Nothing Happens by Chance

Introduce yourself, create test postings or talk nonsense
Post Reply
LibreLenny
Posts: 13
Joined: 20. Sep 2022, 10:21
Contact:

Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by LibreLenny »

I'm on a bit of a mission to carve out a corner of the Internet, where everything is simple, like the good old days.

I am in my mid 40's. I used to use IRC every day, 20 years ago - and I haven't used it again until now, to chat in the #Salix room.

I used to hand code my HTML, and then XHTML strict in W3C compliant code. At first I used SSI, frames and Iframes. Then I started to learn a bit of PHP and tableless, DIV/CSS design.

I remember(and used) Geocities. I uploaded my websites with FTP. I used animated gifs and midi music. It was all so much fun!

I remember when the Internet was exciting!

These days, I work full time doing SEO and digital marketing. I am well versed with all of Google's tools. I use Analytics, Search Console and Tag manager daily. I use all the SEO tools, ahrefs, etc. I have daily meeting about Facebook ads, Google Ads, PPC, ROI, CTA's.. and, well, to cut a long story short, I am SICK OF IT. What's the point of all this? All we're doing is slowly training Google's algorithms. We're already all but obsolete.

The Internet has turned into a digital ghetto with big tech oligarchs at the helm, treating everyone like cattle. When I clock off from work, I slide into a world where I have completely removed all mainstream and big-tech nonsense out of my life. This is a very big reason why I was quick to become a Salix/Slackware fan after learning about it only 3 days ago. I love the KISS philosophy.

I got into Linux because I got to the point that I hated Windows. XP was the last decent Windows OS. I De-Googled my phone, because I hate Google. I deleted Chrome, I hate Firefox now, but reluctantly use it - because there aren't any viable alternatives. I don't want to use Chromium derivatives - it's still Google as far as I am concerned.

I don't use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, or anything to do with Google, Microsoft or Apple.

A couple of weeks ago, I sat here blank faced, feeling resigned - wondering what I can do about all of the above. That's when the name "LibreLenny" popped into my mind.

I have decided to use my skills to:

- Carve out a corner of the Internet where everything is "old school".
- Hand code my own websites.
- Teach other people how to hand code and also what the importance of hand coding is - and the freedom it gives.
- I want to use IRC (which is why I am in #Salix every day)
- I want to teach people how to do marketing without Google, Facebook, YouTube or any other mainstream platform.
- I want to use nothing but non-mainstream platforms and help develop "share" mechanisms for these platforms.

There are a whole heap of freedom conscious and libre-minded platforms, websites and tools being built on the side. I'm figuring out ways to make use of those places. I want to get back to networking and show other people and businesses how to build and profit from online business without handing over buckets of money to the tech overlords. I want to help raise the old Internet back from the dead - and have it compete with this dead, pointless, tech-enhanced wasteland.

So my whole point here is, I think I found Salix at just the right time. I love the philosophy behind Slackware and I really think it meshed well with the direction I want to take online. Salix is the kind of distro that I will want to promote with my efforts.
User avatar
gapan
Salix Wizard
Posts: 6238
Joined: 6. Jun 2009, 17:40

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by gapan »

There are a lot of people that think like you. You can find some corners of the internel that try to bring that feeling back. I'm not sure if you are aware, but for example, there is neocities, which is something like the spiritual successor to geocities and you can probably take a look at the Gemini protocol. You can even find some Gemini clients in our repos (lagrange is very nice).
Image
Image
LibreLenny
Posts: 13
Joined: 20. Sep 2022, 10:21
Contact:

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by LibreLenny »

I am aware of Neocities and even have an account over there! I love that website.

I've never heard of Project Gemini though. I'll certainly go check it out. I like what I saw after having a quick glance at the page you linked.

Getting back to Neocities for a bit - I want to do more than just bring back the more simple websites. I want to bring back the whole Internet the way it was before everyone was corralled into social media.

It's certainly great and rewarding to have your own hand built website. Static websites are super fast and cheaper to build and run. Also less susceptible to hacking. But more than that, I want to bring back the way networking used to be done: Forums, IRC, web rings, link pages -- even video chat rooms. Does anyone remember Stickam?

I want to help build an Internet where it's possible for people to build, run and maintain a business without being tracked and databases by corporations or sold out tech oligarchs that have aligned themselves with some very shady globalists.

