87 lines
5 KiB
PHP
87 lines
5 KiB
PHP
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<h3>The Small Web Manifesto</h3>
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<p>I grew up with the internet.</p>
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<p>I was born in 1997. The internet was flourishing by then, but it was still the wild west of
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technology. It was a place of wonder, of creativity, a place you visited rather than lived in.
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Growing up in the 2000s meant growing up with the internet. I was slightly too young and sheltered
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to have my own Geocities page, but it was sites like that that I grew up with.</p>
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<p>In the 3rd grade, at my school's Scholastic Book Fair, I came across a copy of Petz 5. I begged
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and begged my parents to buy it, and they did! This simple game, centered around raising virtual
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dogz and catz, is an intregal part of who I am today.</p>
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<p>I don't remember how I discovered Petz fansites, but once I did, I was hooked. I spent hours
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downloading custom breeds, clothes, and toys, and learning what the various game files did. I
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convinced my mom to make me an email address so I could adopt petz from the people who ran these
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sites. I learned the sad truth that just because a site is online, doesn't mean that it's active,
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and the cute puppies I requested were never arriving to my inbox.</p>
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<p>Computer files were much more hackable back then, and I credit Petz for showing me that computers
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weren't magic, they were created by a hundred little parts working together, and that by changing
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one part you could customize your experience. Computers could be moulded to fit whatever I desired
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them to do.</p>
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<p>However, it was websites that really caught my fancy.</p>
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<p>I have always been an artist. Most people don't think of web design as art anymore, because most
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people only interact with the internet through sanitized social media and clickbait article sites
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that all look more or less the same. But websites used to be personal, they used to be unique, they
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used to be about self-expression. People made websites to share something they created with the
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world.</p>
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<p>The world wide web is only 33 years old, and yet most people have already forgotten what it was
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invented for. At its heart, the internet is about <i>connection</i> and <i>expression.</i> Anybody
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from anywhere in the world can talk to someone anywhere else in the world, provided they have an
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internet connection and a device to access it through. You can share whatever you want, however you
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want.</p>
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<p>This is something social media has tried to take away from us. Remember the days when you could
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customize your MySpace profile? Or put as many blinkies on your Geocities as your heart desired?
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Twitter doesn't even let you set a profile color anymore. Instagram will delete your photo if you
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happen to show a little too much skin. Neither will let you show your feed in chronological
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order or only show posts from people you follow.</p>
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<p>These corporations have made <i>you</i> the product. Products don't get to chose how they're
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displayed or who uses them. So is it any wonder that social media doesn't let you change the
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background or font color on your profile? Let alone how your data gets used or even what's collected
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at all!</p>
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<p>So how do we fight back?</p>
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<p>Delete your social media. I'm serious. These sites may pretend their money comes from ads, but
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without their <i>actual</i> product, the users, ad companies won't pay to show ads on these sites
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anymore. Ad companies buy ads on social media because social media has put all of their users into
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highly specific ad profiles. Ad companies pay to target <i>exactly</i> who is likely to use their
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product, or has already done so, and nobody else. Without users to fill ad profiles with, ad
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companies won't buy ads.</p>
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<p>Besides, do you really care what your best friend's aunt's sister eats for breakfast every day of
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the week?</p>
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<p>Make your own site. I've heard great things about <a href="https://neocities.org/"
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target="_blank">Neocities</a>, though I've never personally used it; it combines personal sites with
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a social media-esque following system, all while being open-source and ad-free. I also offer free
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hosting on punkfairie.net! Fill the web with personal shrines to self-expression again.</p>
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<p>The web is yours. It always has been. Let's remind corporations that this wild west belongs to
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the <i>people,</i> not a bottom line.</p>
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<p>Stand up for self-expression. Stand up for freedom.</p>
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<p>Take back the web.</p>
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<div class="divide"></div>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://sadgrl.online/cyberspace/internet-manifesto.html" target="_blank">The
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internet has changed</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://yesterweb.org/" target="_blank">Yesterweb</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://auzziejay.com/manifesto/" target="_blank">Auzzie Jay's Manifesto</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://lu.tiny-universes.net/indiewebmanifesto.html">The Indie Web
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Manifesto</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://flamedfury.com/manifesto/" target="_blank">My Web Manifesto :
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fLaMEdFury</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://ajknox.neocities.org/writing/nonfic/whyneocities.html" target="_blank">Why
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Neocities?</a></li>
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</ul>
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