Weekly links: The history of the internet

Classic pieces of internet writing that live rent-free in my head

There is something unique about internet writing that seems to be a genre unto itself. It’s seedy, raw, sometimes lacking in context. Of course, other writing has done this. But compiling it all into the swamp of www dot com makes it feel like it’s own thing. At its best, internet writing is bizarre, silly, and deeply profound. Internet writing is pithy but also goes deep on subjects that don’t always find a home in places where print puts a premium on word space. The internet and the content it catalyzed was unexpected, often joyful, and sometimes just plain stupid.

At least in the early days, (and I remember them, I had a Geocities and a moderately well-trafficked blogspot that I’ll never tell you the name of, because it’s still on the Wayback machine) it seemed that the internet and the blogs it spawned, were the places where we could write about our niche joys and obsessions and not have to justify them. You could just say, Yes, I will write a deranged post about a t-shirt canon, it won’t be edited. We will hit “publish.” It will be fun.