I want to be able to wake up and see exactly what my family, friends and colleagues have to say - not only the parts that the algorithm has decided I should see.

I want to bring back hand built web directories like DMOZ.

I'm not looking to create a nostalgic corner of the Internet. I want to jump start the way everything was before we were all corralled into "blogs", "walls", "feeds" and "subscriptions" - all run my algorithms, and a lot of it by AI these days.

A good analogy is that I want to drive that 1970's V8, where I can feel the car through the steering wheel and smell the oil. If it breaks down, I can pop the hood and replace a single part in minutes to get it running again. I don't want to drive an electric tin can that if it breaks down I can't fix it, most of the controls are handled by a computer - even to the point it doesn't have a steering wheel. It's liable to burst into flames with the door locked, or someone with access to the computer can sent me hurtling into a tree at full speed. I don't want a car that drives for me and is capable of taking me to a destination against my will.

Image
LibreLenny
Posts: 13
Joined: 20. Sep 2022, 10:21
Contact:

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by LibreLenny »

I know it's poor form to double post on a forum and I won't make a habit of it, but this is one example of what I am talking about.

Image

I just went to fill out my profile and I see (note: I I know it's the forum software, not a reflection on Salix - but still..):

- Google+ (who actually uses that? Didn't Google scrap that?)
- Facebook
- Skype
- Twitter
- YouTube

..as the only tools and platforms listed. As if these are the only options.

One of the things I want to do as "LibreLenny" is combat this kind of unsaid bias that's rife across the Internet - by either forking software to include other versions, where you can insert you own social media OR help create plugins/patches for popular forum software that allows for this kid of modification.

In place of the list above, I'd want to have:

- Social Media Group/Page (I use Gab)
- Messenger (I use Signal and Telegram)
- Video Platform ( I use Odysee, Bitchute, Rumbe, Brighteon and PeerTube/Fediverse. I also use Invidious if I must search something on YouTube.)
- Microblog (I use Gab and Mastodon/Fediverse)

It's the same with al the WordPress plugins. Every single one of them have share buttons that link only to tall the mainstream tools and platforms - as if they're the only option. I want to create an effort that combats this, so libre-mnded, privacy-respecting and freedom-conscious people/companies can share the stuff they actually use. I don't use ANY mainstream stuff. Not even Google. I use Presearch as my search engine.

This is what I mean by I don't just want to go build old-style web pages for the purposes of nostalgia. I want to pry people away from the digital ghetto we've all been corralled into - back into an era of choice and freedom -- AND TRUTH, for that matter. This BORG-internet that has encroached on us is an absolute menace to the future of humanity. The amount of AI behind the scenes, mind-training everyone is SCARY!

I will have a section on my website where people can go to download all these plugins, "fixes" and patches.

Don't worry, I won't fill this forum with this kind of stuff, lol. I'll create my own forum over the next couple of weeks. Then I'll post here predominantly about Salix - as it pertains to freedom and privacy.

You guys at Salix are witnessing the beginning stages of my epiphany - haha. Like I said: Nothing happens by chance. I think Salix will be a great option to promote as a privacy-respecting, freedom/libre distro/OS.

I considered just going with straight Slackware, but I like Salix. I have a good feeling about this distro.
User avatar
Bird
Donor
Posts: 80
Joined: 24. Jul 2015, 12:15
Location: Germany

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by Bird »

Your ideals are set up high. The enemy is tough, gigantic in fact. But the opposition against the big tech companies rises.
The Yesterweb "movement" is carried by a bunch of nerd kids. Sure, they haven't started their businesses yet, but those young souls know, that the current developments of the internet will end in an unfriendly dystopia.

Maybe one interesting project would be this MySpace clone:
https://spacehey.com/
I particularly like the Melonland forum. It's closely linked to NeoCities, which contains a bunch of beautifully designed websites in the old way.
https://forum.melonking.net/
Have you heard about Wiby? A search engine for old-style websites with a user-maintained search index:
https://wiby.me/

Focus on efficency. A hand-made website beats every Google CDN in terms of loading times, especially when images are optimised for file size. And in times of (occasionally) slow mobile connections on the smartphones, this would hit a market without a doubt, to have a fast-loading, efficent website. Do you think some customers would look for this and realise, that self-hosting and an efficent web site actually improves their product?
LibreLenny
Posts: 13
Joined: 20. Sep 2022, 10:21
Contact:

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by LibreLenny »

He Bird, thanks for your response. I like you already :)

Actually, yesterday morning I bit the bullet and started hand coding a website. It is coming along nicely.

