‪I think it’s a lot harder to serendipitously find and make connections to strangers online based on your interests and personality‬. Today’s social media is mostl;y optimizing for entertainment. But not all of us are entertainers and the best connections are reciprocal.

Yes, I’m feeling sad about Google Reader again. But also a little bit LiveJournal and internet forums and other things lost.

We may be retreating into The Dark Forest, but I miss the pseudonymous internet filled with small hidden corners and communities.

Not everyone who joined a bowling league (when people did such things) loved bowling. Many loved being with other people first and bowling came second or not at all. Being together is what mattered. The venue did not.

I miss feeling like the whole internet was a bowling ally, and it didn’t matter how much we sucked at bowling. We were just having fun together. And if that means ceding ground to a mainstream that I no longer influence, well, I already feel powerless and out of touch with that mainstream anyway. Isn’t that why those of us who remember the internet before the social giants flocked here anyway?