When the world wide web was shiny and new, causing content to appear within it’s rapidly expanding sprawl required a very specific set of skills. Intrepid authors were forced to learn about web servers, databases and arcane scripting languages before announcing their existence to the world. For many it became their first exposure to how computers and the internet really worked.
I was there. I remember.
I unintentionally invented one of the first popular blogging solutions. A tangled maze of code that would conjure a public journal. In the same way the first video games unlocked the wonder of interacting with an image on a television, the first blogging solutions handed the power of publication to the masses.
Early internet service providers commonly sold “webspace” as part of their package - allowing the curious, brave and foolhardy the opportunity to meddle with the fabric of the world wide web.
Over time the disparate authors spread across the web connected with one another through comments and links. Blogrolls, guestbooks, and “really simple syndication” became the glue that bound the unlikely bazaar together.
In the same manner that H G Wells’ Martians saw earth through envious eyes, so the corporate behemoths saw the emergence of blogging - and the opportunity to recycle thoughts and dreams into an advertising delivery vehicle the likes of which the world had never seen.
The platforms arrived - building gardens so vast their inhabitants slowly forgot the world outside their walls.
Livejournal, Blogger, Wordpress, Medium, Substack, Threads and BlueSky have largely re-invented each other in a race towards ubiquity. Algorithmic timelines have lifted the walls ever higher - surrounding the gullible with concordant voices, like minds, unchallenged opinions, and little reason to leave.
And that’s why I have left.
I’m back where I started - back where the world wide web started - publishing thoughts, ideas and stories on my own outpost. An island in the torrent of controlled, managed, curated, and increasingly machine generated nonsense.
My blog. My rules. My thoughts. My stories. No advertorial idiocy. No up-selling. No influential neighbours being paid to draw others in. Just me.
So.
A little housekeeping is probably required.
If you were subscribed to my blog in the past, you’re still subscribed now. I have taken the liberty of transferring your subscription for you. You will continue to find my idiotic ramblings in your email - and can unsubscribe should you wish.
If you visit the new blog on the web, you’ll notice I haven’t switched on comments yet. I’m still undecided. Do comments provide value? I’m open to your thoughts - email me and let me know. I wonder if there might be more value in anonymity.
Anyway.
I’ve gone on long enough. Time for a cup of coffee, and something to eat.
One more sleep until Christmas!