1) www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de - Carpooling service which allows one to circumvent the exorbitant prices of the DB.
2) www.leo.org - English-German and French-German dictionaries, best I've found on the web.
3) www.couchsurfing.org - This website needs no introduction to the globetrotter, I have saved hundreds in accomodation expenses with this website.
4) www.facebook.com - I do not use this website as much as most people (particularly women) but I do use it to communicate occasionally.
5) www.jstor.org OR www.dict.pl - I use jstor for casual reading more than for academic purposes, and dict.pl is the best and most handy English-Polish dictionary I know of on the web.

I also use the following websites fairly often

www.bbc.co.uk - I usually browse around this website every morning for a few minutes
www.youtube.com - I use this website to browse around for news clips, interviews, cooking instructions, violin tips, and other how-to guides
www.how-to-learn-any-language.com - Acts more as a support community and a motivation-charger than anything else. Occasionally there will be useful tips on learning materials and cultural events.
www.gutenberg.org - I cannot stand reading on the computer, I mainly use this website to find particular quotations I wish to use.
www.sharedtalk.com - Acts as a 24-hour troubleshooter for whichever foreign language I happen to be having problems with.
www.travelblog.org - When I am not travelling, I like to read about other peoples' travels.

Captain Mayhem

Sweden774 Posts

March 18 2010 20:43 GMT

#45

Youtube (self explanatory)
Onemorelevel (awesome flash games)
Reddit (decent news)
Gmail (yeah)
Avast (someone who's new to the internet WILL definitely need some protection)

Left out Google, because that's basically cheating.
And for the one who recommended 4chan... Seriously?

dangots0ul

United States919 Posts

March 18 2010 20:49 GMT

#46

1) TL
2) There are other websites out there?!?!

Alou

United States3748 Posts

March 18 2010 21:01 GMT

#47

All you need to recommend is google. From there you can find just about anything.

Also why would you recommend TL? As much as I love the site, I'd hardly call it essential to the internet. A person who doesn't know about the internet, probably has no need to learn about Starcraft.

Wr3k

Canada2533 Posts

March 18 2010 21:08 GMT

#48

1) Google.ca - If you can't find something then what use is the internet?
2) Facebook
3) Youtube
4) Wikipedia
5) Fantasti.cc - BY FAR THE BEST PORN SITE ON THE INTERNET. Aggregates videos from all the other free porn sites like pornhub, youporn, etc. into one website, and has a big community of people who review porn and share stuff.

L_Master

United States8017 Posts

March 18 2010 21:23 GMT

#49

Premise of Thread:

1. Google
2. Wikipedia
3.Youtube
4.Facebook
5. Hulu or Playlist.com

Personal Top 5
1. Golf.com
2. Youtube
3. Wikipedia
4. Weather.com
5. Facebook

chongu

Malaysia2600 Posts

March 18 2010 21:33 GMT

#50

For me: 1. Wikipedia 2. TL.net 3. Explosm.net 4. Thepiratebay.org 5. Digg

and

On March 19 2010 05:06 Neivler wrote:
1) Gosugamers.net

WTF

jtype

England2167 Posts

March 18 2010 21:38 GMT

#51

No particular order:

1) Teamliquid.
2) Google (Gmail included)
3) Last.fm
4) Youtube
5) My online bank.

Chuiu

3470 Posts

March 18 2010 22:22 GMT

#52

1. Google

OneOther

United States10774 Posts

March 18 2010 22:26 GMT

#53

facebook
wikipedia
google
gmail
youtube/cnn

Methos

United States206 Posts

March 18 2010 22:42 GMT

#54

Google
StumbleUpon
Wikipedia
TL
Digg

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

March 18 2010 22:46 GMT

#55

1) Google
2) Wikipedia
3) Youtube
4) 4Chan
5) Economist

I don't think I need to explain Google, Wikipedia, and Youtube. I put 4Chan up there even though I don't use because their power over the world is undeniable. They have the power to control western pop culture, and also to control anything over the internet. Their influence over the world is much greater than the governments a lot of countries. The Economist can be replaced with BBC, or any other news site you use. World news is super important.

I didn't put Facebook up there because Facebook is completely useless. It didn't improve the internet in any way, shape, or form. All it is, is people wasting a few hours a day typing random comments that nobody cares about. Everything on the internet is either for information, entertainment, or communication. Facebook doesn't fit information and entertainment at all, and the only communication that happens is some random person posting "I'm feeling depressed" and then a lot of people saying "lol".

OneOther

United States10774 Posts

March 18 2010 22:50 GMT

#56

On March 19 2010 07:46 Chairman Ray wrote:
1) Google
2) Wikipedia
3) Youtube
4) 4Chan
5) Economist

I don't think I need to explain Google, Wikipedia, and Youtube. I put 4Chan up there even though I don't use because their power over the world is undeniable. They have the power to control western pop culture, and also to control anything over the internet. Their influence over the world is much greater than the governments a lot of countries. The Economist can be replaced with BBC, or any other news site you use. World news is super important.

I didn't put Facebook up there because Facebook is completely useless. It didn't improve the internet in any way, shape, or form. All it is, is people wasting a few hours a day typing random comments that nobody cares about. Everything on the internet is either for information, entertainment, or communication. Facebook doesn't fit information and entertainment at all, and the only communication that happens is some random person posting "I'm feeling depressed" and then a lot of people saying "lol".

facebook is awesome and the single most useful website next to email and wikipedia. but this is probably more true if you are a college student

LunarDestiny

United States4177 Posts

March 18 2010 22:51 GMT

#57

Teamliquidx5...

ok...

Teamliquid
Gamefaqs
Youtube
Yahoo(mail)
Google

Frits

11782 Posts

March 18 2010 22:55 GMT

#58

1 university blackboard
2 fraternity friends site/forum
3 tl
4 hyves (facebook)
5 youtube

synapse

China13814 Posts

March 18 2010 23:25 GMT

#59

1. Google (does gmail count as part of this?)
2. TL
3. Wikipedia
4. Youtube
5. Facebook or Onemanga

laste

Bulgaria242 Posts

March 18 2010 23:41 GMT

#60

I don't see how hulu is essential, since its only available in 1 country. ;>

I'd tell him about depthcore.com, torrents, twitter, search engines. and then sutff that would actually intrigue him.

I mean who the fuck goes on to the internet for the first time and finds facebook interesting? I'd be more excited about things like facial recognition sites that tell you what celebrety you look like, just by uploading a picture, ordering food/other shit online, google earth/street view would totally trip me out and such stuff. a lame ass social site with a buch of pictures and status updates of random people would seem like nothing really compared to things that actually help you and are interesting for the first timer.

Social media, email and similar stuff are more for people that are already confortable with the web, for the new user they're just plain awkward and don;t make much sense.