We're building a small web zine – for retro computing and old internet lovers

Hi,

We're running a small, independent web zine at http://elpis.ws dedicated to retro computing, old internet protocols, alternative platforms, and the pre-corporate web. It's minimal, static, and designed to work in old browsers — we test it in Arachne, Netscape 3, Dillo, and Links.

The project is a mix of essays, tech nostalgia, protocol deep dives and personal reflections on an alternative digital past — and maybe future.

We're looking for contributors who care about this space: people who still think about Web 1.0, who write for fun, who miss the spirit of tinkerable computing. If you've got something to say about old tech, obscure BBS software, forgotten markup, or digital counterculture, we'd love to hear from you.

We’re not monetized, we don’t track, and we’ll never optimize for SEO. Just pure text, passion, and a bit of chaos.

Contact is on the site

— The elpis.ws team

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Replies

~zampano wrote (thread):

This looks great! I’d love to help, whether with editing or site stuff. For example, you could use a static site generator to create pages (and automatically update the index) without losing the look or compatibility.

I also noticed that the site embeds jQuery, but doesn’t seem to actually use it anywhere? (And even if it did, jQuery is a bloated mess, so you’d be better off without it.)

I’ve some experience with HTML/CSS and JavaScript, so would be glad to contribute in whatever way would be helpful. But it’s y’all’s show, so I don’t want to come in from the outside and start telling y’all what you “should” be doing!

Meanwhile, I’ll think about whether I have anything I could write about article-wise. I’ve been around tech/computers for a long time, but I’m not sure I ever got deep enough into anything to have much to say here. For example, I have some nostalgia for my BBS days, but never really became a part of any of those communities...I mainly downloaded games and sometimes played TradeWars.

~dragfyre wrote (thread):

cool! are you planning on setting up a gemini mirror as well?

~theoddballphilosopher wrote (thread):

It looks fascinating thus far. I believe it's only practical that knowledge of internet protocols and basic code be accessible for public use.