Hacker News with Generative AI: Internet Culture

Cleo, the mathematician that tricked Stack Exchange (wikipedia.org)
Cleo was the pseudonym of an anonymous mathematician active on the mathematics Stack Exchange from 2013 to 2015, who became known for providing precise answers to complex mathematical integration problems without showing any intermediate steps.
Mathematics, Stack Exchange, Anonymity, Internet Culture
68 points by schaum 4 days ago | 9 comments
Markovian Parallax Denigrate (wikipedia.org)
Markovian Parallax Denigrate is a series[1] of hundreds of messages[2] posted to Usenet in 1996.[3] The messages, which appear to be gibberish, were all posted with the subject line "Markovian parallax denigrate".
Usenet, Internet Culture, Language, Cryptography, Art
3 points by CGMthrowaway 4 days ago | 0 comments
The Heat Mirage: My least-favorite internet maneuver (dynomight.substack.com)
Often on the internet, someone will make a thing and someone else will make a reply with this pattern:
Internet Culture, Online Discourse, Social Media
3 points by crescit_eundo 4 days ago | 0 comments
Confessions about my smart home (frenck.dev)
People on the internet sometimes seem to have an idea of what my connected smart home looks like. And honestly? They're all wrong. 😄 Which is odd, considering I've shared my setup on multiple occasions–through multiple live streams, podcasts, and blog posts. Very recently, I came across a Reddit comment that stuck with me:
Smart Homes, Personal Experiences, Internet Culture
80 points by pabs3 6 days ago | 58 comments
The Lost Art of Warez (2019) (vice.com)
Early internet users communicated with each other via Bulletin Board Systems, or BBS.
Internet Culture, History, Warez
5 points by felineflock 6 days ago | 0 comments
Slopaganda (dbushell.com)
The internet is ruined. Ruined I tell you!
Internet Culture, Satire, Opinion
9 points by ambigious7777 7 days ago | 0 comments
Fake Your Legacy in Seconds:A Wikipedia-Style Bio Generator for the Internet Age (netlify.app)
Biogenerators, Internet Culture, Web Development, Personal Branding
4 points by izanamador 8 days ago | 1 comments
A crypto founder faked his death. We found him alive at his dad's house (sfstandard.com)
Jeffy Yu was days away from his 23rd birthday when he appeared to take his own life Sunday in a video. A flattering obituary appeared, calling the aspiring crypto mogul “a visionary artist, technologist, and cultural force” and “a tech prodigy from an early age.” A memecoin in Yu’s honor went up for sale. But in the days that followed, online sleuths raised doubts about the video’s authenticity. The obituary disappeared.
Cryptocurrency, Death Hoaxes, Internet Culture, Social Media
147 points by bathtub365 11 days ago | 130 comments
Ghost in the machine? Legend of the 'haunted' N64 video game cartridge (bbc.com)
A second-hand Zelda cartridge. A cryptic forum thread. A generation of frightened children. This is the story of Ben Drowned – the internet's most infamous video game ghost.
Gaming, Folklore, Internet Culture
77 points by fallinditch 20 days ago | 14 comments
4Chan admin Alex Strange is an Apple developer (leakd.com)
For over two decades, 4chan has embodied the chaotic fringe of the internet — the birthplace of memes, Anonymous, and countless subcultures. Revered by some and reviled by many, it has long resisted outside control, shielded by anonymity and a core of behind-the-scenes operators.
Internet Culture, Social Media, Technology, Anonymity
14 points by rocxeliam 23 days ago | 1 comments
How the Internet Left 4chan Behind (newyorker.com)
4chan thrived when such edgelord content wasn’t acceptable on more mainstream social-media channels; now it can be found most anywhere.
Internet Culture, Social Media, 4chan
42 points by FinnLobsien 23 days ago | 30 comments
Calibrations Have a Context-Collapse Problem (oldschoolburke.com)
Context collapse occurs when content intended for one audience is consumed by multiple audiences simultaneously, each bringing their own frames of reference and expectations. Originally coined to describe social media dynamics, it's when a message loses its intended context as it travels across different social spheres. (Also the reason why Twitter is a hell-hole).
Social Media, Online Communication, Internet Culture, Context, Communication Theory
42 points by zdosb 26 days ago | 6 comments
Reading RSS content is a skilled activity (doliver.org)
Shit's gotten weird out there. The internet has devolved from something that was mostly quirky and altruistic to something that, in many ways, is straight-up evil.
Internet Culture, Social Commentary, Technology
146 points by d0liver 28 days ago | 87 comments
Crémieux, J'accuse (dynomight.net)
I don’t know how to internet, but I know you’re supposed to get into beefs. In the nearly five years this blog has existed, the closest I’ve come was once politely asking Slime Mold Time Mold, “Hello, would you like to have a beef?” They said, “That sounds great but we’re really busy right now, sorry.”
