I remember the internet of the mid-90s, an era of genuine discovery and very few rules. To navigate it, I had to keep my own notes on everything: what worked, how I did it, and most importantly, what not to do.
Eventually, I revised these notes into a blog. For years, the goal was simple: document the journey so others wouldn't have to wander in the dark. It was a labor of utility, built because there was a real need for maps in an unmapped territory.
THE OBSOLETE MAP
For over three decades, this cycle held. But AI has changed the nature of discovery. The era of the technical tutorial is ending because the "tutorial" has been internalized by the model.
People no longer search for a guide on how to configure a kernel or troubleshoot a specific hardware quirk. They ask a local LLM and receive a tailored answer in seconds. The friction of searching through forums and blog posts has vanished.
The map is no longer needed when anyone can hold every territory in their pocket.
There is no bitterness in this. It is simply the completion of a cycle. The world no longer needs the maps I drew because it now possesses a compass that points directly to the answer.
A QUIET MIGRATION
When the map becomes obsolete, you have two choices: let the library fade away or change the reason for its existence. I chose the latter.
I moved my efforts to the Darknet. This was not a move born of paranoia, but of a desire for zero metrics. In the corporate web, visibility is a currency measured in traffic and engagement. On a Tor hidden service, there are no algorithms to appease and no advertisers to satisfy.
Publishing via OnionShare costs nothing and demands nothing. It allows me to return to the original pleasure of writing: doing it simply because I feel like it.
RECLAIMING THE SILENCE
The hardest part of leaving the traditional internet is not the technical shift, but the psychological one. We have been conditioned to believe that boredom is a problem to be solved with a scroll.
I compare the addiction to the attention economy to smoking. You do not realize how much of your day is spent on "leisure" that is actually just a repetitive, compulsive habit. The machine wants you to consume until you forget how to be still.
The goal is to remember what boredom feels like.
Spending a few hours with a local LLM in a disconnected room does not feel like time stolen from life. It feels like actual creation. By removing the noise of the clearnet, I have found that my focus returns and my thoughts deepen.
THE NEW DRAWING
When the old map is no longer needed, you do not pretend it never existed. You acknowledge its service and start drawing something new, without wondering how many people will ever see it.
This site is that new drawing. It is a hobby with a singular purpose: to encourage others to explore cognitive autonomy before we lose our internal compass.
If you want out too, find a way to host locally. Use OnionShare, or any tool that lets you publish on your own terms in a space that does not profit from your presence.