But it definitely can be better.
Your Internet Doesn't Need to Be Big - Aaron Ross Powell
But it definitely can be better.
Your Internet Doesn't Need to Be Big · Aaron Ross Powell
But it definitely can be better.
Social Media and Anti-Social Pluralism - Aaron Ross Powell
Communities are different online and off, and pluralism that thrives in the real world can turn toxic in the digital world.
We Needn't Have a One True Platform - Aaron Ross Powell
On Bluesky, user numbers, and the silliness of endless growth.
How Social Media Tricks our Brains — and Destroys our Politics - Aaron Ross Powell's Blog
Field Notes: The Architecture of Rationalization - Aaron Ross Powell
Marginalia on the internet turning bad, platform extraction, and existential restlessness.
Absolute scale corrupts absolutely
The Internet has gotten too big. Growing up, I, like many computery people of my generation, was an idealist. I believed that better, faste...
Leaflet, Blogging, and How to Fix Social Media - Aaron Ross Powell
Decentralization, network overlap, and why we should all blog, too.
Your intellectual fly is open | The Observation Deck
Note: This was originally published as a LinkedIn post on November 11, 2025. I need to make a painful confession: somehow, LinkedIn has become an important social network to me. This isn’t necessarily due to LinkedIn’s sparkling competence, of course. To the contrary, LinkedIn is the Gerald Ford of social networks: the normal one that was left standing as the Richard Nixons and the Spiro Agnews of social media imploded around them. As with Gerald Ford, with LinkedIn we know that we’re getting something a bit clumsy and boring, but (as with post-Watergate America!), we’re also getting something that isn’t totally crooked — and that’s actually a bit of a relief.
Tim Berners Lee: Thoughts On The Internet Evolution
"I’ve always believed the web is for everyone. That's why I and others fight fiercely to protect it."
Algorithmic Beef
Depending on the various internets you inhabit, you may not yet be aware that another virulent Twitter (please don't make me call it X) fight erupted last night between rap superstars Nicki Minaj and Cardi B. To be honest, depending on the various internets you inhabit, you may not
All Those Metrics Bleed Your Obsessions - Aaron Ross Powell
The internet once encouraged us to build entire identities around our weirdest, deepest fascinations. Then metrics and distribution flattened those obsessions into fungible content.
Internet Hall of Fame: Celebrating Internet Visionaries
The Internet Hall of Fame celebrates the individuals whose extraordinary contributions have made the Internet what is today.
Should we design for iffy internet? | Hacker News
All of a sudden one day, I was cut off from all my music, by the creators of the iPod!
‘Building a better web is much more universal. Empowering people to own their identity, publish more freely, form many kinds of communities, and leave without losing everything.’ manton.org/2026/07/18/social-web-disconn…
Social web disconnect
www.manton.orgReally feels like the open Internet is falling apart, with bsky as a rare bright spot.
Ashton Pittman
The New York Times is now blocking The Wayback Machine from accessing its articles. That means you'll no longer be able to view archived versions of NYT stories published in 2026 and beyond on archive.org. (All those posts you see tracking changes to NYT headlines and ledes? They relied on WBM).
