Ian's shoelace site has been around forever, so I find the 2nd half of this article to be an interesting viewpoint on the evolving nature of the internet:
Ian's shoelace site has been around forever, so I find the 2nd half of this article to be an interesting viewpoint on the evolving nature of the internet:
Ian, more than many writers and publishers on the internet, sees with cold clarity the catastrophic effect of AI on the continued survival of an independent web. “Today, my website is constantly being harvested by AI bots,” he said. “That content is then reused, typically without giving credit, in what amounts to little more than wholesale computerised plagiarism.The search engines, which we previously tolerated showing snippets of our content because they brought people to our websites, are now showing AI generated versions ahead of those snippets. These can be sufficient for visitors to remain on the search website and never end up visiting. Generative AI already allows folks to ask for something – such as a diagram on how to lace shoes with stars – and again, never find my website filled with diagrams on which that AI diagram was based.”
For Ian, the cumulative effect of all of these factors is a deep sadness, a sinking feeling of exhaustion and futility. What is the point of adding value to the internet if it is only going to rob you? Why do research, make diagrams, and develop new knots?
“Why keep feeding the hungry beast that the internet has become?” Ian asked.
I loved the website, will be redoing a number of my Chuck Taylors to show off some of these new options (though I did know a handful already), checked out his various other stuff, and then donated...
I loved the website, will be redoing a number of my Chuck Taylors to show off some of these new options (though I did know a handful already), checked out his various other stuff, and then donated a few dollars. I was rewarded with the following this morning:
Hey, [Asinine];
G'day from Melbourne, Australia.
This morning I was pleasantly surprised to receive your donation to my "Ian's Shoelace Site". Thank you so much!
You also wrote:
Hey, just found your site and it looks great! Sorry AI sucks and your financial efforts have been lacking, but hopefully this helps even if it's so little. Cheers!
I'm glad you liked the website and that you found it useful. It's great that the Internet allows REAL people (not just AI) from all over the world to share knowledge and ideas.
Your "little" donation was a delight to receive – thanks, [Asinine]! You've really brightened my day. I'm pleased to think that my website has brightened yours.
Have a great day,
Ian Fieggen ;-)
This site and that human are wonderful things I love finding on the internet. Thanks for pointing them out @rkcr!
I checked out Ian's website and it made me realize that that type of website - the kind that gathers encyclopedic, high-authority, and wide-breadth information - is effectively disappearing these...
I checked out Ian's website and it made me realize that that type of website - the kind that gathers encyclopedic, high-authority, and wide-breadth information - is effectively disappearing these days. I think there are probably a lot of them that still exist but because search engines (cough, google, cough) are getting crappier, we simply can't find them anymore. This is especially problematic because they often contain very niche historical information and may possibly be the only remaining resource to access that information. For instance, about a decade ago I had fancied the idea of making a hardware floppy disk emulator, and I had bookmarked a user's manual for an early Teac disk drive which was so detailed in it's descriptions that I could have used it as the sole document to achieve the project. I didn't end up doing it, but it's disappeared now and I have no clue where I could even find a repository of such documents.
The reason for these websites disappearing is multi-faceted, as the article states, but I think that the current AI boom has probably done more to accelerate their demise than any other cause. Not only do AI responses prevent people from clicking through to these websites, but people making AI spam websites are crowding the actual search results nobody can find those results. Even without AI spam sites, I think the extreme rise of SEO as an industry has gamed search algorithms so hard that they would often come up after a bunch of largely irrelevant results.
Totally agree. I wrote a whole blog post about this, but about a year ago I helped my sister-in-law build some wind chimes. We found this site, Chime Design and Build by Lee Hite, which had more...
Totally agree. I wrote a whole blog post about this, but about a year ago I helped my sister-in-law build some wind chimes. We found this site, Chime Design and Build by Lee Hite, which had more information about building wind chimes on one web page than I think I've ever seen about any topic anywhere else. This person had just clearly become absolutely fascinated by wind chimes, and had essentially become one of the only producers of publicly available knowledge on wind chime production techniques.
It's amazing, because making a set of wind chimes is something you can do in a weekend, but only if you have all of this information available to you! I mean, you can obviously do it without any information, but you won't have any control over the sound of the chimes.
