The Old Internet is Still Here

There’s a frequent lament of missing the “old” Internet. It’s different for every person that thinks it, but it’s usually a feeling of loss for things like personal websites, blogs, RSS feeds, quirky sites for special interests and hobbies, forums, etc. A feeling that they don’t exist. That they’ve disappeared from the Internet.

While I understand the feeling, it’s misplaced.

Those things we’re missing aren’t gone. They’re still right here. They never went anywhere, they just got layered over by time.

That’s not to say websites haven’t disappeared. Or that beloved communities haven’t been shuttered and lost. Entropy is expected.

But, all of these things still exist. In many cases in the same location they were in the time that you remember as the “old Internet”. This blog is 17 years old, this site is 20. I’ve kept them at the same base URL for the duration.

I don’t consider myself an outlier here. I would wager (without any data) that most people who had a personal site and/or blog 20 years ago, still have one today. And there’s a high likelihood they’ve maintained it throughout those years.

Jim has a one-off site for his pies. I have one for my records. Anh has pages for all kinds of fun stuff.

And it doesn’t get much more “old” Internet than this.

I’ve been paying for Feedbin for years. There are tons of other good RSS reader options, paid and otherwise. Terry just released a killer new UI that sits on top of other RSS services, Current.

A few thousand degen skateboarders (myself included) have been talking shit about skateboarding on the Slap Magazine forums non-stop for the last two decades. The front page and the big subreddits are mostly horseshit these days, but there are still niche, strange subreddits to be found where real people share and discuss real things, and sometimes real weird things.

What’s changed is our expectations.

Years of streams and feeds have trained us to expect non-stop new stuff. Stuff delivered directly to our eyeballs. Stuff delivered in dizzying quantities. With each new delivery better than the last. Why go to the stuff when the stuff can come to you?

Part of what made the “old” Internet so good was the process of discovery. There were no streams or feeds. No “For You pages”. No “Discover” tab. When you found something good, it was usually after hours idly clicking between loosely connected websites. That’s what made every discovery feel so special. That’s why those first websites you went to are seared into your memory.

We used to surf the Web.

We can still surf the Web.

The Internet in 2026 is, for sure, full of horrors. The signal to noise ratio is pegged to noise. It’s only gonna get worse from here.

But Good Internet is still here. We’re still making stuff we care about and sharing that stuff on our websites. We’re making it for ourselves first, but we’re also making it for you.

This Good Internet Stuff may take effort to find. You probably won’t see it in a feed. It will not have likes and RTs. It might be months old by the time you see it. But, it’ll be here. Waiting.

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