Personal websites are impossible

Since the beginning of the web, people have been making personal websites. But when someone makes a personal website, it is forever an exhibition to the public and cannot truly be a private, authentic space.

Recently, the concept of a “digital garden” has become popular. It’s like a personal website but welcomes a degree of chaos and is meant to be a home for the author’s notes, ideas, thoughts, and other creations, even if they are half-baked. However, this approach does not make personal websites more private, and their content is, perhaps unconsciously, adjusted for the public audience. Digital gardens might be under the guise of being more raw, but don’t be fooled. They would never be the same if not made public.

I started thinking about this after reading about why someone redesigned their website:

“I don’t think a site can (effectively) be both for you and others. If you leave your home unlocked, it is no longer a home, but an exhibition.”

I noticed this with my own website. I keep a list of public bookmarks, but those in no way represent what I actually bookmark. It’s more a way to show people what I value and what I’m interested in—by linking to others who are doing similar things—rather than bookmarks in the sense of things I would come back to. My actual web bookmarks are far more messier, scattered, and useless to the general public. My actual bookmarks need a lot more context than a personal website can provide for a person to understand why I wanted to save that website.

Personal (public) websites are impossible. They’re always for others, but it’s not a bad thing. If you want a truly personal website, make one, but never publish it, and see the difference.