But the site feels... fragile! I have no idea who's paying to host it, or how old Mr. Hite is, or what will happen if one day he, or his kid, or their kid, forgets or decides not to renew their hosting plan or domain name. I mean it seems like there's a big enough community around the site that hopefully it's being backed up and someone would re-host it, but there's so many other, similarly amazing sites without such active communities!
I've been using the Ian knot exclusively for around 15 years now. I hold the laces with my pinkie and ring fingers while thing with my index and pointer fingers, which lets you hold tension while...
I've been using the Ian knot exclusively for around 15 years now. I hold the laces with my pinkie and ring fingers while thing with my index and pointer fingers, which lets you hold tension while tying. The whole thing takes literally like 2 seconds for a tight, secure knot. It's amazing and people are blown away when they see it.
Same but the Ian Secure Knot! I even taught that one to my kids. It really is a great knot. I don't think it's ever come untied unintentionally, but it's just a pull on one string to undo it.
Same but the Ian Secure Knot! I even taught that one to my kids. It really is a great knot. I don't think it's ever come untied unintentionally, but it's just a pull on one string to undo it.
I've been using it for about half the time you have and recently found out that one of my friends also uses the Ian knot. Another friend wanted to learn so we tried to teach her and she just...
I've been using it for about half the time you have and recently found out that one of my friends also uses the Ian knot. Another friend wanted to learn so we tried to teach her and she just couldn't wrap her mind around it for some reason.
Similarly, my mom saw me tie my shoes and asked how I did it so quickly. I did take an opportunity to troll her by slowly showing her "first you put one lace forward, and the other backwards..." before I finished the knot quickly with "...and then you just tie them!" My dad thought it was hilarious, and I did go through it slowly as a proper demonstration later, but my mom was definitely flabbergasted by the original demonstration.
I understand that this isn't really the the point of the article, but after discovering Lock Laces I will never go back to using regular laces and having to tie my shoes again. IMO they're so much...
I understand that this isn't really the the point of the article, but after discovering Lock Laces I will never go back to using regular laces and having to tie my shoes again. IMO they're so much better than regular laces in nearly every meaningful way, but especially for situations where you need to take your footwear on and off regularly (e.g. hiking shoes and work boots where debris frequently needs to be emptied from them). So while I feel for the guy, and agree that AI companies hoovering up all his content is awful, for me at least, this site is kinda useless and has been for quite some time.
say, would you be able to tighten and loosen those lock laces one handed? i know a lady with one arm who is a marvel at regular tasks, but laces are always a struggle.
say, would you be able to tighten and loosen those lock laces one handed? i know a lady with one arm who is a marvel at regular tasks, but laces are always a struggle.
The whole point of lock laces is you don't really need to tighten or loosen them once you have them installed since they stretch, so all your shoes/boots essentially become slip-ons. But if you do...
The whole point of lock laces is you don't really need to tighten or loosen them once you have them installed since they stretch, so all your shoes/boots essentially become slip-ons. But if you do need to adjust the length/tightness of them afterwards you can do it one handed. I just tested with mine and it was pretty easy to do.
NP. She might need some help installing them, since it would probably be a bit tricky to do one-handed, but once that's done they'll be a hell of a lot easier to use than laces.
NP. She might need some help installing them, since it would probably be a bit tricky to do one-handed, but once that's done they'll be a hell of a lot easier to use than laces.
yeah, from what I understand, the lady is quite old --- in her late 80s or so. Not a bad idea, but might be too fine of work for her. I'll pass it on regardless, though. some of these oldies are...
yeah, from what I understand, the lady is quite old --- in her late 80s or so. Not a bad idea, but might be too fine of work for her. I'll pass it on regardless, though. some of these oldies are surprising.
Something like BOA or YOW laces should work well for one handed use as well, though it feels like I usually see them on workwear or athletic shoes, and as I understand it can't be fitted to a show...
Something like BOA or YOW laces should work well for one handed use as well, though it feels like I usually see them on workwear or athletic shoes, and as I understand it can't be fitted to a show with normal laces. So it would require buying new shoes, and the options might be limited as well.
Out of curiousity, may I ask if they're comparable to using speed hooks w/o untying your laces? This is roughly what I mean, since it's a little difficult to describe in text.
Out of curiousity, may I ask if they're comparable to using speed hooks w/o untying your laces? This is roughly what I mean, since it's a little difficult to describe in text.
