Explaining Myself.
Branding the Non-Commercial Web
08/16/2024
I posted the following in reply to a Threads post last week and kind of like it.
So here it is again at my blog with maybe more context.
What is needed is to brand a non-commercial web and then get people to participate in that brand. Right now everyone has their own idea of it so there is no organized movement that everyone can relate to, to foster one. My website (in profile) is no-commercial and very much what you mean. But for it to be a thing, it needs to interlink with another website like it, and so on, and so on, and so on.
As noted this blab is in response to someone who misses the old somewhat ad-free internet and web of the early days, and is my thought on at least a partial solution. The closest thing we have right now is the IndieWeb movement.
The IndieWeb gets everything right insofar as a rationale goes, but doesn't seem to touch on people's desire for reach, which is a thing that social media and commercial platforms do so well with. Also, I suspiciously note that the movement does not preclude monetizing anywhere that I can see; it just focuses on publishing logistics and data liberty. If there's no loud stand against monetization, who's to say that a web of independent publishers don't wind up enshitifying?
People need to collectively agree on what the non-commercial web is, why it makes sense for a body of information sharing, and then participate in propagating examples of it. Once that happens, reach will be restored.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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