Oddly, I found myself going back many times over the past 15 years or so. Something about the simplicity kept me going intrigued. Guess Trollegle/bellawhiskey, and whatever other chatrooms died as well
Always depressing when an internet mainstay goes under. I’m curious about who was so dedicated to keeping Omegle of all things off the web with attacks.
These seem to be the years the websites are unable to make money any longer and if they can’t make money from the users they will fade away.
We can only wait around and see what next shiny thing pokes it’s head around the corner to try and fill the video chat roulette
It’s basically the dot com bubble all over again. These companies survived for years off free money and venture capitalists with seemingly endless pockets due to low interest rates. Now that rates are up the money is dry. Now that investors don’t have free money they want to see a return. Since these companies never could be profitable they’re now collapsing under their own weight.
As for who was wanting to shut it down… basically any government agency dealing in child abductions, any mom group, “family” organization, incels/people mad at others for just being social. Just my guess.
I do recall trying out Chatroulette when it first came out but it was a lot of mushroom caps I wasn’t interested in seeing so I didn’t stick around long.
Back before that when I was dating some of that included the personal section of Craigslist. Unfortunately there was some horrible attacks of sex trade workers that used the personals down in the US and then the US government came together to “protect” people by holding the websites liable.
In the process the personal section of CL which included dating and penpals was closed. Many people met their spouses and had long term relationships and friendships as a result of CL that they wouldn’t have had in real life. I think it some ways that dating section was much better than the juiced up dating sites that have followed since. They are more about driving revenue than true connections.
I’m not sure if they solved the sex trade problem, but I don’t think they have won the war on drugs either. Much like the gun lobbying crowd say innocent gun owners shouldn’t be affected I would think in the same way users of internet services shouldn’t be either.
But life isn’t so black and white and many of us are unable to get beyond this stage of adolescence…
Dang that’s actually really sad. Omegle, for all its faults, was sort of like the weird alleyway that you could go to and know that you’d have some kind of interesting experience.
Looks like this is the norm now, Technofeudalism is here, goodbye capitalism.
Following the censorship over the years, looks similar to what happened with legacy media (main stream media).
Quote included in post:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” — C.S. Lewis
In short, the Internet opened the door to a much larger, more diverse, and more vibrant world than I would have otherwise been able to experience; and enabled me to be an active participant in, and contributor to, that world. All of this helped me to learn, and to grow into a more well-rounded person.
In recent years, it seems like the whole world has become more ornery. Maybe that has something to do with the pandemic, or with political disagreements. Whatever the reason, people have become faster to attack, and slower to recognize each other’s shared humanity. One aspect of this has been a constant barrage of attacks on communication services, Omegle included, based on the behavior of a malicious subset of users.
Fear can be a valuable tool, guiding us away from danger. However, fear can also be a mental cage that keeps us from all of the things that make life worth living. Individuals and families must be allowed to strike the right balance for themselves, based on their own unique circumstances and needs. A world of mandatory fear is a world ruled by fear – a dark place indeed.
Unfortunately, what is right doesn’t always prevail. As much as I wish circumstances were different, the stress and expense of this fight – coupled with the existing stress and expense of operating Omegle, and fighting its misuse – are simply too much. Operating Omegle is no longer sustainable, financially nor psychologically. Frankly, I don’t want to have a heart attack in my 30s.
I tried Omegle years ago close to when it came out and it was fun entertainment for a short while, though I didn’t stick around because one of the issues was that if you ended up striking an interesting and wholesome conversation, you’d never meet this person again and this bothered me.
Reading its epitaph shows there was a lot of work done on it to maintain it and catch evil users, so I’m much more impressed now.
I didn’t stick around because one of the issues was that if you ended up striking an interesting and wholesome conversation, you’d never meet this person again and this bothered me.
Couldn’t you have offered some permanent contact such as social network profile to remain in contact with that human?
Facebook was too new/personal and MySpace was basically already dead. There were few other forums that were “universal”.
AOL was popular but I never got on it. IRC was good but complicated for people not on it. Everything else was basically forums, so if you were lucky and they had Gaia Online or IMVU then maybe you’d have a chance.