I've never used speed hooks so I couldn't say for sure, but based on that video I'd say no. With lock laces you don't have to undo/redo or loosen/tighten anything every time you put your...
I've never used speed hooks so I couldn't say for sure, but based on that video I'd say no. With lock laces you don't have to undo/redo or loosen/tighten anything every time you put your shoes/boots on like you do with speed hooks. Lock laces are stretchy, so once they're installed you can just slip your shoes/boots on/off without having to constantly adjust or do anything else.
Mmhm, that indeed looks pretty quick ... I think the main concern I'd have is that they don't seem like they'd be tight enough for work boots. Still, it seems cheap enough to give it a try :) thanks!
Mmhm, that indeed looks pretty quick ... I think the main concern I'd have is that they don't seem like they'd be tight enough for work boots. Still, it seems cheap enough to give it a try :) thanks!
I have them in my steel toed work boots and they're plenty tight enough. Like I said to sparksbet below though, for boots just make sure to buy the version meant for boots, which are longer,...
they don't seem like they'd be tight enough for work boots.
Oh gosh, these might be exactly what I need. I've always owned a handful of pairs of shoes that I never wore because they needed me to tie and untie them and I'd always prefer some type of slip-on...
Oh gosh, these might be exactly what I need. I've always owned a handful of pairs of shoes that I never wore because they needed me to tie and untie them and I'd always prefer some type of slip-on instead. Do you have experience with these with a variety of different shoes?
Yep. I have them installed in 3 different pairs; Flat Laces in my Vans Old Skool shoes, regular Lock Laces in my Hiking shoes, and Boot Lock Laces in my Dakota steel toed work boots. For boots...
Do you have experience with these with a variety of different shoes?
Yep. I have them installed in 3 different pairs; Flat Laces in my Vans Old Skool shoes, regular Lock Laces in my Hiking shoes, and Boot Lock Laces in my Dakota steel toed work boots. For boots just make sure to actually buy the version meant for Boots, which are longer, slightly thicker, and supposedly a bit stronger too.
oh god once I move to the US I'm hella trying these, I've been cutting myself off from so many shoe options due to tying them. For a little while there when my hypothyroidism was untreated I...
oh god once I move to the US I'm hella trying these, I've been cutting myself off from so many shoe options due to tying them. For a little while there when my hypothyroidism was untreated I physically couldn't bend over to put on or tie shoes, but both before and after that was a thing I've never liked the process of tying shoes. I think it's something with my ADHD, but I find the process agonizingly dull and the delay it causes frustrating. These shoelaces might really open my style horizons!
I wonder if these would be snug enough to wear with my Heelys...
I'm in the process of moving atm so it's probably wiser to wait to order anything that isn't involved in packing at this stage, but good to know they're available in a wider area!
I'm in the process of moving atm so it's probably wiser to wait to order anything that isn't involved in packing at this stage, but good to know they're available in a wider area!
Heh, yeah, I just saw your other post about moving back to the US. And given that, yeah, it's probably a bit pointless to order them for yourself in Germany. :P
Heh, yeah, I just saw your other post about moving back to the US. And given that, yeah, it's probably a bit pointless to order them for yourself in Germany. :P
For those who don't like regular laces on work boots I can recommend the zip side style. I've been wearing them for years (mainly this particular boot) and will happily spruik the combination of...
and work boots
For those who don't like regular laces on work boots I can recommend the zip side style. I've been wearing them for years (mainly this particular boot) and will happily spruik the combination of ankle support and ease of taking them on/off.
Unfortunately those probably wouldn't work for landscaping (which is what I use mine for) since the zipper would likely get clogged with dirt/debris and the giant slit down the side would let...
Unfortunately those probably wouldn't work for landscaping (which is what I use mine for) since the zipper would likely get clogged with dirt/debris and the giant slit down the side would let water in. :/
But for a drier climate and less muddy/snowy jobs, I could definitely see those being handy.
The zips do ok with occasional dirt and debris, but if you're constantly in it that probably would end up being an issue. I can't speak much for water apart from saying these are similar to other...
The zips do ok with occasional dirt and debris, but if you're constantly in it that probably would end up being an issue. I can't speak much for water apart from saying these are similar to other boots I've had when it comes to shorter periods in the rain - while my work is not always clean it is usually dry.
i’ve been using army lacing for ages now and it’s a game changer for speed. the fit is still nice and secure. for normal shoes, i like the look of straight european. it’s really quick to lace up...
i’ve been using army lacing for ages now and it’s a game changer for speed. the fit is still nice and secure.
for normal shoes, i like the look of straight european. it’s really quick to lace up initially and the fit is great.
one of the more useful sites on an internet full of noise.
