You’d think that with QR codes every-fucking-where these days, that we could easily swing back to everyone having their own website. Back in the bad old days, it was hell on wheels to share URLs with folks. Now? There’s nothing stopping us.
I remember The Blues Brothers and “I hate Illinois nazis” and John Belushi and Dan Akroyd running the fucking nazis into the fucking river. The sad thing is, that shit was universally funny back then - there weren’t people in the theater saying “hey wait a minute, that’s not respecting their free speech rights” or worse, “hey, what’s so bad about Illinois nazis?” Just straight up “of course they drove the nazis into the fucking river”.
I miss the old days of people making niche websites for their hobbies, their own blogs, and message boards.
So many people think of the Internet as Google, Meta, Netflix, or <favorite social network here>. That makes me sad.
I don’t see a way back to a less commercialized internet, but little pockets of goodness like Lemmy make me happy.
You’d think that with QR codes every-fucking-where these days, that we could easily swing back to everyone having their own website. Back in the bad old days, it was hell on wheels to share URLs with folks. Now? There’s nothing stopping us.
The thing that I’ve repeated more than anything else the past 5-10 years:
I miss websites.
[Edit] ok second most. I think I’ve said “RELEASE THE LIST” at least twice as much.
I miss things spreading by word-of-mouth, not The Algorithm.™
I miss people making things for fun, not for the exit strategy.
I miss misinformation being called out and bullied mercilessly, not rewarded for Engagement.™
I miss Nazi being hyperbole, not an alternative viewpoint we’re supposed to acknowledge as valid.
I remember The Blues Brothers and “I hate Illinois nazis” and John Belushi and Dan Akroyd running the fucking nazis into the fucking river. The sad thing is, that shit was universally funny back then - there weren’t people in the theater saying “hey wait a minute, that’s not respecting their free speech rights” or worse, “hey, what’s so bad about Illinois nazis?” Just straight up “of course they drove the nazis into the fucking river”.
I miss stumbleupon. I found so much cool stuff and web comics I’m still reading 20 years later.
Just gonna drop this here https://neocities.org/
https://homestarrunner.com/toons/backtoawebsite
Homestar and Strongbad really get me. Now sign my guestbook!