Personally, I think that whole idea is what made Omegle have great potential. The fleeting experience of brief friendships are far less common today than they used to be. How many playdates did you have with friends that only ever happened maybe 5 times total? How many people on planes or travel busses did you converse with, never to see or hear from again? This is the human experience and in a way it’s still there but now it’s just “ghosting” because you “can” stay in contact.
I dunno. Personally I think the guy I met on a plane at 13 who is still reaching out to me on Facebook over a decade later is kinda weird, regardless of intent at this point, and I could see Omegle having the same issue in that regard.
All this said - email was pretty safe and I was surprised it wasn’t utilized more often for this purpose. It was a legitimate issue for online friends back in the day when it probably didn’t need to be, lol.
Well I'm just glad Harry Mack managed to release his 100th episode of "Omegle Bars" this week. He decided to take a break from doing Omegle-based content at the right time, it seems.
For anyone who doesn't know, Harry Mack's a freestyle rapper. He has (had) a series where he'd ask strangers on Omegle to give him a handful of words and then create a full song out of them on the fly. And not just saying those words then immediately moving on like most freestyle rappers do; he actually creates entire verses on the topics he's given and really raps around them. Plus he'd be calling out things the people were doing as they react to him, responding to things they say, mentioning things he can see in the room, etc, as he raps.
He takes what are some fairly negative, "cry for help" words from the girls and turns them into a really beautiful, positive rap overall. He's a very positive guy in general, and I've watched him consistently since I discovered him. Binging his videos got me through a breakup, in fact.
My own experiences with Omegle have either been penises or just bland, and it's not something I've used for many years as a result. But videos like Harry Mack's show what wonderful things could come from it and I do think it's a huge shame it's gone. It feels like another part of the old internet's gone, and that we're moving even closer to the sanitised, heavily-monetised internet run by megacorporations. I hate that.
In recent years, it seems like the whole world has become more ornery. Maybe that has something to do with the pandemic, or with political disagreements. Whatever the reason, people have become faster to attack, and slower to recognize each other’s shared humanity. One aspect of this has been a constant barrage of attacks on communication services, Omegle included, based on the behavior of a malicious subset of users.
To an extent, it is reasonable to question the policies and practices of any place where crime has occurred. I have always welcomed constructive feedback; and indeed, Omegle implemented a number of improvements based on such feedback over the years. However, the recent attacks have felt anything but constructive. The only way to please these people is to stop offering the service. Sometimes they say so, explicitly and avowedly; other times, it can be inferred from their act of setting standards that are not humanly achievable. Either way, the net result is the same.
Sounds like regulators or lawmakers, potentially the people who are communicating with Omegle about child safety on the platform are also saying Omegle needs to change to fit the needs of new legal systems. EU and the UK come to mind, but also the so-called “Kids Online Safety Act” in the US, which is an absolute joke when there are so many other protections lawmakers should be codifying. Instead, they hijack a supposed child safety act to prevent significant and vital knowledge from being shared online. More details in this Verge article.
The website’s reclusive creator, Leif Brooks, did not want to talk about Alice’s case via email so I travelled to his home in Orlando, Florida, in the hope of speaking to him there. But once again he remained silent.
Wow. Even a video of the aforementioned harassment, and the article overall repeatedly focuses on his name and a large picture of his face while strongly implying that having run a website makes him to blame for the sexual abuse of a child, an event the article spends a lot of time describing. Zero respect for this kind of “journalism”.
Seriously. I thought the BBC was better than this. They spent thousands of dollars to fly “journalists” (more like paparazzi, in this case) to his home to harass him, and shout incredibly biased and judgmental questions at him through his closed front door. “Why won’t you protect children?” (or something similar; I wasn’t taking notes.)
I used Omegle a lot when it was still text-only chat more that a decade ago. Overall I had a positive experience, It was fun talking to strangers from all over the world. I never tried their video chat though, so I can’t say if it’s actually that horrible. Back then when it was text-only, so at least I don’t have to worry about seeing some dicks. But if child predators favor the site now, even if Omegle went back to text-only, they’ll still find a way to trick kids just like in other chat platforms.
omegle.com
Oldest