I would imagine it was harder to get information on topics as you would’ve had to buy/borrow encyclopedias to do.

Were there proprietary predecessor websites?

Tell me about the dark ages!

  • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    34·
    16 days ago

    Everybody’s like “Encarta” but before CD-ROMs etc, we had massive ass sets of encyclopedias. You’d actually have an encyclopedia subscription so they could send you errata for stuff that changed over time. Sort of like paper DLC for reality.

    It sucked.

    But pre-Internet it was fun to sit around and flip through the encyclopedias/dictionaries and read stuff. If you were lucky you’d find something sex-related.

    • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
      9·
      16 days ago

      This unlocked a childhood memory! I forgot that my parents once randomly let door to door salemen in to sell us this crazy large set of books. I think my parents were desperate because I was awful at school and somehow thought someone who didn’t try would now do so because I have all the information I needed… I feel bad, but I never used them once, a giant waste of money.

      • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        15 days ago

        Lol. We had a giant set of kids Britannica’s that my folks got from a door to door salesman. I wonder if that was the primary vector for encyclopedias.

      • sbv@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        15 days ago

        I enjoy the “firestorm of criticism” bit. And

        On 9 March 1976 the US Federal Trade Commission entered an opinion and order enjoining Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. from using: a) deceptive advertising practices in recruiting sales agents and obtaining sales leads, and b) deceptive sales practices in the door-to-door presentations of its sales agents