built-into-Firefox HTTPS only
       | treatment handles captive portals gracefully already, so I didn't
       | actually visit in a while.
       | 
       | Goodbye!
        
         | meatmanek wrote:
         | I use http://alwayshttp.com for this.
        
           | Vicinity9635 wrote:
           | "If you refresh your page and you are still reading this, it
           | means you're on the internet! Have fun, be safe and don't
           | forget to bring a towel."
           | 
           | d'aww
        
         | Titan2189 wrote:
         | https://neverssl.com/
        
           | p1mrx wrote:
           | http://http.rip/ is better, if you want https to actually
           | fail.
        
       | cratermoon wrote:
       | ^<@< has left the chat.
        
       | brlcad wrote:
       | I'd be happy to host the site in perpetuity on one of our
       | dedicated hosts (for free). Have hosted the sites for a number of
       | notable open source communities for decades.
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | Would love to write a Bash function that selects a random quote
       | from a DB of all of them and prints it out (for use when opening
       | a new terminal, for example)
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23326177 is a previous
       | discussion on this that mentions a database. I'd love a copy of
       | such a quote DB but the site mentioned now requires a
       | login/password
        
       | abbbi wrote:
       | sad :( I still prefer IRC over all these other solutions like
       | discord. They just don't feel right.
        
       | oakpond wrote:
       | No! Bring it back now!!
        
       | linsomniac wrote:
       | "Danny?!?" "Mom?!?"
        
       | rightisleft wrote:
       | rightisleft slaps you around with a large trout
        
       | linsomniac wrote:
       | The "Top 100", when I first read it, long long ago, had me
       | laughing so hard I was afraid I'd wake up other people in the
       | house.
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20230709210553/http://bash.org/?...
        
       | forgotmypw17 wrote:
       | If anyone is interested in seeing a gallery of Bash.org-inspired
       | websites (over 100 of them), I've made a gallery as a tribute:
       | 
       | https://qdb.us/image.html
       | 
       | (original creator of QDB here, before it moved to bash.org)
        
       | dmd wrote:
       | Mirror from 3 years ago:
       | https://gitlab.com/dwrodri/bash_irc_quotes
        
       | MOARDONGZPLZ wrote:
       | That's ok. A bastion of nostalgia that seemingly hadn't been
       | updated in literal decades, or at least the top submissions
       | hadn't. I was using the internet in the 90s when Bash.org was
       | created, and appreciated the humor a lot, and laughed very hard
       | many times at the same jokes for years.
       | 
       | However, (very unpopular opinion) after decades of people
       | repeating the exact same jokes from Bash.org, the formerly
       | nostalgia inducing jokes started grating on me a lot. The
       | password *** hunter2 joke has made me cringe at its extreme
       | overuse for at least ten years, or the computer responding to
       | ping but being physically unfindable. If they weren't going to do
       | anything with the site, it would have been better to kill it in
       | 2010 with fond memories rather than let the jokes be beaten like
       | a dead horse for 20 years.
        
       | sumobob2112 wrote:
       | I take off my robe and lower my wizard hat in respect
        
       | tiziano88 wrote:
       | I'm sure most people here on HN already know about the famous
       | hunter2 meme, but it turns out that it is quite hard to find and
       | link to the original transcript, especially since it appears the
       | original website (bash.org) is no longer active. This URL
       | contains the sha2-256 digest of the transcript itself, so that it
       | can be preserved indefinitely for posterity. static.space is a
       | website I built to allow creating this kind of content-addressed
       | URLs of existing content (e.g. text, images), to ensure that it
       | can always be referenced even when the original location changes.
       | 
       | https://static.space/sha2-256:d5b215dd588bda164aca31a2eb08aa...
        
         | loktarogar wrote:
         | Great! Now I just need to memorise the sha2-256 digest of my
         | favourite memes
        
       | pests wrote:
       | > i just shit on the floor and heard it land but can't find it
       | > uh ??         > dropped shit****
        
       | layer8 wrote:
       | One of the classics:
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20040604194346/http://bash.org/?...
        
       | cyanydeez wrote:
       | just crown it with a LLM
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-11 23:01 UTC)