Sorry but this idea that the old internet is dead is just people hand wringing that nobody will read their boring blog. It's the mistake that people make about democracy. Most assume that democracy is about the right to be heard. Wrong. It's the right to be peacefully ignored. Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection, writing a blog and doing whatever. If nobody comes to read it and nobody is kicking down my door to punish me for writing it then the system is working about as best it can. That others choose to consume their content elsewhere is just a sign that I am not as interesting as I think I am. But that is most of us.
Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection
But you can't really do that as a private person (i.e.: if you're not a business), right? For start, many residential ISP contracts don't allow you to serve your own content to the public and will suspend your account if they catch you doing that. Secondarily, you can't get a residential connection with a fixed IP - you will need Dynamic DNS, probably provided by a third-party basing their whole infra on "the cloud".
If I could do all these things in a reasonably easy way as a non-business entity and then nobody came read my blog I would be super-happy.
But you can't really do that as a private person (i.e.: if you're not a business), right?
It doesn't take much to be a business though, depending on your jurisdiction.
In washington state, it took me like 15 minutes and $55 to register a business earlier this year, which I did so I could register for a business internet account that I ended up not doing (T-Mobile 5G small business internet can give you a static IP for $3/month, but only if you setup your account with an EIN, but I had some big issues with connecting the equipment to my LAN on the 'sole proprietor' account, and then major service issues returning everything, so I'm kind of done with them for a while)
that I ended up not doing (T-Mobile 5G small business internet can give you a static IP for $3/month, but only if you setup your account with an EIN, but I had some big issues with connecting the equipment to my LAN on the 'sole proprietor' account, and then major service issues returning everything, so I'm kind of done with them for a while)
I guess this proves my (and OP's) point: you tried to self-publish on the Internet without using the "cloud" and to do that you needed to jump a lot of hoops and, in the end, you didn't even succeed.
Dynamic DNS is just updating a record when your IP changes, the only external service it requires is the API for your DNS provider.
A friend just ordered static IP on her residential connection, it can be an option.
If you really needed to there's nothing stopping a private person ordering "business" internet. I don't think that'd change their ToS on hosting websites, but if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it?
if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it?
Right, but this means that you can do anything you want as long as it's inconsequential; it's when it starts to matter that it becomes very difficult without relying on the cloud.
Yes. Exactly. If you become popular and your content/service goes nuclear then nobody is stopping you hiring an IT team and building out a server farm in your basement. All the equipment is available for purchase at a price way under what it was during this imaginary golden age of internet. But you need to be educated to use it and have time to build it and money to keep the lights on. Yes all these things you can do. However this is not a human right to have and why should anybody provide it to you for free and maintain it for you for free? That is the "cloud" you are complaining about. If you want to do it solo and have the time and money and knowledge to handle the tech stack then you can. Go for it.
In the before times you needed to either know a webmaster with a reasonably popular web ring, or find and join a reasonably popular community forum around your interests and perform whatever archaic rituals they require to get permission to post links. Usually either of those options was wrapped up in a layer of nepotism (maybe that word is too strong?) and the upper limit to the traffic an average person could get from those activities was at most, three digits.
Then we got site generators from companies like yahoo that automatically added you to a directory and that was neat for a bit, until directories became flooded with everybody’s demo of HTML’s marquee tag. Notably, find-ability did not change.
Now we have companies like google that specialize in matching queries with responses. As would be expected in a profit-focused system, those responses can be influenced by the people trying to be found.
I wouldn’t argue that the current system of “pay somebody some money to be found” is better or more fair (fair at all?) but it’s provided a new avenue that at least on the surface feels easier. But either way, if someone is still chasing their two or three digits of readership, the webring/forum post model is still alive and well. That’s basically what sharing this article on HN (or Reddit/Facebook/Twitter) is, no?
Comments
Sorry but this idea that the old internet is dead is just people hand wringing that nobody will read their boring blog. It's the mistake that people make about democracy. Most assume that democracy is about the right to be heard. Wrong. It's the right to be peacefully ignored. Nobody, not even GAMM ( did he make that up ) is stopping me spinning up a web server on my cheap 50MBit up/down connection, writing a blog and doing whatever. If nobody comes to read it and nobody is kicking down my door to punish me for writing it then the system is working about as best it can. That others choose to consume their content elsewhere is just a sign that I am not as interesting as I think I am. But that is most of us.
But you can't really do that as a private person (i.e.: if you're not a business), right? For start, many residential ISP contracts don't allow you to serve your own content to the public and will suspend your account if they catch you doing that. Secondarily, you can't get a residential connection with a fixed IP - you will need Dynamic DNS, probably provided by a third-party basing their whole infra on "the cloud". If I could do all these things in a reasonably easy way as a non-business entity and then nobody came read my blog I would be super-happy.
It doesn't take much to be a business though, depending on your jurisdiction.
In washington state, it took me like 15 minutes and $55 to register a business earlier this year, which I did so I could register for a business internet account that I ended up not doing (T-Mobile 5G small business internet can give you a static IP for $3/month, but only if you setup your account with an EIN, but I had some big issues with connecting the equipment to my LAN on the 'sole proprietor' account, and then major service issues returning everything, so I'm kind of done with them for a while)
I guess this proves my (and OP's) point: you tried to self-publish on the Internet without using the "cloud" and to do that you needed to jump a lot of hoops and, in the end, you didn't even succeed.
Dynamic DNS is just updating a record when your IP changes, the only external service it requires is the API for your DNS provider.
A friend just ordered static IP on her residential connection, it can be an option.
If you really needed to there's nothing stopping a private person ordering "business" internet. I don't think that'd change their ToS on hosting websites, but if it's light traffic do you really think they're going to notice and take issue with it?
Right, but this means that you can do anything you want as long as it's inconsequential; it's when it starts to matter that it becomes very difficult without relying on the cloud.
Yes. Exactly. If you become popular and your content/service goes nuclear then nobody is stopping you hiring an IT team and building out a server farm in your basement. All the equipment is available for purchase at a price way under what it was during this imaginary golden age of internet. But you need to be educated to use it and have time to build it and money to keep the lights on. Yes all these things you can do. However this is not a human right to have and why should anybody provide it to you for free and maintain it for you for free? That is the "cloud" you are complaining about. If you want to do it solo and have the time and money and knowledge to handle the tech stack then you can. Go for it.
How about the right to appear in the search results of those that are still interested in your blog or it's subjects?
There is no such right.
The obscure blogs can no longer be found, even by those interested in them, therefore we need to invent the right to search&find and be found.
In the before times you needed to either know a webmaster with a reasonably popular web ring, or find and join a reasonably popular community forum around your interests and perform whatever archaic rituals they require to get permission to post links. Usually either of those options was wrapped up in a layer of nepotism (maybe that word is too strong?) and the upper limit to the traffic an average person could get from those activities was at most, three digits.
Then we got site generators from companies like yahoo that automatically added you to a directory and that was neat for a bit, until directories became flooded with everybody’s demo of HTML’s marquee tag. Notably, find-ability did not change.
Now we have companies like google that specialize in matching queries with responses. As would be expected in a profit-focused system, those responses can be influenced by the people trying to be found.
I wouldn’t argue that the current system of “pay somebody some money to be found” is better or more fair (fair at all?) but it’s provided a new avenue that at least on the surface feels easier. But either way, if someone is still chasing their two or three digits of readership, the webring/forum post model is still alive and well. That’s basically what sharing this article on HN (or Reddit/Facebook/Twitter) is, no?
Webrings are back with a vengeance! :D