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>I miss GeoCities/Tripod, and the time where search engines would always return new, quirky pages for whatever you searched for - no big media publishers or professional bloggers. Lots of fan-built pages, or just people showcasing their hobbies.

Thank Google and SEO for ruining that.

A lot of that old-school and personal content is still out there, (obviously not on Geocities) though... but the process of discovering content on the web has been ruthlessly optimized to favor content aggregators and corporate sites, and as a result, a lot of communities have either moved to those platforms or just go dark.

I've seen a few references around here lately to https://wiby.me

I've made a habit of visiting to press "surprise me...", which delivers delightfully retro gems like, just now, the RollerCoaster Tycoon Technical Information Depot: http://tid.rctspace.com

It's a small breath of fresh air from the rest of the web that merges into a unsatisfying blur of over-produced, monitored, and hyper-optimised-for-engagement "content".

This. The way search engines seem to prioritise company run sites and the way everyone's turned everything into a business venture now are the biggest issues with the modern internet.

Try https://wiby.me/

Lol yes! Now, if I search something into google, guaranteed the first few links, not the ads, ar links directed to some store for a sale, rather than information.