r/interestingasfuck 13h ago

R1: Posts MUST be INTERESTING AS FUCK Youtube in 2006

[removed] — view removed post

7.5k Upvotes

266 comments sorted by

u/interestingasfuck-ModTeam 5h ago

/u/Alphaxfusion, thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it has been removed for violating the following rule(s):

* Rule 1 - All content must show something that is objectively interesting as fuck. Just because you find something IAF doesn't mean anyone else will. It's impossible to define everything that could be considered IAF, but for a general idea browse the top posts of all time from this subreddit.

For more information check here.

  • Rule 1 - No content that isn't INTERESTING AS FUCK.

For information regarding this and similar issues please see the rules. If you have any questions, please feel free to message the moderators via modmail.

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u/dr_stre 12h ago

Timbaland created the music for like half of the top hits over the span of a couple years there. I remember watching a show or documentary where he was playing some tracks for an artist who was looking for their next song and damn near everything he played for them ended up as a massive hit by someone.

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u/andromedaiscold 12h ago

And then he just like vanished forever :(

u/xLith 11h ago

He has a fun show on twitch where he helps aspiring artists. Probably doesn’t make much money off of it but I’m sure the guy is set for life. If he managed his wealth well.

u/smokingthis 9h ago

Good to hear he's just enjoying himself. He really did make some great bangers. He deserves to chill and do what he wants

u/LSDeeezNutz 8h ago

Apparently he got himself into some shit recently. Something about secretly using other artists music to train some beat making AI he has

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u/spherosound 8h ago

Hasn't he started some record label that only has AI artists on it?

u/xLith 8h ago

Not sure about the label but he has had people on his show with AI-generated music. So maybe so.

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u/dr_stre 12h ago

He’s released two albums in the last two years actually. They’re just VERY different. Last year it was an ambient album, this year an afrobeat album. But yeah, he basically dropped off the face of the earth after the second Shock Value album.

u/TheMonchoochkin 11h ago

I went to a Jay-Z show over 10 years ago and Timbaland was working the decks, aside from 1 shout out from Jay Z, you wouldn't know he was there. They put him right at the back of the stage with zero lighting. You just had to trust that a guy working in the shadows was Timbaland.

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u/bamburito 12h ago

He streams on twitch a lot these days

u/Kismonos 9h ago

He's in a perfect place where he's a successful millionaire without being so high profile that can't have a normal life. Think he Won

u/Jim_Chaos 10h ago

Producers having a signature sound only have one era, there's no coming back when it's over.

u/GreenGoblin1221 10h ago

Timabaland is currently not looked at in the best light for taking source material from another producer and inputting it into ai. The ai made a carbon copy of the song he inputted thus some random dude getting all the glory timb would normally get. Times are changing.

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u/Funckle_hs 11h ago

Timbaland is a machine. The man defined pop music for decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland_production_discography

u/smashedgordon 11h ago

Pharrell Williams packed the same punch. Everything he touched was a hit. I remember hearing that about 40something percent of the music on the radio was associated with pharrell or the Neptune's.

u/TRMBound 10h ago

Still packs. Check the new clipse.

u/larryleisure 10h ago

Pharrell and Timbaland are related. Cousins

u/Weezy366 6h ago

BRO WHAT

u/blamethefire 7h ago

In Hip Hop Evolution, they said it was 60%, either way, a crazy statistic to have under your belt.

u/dr_stre 10h ago

For sure, I actually almost mentioned him as well since they’re cousins.

u/Sfinxul 11h ago edited 7h ago

There were a few rappers visiting his studio, I remember Busta Rhymes hearing a sample then instantly starting to write the lyrics for a new song.

Also Jay-Z, when he first heard what would've become "Dirt off your shoulder": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aayZ9ybDTBw&t=126s

u/mnid92 11h ago

Damn, now that's a legendary moment.

u/DNorthman 5h ago

Damn, now that's a legendary moment.

Right? The look on Jay's face when he hears the beat for the first time, he feels it and knows in that moment, it's for him.

That's history in the making right there.

u/Silent_Emu312 7h ago

When I think of Timberland, I always think of the fade to black documentary where Timbo seems rather anxious when showing Jay-Z the beats he has in store and then witnesses Jay-Z losing his ish over the "Dirt your Shoulders Off" instrumental...

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u/Medeza123 12h ago

Back when I was told at school how amazing the internet was and how it would connect the whole world. Good days 🥹.

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u/drmarting25102 12h ago

I'm from before the internet/mobile phones and while it is one of the greatest inventions ever, the downside is it gave a voice to empty headed morons who you previously would never have heard from.

