October 2nd, 2024

Putting the "Person" in "Personal Website"

Jim Nielsen's blog post highlights personal websites as vital for self-expression, contrasting them with social media's focus on interaction. He advocates for accessible website creation to promote individuality and creativity.

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Putting the "Person" in "Personal Website"

Jim Nielsen's blog post emphasizes the importance of personal websites as a medium for self-expression, akin to innate human activities like singing and dancing. He reflects on a meme that critiques how basic human behaviors have been commodified into skills, suggesting that website creation should be viewed similarly. Nielsen references Tim Berners-Lee's original vision for the web as a collaborative space for everyone to read and write, contrasting this with the current social media landscape, which often prioritizes social interaction over personal expression. He argues that personal websites foster a more introspective environment, allowing individuals to create content that reflects their unique perspectives without the distractions of social platforms. By cultivating their own digital space, users can express themselves authentically, rather than conforming to the norms of social media. Nielsen concludes that personal websites should be accessible to everyone, promoting creativity and individuality without the need for specialized skills.

- Personal websites encourage introspection and authentic self-expression.

- Social media often prioritizes social interaction over personal content creation.

- The original vision of the web was collaborative, allowing everyone to contribute.

- Personal websites provide a unique environment that fosters creativity.

- Everyone should have the opportunity to create a personal website, regardless of skill level.

Link Icon 8 comments
By @interroboink - about 2 months
Just yesterday, I walked by a soccer field with some young kids playing a game. They were using a mini-goal, parents were standing around, their gear didn't fit very well, etc. But they were having a blast.

And it occurred to me that this is what real sports looks like. Just playing a game, having fun.

In that moment, all the hyper-athleticism, hyper-competition, money, etc. of modern sports just seemed so ... absurd? Perverse?

Anyway, it just felt a bit parallel to this article. It seems like there's a lot of human experience that is better when it's not some ultra-refined extreme version of itself.

By @nimzoLarsen - about 2 months
Absolutely agreed on this. We should all “embrace our mediocrity” and create things as we like — music, essays, art, etc.

It’s an innate human quality to be creative, so we should focus on that rather than external validation from like/upvote counts.

By @notarobot123 - about 2 months
> The medium shapes the message.

Publishing content on a global public network that is regularly indexed and archived seems like quite an intimidating space to share anything too personal. Maybe the pattern of presenting ourselves through pseudonymous and artificial identities is one way in which the medium has shaped the message.

By @coisasdavida - about 2 months
As the famous blogging platforms are getting older, I've seen a couple posts here about people celebrating their 15-year or 20-year blogging activity. In a sense, for those who have been comfortable with blogging platforms, this piece makes a lot of sense and also relates to these texts I've seen. Thanks for sharing!
By @vintagedave - about 2 months
> A personal website has affordances which encourage you to create something that you couldn’t otherwise create anywhere else

In this sense, would MySpace with its extensive customisation count more as a personal website than a social website?

I wonder if this is why SpaceHey is doing so well. A month ago enumer8 wrote here on HN:

> "It was partially the customisation aspect that drew me in at the beginning, having that much control over my profile... reminded me of what I loved about being online

> "Having a little corner where I can just go and blog/post bulletins about things I'm thinking about... feels really nice."

* https://spacehey.com

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41423275

By @doompilot - about 2 months
Don't forget to put ads on that personal website. Monetize! -- written with sarcasm