ersatz
9/14/25



i am a millenial.

i was there for the old internet, when it was first starting. i had websites, i participated in webrings, i chatted on irc, icq, aim, etc and so on. and as time when on i shed all that like everyone else.

but then, yesterday, i stumbled across neocities. and i found a throng of people trying to resurrect the old internet. personal little websites, little bastions of individuality and personality. something to call your own, beyond the instagrams and facebooks of it all. where you are just another boilerplate. where everything you say and post is associated with your name, because privacy means nothing anymore.

needless to say, i fell in love with the idea of it immediately. it's funny how much i missed this kind of internet. and i always knew it in the back of my mind. i've always been unsatisfied with the way things have changed online. so the idea i could recapture it a little bit, was just too appealing.

and yes, i could have always had my own website. and i have, on and off, over the years. but somehow i felt alone while doing it. like i was a weird old dinosaur, clinging to some ancient religion that nobody else practiced. every time i tried to fire up a personal website again, my interest would flag because i felt so alone.

but already on neocities i have been browsing so many other people's websites. they are all unique and interesting and bring something of value to the internet. it feels so much more enriching to read these simplified html based journals and sites than the fanciest of bloated UI algorithm farms.

anyway, i'm not even sure what i can contribute to the community yet. it's been so long, everything is dusty and squeaky. i barely even remember the most basic html - a sadly lost language that i used to have a great command of.

but, i am excited! here's to the future, of the internet's past.