I didn't talk about before YouTube existed–I'm talking about when YouTube became the defacto standard for online video. Independent video sites existed and flourished along side YouTube in the beginning.
Sidenote: If we were having this conversation over beers at a meetup would you have said "Give me a break..." to me? Is this your conversational tone in person as well?
This is my HN tone because tons of people here love to play the “everything was better back in the day” card. Couple that with every mention of google bringing out people with huge axes to grind and it can become eye-roll city. Apologies for being so harsh.
It's okay. I understand that feeling and I'm probably guilty of it more than I realize it. I tried to say "miss" instead of "better", but even that phrasing implies I'd rather have the old and I'm not sure about that to be honest. This stuff is hard for sure. Hence why these conversations are good for beers after a meetup :)
Sidenote: If we were having this conversation over beers at a meetup would you have said "Give me a break..." to me? Is this your conversational tone in person as well?