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Sorry but this idea that the old internet is dead is just people hand wringing that nobody will read their boring blog. It's the mistake that people make about

Sorry but this idea that the old internet is dead is just people hand wringing that nobody will read their boring blog. It's the mistake that people make about democracy. Most assume that democracy is about the right to be heard. Wrong. It's the right to be peacefully ignored. Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection, writing a blog and doing whatever. If nobody comes to read it and nobody is kicking down my door to punish me for writing it then the system is working about as best it can. That others choose to consume their content elsewhere is just a sign that I am not as interesting as I think I am. But that is most of us.

M95D 3y ago
How about the right to appear in the search results of those that are still interested in your blog or it's subjects?
- injidup 3y ago
  There is no such right.
  - M95D 3y ago
    The obscure blogs can no longer be found, even by those interested in them, therefore we need to invent the right to search&find and be found.
    - nebula8804 3y ago
      Webrings are back with a vengeance! :D
    - exsomet 3y ago
      In the before times you needed to either know a webmaster with a reasonably popular web ring, or find and join a reasonably popular community forum around your interests and perform whatever archaic rituals they require to get permission to post links. Usually either of those options was wrapped up in a layer of nepotism (maybe that word is too strong?) and the upper limit to the traffic an average person could get from those activities was at most, three digits. Then we got site generators from companies like yahoo that automatically added you to a directory and that was neat for a bit, until directories became flooded with everybody’s demo of HTML’s marquee tag. Notably, find-ability did not change. Now we have companies like google that specialize in matching queries with responses. As would be expected in a profit-focused system, those responses can be influenced by the people trying to be found. I wouldn’t argue that the current system of “pay somebody some money to be found” is better or more fair (fair at all?) but it’s provided a new avenue that at least on the surface feels easier. But either way, if someone is still chasing their two or three digits of readership, the webring/forum post model is still alive and well. That’s basically what sharing this article on HN (or Reddit/Facebook/Twitter) is, no?
curtisblaine 3y ago
> Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection But you can't really do that as a private person (i.e.: if you're not a business), right? For start, many residential ISP contracts don't allow you to serve your own content to the public and will suspend your account if they catch you doing that. Secondarily, you can't get a residential connection with a fixed IP - you will need Dynamic DNS, probably provided by a third-party basing their whole infra on "the cloud". If I could do all these things in a reasonably easy way as a non-business entity and then nobody came read my blog I would be super-happy.
- crtasm 3y ago
  Dynamic DNS is just updating a record when your IP changes, the only external service it requires is the API for your DNS provider. A friend just ordered static IP on her residential connection, it can be an option. If you really needed to there's nothing stopping a private person ordering "business" internet. I don't think that'd change their ToS on hosting websites, but if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it?
  - curtisblaine 3y ago
    > if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it? Right, but this means that you can do anything you want as long as it's inconsequential; it's when it starts to matter that it becomes very difficult without relying on the cloud.
    - injidup 3y ago
      Yes. Exactly. If you become popular and your content/service goes nuclear then nobody is stopping you hiring an IT team and building out a server farm in your basement. All the equipment is available for purchase at a price way under what it was during this imaginary golden age of internet. But you need to be educated to use it and have time to build it and money to keep the lights on. Yes all these things you can do. However this is not a human right to have and why should anybody provide it to you for free and maintain it for you for free? That is the "cloud" you are complaining about. If you want to do it solo and have the time and money and knowledge to handle the tech stack then you can. Go for it.

M95D 3y ago

How about the right to appear in the search results of those that are still interested in your blog or it's subjects?

injidup 3y ago
There is no such right.
- M95D 3y ago
  The obscure blogs can no longer be found, even by those interested in them, therefore we need to invent the right to search&find and be found.
  - nebula8804 3y ago
    Webrings are back with a vengeance! :D
  - exsomet 3y ago
    In the before times you needed to either know a webmaster with a reasonably popular web ring, or find and join a reasonably popular community forum around your interests and perform whatever archaic rituals they require to get permission to post links. Usually either of those options was wrapped up in a layer of nepotism (maybe that word is too strong?) and the upper limit to the traffic an average person could get from those activities was at most, three digits. Then we got site generators from companies like yahoo that automatically added you to a directory and that was neat for a bit, until directories became flooded with everybody’s demo of HTML’s marquee tag. Notably, find-ability did not change. Now we have companies like google that specialize in matching queries with responses. As would be expected in a profit-focused system, those responses can be influenced by the people trying to be found. I wouldn’t argue that the current system of “pay somebody some money to be found” is better or more fair (fair at all?) but it’s provided a new avenue that at least on the surface feels easier. But either way, if someone is still chasing their two or three digits of readership, the webring/forum post model is still alive and well. That’s basically what sharing this article on HN (or Reddit/Facebook/Twitter) is, no?

curtisblaine 3y ago

> Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection But you can't really do that as a private person (i.e.: if you're not a business), right? For start, many residential ISP contracts don't allow you to serve your own content to the public and will suspend your account if they catch you doing that. Secondarily, you can't get a residential connection with a fixed IP - you will need Dynamic DNS, probably provided by a third-party basing their whole infra on "the cloud". If I could do all these things in a reasonably easy way as a non-business entity and then nobody came read my blog I would be super-happy.

crtasm 3y ago
Dynamic DNS is just updating a record when your IP changes, the only external service it requires is the API for your DNS provider. A friend just ordered static IP on her residential connection, it can be an option. If you really needed to there's nothing stopping a private person ordering "business" internet. I don't think that'd change their ToS on hosting websites, but if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it?
- curtisblaine 3y ago
  > if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it? Right, but this means that you can do anything you want as long as it's inconsequential; it's when it starts to matter that it becomes very difficult without relying on the cloud.
  - injidup 3y ago
    Yes. Exactly. If you become popular and your content/service goes nuclear then nobody is stopping you hiring an IT team and building out a server farm in your basement. All the equipment is available for purchase at a price way under what it was during this imaginary golden age of internet. But you need to be educated to use it and have time to build it and money to keep the lights on. Yes all these things you can do. However this is not a human right to have and why should anybody provide it to you for free and maintain it for you for free? That is the "cloud" you are complaining about. If you want to do it solo and have the time and money and knowledge to handle the tech stack then you can. Go for it.