Just people putting their stuff online

I miss the web we used to have: just people putting together some HTML and posting what they were passionate about, for others to see, comment on, and link to. Personal pages, weird hobbies, honest writing, sprinkled with animated GIFs and images that took a while to load. No ads, no SEO, no moderation, no algorithm, no walled gardens. The passion of individuals, expressed in text.

We traded that web away for convenience. We let a handful of platforms host our words, rank our feeds and decide what deserves attention, and in exchange we stopped owning what we make.

The good news is that the old web never died. It is still just HTML, and it is still yours to make. Learn how, run your own web site, take ownership of your content, share it via RSS, and break free from the comfort zone.

Remember, comfort kills your soul.