Even with my love of old tech and design, I neglected to pay tribute to StumbleUpon. Not in the know? It was an extension that added a bar to the browser. You checked interest categories, you’d click the stumble button, and get a random website based on those interests. That was cool on its own, but for me there’s a sense sentimentality. My core friend group at the time used it. You could send other users pages, naturally we’d send one another content – things that reminded us of each other. Things we had in common, or something that made us laugh.

There’s some pseudo-modern-equivalent out there, or maybe it’s fragmented between social media and podcasts, all providing gateways to our niche interests. I’m not just lamenting the passing of StumbleUpon, but a previous iteration of the net where people made niche websites as a hobby. Personal spaces and tight knit forums. Smaller communities between large websites.

That doesn’t mean these spaces don’t exist in some capacity but it’s not the same landscape we roamed. The accessibility has weakened and the sense of discovery faded – it wasn’t a lack of interest but an evolution. Tumblr is a distant cousin, still not delivering the same dopamine hits SU provided. Even with the popularity of sharing TikToks and reels we’re restricted by the medium itself. These can’t offer the personality that websites did.

Or can they? It’s all what you make of it. There are people on those platforms, using them to share their incredible art and talent. Truly suggesting they can’t compare would be silly. I sound like another old man reminiscing on the “old days” – rose tinted glasses, 20/20 hindsight and all that. Undoubtedly my fondness for a browser extension is tied directly to my happy memories from that point in my life, but I truly believe that there is a genuine fondness for StumbleUpon in there somewhere.

If you ever find yourself on a website, not youtube or tiktok, but a real live site someone put together? Enjoy it.