The Shape of the World Wide Web Is Really Bad and It Won't Improve in 2023

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2023-02-20 01:38:41 UTC
Modified: 2023-02-20 01:39:36 UTC

Summary: According to this latest "Web Server Survey" by Netcraft, Microsoft is down sharply on the Web, but the Web as a whole keeps getting smaller as many sites go offline; we need to react to that trend

THE number of sites which become unreachable is growing; we assume economic factors play a role (people become hesitant to pay for domains and hosting bills). Hours ago an associate sent us a list of "sites missing or replaced by cybersquatters" -- mostly sites covering GNU/Linux^*. The EPO's blog (blog.epo.org) has gone offline too! The EPO is not interested in that anymore.

“This past weekend we spent a great deal of time tackling this problem, which had become a sort of 'technical debt' (for years already).”The World Wide Web is rotting away. Many sites go offline, some get hijacked by cybersquatters, and our lists of RSS feeds (we have over 1,000 that we follow) are going out of date. This past weekend we spent a great deal of time tackling this problem, which had become a sort of 'technical debt' (for years already).

So what's in store?

Well, we expect our Daily Links to be far more extensive in years to come. The scope and frequency of blogging will remain the same, but we de-prioritised that in recent days because of much-needed housekeeping with feeds. We might have a lot more to say about this in days to come, but the shape of the Web generally isn't good. Not promising, not encouraging. The only way is down. With Twitter and Facebook now openly admitting they want their users to pay monthly subscription fees (more on that shortly, in the next batch Daily Links), it's not hard to see where this is going. ⬆ _____________ ^* To name just some of them, by their RSS feeds:

    "https://linuxacademy.com/blog/feed",
    "https://linuxdady.com/feed/",
    "https://linuxhint.staging.wpengine.com/feed/",
    "https://linuxscoop.com/feed/rss",
    "https://marcozehe.de/feed/",
    "https://mrpogson.com/feed/",
    "https://niklasanderson.com/feed/",
    "https://pinguyos.com/?feed=rss2",
    "https://techreflect.net/feed/",
    "https://theclc.co.uk/feed/",
    "https://tux-techie.com/feed/",
    "https://webleit.info/feed/",
    "https://www.askmetutorials.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss",
    "https://www.cloudsavvyit.com/rss",
    "https://www.farsightsecurity.com/Blog/index.rss",
    "https://www.kmotoko.com/feed.xml",
    "https://www.linuxnix.com/feed/",
    "https://www.linux.org/articles/index.rss",
    "https://www.linuxsecrets.com/rss/articles-unsorted-catgories",
    "https://www.stockholmdirekt.se/feed.xml",
    "http://www.jollausers.com/feed/",
    "http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/feed/",
    "http://www.linuxplanet.com/rss",
    "http://www.polydesmida.info/BASHing/BASHing_data.xml",
    "http://www.simplicitylinux.org/feed/",
    "http://www.techthrob.com/feed.rss",
    "http://www.theperlfisher.com/index.php/feed/",
    "http://www.unixshadow.com/feed",
    "http://www.womeninlinux.com/index.php/feed/",

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Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Katrina Remembered, Distracted Driving, and Virtual Economics: Links for the day
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Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025: IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
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Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments: Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News: Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal": Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH: Links for the day
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Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM: there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft: Links for the day
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Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech": perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees): Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month: As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers): At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis): "Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025: IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025
Links 02/09/2025: Oligarch Tech and Text Encoding Concerns in Ada: Links for the day
"Internal Changes at Red Hat / IBM": It seems like quite a few people are leaving
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The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now): A "9/11" Coming
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Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025: IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
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The Shape of the World Wide Web Is Really Bad and It Won't Improve in 2023

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