Once one knows a bit of HTML, some basic GIMP tricks and using a half decent editor like Geany, editing a site by hand isn't any harder than working with something like WordPress. The website I created so far is responsive for mobile to. I'll show a couple of screenshots.

I'm still tweaking it. The footer needs a bit of adjusting
Image

It's responsive (top)
Image

It's responsive (bottom)
Image

All the code is W3C compliant
Image

I haven't hand-coded a website like this for very close to 15 years. I've use HTML of course, within WordPress classic mode, but never built an actual HTML website.

I am already looking forward to creating a video/tutorial on how it was made, what the benefits of a hand coded website is and why it was made.

I'm going to modify the template with some different colours and upload a section to Neocities to host all the content and tutorials relating to HTML. I will also register a web3 blockchain domain and host yet another section over there, just to show the versatility of hand coded, static websites. I'll be promoting Neocities too.

And yes, this website (once uploaded) will load blisteringly fast on a PC or mobile. Let me check the size of the header image. 1 sec.. 62.5 kb. It's a webp image :o So there you go :geek:

wow, [urlhttps://spacehey.com/about=]spacehey[/url] looks positively awesome and will be great if the about page is anything to go by.
SpaceHey is a retro social network focused on privacy and customizability.
I will definitely check that out. I am actually looking for a place to run a group/social media for my website, so this definitely a great candidate. 500,000 users.. nice.

I'm really enjoying myself building this site and the online presence that will go along with it. I feel passionate, like I was back in the day. For a long time I'd lost my passion - just slaving for the big tech oligarchs and appeasing algorithms every day. The big-tech giants really have created what I refer to as an "digital ghetto". It's more technologically advanced, for sure, but it's not "better".

[urlhttps://forum.melonking.net/=]haha @ Melonland[/url] Yep that's about as retro as it gets, lol. I remember when every site on the Internet was as loud as that! They even have 88 x 31 buttons at the bottom. How cool! I'm sure at least one of them will go to a "web ring" lol.

I've never heard of the "Yesterweb" term/movement but I like that term already and will use it.
Do you think some customers would look for this and realise, that self-hosting and an efficient web site actually improves their product?
Absolutely - and without any question. And that's part of what I will be doing. I'll explain all the benefits to businesses and promote them.

I am currently employed full-time as an SEO guy. My work is mind-numbingly complicated (and equally as irritating) due to the fact I have to work with a "team" - many of which don't know what they don't know. They have an education, I don't. So they're my managers. I get to every Friday completely spent - and it's all becoming very miserable. Right now I have 4 days off, so I am spending it coding this website. When I get back to work, I will have very little time to work as "Libre Lenny", but I will persist to try to set up the persona and web presence. Even if it's just a few hours a week.

..then, maybe in a year or so, I might be able to bring in some clients - businesses who've been getting booted off the mainstream platforms. I'll show them how to market and how to create an audience via non-mainstream methods. There's definitely a niche here. I'll get all my systems and processes in place over the next few months, then I will begin to offer downloads, videos and advice on how to create a website and market it completely free of mainstream products and services. I know it's possible. In my experience "personal networking" is 10 times more powerful that anything algorithms or 'cookie cutter' advertising sytems by big tech can compete with. I'm on a mission to: 'Spread the truth everywhere and remind the Internet how to be free'. That's my website motto lol.

Thanks for your response Bird. I'll definitely check those sites out.

I'll go check out Wiby!

My first search..
LibreLenny
Posts: 13
Joined: 20. Sep 2022, 10:21
Contact:

Re: Nothing Happens by Chance

Post by LibreLenny »

Hey Bird, just a little follow up. Took a look at Wiby, it's actually really cool and a great concept. Definitley a fan.

Also had a little click around melonking.net. Wow, now THAT's a website lol. Brings back memories..

I'll definitley pop in there before long. I guess I'll see yopu around the forums :)

Off to play with Wiby a little more.Very interesting..
Post Reply