Rebuilding the Web with Blogs and RSS

The author proposes reviving the old web through personal blogs and RSS instead of algorithmic social media. They’re launching a Bear Blog with a public feeds page to encourage discovery and community, akin to web rings. With any RSS reader and platform, people can reconnect intentionally and bypass the dopamine-driven social feed model.

Key Points

• Modern social media is dominated by ads, infinite feeds, and addictive algorithms that undermine meaningful connection.
• Blogs plus RSS offer a simple, open, and decentralized way to share ideas and stay connected without a centralized platform.
• The author is starting a Bear Blog and a public feeds page to model discovery and recreate web ring-style linking.
• Readers can use any platform or RSS reader (hosted or self-hosted) to follow along and build their own feed lists.
• We have the autonomy to reject algorithmic platforms and rebuild community through personal sites and hyperlinks.

Sentiment

The community is broadly sympathetic to the article's core sentiment that the modern web is broken and that something has been lost. However, there is meaningful pushback on whether blogs and RSS specifically are the answer, with skeptics viewing the proposal as impractical nostalgia rather than a viable path forward. The tone is more wistful than hostile — even those who disagree tend to share the underlying frustration with corporate platforms.

In Agreement

• The modern web has been ruined by algorithms, ads, and addictive design — returning to blogs and RSS offers a healthier alternative
• Personal blogs and static sites give you ownership and independence from platforms that inevitably undergo enshittification
• RSS feeds are the modern equivalent of webrings and enable genuine content discovery without algorithmic manipulation
• Small communities foster real connections and meaningful conversations that large platforms cannot replicate
• The tools already exist — Bear Blog, Hugo, Neocities, NetNewsWire, and many RSS readers make it easy to participate

Opposed

• The old web never died — it still exists but users abandoned it for corporate platforms, so the problem is behavioral not technological
• This is nerd nostalgia with no mass appeal; the overwhelming majority of internet users have no interest in blogs or RSS
• The old web had serious problems too — spam bots, security exploits, DDoS attacks, and legal liabilities made self-hosting impractical
• Technology alone cannot rebuild community; it requires active moderation, personal outreach, and sustained human investment
• The article underaddresses privacy and surveillance capitalism, which are arguably bigger problems than UX degradation
• Nostalgia for the old web may partly be nostalgia for one's own youth — you can return to the past but no one will be there