Ian's shoelace site has been around forever, so I find the 2nd half of this article to be an interesting viewpoint on the evolving nature of the internet:
I loved the website, will be redoing a number of my Chuck Taylors to show off some of these new options (though I did know a handful already), checked out his various other stuff, and then donated a few dollars. I was rewarded with the following this morning:
This site and that human are wonderful things I love finding on the internet. Thanks for pointing them out @rkcr!
I checked out Ian's website and it made me realize that that type of website - the kind that gathers encyclopedic, high-authority, and wide-breadth information - is effectively disappearing these days. I think there are probably a lot of them that still exist but because search engines (cough, google, cough) are getting crappier, we simply can't find them anymore. This is especially problematic because they often contain very niche historical information and may possibly be the only remaining resource to access that information. For instance, about a decade ago I had fancied the idea of making a hardware floppy disk emulator, and I had bookmarked a user's manual for an early Teac disk drive which was so detailed in it's descriptions that I could have used it as the sole document to achieve the project. I didn't end up doing it, but it's disappeared now and I have no clue where I could even find a repository of such documents.
The reason for these websites disappearing is multi-faceted, as the article states, but I think that the current AI boom has probably done more to accelerate their demise than any other cause. Not only do AI responses prevent people from clicking through to these websites, but people making AI spam websites are crowding the actual search results nobody can find those results. Even without AI spam sites, I think the extreme rise of SEO as an industry has gamed search algorithms so hard that they would often come up after a bunch of largely irrelevant results.
TL;DR: donate to Wikipedia.
Totally agree. I wrote a whole blog post about this, but about a year ago I helped my sister-in-law build some wind chimes. We found this site, Chime Design and Build by Lee Hite, which had more information about building wind chimes on one web page than I think I've ever seen about any topic anywhere else. This person had just clearly become absolutely fascinated by wind chimes, and had essentially become one of the only producers of publicly available knowledge on wind chime production techniques.
It's amazing, because making a set of wind chimes is something you can do in a weekend, but only if you have all of this information available to you! I mean, you can obviously do it without any information, but you won't have any control over the sound of the chimes.
But the site feels... fragile! I have no idea who's paying to host it, or how old Mr. Hite is, or what will happen if one day he, or his kid, or their kid, forgets or decides not to renew their hosting plan or domain name. I mean it seems like there's a big enough community around the site that hopefully it's being backed up and someone would re-host it, but there's so many other, similarly amazing sites without such active communities!
I've been using the Ian knot exclusively for around 15 years now. I hold the laces with my pinkie and ring fingers while thing with my index and pointer fingers, which lets you hold tension while tying. The whole thing takes literally like 2 seconds for a tight, secure knot. It's amazing and people are blown away when they see it.
Same but the Ian Secure Knot! I even taught that one to my kids. It really is a great knot. I don't think it's ever come untied unintentionally, but it's just a pull on one string to undo it.
I've been using it for about half the time you have and recently found out that one of my friends also uses the Ian knot. Another friend wanted to learn so we tried to teach her and she just couldn't wrap her mind around it for some reason.
Similarly, my mom saw me tie my shoes and asked how I did it so quickly. I did take an opportunity to troll her by slowly showing her "first you put one lace forward, and the other backwards..." before I finished the knot quickly with "...and then you just tie them!" My dad thought it was hilarious, and I did go through it slowly as a proper demonstration later, but my mom was definitely flabbergasted by the original demonstration.
I understand that this isn't really the the point of the article, but after discovering Lock Laces I will never go back to using regular laces and having to tie my shoes again. IMO they're so much better than regular laces in nearly every meaningful way, but especially for situations where you need to take your footwear on and off regularly (e.g. hiking shoes and work boots where debris frequently needs to be emptied from them). So while I feel for the guy, and agree that AI companies hoovering up all his content is awful, for me at least, this site is kinda useless and has been for quite some time.
say, would you be able to tighten and loosen those lock laces one handed? i know a lady with one arm who is a marvel at regular tasks, but laces are always a struggle.
