@molly0xfff I believe we can, and I believe this yearning, combined with what we're seeing on the corpo-controlled web, is going to lead to a really interesting "hard fork" of the web in the not-too-distant future.

@molly0xfff this appeared quicker than I expected!

@molly0xfff That is a really really great article. I really really wish I had pimped #veilid to you when you were asking leading questions. I knew you'd touch on privacy.

@molly0xfff this is a fantastic summary of how the web has changed over the past 20 years. I really enjoyed the metaphors!

@molly0xfff I used to have to sit down at my computer with intent. I was taking time to go do something online. And it felt more like hunting or exploring. Nowadays it's much more often a passive experience of consumption. Scrolling on my phone hoping something interesting will come to me via one of the few sites a regularly visit. I could still go hunting for the niche stuff, but it's just so easy to scroll a little bit more.

@molly0xfff wonderfully written and i feel a beautiful summary of a view on the state of the web.

@molly0xfff Superb article, thanks!

@molly0xfff

The “good old days” never come back. Ever.

They weren't that good anyway. Novel, interesting, yes. As only new tech can be.

Also, whatever “good” existed back in the “old days” was purely accidental. Its important to remember that that the internet was invented as a military project.

Whatever good came of it was just a short-lived phenomenon that would last only until capitalism turned it into a tool for extracting rents and spreading hate & disinformation.

@molly0xfff thank you for this, loved it.

I do disagree with what you write about paywalls: my current employer uses those, and without subscription income, we'd have to run ads and lean into attention farming, clickbaits etc, stuff that you also call out in your piece. The sad truth is that independent journalism without revenue is impossible, and I think paywalls are the lesser evil here.

Otherwise, great article.

@molly0xfff

I often enjoy wandering the Neocities of today.

@molly0xfff I love this article and hope we see a different web sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll find my own plot of land.

@molly0xfff I love the hopefulness. Our species had a period of explosive population growth. As growth declines and we exit growth mode into what's next, optimism and creativity like this will be called for even as we learn what it's like to have fewer and fewer people with the skills and will to build, maintain, produce, and grow the stuff that we have taken for granted from the times when there was always more, more, more, and more people to make it and use it. Best of luck

@molly0xfff in the "old days" of the web we visited "web sites" now everyone hangs out on "platforms" and rarely go outside those platforms.

@molly0xfff Spot on analysis of the current state. I fear that this alternative version of the web can (and partially does) still exist, but only inside a niche bubble.

Surprisingly, more and more young people seem to be realizing that they're sitting in a dystopian walled garden - so maybe there is still hope.

@molly0xfff

The best page in the universe still exists. https://maddox.xmission.com

@molly0xfff Thanks for making the audio version of your article available, Molly! I appreciate it.

I won't say that the early web was all good. The good vibes I associate with it may have more to do with just youth.

But as someone who poured thousands of hours building a website from scratch and even more time creating content for it, I can't say I'm not pissed about having to compete with the auto-BS while being placed in the same bucket of affiliate/SEO farms by the social discourse. Sigh.

@molly0xfff the one part of this that might be worth exploring - how much of this depends on corporate investment in meatspace infrastructure - i.e. rollout of fiber, readily available broadband, etc. The web is great now w/ 1 gbps fiber, but back then, the web was only as good as a certain point at 1.4 kbps via modem over copper telephone lines…and with corporate, i.e. old school AT&T style - there still is some element of gatekeeping/censureship that is possible

@molly0xfff well said, very strongly agreed, and thank you so much for laying it out like that! we are certain we'll be linking this around to people for a long time to come

@molly0xfff Great article!

@molly0xfff Great article! It got me to thinking about how much fun the web actually was back in the 90's. We all had crappy websites hosted by our ISP's, Geocities or Angelfire. They weren't slick or polished, but they were ours and we (usually) made them ourselves.
You're absolutely right we can do it again and do it more easily. Just gotta brush up on my HTML and get to work on it.

@molly0xfff Thanks, really enjoyed reading this! I'm also hopeful that more people will start making their own weird spaces on the web again!

@molly0xfff Yes to all this.

@molly0xfff I think it's harder than you present -- There was a reason we glommed on hard to google when Yahoo (curated blogroll) and Altavista (bad algorithmic search) were already there. Creating a new model for a "web 3.0" -- one that isn't cryptofantasies, but more a use of modern tech with classic "field of dreams" creativity is possible, but the hard problems (particularly discovery) will, sadly, still be hard.

Maybe less hard, though!

@molly0xfff
Thank you for this great work!
You might like this... Great new music was released on geocities recently:
https://www.geocities.ws/ccqsk/

Pitchfork review: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/cindy-lee-diamond-jubilee/

@molly0xfff Every so often you find a piece of writing and you wish you had written it.

A piece that grabs hold of thoughts and feelings you had inside you- and opens them up, arranges them beautifully, and lays them out before you in a way you aren’t sure you could. Thank you.

@molly0xfff
"peered in to see what kinds of plants you were growing and what kinds of decorations you were putting up in hopes of selling you something similar later on"
Honestly, I wouldn't mind so much if they could actually deliver on that, but they never do. Without fail it's always an ad for something I already bought, which is just an annoyance - especially when you bombard me with it. Didn't anyone think to have a "has already purchased this" cookie? Would save some angst on both sides.

@molly0xfff this article made me want to revisit something tangentially related that I wrote for my own site and check the timestamp.

At the time I was also feeling like the web as a medium and a place was at a tipping point and something calamitous was coming and it was time to start thinking about what to build next.

That was 5 years ago. It has not stopped feeling like it's on the brink. I feel real tired all of a sudden.

https://mattpierce.info/existential-crisis-on-the-web

@molly0xfff this is heartwarming, and everything I miss from the earlier days of the internet.

@molly0xfff Last night, after a long time not being able to remember, I finally recalled the name of a website that I used to frequent in the very early aughts. Blather.newdream.net. I learned that it is still going AND I rediscovered something I posted 20+ years ago (WOW)! It was an amazing place + community back then! Ppl just wanted to build stuff and share it for fun.

@molly0xfff thank you for providing a bright hopeful light in a sea of doomscrolling

@molly0xfff
I vote for
"something better"

@molly0xfff Very nice text!

@molly0xfff back in the day, we'd gather around a 17" CRT to watch ZOMBO.COM as a family. So wholesome.

@molly0xfff thanks for calling it a “web” & not “Internet” ! I love the gardening analogy ! Myself, I’ve lamented this loss in 2012 & dreamed of a better future networks : decentralized, meshed, participatory, altruistic, “free”… utopian. here’s a link to that old article, still hosted on my (rented) place on the web: https://becha.home.xs4all.nl/hackers-philosophers-utopian-network-dec-2012-becha.pdf

@molly0xfff @cobweb Thanks a ton for writing / sharing, great article!

@molly0xfff It's so good to read something with a positive and encouraging bottom line. Thanks for this article.

@molly0xfff
This metaphor of the garden works so well!

@molly0xfff This was a lovely read to start my day with. Thank you for writing it!