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> this looks much more like someone who doesn't really know what they're doing just threw the site up to get the message out It's a typical wordpress blog. I w

• araes 2y ago
  > we've certainly come a long way from what people who didn't really know what they were doing were accomplishing on geocities (https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/ https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/) You may not be criticizing the Geocities folks (little difficult to tell with the word choice), yet I never really get why people rag on these types of Geocities sites so much. Sure, there were a large number that were "perpetually under construction." In many ways, I'd still prefer if a larger portion of the web had the freedom to simply put up this kind of site, about whatever they happened to be personally interested in, and if sites like Geocities had continued to prosper, rather than being sold to the rancor pit. It's all so homogenized now. Looking through the site listed, there's almost nothing to condemn. Coral reef page [1], mostly somebody who likes coral reefs and provided links to university references. [1] An attempt at a photo blog or vacation photo site before there were any public places available to host, using their own design. [2] A quick page somebody threw up for a marketing summit. [3] A fan-zine website about a band from the 90's [4] A personal website (with a slightly garish color design) yet attempts at personal info, photos, and blogging. [5] They're all rather different, there's a bunch of ideas about how to structure a website, they use a bunch different concepts about what it means to have your own "personal" location on the world wide web. They're far less homogenized than most of what amounts to current social media. And out of the ~1000, there's very few that looking back on after 20-30 years are anything to be especially embarrassed about creating or attempting to maintain. The entire platform gave 1000's (maybe larger) a chance to experiment with a new technology in a relatively "free" environment, that probably resulted in many going on to develop further in their own web design skills and perspective on the world wide web. How much does almost anybody get these days (especially in terms of personal skills) by putting up a text message social media repository location, or a FB / Meta page? Anyways, large aside. TL;DR "would prefer if more of the web had the free-form nature of Geocities with less condemnation of newbies attempts." [1] https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/1655/ https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/1655/ [2] https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/1775/index.html https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/1775/i... [3] https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2072/ https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2072/ [4] https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2393/ https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2393/ [5] https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2581/ https://geocities.restorativland.org/RainForest/Vines/2581/