Welcome to my new old-style Website!
Greetings from Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. My name is Robert Finch aka HammerDunner. Be sure to check out my main website: robertfinch.ca.
Bear with me as I take a stroll down memory lane. In Grade 12, we were asked to use a new thing called the World Wide Web to do research on a particular topic. I was livid. For me, I would always hit the encyclopedia racks and maybe seek out the odd book when it came to researching something. So, I had no interest in this so-called "Information Highway" as they called it. I remember boasting to a friend that the Internet was a mere fad. Fine, I'd use it this once but that was it. That was in 1995.
Soon, my anti-WWW stance softened. I would move onto you university and eventually buy my own computer (complete with Windows 95!). Connecting to the Internet became a way of life. We seemed to always get CDs from AOL or MSN offering free web access. Looking back, that was extremely smart marketing. If you were an early user of the commercial Internet, you will understand just how exciting it was to log on to your AOL and be greeted with the "You've got mail!" notice.
In those early days of the Internet, the websites were fun. The whole thing was a bit clunky, but it worked. Sites like Geocities made it easy to create your own homepage and connect with others around the world. You literally could spend countless hours surfing the web, finding new and interesting websites, and meeting new friends. Eventually you got bored or grew tired (or were disconnected from the telephone line you used to connect in the first place). You'd do it all again the next day if you could. It was just such a fun place to be.
Then, in the mid to late 2000s it all changed. Social network sites like Facebook became more popular. I'll admit I really liked the early Facebook. It was easy to connect and share to family and friends. But then one day the damn thing started using the dreaded "algorithm" so instead of seeing good stuff from your network you got bombarded with stuff you didn't sign up for. So, that was that.
And now the web is being polluted with AI slop and SEO garbage. We've sat back and allowed a handful of tech billionaires at Facebook, Google, X, YouTube, Amazon, etc. to dominate what was sold as the Information Highway for all of us to enjoy and prosper from. Somehow, the thing got broken and it's time to fix it.
Fast forward to today. I decided to create a retro-style webage on Neocities. This is really neat. And it's amazing how many people are actually on this thing creating websites that look like the sites of old. Wow. In 1995, I dismissed the Internet. Thirty years later, I would give anything to go back to that time and relive those early Internet days again. It's sites like Neocities that are helping to quench my nostalgic thirst. I'm delighted to be here.
