C’est un peu plus récent que Lycos et Hotbot. 🙂
September 29, 2026 at 9:09 AM
C’est un peu plus récent que Lycos et Hotbot. 🙂
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Read the full story at Ars Technica. In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door.…
Read the full story at Ars Technica. In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door.…
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Read the full story at Ars Technica. In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door. Unlike now, when Google is widely seen as both portal and gatekeeper, sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its own suite of quirks, charms, and flaws.
envnewsbits.info
September 25, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Read the full story at Ars Technica. In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door.…
Read the full story at Ars Technica. In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door.…
Those were the good old days! 😍 Going to age myself here. I remember going to my middle school computer lab and checking the differences between Ask Jeeves and HotBot indexes to do homework. Fun times :)
September 23, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Those were the good old days! 😍 Going to age myself here. I remember going to my middle school computer lab and checking the differences between Ask Jeeves and HotBot indexes to do homework. Fun times :)
It stings the eyes
September 23, 2026 at 5:41 AM
It stings the eyes
Same. I was actually looking up that crash on HotBot or AltaVista when the 2nd plane hit and I knew it was different this time.
September 11, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Same. I was actually looking up that crash on HotBot or AltaVista when the 2nd plane hit and I knew it was different this time.
none of the kids on tiktok even thought to ask what Altavista or Hotbot were supposed to be
September 10, 2026 at 5:20 PM
none of the kids on tiktok even thought to ask what Altavista or Hotbot were supposed to be
Hotbot or Altavista would not have done such bullshit.
August 31, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Hotbot or Altavista would not have done such bullshit.
Knuth wrote an entire volume — a hefty one — of his computer science magnum opus about search.
Somehow, in their hubris, they spent an order of magnitude more power making it worse.
I put “double quotes”. That means I want exact match full text. Don’t make me pine for HotBot and AltaVista again.
Somehow, in their hubris, they spent an order of magnitude more power making it worse.
I put “double quotes”. That means I want exact match full text. Don’t make me pine for HotBot and AltaVista again.
August 24, 2026 at 6:59 AM
Knuth wrote an entire volume — a hefty one — of his computer science magnum opus about search.
Somehow, in their hubris, they spent an order of magnitude more power making it worse.
I put “double quotes”. That means I want exact match full text. Don’t make me pine for HotBot and AltaVista again.
Somehow, in their hubris, they spent an order of magnitude more power making it worse.
I put “double quotes”. That means I want exact match full text. Don’t make me pine for HotBot and AltaVista again.
I don't know what y'all are talking about HotBot and DMoz were the correct search engines.
August 24, 2026 at 4:52 AM
I don't know what y'all are talking about HotBot and DMoz were the correct search engines.
Before Google HotBot was better than AltaVista.
August 24, 2026 at 4:52 AM
Before Google HotBot was better than AltaVista.
Pets.com
eToys.com
Kozmo.com
Webvan
Peapod
MCI Worldcom
Netscape
AOL
Excite
@Home
Lycos
Mindspring
AltaVista
Hotbot
TheGlobe
3com
CDNow
Cobalt
Egghead
Geocities
Handspring
Infoseek
iVilliage
Lucent
Netbank
Nortel
Prodigy
Pixelon
NetZero
Juno
Are a few of the major defunct names that come to mind
eToys.com
Kozmo.com
Webvan
Peapod
MCI Worldcom
Netscape
AOL
Excite
@Home
Lycos
Mindspring
AltaVista
Hotbot
TheGlobe
3com
CDNow
Cobalt
Egghead
Geocities
Handspring
Infoseek
iVilliage
Lucent
Netbank
Nortel
Prodigy
Pixelon
NetZero
Juno
Are a few of the major defunct names that come to mind
Pets.com
August 21, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Plentify turns your geyser into a grid asset: AI heats water when power is cheap and clean.
Full story on https://yespress.io/plentify?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
Full story on https://yespress.io/plentify?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
Plentify - The Startup That Taught South Africa
AI hardware and software that intelligently manages home energy. HotBot, SolarBot, and a virtual power plant built out of ordinary homes.
yespress.io
August 15, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Plentify turns your geyser into a grid asset: AI heats water when power is cheap and clean.
