The internet used to be ✨fun✨

I’ve been meaning to write some kind of Important Thinkpiece™ on the glory days of the early internet, but every time I sit down to do it, I find another, better piece that someone else has already written. So for now, here’s a collection of articles that to some degree answer the question “Why have a personal website?” with “Because it’s fun, and the internet used to be fun.”

If you’ve written something that feels like it belongs here—especially if your voice is one that’s frequently underrepresented—I’d be interested to read it! Holler at me via email (kwon at fastmail.com), or on Mastodon (mastodon.social/@rjkwon).

Article Author Date published ↓
I miss the internet. Joan Westenberg 2023-07-07
Every person on the planet should have their own website Amin Eftegarie 2023-07-06
Eight years of blogging Paweł Grzybek 2023-03-11
Blogging is alive and well Colin Devroe 2023-01-11
The Year of the Personal Website Matthias Ott 2023-01-06
Bring back personal blogging Monique Judge 2022-12-31
Passionless Web Manuel Moreale 2022-08-16
Building a Digital Homestead, Bit by Brick Tom Critchlow 2022-03-08
Early Web Design Helped a Generation Express Themselves Online. How Do We Capture That Feeling Again? Nika Simovich Fisher 2022-03-08
The Joys and Sorrows of Maintaining a Personal Website "Cheapskate" 2022-03-06
On building a home on the web Daniël van der Winden 2022-02-25
How Websites Die Wesley Aptekar-Cassels 2022-02-21
“Tom had us all doing front-end web development”: a nostalgic (re)imagining of Myspace Kate M. Miltner, Ysabel Gerrard 2021-10-07
Why Personal Websites are Important Chuck Carroll 2021-03-25
The Value of a Personal Site Marc 2021-03-15
The small web is beautiful Ben Hoyt 2021-03-01
envisioning my homepage as an online therapeutic space Winnie Lim 2020-11-22
Hunting the Nearly-Invisible Personal Website "Cheapskate" 2020-08-27
What is the Small Web? Aral Balkan 2020-08-07
Rediscovering the Small Web Parimal Satyal 2020-05-25
Bix's story of his internet Bix Frankonis 2020-02-24
On attention management & owning your content Roel van der Ven 2017-06-04
Stop Crowdsourcing Your Confidence Darius Foroux 2016-08-25
Homesteading 2014 Frank Chimero 2013-12-21
Death to Bullshit Brad Frost 2013-04-08
A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden Maggie Appleton 2020
E/N (Everything/Nothing) JR (Sawv) 2017
About me (localghost) Sophie Koonin --
At home on the internet Johnny Rodgers --
How I experience web today Li Guangyi --
About this website Zinzy Waleson Geene --
How the Blog Broke the Web Amy Hoy --