The internet used to be fun.
People had personal blogs. They were strange, wonderful things. (I had one too †!) You’d stumble across a new blog through a sidebar link, or someone would email you a link, and you’d find yourself on an entirely new corner of the internet reading a complete stranger’s writing. I remember reading a waiter’s secret diary, the misadventures of someone determined to learn to cook more than just pasta, and a host of others. I read my friends’ blogs while they travelled, mused, or straight up just complained. I had these sites bookmarked (when that was also a thing). The best part? The weirdness. People posted about anything they wanted and nobody was concerned about looking professional or being a subject matter expert.
Blogging on the internet was freeform, it was wild, and it was great.
Slowly (suddenly?) though, personal blogs started to die out. Part of it was monetization – the waiter got a book deal (well done, you!), the chef got a cook book deal (well done, you too!). Posting became less frequent. The idea of writing for yourself seemed to become distasteful, an indulgent or even foolish pastime. After all, why write for yourself when there are Internet Riches waiting for you? All you need to do is optimize for SEO, keep up with the latest Google search trends, keyword stuff some posts, maybe run some ads, definitely get an Amazon affiliate link, and hey, you’re ever closer to Internet Riches. Never mind that the writing got worse, that the passion wasn’t there in the words, and that it all became less interesting.
I miss personal blogs.
Today, there are still some great ones: Jason Kottke, Cabel Sasser, John Gruber, and Louie Mantia to name a few. I have no ambition to join their ranks or be a great blog (whatever that means), but I’m starting mine again, right here.
Bring on the weird.
† It ran on Blogger, long before Google had acquired that service, with third-party commenting functionality provided by [Haloscan][1].↩︎︎