Early on, early to mid-90s, as we all know (for those who were there) the Web was “The Web”, skipping the obvious – HTML, PHP, landing pages, static sites, etc. (although PHP was Personal Home Page in it's original naming scheme), we're back to (some still coming back to) the personal Home page. The spot, hub, “safe” spot of their Web.
I think of the 2018 era, more people refamiliarizing themselves with blogs, rss, following a mass exodus from Twitter, Facebook as well. Decentralizing, firing up a VPS or just joining a small blog platform. In this time (the first blog reconnaissance since...ever), I saw many people start blogrolls, Webrings, publicly listed e-mails, About pages, things to put a presence online. Not just a presence, a personal presence. Not an ego, or a public ego, like one would have at work or some other regularly attended public setting – but just them. The Web is everywhere and for everyone, a distancing or “front” of an ego as one's only presence on it, takes one away from what is there. Connections that can be made. Conversations that can be had.
The Home Web, the personal aspect of it, reminds me of a group of regular pubgoers, always seeing each other at their favorite bar, who attend a St Patricks Day parade – partying and getting shitfaced, then in the evening, back to their regular pub, the familiar settings and faces, the Home Web barkeep behind the bar, ready with warm appetizers and drinks for the friends who are “back from it all”.
For the ups and downs of social media over the years, the proposed “public square” was (if anything) just that, a public square – a park of crowd and busyness, not a place one can rest and converse in a relaxed setting. The Home Web is the start. As a homepage in a browser (“what will I say today?“) and the in's and out's of what is discovered beyond there. And then, if one wants (and always) they can return to their Home Page.
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