A Little Directory

2024-03-29

The old internet lives on amidst the new, if you only know where to look.


I was born in 2002. By the time I was old enough to understand how to use a computer, the early days of the internet had already passed. I found myself in a world where the big social media aggregators had already swooped in; stuff was already collected and centralised. The culture of the “first age” of the internet was before my time. It wasn’t until the last year or two that I started to discover quirky personal websites, hobbyist blog pages, webrings, passion projects… And I discovered an internet that could have been.

But it’s not really an internet that “could have been”, is it? It’s right there. It exists! Though they’ve been overshadowed in the mainstream by content mills and giant advertising corporations, the eccentrics and creatives that made up old internet culture never really went away. What’s more, their work has evolved - a lot of these new-old websites make use of funky modern browser features. Don’t get me wrong, many cling to the appeal of nostalgia in their aesthetics, but I prefer the ones that don’t try explicitly to do this, and instead explore what is now possible with a website.

So let’s bring some of them to light, why don’t we?

This list is pretty short and kinda disorganised. I might sort it a little better someday. You can think of it as one of many starting points for exploring the “personal web”, as they call it. If you have or know of something you’d like me to add, give me a message! Ironically I don’t have a contact method on here (i’ll figure it out eventually i promise), so sending an email or tagging me on Bluesky is your best bet.

Before we get into this, a quick little thanks to 32-Bit Cafe for… well, existing I guess. Their site has a great guide for interacting with people through your or their web platforms - as well as some broad instructions for setting up your own website, and links to several of the major directories I’ve listed here.

Actual directories (believe it or not, people have already thought of this)

Other portals into the internet realm

Blogs

Internet radio

Games

Art

Tools

Some of these sites were discovered through centralised platforms like Discord or YouTube. Others were found by following links through those sites until I found something fun. I believe that’s what the kids call “surfing the Web”. It’s funny that it’s such a novel experience to me!

Anyway, I hope to keep this list updated with new and interesting stuff I find on the internet.