In the article they write about a discussion taking place within the old web community but showed no links. I've been into discussions like this on forums so this discussion really is happening. I also have noticed some skepticism around the old web revival in general. Some people think that the majority will not follow but even if this is true, we can create our own spaces that feel like home again. There are many that still exist and more to come in the future. We just have to evade the claws of social media that will instantly try to grab us and get us back to their platforms where they can manipulate us, where they profit from us.
I'm not going back.
In their article they referenced to a blogpost by Steve Dylandev which in which he wrote about his minimal blog hosting service named bearblog and ranted against social media. I'm with him. But what the heck is biggo.com's article really about? Has it been written by A.I.? I just don't get behind the intention of their article. The information I squeezed ouf of it: There is a discussion happening within the Webrevival Movement. A discussion about if the feeling we had back in the days of the golden internet era ever could be the same like it was in the 90-2010s. To me their article seems like an artificial attempt to downplay the importance of the old web revival. It totally misses the point in my opinion. Their article should have focused on what the old web really was about, which they did only in parts.
They mentioned these as the Keychallenges for the old web revival
We already make use of modern scripting languages and already have ways to fight spambots, counter DDoS attacks and such. The legal compliance & privacy thing doesn't affect private homepages and blogs much. I don't need an analytics script or track my users on this page here. I also don't need a business model to have a personal homepage. Regarding a bigger, wider old web revival - Neocities seems to be dooing just fine by having supporters backing them up. Other places like forums have members, sometimes even outstanding people who are donating money as well. Because they can see the value. From a capitalistic point of view, the old web revival doesn't seem to make much sense yet but that is what is about IMHO. We can have fun without filling someones pockets.
Technical barriers are very low already. People can use site editors without knowing HTML at all. Webhoster like Nekoweb or Neocities, web upload and such for convenience. Besides that using a FTP program isn't rocket science. You just need to put your username and password into it and connect to a server. Learning HTML and CSS is fun by the way, as you instantly can see what you are dooing after saving and pressing the reload button. To me it's as addicting as doomscrolling on social media but instead of just consuming, I create something. I can create thoughts in your head. Together we can change the world.
Thats true. And we can overcome that phase of social media that isn't built to last. It is up to everyone of us to stop using social media and the big tech apps in general. I can't see people living without their smartphones anymore but hey, why not. When they aren't addicted to social media anymore, maybe they will adapt and live a more prosporous real life, who knows.
"The reality was a web filled with security vulnerabilities, slow loading times, and websites that could actually hack your computer through Adobe Flash and Java exploits."
I don't think this is the way we should look back at the golden days of the internet. The current internet still is filled with security vulnerabilities and websites that try to hack and exploit your computer and/or connection. This isn't oldweb specific at all. Flash was great and has been buried by Adobe. You can still experience some of the fun we had back in the flash era days by visiting sites like Newgrounds" which is around since 1999 I guess.
You have to imagine how big of an impact sites like these have been for our generation. Before the old web internet era, we played pixelated games that have been shipped on diskettes and later cds. The bandwidth of that era was quite low and most people didn't even had internet access at all back in the 90s. And then all of a sudden, polished and graphically impressing indie games and animated shortmovies became available just by visiting a website. Macromedia Flash has been a wonderful gift to all of us has formed the internet culture in many ways, the content created with it has inspired not only the artists of our generation who are still here up til this day. You've seen their art, you've played their games. You have been influenced by the old web already, even without knowing it.
Note: Before the internet spread like crazy and Macromedia Flash (later aquired by Adobe) paved the way for browsergames, people already have been playing great lookling computer games. Even 3D ones. We had to use dedicated graphics cards and for some time it was normal to have more than one GPU. A lot of people had a 2D graphics card (which also might had 3D functionality) but in add-on we used 3D Accelerator cards. Some of us had 3 graphic units in their home pcs back in the day. 1 regular GPU and 2x 3D Accelerators like Voodoo II in SLI mode. But before all of this took place merely at the same time, people already played multiplayer games online, for example BBS games over the phone line on Bulletin Boards.
"[...] the most insightful observation from the community discussion is that the appeal of the old web wasn't really about the technology - it was about the communities that formed around it. Forums, IRC channels, and early social networks created tight-knit groups where people could have meaningful conversations without algorithmic interference.
I totally agree on this one.
"It's more about the community than the technology. And the communities of old mostly disbanded and moved on and restoring old tech won't bring them back."
IMHO the old web revival is not only about the technology, though for some it is but for the majority of users, the old web feeling is more than the technologically outdated view on aesthetics and hardware. The oldweb revival is about taking back the internet. We want our Turf back.
The old web was about community, nice communities with people contributing all their knowledge and skills to a certain community or related communities. Many many bonds have formed over the internet at that time and speaking up to strangers on the internet didn't make anybody feel cringe. We have been getting involved in linear discussions much deeper than any comment on social media can ever go. We got to know each other by reading what was on the mind of other forum members. We felt a connection.
Because we shared more with each other than just a click on the like button or a single sentence commentary. We discusses things, questioned ourselfs by dooing so. Questioned other peoples opinions or methods. This is far more beneficial to the human mind than consuming, liking and consuming that is happening today. Mostly, there still are people who engage more than others and we need to encourage everyone to participate more in a web of sharing and interacting.
"This perspective suggests that simply recreating old web technologies won't solve the fundamental problem: the internet now has too many people, making it difficult to form the intimate communities that made the early web special.
I don't share this opinion at all. What has made the old web so special where the niche communities where people came together, all interested in a specific topic. This is what formed these tight-knit communities that shared in-depth knowledge, tutorials, experiments. The intimacy in these communities was what made us have such a good time toggether. It's not about the amount of people, its about their shared interests and the focus on these. Some of these old communities still stand strong today (photography forums, computer forums, cannabis forums). With more people on the internet, there is only more room for even more niche communities. In the case of Cannabis, we have general cannabis related forums about cultivation, now imagine a breeders only forum or a forum for professional pot growers. They share the same interest but a breeder as well as mastergrower lives just in another space than the casual grow tent owner or cupboard cultivator. There might as well be room for an outdoor only forum.
The sheer amount of people on the internet doesn't stand in the way of intimate communities. What stands in the way is the dominance of big hubs and big techs social media sites. People get addicted, literally, from their services because they are designed to trigger various processes in the human brain. The youth should be protected from these sinister forces who only care about the money that comes in as ad-revenue as long as the "enslaved" internet users stay on tiktok, insta, youtube etc. doomscrolling forever.
"The scale has changed everything, from the signal-to-noise ratio to the ability to have nuanced discussions without attracting trolls or bad actors."
Dealing with those trolls actually was fun most of the time. Because the forum stood together against any trolling attempts and many of us had laughs because of what the trolls did. And always remember, there are bad actors everywhere. Not just on the old web.
So was publishing this article just a trolling attempt by Biggo.com's staff? Or was it written by an A.I.?
Whats your opinion? Share your thoughts, drop me a line!.