Amazing list of curmudgeonly websites

January 12, 2024 9:39 AM

There was an askme (I think) not too long ago, about websites that are amazingly specific, usually maintained by a cranky crank. It's where I found the sauce packet database for example... So many amazing links. Maybe even a link to a big website of other links. Somehow I seem to have lost it and I'm sad. Anyone remember and able to point me to the thread?
posted by chasles to MetaFilter-Related at 9:39 AM (20 comments total)

MetaFilter: amazingly specific, usually maintained by a cranky crank
posted by star gentle uterus at 10:07 AM on January 12 [11 favorites]

That would be this thread from one of my personal favorite mefites!
posted by phunniemee at 10:30 AM on January 12 [4 favorites]

Ohhh, we definitely need an updated one of those ...
posted by Melismata at 10:46 AM on January 12 [1 favorite]

See also this MeTa.
posted by zamboni at 12:01 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]

Recent items from the WTIIF collection:

Atomic Rockets
Stained Glass Sundials
Toaster Museum
Niche Museums
Sphere Research Corporation
Security Envelope Patterns
Tangible Media
The Seed Site
Ice Tools
Washing Machine Museum
Disraeli Gears
Passport Index
Cash Railways
Cave Inspired Music
LEGO logic gates
SCIENCE HOBBYIST
Subway Nut
MZE Entertainment
Justin B Rye
Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site
Tolkien Calendars
Online PDP-8 Homepage
Disk Sleeves
Silver marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks
Plugs & Sockets
Miniature Bottle Library
My Tolkien Books
JF1OZL
Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes
Telechrons
finishing.com
NZ Meccano
Freefall
Restoring the Toast-O-Lator
Irrigation Tutorials
Demian's Game Book Webpage
Paleophilatelie - the place where Paleontology and Paleoanthropology meets Philately
The Teletext Museum
Dutch Circle of Slide Rule Collectors
United States Early Radio History
The Neighborhood Archive
Just for Openers
Minesweeper - Advanced Tactics
posted by zamboni at 12:26 PM on January 12 [37 favorites]

Yasssss. Zamboni, your list is the thing. But that original thread was outstanding. Someone must have linked from a recent thread as I know I saw something more recently but oh ya. My weekend is sorted.

Honestly this is the best of the web. WTIIF.
posted by chasles at 12:35 PM on January 12 [2 favorites]

Was it Obsessive Single-focus Review Sites?

Also: cheers, zamboni, and thank you!
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:39 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]

Was it Obsessive Single-focus Review Sites? no but that's the post that made me remember the other one....
posted by chasles at 5:10 AM on January 13

Not the answer to the question but I do enjoy spoonplanet.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:56 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]

I just recently stumbled upon historicbridges.org ("20 years of relentless historic bridge advocacy")—every historic bridge in the USA and maybe the world is catalogued and rated. Incredible stuff.
posted by Maecenas at 11:44 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]

I was literally just talking to my parents about missing the days of web rings of sites run by dedicated amateurs who just wanted to share their special interests with the world and find each other and 100% WTIIF!
posted by smirkette at 2:35 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

When there's another thread for this, TANYA'S COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO FELINE CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE really ought to be included, regardless of its currency and usefulness.
posted by amtho at 10:54 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]

I recently discovered towplow.com, where you can learn all about...tow plows, those giant trailers that crab 30 degrees to the side, allowing one plow truck to clear two lanes at once.
posted by rockindata at 5:46 AM on January 15

I wish there were an automated way to load the last-known-good Wayback Machine link if a page goes down.
posted by JHarris at 12:44 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]

The Wayback Machine does have a browser extension.
posted by one for the books at 2:01 PM on January 15

For the sake of having a handy list:

Prospecting for goldmines
Obsessive single-focus review sites
Looking for arcane, extremely thorough, amateur websites
The Old Man and the C Drive
What eclectic, unique blogs should I read?

This site is an enormous collection of all sorts of different things, but it may be in the spirit of your request: Full Table (previously)
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:18 PM on January 15 [5 favorites]

MetaFilter: he still knows way more about Mary Worth than any one living person should.

Mary Worth -- now there's your definitive pearl clutcher. She turned her head, looked aghast and tugged at hers once a month in at least one panel of her eponymous Sunday strip.
posted by y2karl at 7:26 AM on January 16

The Wayback Machine does have a browser extension.

Yes, I have and use it. It is helpful, but unfortunately it doesn't nearly do what I asked above, which is be an automatic fallback when a site goes down, either for days for years or decades. That would require both a way to detect when the important pages of a site go down (all too often sites don't just 404 upon death but get replaced by placeholder pages or error messages or blank Wordpress installs, et cetera) so as to know when to switch to the Wayback version, and some way to tell what the canonical version of that site is. Both requirements suggest a need for human editorship.
posted by JHarris at 8:52 AM on January 16

Mod note: [btw, this post and zamboni's list have been included on the sidebar and Best Of blog!!]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:29 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Standing on the backs of giants (thanks zamboni and theodolite) ... My first ever bestof.

Inhave carefully opened and read 3 of these so far this is gonna take awhile.
posted by chasles at 9:55 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]