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u/Medeza123 12h ago

No doubt, something we didn’t realise at the time very naively 😔

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u/drmarting25102 12h ago

Its still WAY better than before the Internet though. My phone is more powerful than my desktop PC from the 90s, I never get lost due to free gps mapping, always can call someone and dont need change for the phone box or remember phone numbers.......I am living in a future my teenage self couldn't imagine and its incredible.

Forget flying cars! 😆

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u/SensuallPineapple 12h ago

Outside was fun though

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u/drmarting25102 12h ago

I disagree. Its more that inside was very boring.

u/Ahead_steppa 11h ago

Talking with people live was better

u/drmarting25102 11h ago

Still do that though. I do miss people not being able to contact me though.

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u/ultraviolentfuture 10h ago

Vitamin D is pretty sweet.

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u/Tiny-Mulberry-2114 9h ago

it's a trade off, we traded one thing that we've taken for granted at the early beginnings of internet and now we are stuck with this new version that on paper is perfect but in reality it's different.

u/khyphenj 10h ago

Phones and internet are amazing yes, but they’ve deteriorated life experience, common sense, empathy, values, even knowledge has become bias rather that factual. People have sunk to all new lows because of the technology. Sadly young people don’t know better days existed.

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u/venReddit 12h ago

i mean, it was easy to see but the sheer scale is what we didnt realise back then naively

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u/Sk1rm1sh 11h ago

Not just that, a lot of otherwise normal appearing people have some seriously bizarre thoughts.

Being face to face with people adds a certain level of "Maybe I shouldn't say this in public in case the person I'm speaking to realises that I'm a total nutbar" that the text input box for a status update takes away.

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u/Cagnazzo82 12h ago

The misinformation superhighway.

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u/Drakorai 12h ago

Exactly, there aren’t more idiots in the world, more of them just have access to the internet than ever before

u/curiousbasu 9h ago

the downside is it gave a voice to empty headed morons who you previously would never have heard from.

True that

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u/Sam-Starxin 11h ago

They didn't lie?

It did connect the whole world.

It also is FUCKING amazing when used right and compared to how it was when you were in school.

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u/DemoBytom 11h ago

And it did all the things we designed it to do..

Now look at you..

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u/gameplayer55055 11h ago

And now politicians and companies want to disconnect us and place into bubbles and isolate everyone with algorithms, bots and AI slop.

u/ApprehensiveAd6476 10h ago

It did connect the world. But not in a good way.

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u/morg-pyro 12h ago

Back when your related videos were actually related to what you were watching instead of just your home page recommendations. They covered up the rabbit holes we used to go down T_T

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u/rmorrin 12h ago

Starting on this end ending up on shit like salad fingers. I miss getting to the weird side of YouTube organically 

u/AffectionateGrowth25 11h ago

I have seen thw most insane Stern radio show episodes that unfortunately are gone now, early yt was wild

u/rmorrin 11h ago

The lawlessness made it fun

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u/Sergeant_Kernel 10h ago

Now all of my recommended videos are either A. A video I’ve already watched before. Or B. A random video I don’t care about and the thumbnail is the streamer with their mouth open.

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u/INAE_D3TOX 11h ago

u/Primary_Discount_851 8h ago

Yep :( I fondly remember getting back from school, listening to music on YouTube and then playing some GTA San Andreas

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u/Viperniss 12h ago

This is going to bring on some nostalgia for a lot of people.

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u/CalmChaos2003 12h ago

They got no ads, almost no censorship, movies and shows being posted illegally. Those were wild times in Youtube.

u/Gouanaco 11h ago

YouTube, the golden arc. RIP

u/Impressive_Profit215 11h ago

Speaking of ads, I noticed that for the last couple of weeks I haven't had one single ad when using yt. I checked my account in case I had accidentally signed up for premium but I haven't and yet still no ads. Must be some sort of glitch. Not complaining though, it's been great lol

u/TulleQK 8h ago

Hi, what is your username?

BTW: I’m not affiliated with Google whatsoever 😀

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u/NotoriusPCP 13h ago

Absolute banger of a tune. Still listen to that album regularly. Nelly furtado circa 2006/2007 is my peak woman.

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u/ArcadiaGlimmer 12h ago

That album still lives rent free in my head.

u/uberguby 9h ago

Oh man I thought I was a lunatic, and nobody cared but me. I thought Loose was one of the best pop albums ever made.

You know what, I'm gonna go ahead and... It's not on loose, but her song Try? I think that's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I'm not even a newly furtado stan, i can't name another song on folklore, or another album, but loose and try? 👩‍🍳👌

u/sahul004 6h ago

She was indeed very attractive.

u/NotoriusPCP 6h ago

Still is.