Full story on https://yespress.io/plentify?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
Full story on https://yespress.io/plentify?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, Ask Jeeves
~~~
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
2026 August 7
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
~~~
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
2026 August 7
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was."
arstechnica.com
August 11, 2026 at 5:33 PM
AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, Ask Jeeves
~~~
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
2026 August 7
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
~~~
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
2026 August 7
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
Ah, Suck - Netmoguls, HotBot, cartoons of Gen-X nerds … it all comes flooding back, the digital equivalent of Proust’s Madeline. 
August 11, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Ah, Suck - Netmoguls, HotBot, cartoons of Gen-X nerds … it all comes flooding back, the digital equivalent of Proust’s Madeline. 
Whilst Google search is pretty shit these days, as a webmaster in the late nineties I remember the times pre-Google where you had to try to optimise your website for a couple of dozen random search engines. Remember Lycos? Infoseek? Northern Light? HotBot? No, neither does anybody else.
The real story of pre-Google search is not that early engines were inferior—it’s that they reflected a different Internet entirely.
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was."
arstechnica.com
August 10, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Whilst Google search is pretty shit these days, as a webmaster in the late nineties I remember the times pre-Google where you had to try to optimise your website for a couple of dozen random search engines. Remember Lycos? Infoseek? Northern Light? HotBot? No, neither does anybody else.
Remembering the pre-Google web,
when search was an experiment
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
Sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its suite of quirks, charms, and flaws
when search was an experiment
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
Sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its suite of quirks, charms, and flaws
August 10, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Remembering the pre-Google web,
when search was an experiment
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
Sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its suite of quirks, charms, and flaws
when search was an experiment
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026...
“Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was.”
Sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and Ask Jeeves promised to tame the chaos, each with its suite of quirks, charms, and flaws
Internet nostalgia! 🥳 When search was an experiment...AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, Ask Jeeves, ...and Google. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026... #people #internet #technology #innovation #history #ux #seo #Oslo #Norway
Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
Most people have completely forgotten how chaotic it really was."
arstechnica.com
August 10, 2026 at 7:07 AM
Internet nostalgia! 🥳 When search was an experiment...AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, Ask Jeeves, ...and Google. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026... #people #internet #technology #innovation #history #ux #seo #Oslo #Norway
omg HOTBOT thank u for the memory
August 9, 2026 at 3:18 PM
omg HOTBOT thank u for the memory
Hotbot Nation.
August 7, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Hotbot Nation.
Chatgpt on 'think longer' mode is the best search engine that has ever existed. Just as Google surpassed Hotbot, which had surpassed Altavista.
August 5, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Chatgpt on 'think longer' mode is the best search engine that has ever existed. Just as Google surpassed Hotbot, which had surpassed Altavista.
I'm old enough to remember when Google helped you find websites to **go to**. It was indeed better than HotBot, which was pretty decent.
https://www.theringer.com/2026/08/04/tech/google-search-ai-internet
https://www.theringer.com/2026/08/04/tech/google-search-ai-internet
August 4, 2026 at 4:09 PM
I'm old enough to remember when Google helped you find websites to **go to**. It was indeed better than HotBot, which was pretty decent.
https://www.theringer.com/2026/08/04/tech/google-search-ai-internet
https://www.theringer.com/2026/08/04/tech/google-search-ai-internet
this was the orthodox position in 1995 except we called it "Hotbot'
July 31, 2026 at 10:12 PM
this was the orthodox position in 1995 except we called it "Hotbot'
Bei dem Angebot an KIs heute fühle ich mich in die 90er versetzt, Überangebot an Suchmaschinen (WebCrawler, Lycos, AltaVista, Excite, Yahoo, Fireball, HotBot, Infoseek ...) und am Ende hat Google die Vorherrschaft übernommen.
Wer wird der KI-Platzhirsch? OpenAI, Anthropic, Moonshot, Z, ... ?
Wer wird der KI-Platzhirsch? OpenAI, Anthropic, Moonshot, Z, ... ?
July 27, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Bei dem Angebot an KIs heute fühle ich mich in die 90er versetzt, Überangebot an Suchmaschinen (WebCrawler, Lycos, AltaVista, Excite, Yahoo, Fireball, HotBot, Infoseek ...) und am Ende hat Google die Vorherrschaft übernommen.
Wer wird der KI-Platzhirsch? OpenAI, Anthropic, Moonshot, Z, ... ?
Wer wird der KI-Platzhirsch? OpenAI, Anthropic, Moonshot, Z, ... ?