I spotted Bubbles in my basic referrers this morning, and my heart lit up. A little directory, surfacing blog posts from actual bloggers, what in the old web is going on?!
This isn’t the first time I’ve spotted a resurgence in indie / ‘old’ web stuff lately. Personal sites are making a comeback, bloggers are taking to their keyboards again, web rings and cliques and other 90s nostalgia links are doing the rounds on reddit and bluesky. But why did this stuff fade out in the first place?
I think Bubbles sums up what went wrong quite aptly on their About page:
Somewhere out there, someone wrote a really good blog post today. You’ll probably never find it. Google won’t show it to you. Social media buried it under engagement bait.
Hard to find the motivation to create, write, and share if you’re endlessly screaming into a gigantic void with nobody to answer back.
I welcome this new phase of the internet. I’ve missed browsing my blogroll, dropping comments on random blog posts written by people I’ve never met writing about subjects I might never have read about otherwise. That version of the internet made me, and I don’t think I’d be who I am doing what I do without it today.
I had a quick flick through the 50+ drafts dating back to 2013 sat in the back-end this morning and spotted one near the top entitled ‘West Midlands Autumn Cup Powerlifting Competition’. That comp happened nearly three years ago (September 2023) which really cements how bad I’ve been at blogging over the last few years…. read full entry »
I completed another of my 40 before forty list last week and fulfilled a childhood dream in the process: I went up in a hot air balloon. Shane bought the balloon vouchers for me for Christmas last year, and after redeeming the vouchers with Wickers World we had repeatedly tried to book evening flights, but… read full entry »
I’ve started writing a post to sum up hitting 40 and a recap on my progress on all the things I wanted to achieve before I hit 40 about 6 times since the start of January and each time I get about one paragraph in and the inspiration just fizzles out. I think it’s partly… read full entry »
Well, not mine, per se. Anyone’s would do. I’ve been ill, on and off, since about August. A cold that started to mend then covid hit that started to mend then a sinus infection that started to mend and then a cold again… you get the gist. At my weakest, most pathetic moment – when… read full entry »
In news that surprises absolutely nobody, I’ve gone another year where I’ve barely blogged. I realised earlier this year that it’s not for lack of things to talk about – christ, this year has had some moments – but rather this feeling that every post must be polished, have an accompanying featured image, have the… read full entry »
If you read my last post, you’ll know that I’ve been thinking about doing the “75HARD” social media challenge for a while, but have been put off by the creator’s sketchy opinions and general persona (that’s basically the gist of the previous post, no need to read it now) I went on to Instagram earlier… read full entry »
I’ve been thinking about doing the 75HARD challenge. If you’re not familiar with 75HARD, it’s a fitness challenge that first did the rounds years ago and has had a bit of a resurgence this year. The rules stipulate that every day, you must: This isn’t a new thing, I’ve considered it several times, and even… read full entry »
I am just over a week out from Newport marathon. It should be the ”finisher”, to round off one of my 40 before forty goals. It’s a compromise on “Run a marathon in every major UK city” (because it turns out many major UK cities don’t have marathons) in which I decided I would run… read full entry »
Alright, simmer down, I know I’m not really a “CEO” because I don’t have a board of directors or a c-suite or anything like that, but “day in the life of an autistic freelance web developer turned LTD company managing director” as a title was just ridiculous. Work with me here guys. I’m writing this… read full entry »