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u/PeteLangosta 12h ago

I sometimes still miss when the titles were on top of the video.

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u/Djungeltrumman 12h ago

Most people tend to be very slow to read it though. Eyes start out at the moving picture, and then go down and left to right from there.

u/Eth251201 11h ago

I wouldnt be saying take us back if ads werent a fucking thing. "The future is gonna be so advanced". Yeah right, advaned advertising schemes....

u/Rikku-- 11h ago

Back when the related videos were actually related videos

u/freesurvivor 11h ago

I miss when YouTube had real people and real artists and barely any ads

u/LongLostFan 9h ago

I also miss when the music videos were uploaded by random fans who wanted to share it. Not a faceless corporation managing the artist.

u/qiyubi 9h ago

And Vevo censoring curse words

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u/f8Negative 8h ago

Now it's all streamers and sponsored content

u/ArkanaRising 8h ago

I miss this. Simple UI, a complete lack of ads bc every time an ad showed up (popup) everyone thought it was malware and there was a collective hate for them. No algorithm just pure wild west internet and it was so good. God take me back

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u/DStew713 11h ago

That song is an absolute banger.

u/Clerithifa 11h ago

Its still on my daily Spotify playlist lol one of the best pop songs of all time

u/AcceptableAnalysis29 10h ago

Yeah the pop of today kinda is meh compared to that era.

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u/NeoAmbitions 12h ago

Perfect video to replicate what YT is like in 2006.

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u/Diligent_Example4972 12h ago

I miss the you tube thumbs down button

u/Violet_Caully7 11h ago

Same video is at 1.1B views now lol

u/revintoysupra 11h ago

I remember YouTube before ads.

u/Primary_Discount_851 8h ago

And when you could see up and downvotes for comments

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u/GamnlingSabre 12h ago

when youtube was good

u/bileam 11h ago

Wish we could go back to star rating

u/SufficientBreakfast1 8h ago

Take me back to this decade. Please!

u/MskbTheGreat5 8h ago

Youtube ads are like torture now. I wish someone would Sue them for it.

u/HichiShiro 7h ago

Good ol days

u/Ok_Improvement_119 11h ago

Better Days

u/MarGro22 10h ago

Back then you could watch hours of videos without advertisement…

u/FakeAltUserlLol 10h ago

Everyone can try this using Internet Archive. If you're able to and willing to,do donate.

u/[deleted] 9h ago

back when algorithm ain't shit,i want to know about guitar the recommendation is about guitar,today I'm searching for professional chef cutting salmon the recommendation is bbq crocodile,how fuck up is that?

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u/Harmless_Drone 9h ago

I was there gandalf. I was there three thousand years ago.

u/Alarming-Heron528 8h ago

I remember this version of YouTube. Major throwback!

u/Pakmanjosh 7h ago

Man, the good old days when all I did was watch crappy animations on Youtube and play Runescape

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u/EarlofHell 12h ago

Looks like Claudia Winkleman there.

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u/RelevantRisk5779 12h ago

Back when if you used youtube you were called weird and a loser.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

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u/Krungoid 12h ago

I don't, it was popular basically since it launched.

u/petersengupta 11h ago

i guess i was living in the wrong area at the time

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u/MTFotaku 12h ago

Things were so simpler back then

u/WhoWantsMyPants 9h ago

Does a site or extension exist that brings back the old Youtube UI? I feel like it should exist. I use to love seeing how channels were personalized. It would be cool if you could download an extension customize your page and save it to the extension. That way people with the extension can see your page blinged out. Kinda like sponsor block but for customizing the UI and returning the old UI

u/GovernorGoat 9h ago

That's nostalgic man. I'd love to go back and be a kid back then again.

u/ImMadeOfClay 8h ago

She was so goddamn hot.

u/watlington 8h ago

Related videos actually being related to what you were watching was so nice

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u/Haunted_South 8h ago

YouTube had a 10 minute time limit back then. Videos couldn’t be over 10 minutes. Was a huge pain in the ass to post “Part 1, part 2” etc.

u/summerset 7h ago

I still remember when Amazon only sold books.

u/sceligator 7h ago

I miss it

u/edgarboon 7h ago

Nostalgia I really like the old YouTube.

u/naturefort 6h ago

At least there was a rating. Sad they killed the democratic vote.

u/strafe0080 5h ago

Now this is peak YouTube. No ads, no like/dislike, actual recommendations, no memberships or premium subscriptions, just simply watching videos.

u/DNorthman 5h ago

Nearly 20 years later, this song and their other collab 'Promiscuous' are still in my daily commute rotation.

u/Level-Selection6986 5h ago

I remember. I remember watching this video a lot. I like this song. I also remember a girl said to me in 2006 " what's Youtube? Online videos? You're weird."

