@margot posted a few days ago about how in general, using the internet for hobbies is kind of a hellscape

one thing i've noticed through your typical "old man" hobbies is the internet is (sort of) way more usable - that is, no one really writes about this stuff anymore (stuff being: when I'm looking up information about my model of bike i just got that was produced 1985-2000). So what i end up getting through searches is actual useful forums and websites of Dudes Posting from like 2003-2009.

I found this sick ass european website dedicated to yamaha bikes that has actual PDF downloads of parts diagrams of every year of my bike. Incredibly useful stuff.

I noticed similar trends when I was working on my van, and learning about public land boondocking. Lots of old forum posts, 2001-ass looking websites, but SO much useful information.

What is scary is when these old sites and forums just die off. There's such a wealth of information and I've learned TONS in just a day of reading through troubleshooting people went back and forth with on forums about their bikes.

I will say, the Future is not all bleak - there is also a plethora of good videos of Dudes just working on their bikes on youtube, but it takes a lot to watch an hour long vid on restoring a bike's system vs easily reading some information.