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Attention is all you have

1090 points · 330 comments · zer0tonin

  1. econ · · focus · HN ↗
    The Mosaic browser (1993) had full text history search.

    We then got a bookmark system that was every bit as terrible as a web directory.

    It stayed that way. The delicious search revenue made organizing websites uninteresting. That obscure website you enjoyed a decade ago but don't even remember, they had lots of traffic like you. No point updating or keeping it online. You can't have rss in Firefox but here is a Facebook like button in your address bar in stead.

    I've tried to maintain the bookmark menu but I rarely use it since everything is dead. Why aren't browsers storing a text version of the bookmark? Did people in 1993 have more resources than us? Should I be afraid it grows to a few GB over the decades?

    A good few dead websites have a backup some place but there is no automation to find it. If you had a string of text from a page you might be able to search for it. If the page found is highly similar we might automate the process to have alternative location for bookmarks with a nice warning dialog.

    1. AlienRobot · · focus · HN ↗
      But what if they update the webpage to something completely different from what you bookmarked? Wouldn't you like to have access to the most up-to-date version always? /s
      1. 6510 · · focus · HN ↗
        When `Cache-Control: max-age` expires a new copy should be fetched. Old version can be versioned by date.
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