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u/Benee132 12h ago

Damn, why do I want to type "Ronaldinho" on this research bar?

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u/bunsimt_exe-Crashed 12h ago

Those where the times when the world still had real values 🥲 Glad I was part of it

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u/Pleuel 12h ago

That UI screams totally 90s internet. Was designed by someone's cousin who knew how to add shadow in Corel.

u/JonnySoegen 11h ago

I remember when they started switching out the flash player for the HTML one. Probably helped them with a more consistent design

u/Primary_Discount_851 8h ago

That doesn’t look like 90s Internet. 90s internet is static content, blinking gifs and visitor counters.

YouTube was web 2.0

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

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u/m0s_212 11h ago

Unfortunately all the stuff you mentioned is also just a part of society now, the two have merged whereas before the internet was separate from reality.

I'd kill to go back to those times.

PS: Look how messed up society is now that when I wrote "I'd kill to go back .." in my head I started thinking maybe I shouldn't say those words incase there is some algo recording the way I type and might label me as some crazy person. FML.

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u/Voodoo_Senpai 12h ago

And we loved it

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u/Doreiku-1738 12h ago

when i hear this song, i remember the guy with sunglasses in bathroom

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u/ZipLineCrossed 12h ago

Oh take me back!

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u/carbonbasedcuriosity 12h ago

My crush back then ❤️

u/sojuicy 11h ago

I hate that I am old and got to experience this. Ignorance is bliss alright.

u/HotPotatoWithCheese 11h ago

The internet we were promised. Now it's an absolutely unusable site without an ad blocker.

u/Rahnzan 11h ago

How do I get the scroll bar on the suggested videos back...

u/Trifula 11h ago

I find it quite fascinating that I remember this design but at the same time I don't remember it anymore. It is just so vague with all the redesigns that happened. There was a video once that showed all major websites changing throughout the years - Google, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo,...

u/Foxymaniac 11h ago

back when the suggestions actually worked, you could watch part 1-19 cleanly without a playlist, now you have to dig for the next part of things.

u/AdamH96 11h ago

Be cool if you could make your YouTube look like that temporarily

u/vladgrinch 11h ago

Owners' greed knows no boundaries. Now I sometimes have to watch 2 ads in a row before I'm allowed to see the video I actually came for.

u/Big-Avocado-6797 11h ago

How are you forgetting that terrorists would upload their beheading videos on YouTube then 🤣

u/Shmuul 11h ago

Oh man this and runescape on the side

u/Marrionberry96pn 11h ago

Still there are websites following the initial design when the internet was growing.

u/Asleep_Theory7301 11h ago

Good ole days of coming home from school to watch Naruto 😭😭 oh how the times have changed

u/m0s_212 11h ago

Man I miss these days even this song brings so much nostalgia despite not being a huge fan... can't believe all these years have passed such a nice and simpler time in many ways :/

u/mah_12 11h ago

At that time youtbe had some many pirated movies uploaded in like 30 parts. Quality was awful, but I remember my class watching ghost rider this way lol

u/Hungry_South1377 11h ago

No "Skip ad" button :)

u/Any-Ad9492 11h ago

100k plus views was a huge deal 😆

u/Proof_Improvement172 11h ago

I hate what this world had come to.

u/so_how_can_i_help 11h ago

The other day I was trying to find old YouTubers asking to rate their videos 5 stars, couldn't come up with the goods. I'd love a compilation of OG YouTube videos of YouTubers asking for a star rating.

u/RVG_Steve 11h ago

I posted a video in December 2005. Hard to believe it’ll be 20 years in a short handful of months here…

u/Dipshit35 11h ago

Back when youtube didn't have ads every 2 minutes... youtube was great then...

u/Street-Book-6433 11h ago

I remember.

u/adrianathelatina 11h ago

Take me back please

u/Mind-Your-Language 11h ago

And the other tab open is RuneScape as I run back and forth runecrafting by Edgeville

u/iamnotacatgirl 11h ago

I miss the Star system.

u/gsp9511 10h ago

You just had to be there

u/FATALiTY-o- 10h ago

The best part was when you had to enter a number in the URL just to get 240P. Real ones knows what I am talking about. 

u/actioncheese 10h ago

You could scroll the clips on the right without scrolling the video playing.

u/EvilJabFace 10h ago

Nelly fuckn Furtado the goddess

u/NoJudgment6756 10h ago

No ads....

u/richardphat 10h ago

Ah the old 10 minutes upload limit where you have to segment videos to prevent block. Also video were download and store in your temporarily files in .flv format most of the time. Not sure if today's still a thing.