Blogging, Internet Culture, Humor
6 points by gregorymichael 28 days ago | 0 comments
4chan may be dead, but its toxic legacy lives on (arstechnica.com)
It is likely that there will never be a site like 4chan again—which is, likely, a very good thing. But it had also essentially already succeeded at its core project: chewing up the world and spitting it back out in its own image.
Social Media, Internet Culture, Legacy, Toxicity
8 points by rbanffy 28 days ago | 2 comments
Spring 83: a draft protocol intended to suggest new ways of relating online (github.com/robinsloan)
Welcome! This is a draft protocol intended to suggest new ways of relating online. If you are just discovering it, I recommend reading this narrative description. Don't miss my notes on a summer spent operating the protocol with other people, either.
Internet Culture, Social Media, Online Communication, Protocols
89 points by SinePost 30 days ago | 21 comments
The hostile internet is driving us crazy (ft.com)
Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy
Internet Culture, Mental Health, Social Media
6 points by bonefishgrill 31 days ago | 1 comments
4chan Is Dead. Its Toxic Legacy Is Everywhere (wired.com)
It’s likely that there will never be a site like 4chan again. But everything now—from X and YouTube to global politics—seems to carry its toxic legacy.
Internet Culture, Social Media, Toxicity, Politics
12 points by NotInOurNames 31 days ago | 1 comments
The movie mistake mystery from "Revenge of the Sith" (blogspot.com)
The internet, ever vigilant, began to take notice of this curious artifact around 2015 – a blink-and-you’ll-miss- it moment of a ghostly-robed figure with dark hair that appears behind Anakin Skywalker for only a frame or two just as he leaps from the panning droid to meet Obi-Wan on the lava skiff.
Movies, Star Wars, Internet Culture
456 points by CharlesW 33 days ago | 172 comments
Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy (ft.com)
Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy
Internet Culture, Mental Health, Social Media
10 points by brrrrrd 33 days ago | 1 comments
Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy (ft.com)
Welcome to slop world: how the hostile internet is driving us crazy
Internet Culture, Mental Health, Social Media
12 points by bishopsmother 34 days ago | 2 comments
4chan Sharty Hack And Janitor Email Leak (knowyourmeme.com)
April 2025 4chan Sharty Hack And Janitor Email Leak refers to the Soyjak.party community's claimed hacking of 4chan in mid April 2025, which included the restoration of the deleted /QA/ board and leaking the emails of 4chan "janitors," who are members of the site's moderation team.
Internet Culture, Online Communities, Hacking, Leaks, Moderation
710 points by LookAtThatBacon 38 days ago | 975 comments
The New Weird Virtuosos Making Jazz for the Post-Internet Age (pitchfork.com)
Led by artists like DOMi and JD Beck, a generation of rising players is infusing jazz with absurdist online irreverence. But are they playing jazz at all?
Jazz, Music, Generation Z, Internet Culture, Innovation
7 points by zeech 44 days ago | 4 comments
2025 xkcd "April 1": Push Notifications (xkcd.com)
Humor, Comics, Webcomics, Internet Culture
10 points by benley 44 days ago | 2 comments
John Titor (wikipedia.org)
John Titor and TimeTravel_0 are pseudonyms used in communications and on internet forums between 1998 and 2001 by an individual claiming to be an American military time traveler from the year 2036.[1][2]
Time Travel, Internet Culture, History, Conspiracy Theories
6 points by sans_souse 46 days ago | 0 comments
Exeter's unassuming co-op worker leads double life as 'Lord of the Logos' (devonlive.com)
Local News, Identity, Internet Culture
194 points by summoned 48 days ago | 72 comments
'Views' Are Lies (theverge.com)
Consider this a reminder or a PSA: a “view” on the internet means even less than you think.
Social Media, Internet Culture, Misinformation
5 points by pseudolus 48 days ago | 0 comments
Fediverse Donut Club (sethmlarson.dev)
I propose the creation of a "Fediverse Donut Club" with an every-other-week #FediDonutFriday event where everyone in Fediverse Donut Club procures and shares pictures of donuts to meet others in the Fediverse.
Social Media, Community, Food, Internet Culture
39 points by SethMLarson 70 days ago | 27 comments
The world beneath the shadows of YouTube's algorithm (bbc.com)
There's a secret side of YouTube, just beyond the guiding hand of the algorithm – and it’s nothing like what you know. The vast majority of YouTube's estimated 14.8 billion videos have almost never been seen. Until now.
YouTube, Algorithms, Video Content, Internet Culture
14 points by srameshc 75 days ago | 2 comments
Anime fans stumbled upon a mathematical proof (scientificamerican.com)
Math solutions can be found in surprising places, including the dark realms of the Internet. In 2011 an anonymous poster on the now infamously controversial image board 4chan posed a mathematical puzzle about the cult classic anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Though the bulletin board has become littered with hateful, violent and extreme content, that original post led to a solution to the sophisticated math problem.
Mathematics, Anime, Internet Culture
513 points by classichasclass 78 days ago | 232 comments