Comment by hamdingers
6 hours ago
Expert/auteur websites like Sheldon Brown's (or, one of my favorites, Ask Aaron https://runamok.tech/AskAaron/FAQ.html) are the pinnacle of what's possible with the small web. Today this kind of info ends up in an ad-ridden hosted wiki or locked away in an unsearchable discord.
There's also novelties like https://www.howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/, this probably hasn't been updated in a decade but that makes it no less interesting.
Then there's exceptionally cool demos like https://thelongestyard.link/q3a-demo/. This sort of thing just doesn't fit in a "blog" format unless you're writing a blog about how you built it and linking out to it.
If anyone knows of a directory of sites like these (preferably with a shuffle option) I'd love to hear about it (and contribute)!
Sheldon Brown's content is great, but is it ironic that the first thing you see on his site is a Google banner ad?
Understandably, he'd like to earn money on his content and I see no problem with that. But for me to visit his site and have Google add yet another tracking event to their "interest pile" about me (I guess i'm in the market for bikes now?) is a bit off putting.
He can't be making more than a few bucks a month through that single ad, right?
I truly had no idea, I guess I've always had an ad blocker.
He's been dead since 2008, so I assume the banner ad keeps the lights on in the absence of his income and input.
He died about ten years ago.
As the author is dead, I'm sure the money goes towards site hosting fees.
> are the pinnacle of what's possible with the small web
if this is the pinnacle then I want nothing to do with it.