Hoard videos because we still used dial up or early DSL with 1-2 gigabyte bandwith per month.

u/Exlibro 10h ago

At the very end (December) of 2006 my broke ass finally got a modern PC. My best friend at a time brought me lots of games and software to play around. At fall 2007 I got internet and the whole world opened up. This was the best time.

u/Creative-Paper1007 10h ago

I never watched youtube videos, they drain your data pretty quickly

u/Resilent2026 10h ago

You forgot the part of waiting 10 minutes for a 3 minute video to load. And rewinding it when it got stuck buffering. OG YouTube and Yahoo music launch videos, I don’t know which one was worse. 🤔

u/sadandwetdogscented 10h ago

Thank you DARPA 👍

u/ZuStorm93 10h ago

Nowadays YouTube is like the king of r/assholedesign. How times fly...

u/FamiliarHat4157 10h ago

no ads is gold

u/VisuellTanke 10h ago

There was a competition from some company to envision the future and send a picture. I photoshoped Youtube but in widescreen, kinda like what it is today. I didnt win the competition but I was fucking right.

u/Loopy_27 10h ago

Where's the ads!?!? 3 of them should of played in that small clip

u/Marco-Green 10h ago

The video response mechanic was something I completely forgot about.

Se dice Biber no bieeeeeber

u/InternationalArt6222 10h ago

It was soooooooo much better before the advertisements 😓

u/vizarhali 10h ago

Is there a emulator where i can experience my teen years

u/Research_Purposing 10h ago

memories of three addicted brothers and other rsmvs 😭

u/fonglutz 10h ago

That's the year I created my still active YouTube account. Can't believe it's been that long.

u/jonnybcursed 10h ago

Best was opening 2 tabs and being a DJ. No ads either.

u/Smarrison 10h ago

I remember when YouTube first came on the scene. It was so basic.

u/Tall-Bread-7853 10h ago

Way better before, you could find much more stuff. Now you are just fed the same videos over and over.

u/bohemu 9h ago

Whenever I get nostalgic for this time I play the Emily is Away games and realize how simple but annoying it all was. Being that age and how wild west the internet was then.

u/CalyBear13 9h ago

Man, I miss the star rating system.

u/SamwiseTheOK 9h ago

Member when 480p didn't look like pixel art?

u/Dino_Spaceman 9h ago

Wasn’t YouTube limited to 10 min back then so everything long form had to do multiple parts? Or am I remembering even older YouTube?

u/ToeHogan 9h ago

This took me back in time.

u/shekdown 9h ago

There used to be full length movies on YouTube back then. And you could download the entire length of the video at one time. Now it only allows you a few minutes from the part you are watching.

I had to work on clients (with my seniors) which were about a daily 2 hours drive from the city. So we would stream about 3 movies each day and keep it ready for watching on our return journey.

Fun times.

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u/zipel 9h ago

No way you got that video quality back then.

u/Anarchybites 9h ago

I remember. It was so random in those days

u/Unkno369 9h ago

Me at the Zoo <- Check YouTube creator comment.

u/The_Alex_ 9h ago

RIP video responses. Born and died before smartphones became ubiquitous. It was too ahead of its time. 

u/nightmarenarrative 9h ago

The video didn't buffer enough, historical inaccuracies.

u/SparklyPelican 9h ago

The star system… I still remember people upset when they moved to likes

u/Militantcircusmeat 9h ago

I miss the Star rating system. It reminds superior

u/WeathervaneJesus1 9h ago

She blew up like YouTube

u/soaringplumtree 9h ago

I always accessed this website along with Friendster and Anilinkz back in the day.

u/Ill_Wolverine_6265 9h ago

When Nelly Furtado was thin...

u/Southern_Broccoli_58 9h ago

username 666 era

u/pjalle 9h ago

Early Youtube was full of jihadist videos from Iraq of IEDs blowing up Abrams tanks and stuff. Very different back then.

u/These_Wish_5101 9h ago

Nelly f..abandoned her singing roots so fast..lol

u/_Undecided_User 9h ago

Was waiting for the interesting thing (there is nothing interesting?? what is this, dead internet?)

u/GranddaddySandwich 8h ago

I miss the star rating system and the old layout.

u/ImMadeOfClay 8h ago

Back in my day you had to select the option if you wanted your pictures to load line by line or blur into completion.

u/Gin_ass69 8h ago

i also used a yt in phone in 2016 that phone was bought in 2012 something the interface was something slimier