The whole point of lock laces is you don't really need to tighten or loosen them once you have them installed since they stretch, so all your shoes/boots essentially become slip-ons. But if you do need to adjust the length/tightness of them afterwards you can do it one handed. I just tested with mine and it was pretty easy to do.
whoa — ok yeah, that’d be perfect, i would think. pretty neat. thanks!
NP. She might need some help installing them, since it would probably be a bit tricky to do one-handed, but once that's done they'll be a hell of a lot easier to use than laces.
this site needs a ‘i acknowledge your reply and have nothing further to add other than ‘thanks!’’ label.
Hm. Perhaps an "answered" label that only the person responding to you can add? Kind of like the button on StackOverflow
try this one? https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/onehandedknot.htm
yeah, from what I understand, the lady is quite old --- in her late 80s or so. Not a bad idea, but might be too fine of work for her. I'll pass it on regardless, though. some of these oldies are surprising.
Something like BOA or YOW laces should work well for one handed use as well, though it feels like I usually see them on workwear or athletic shoes, and as I understand it can't be fitted to a show with normal laces. So it would require buying new shoes, and the options might be limited as well.
Out of curiousity, may I ask if they're comparable to using speed hooks w/o untying your laces? This is roughly what I mean, since it's a little difficult to describe in text.
I've never used speed hooks so I couldn't say for sure, but based on that video I'd say no. With lock laces you don't have to undo/redo or loosen/tighten anything every time you put your shoes/boots on like you do with speed hooks. Lock laces are stretchy, so once they're installed you can just slip your shoes/boots on/off without having to constantly adjust or do anything else.
Edit: Here they are in action: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRAOWStDu6B/ cc: @tomf
Mmhm, that indeed looks pretty quick ... I think the main concern I'd have is that they don't seem like they'd be tight enough for work boots. Still, it seems cheap enough to give it a try :) thanks!
I have them in my steel toed work boots and they're plenty tight enough. Like I said to sparksbet below though, for boots just make sure to buy the version meant for boots, which are longer, slightly thicker, and supposedly a bit stronger too.
Oh gosh, these might be exactly what I need. I've always owned a handful of pairs of shoes that I never wore because they needed me to tie and untie them and I'd always prefer some type of slip-on instead. Do you have experience with these with a variety of different shoes?
Yep. I have them installed in 3 different pairs; Flat Laces in my Vans Old Skool shoes, regular Lock Laces in my Hiking shoes, and Boot Lock Laces in my Dakota steel toed work boots. For boots just make sure to actually buy the version meant for Boots, which are longer, slightly thicker, and supposedly a bit stronger too.
oh god once I move to the US I'm hella trying these, I've been cutting myself off from so many shoe options due to tying them. For a little while there when my hypothyroidism was untreated I physically couldn't bend over to put on or tie shoes, but both before and after that was a thing I've never liked the process of tying shoes. I think it's something with my ADHD, but I find the process agonizingly dull and the delay it causes frustrating. These shoelaces might really open my style horizons!
I wonder if these would be snug enough to wear with my Heelys...
I'm not from the US. I got my lock laces off Amazon.ca, so you should check your own country's Amazon storefront to see if they sell them too.
I'm in the process of moving atm so it's probably wiser to wait to order anything that isn't involved in packing at this stage, but good to know they're available in a wider area!
Heh, yeah, I just saw your other post about moving back to the US. And given that, yeah, it's probably a bit pointless to order them for yourself in Germany. :P
good to plan for the future though!
For those who don't like regular laces on work boots I can recommend the zip side style. I've been wearing them for years (mainly this particular boot) and will happily spruik the combination of ankle support and ease of taking them on/off.
Unfortunately those probably wouldn't work for landscaping (which is what I use mine for) since the zipper would likely get clogged with dirt/debris and the giant slit down the side would let water in. :/
But for a drier climate and less muddy/snowy jobs, I could definitely see those being handy.
The zips do ok with occasional dirt and debris, but if you're constantly in it that probably would end up being an issue. I can't speak much for water apart from saying these are similar to other boots I've had when it comes to shorter periods in the rain - while my work is not always clean it is usually dry.
i’ve been using army lacing for ages now and it’s a game changer for speed. the fit is still nice and secure.
for normal shoes, i like the look of straight european. it’s really quick to lace up initially and the fit is great.
one of the more useful sites on an internet full of noise.