The true form of decentralization through the bliss of personal websites
Whenever someone argues that your personal tools or servers aren’t permanent and will eventually fail with you, I reply: yes, but they’re mine. My websites are always under construction – and that’s the whole point, it is what makes them uniquely my own.
Running my own Mastodon server or a Dropbox equivalent with Nextcloud is no different from managing the websites I normally operate. They are simply online instances – either permanent or not quite so. I consider the services I’ve programmed and own to be fundamental to maintaining control and privacy.
Having your own website is not going to fix democracy, or topple the online pillars of capitalism – but it’s making a political statement nonetheless. It says “I want to carve my own space on the web, away from the corporations”. I think this is a radical act. It was when I originally said this in 2022, and I mean it even more today.
Sophie Koonin’s blog post “This page is under construction – A love letter to the personal website” speaks to me great deal.
If you take just one thing away from this article, I want it to be this: please build your own website. A little home on the independent web.
A reflection of your personality in HTML and CSS (and a little bit of JS, as a treat). This could be a professional portfolio, listing your accomplishments. It might be a blog where you write about things that matter to you. It could even be something very weird and pointless (even better) – I love a good single-joke website. Ultimately, it’s your space and you can do whatever you want with it.
“This page is under construction – A love letter to the personal website” by Sophie Koonin
The web used to be fun – and it still can be
Sophie Koonin’s blog post, “This Page Is Under Construction – A Love Letter to the Personal Website” resonates with me deeply.
Today, the web is primarily built for businesses – a fact I know well since I create B2B websites for a living. I’ve run my own web development agency for over a decade, and before that, I built websites for schoolmates’ parents and anyone who heard I could do websites.
Before the “appification” of the web and the rise of social media giants, websites were colorful, fun, and unique – not streamlined and dull as they are now. We had Flash, splash screens, vibrant colors, graphics, animation, and playfulness. Now, we have boxes, paywalls, and cookie popups.
Major corporations like Meta, Google, and Amazon have been redefining the web over the years. Meta brought us React.js and made significant contributions to PHP through Facebook and HHVM, while Google has released numerous open-source tools and created the Go Programming Language. Despite these innovations, the web has shifted toward a for-profit model. To survive, companies must adhere to SEO requirements, which means following Google’s guidelines and these strict “standards” to the letter.
And these sites all look identical. The same style of icons, black CTAs, the same pops of the same colours. I keep landing on websites and thinking I’m looking at Vercel, and it’s become this kind of bland VC-funded corporate identity that all startups have nowadays. And a lot of the content is similar too, because it ultimately comes down to what works for SEO. I gave this talk before Generative AI was quite so ubiquitous, and it’s even worse now with so many websites full of absolute garbage content spewed out of ChatGPT, and nobody knows how Google ranks pages any more.
“This page is under construction – A love letter to the personal website” by Sophie Koonin
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not anti-capitalist; after all, I run my own company. However, the move toward a strict, boring internet behind the scenes saddens me. I want the web to be fun. I want people to build things, and I certainly will continue doing so until the day I die. Even beyond that, I hope people will keep my servers up and running (it’s even written in my will).
So many people have stopped blogging, hosting their own websites, and creating their own projects over these two decades of internet enshittification. People have lost interest. They left IRC for Slack and Discord, stopped blogging, and migrated to huge social media channels.
I began my journey with the personal web and web design back in 1998 when I was 10 years old. I instantly fell in love with everything about the web. Sophie’s article is 100% spot on. In many ways, we have lost the joy of creating our own things on the web. People have grown lazy – they merely sign up for social media services and post ten-second dance videos. It used to be so much fun to add GIFs to your personal Geocities space, build tables with WYSIWYG tools, and include quirky elements like neon green visitor counters.
I must admit that in a way most modern web projects are geared toward nerds, but back in the day, many non-technical people built their own websites – it wasn’t rocket science, and it’s become even easier over the years.
The fallacy of immortality
The first time I noticed this phenomenon was when I contemplated starting my own social media server (read: The day I decided to build my own “Twitter”). Outsiders argued, “What happens when you die? All your posts will be lost, and the server will die with you, right?” I replied, “Yes, that’s the whole point.” That’s why I named my server mementomori.social – the stoic phrase “memento mori” means “remember that you will die.” Every time I see that domain name, it reminds me that nothing is forever.
This perspective is valuable in every aspect of life – we should focus on the present. Embracing the inevitability of death has been fundamental in freeing me from the fear of it. We must accept that nothing lasts forever.
No website or server is permanent. However, you can keep your own running as long as you want. It does not require a company, and it’s crucial to own your data. Companies can pull the plug at any time, but your websites can move with you. I’ve moved servers many times – the first web host I hosted on went bankrupt, and I even lost my first domain name. But because I owned my files and kept backups, I was able to migrate.
In a sense, hosting your own site gives you the power and control to keep everything running indefinitely – something you don’t have under someone else’s control. At least it’s yours. The Internet Archive tries to preserve copies of the old web, but even that isn’t permanent. One day, this world will end, and we have to accept that.
You can be a creator anywhere on the internet these days, but there’s only a small handful of places where you actually own your own content. Your own website is one of them.
“This page is under construction – A love letter to the personal website” by Sophie Koonin
If you don’t enjoy building websites, at least join the free and open web movement.
Use Mastodon, use your own tools, and choose services that invest in privacy and the good things in life rather than ripping people off.
Nothing is forever, but your own website can last a lifetime.
@rolle
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