Hey now, it may feel like it only updated once every 20 years but it somehow kept going into the late '10s before announcing a formal end in '22, then coming back so it could continue updating once every 20 years.
There is a sort of related thing I've been doing for 20 years, which is hitting "update" on linux, windows, or steam and wondering if this will be the time, that literally anything changes that I notice.
You have so much comics, that I just press the Random button to enjoy a comic and is REALLY hard to get a duplicate comic, so it feels like the whole website is frozen in time, pulling comics from an infinite stream, like the knot of temporal timelines.
I used to check in on Age of Fable, one of my fav interactive fiction games, but sadly they let their domain run out at some point and it is now spam hell
Has been more like 6 years, not quite 20, but I still check in on Strong Female Protagonist from time to time in the hopes that Molly and Brennan are able to come back and finish it up. Really great story.
There is a site, "something.com", that for as long as I have known about it has always just been a blank white page with black text reading only "Something."
I appreciate its simplicity, absurdity, and consistency.
What I love about that is that someone bought that FOREVER ago, and despite certainly receiving offers of colossal amounts of money to sell the domain, they've decided "nah, I'd rather own a site that just says 'Something.'"
https://omniglot.com/
Lost so many hours to that site in college (‘01-‘05) and still do on occasion. I think it actually HAS gotten some updates, but certainly not to the overall look/vibes of the site!
In terms of things that are still active but with an unchanged format: the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
I happened to meet Bob Nemiroff during the 2017 eclipse, and he seemed unsure how to react when I told him that I had been enjoying his website for twenty years, since high school.
Is Colossal Cave still available on a website somewhere? You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.
https://gawker.com
Just in case it works and I can find the Caity Weaver piece on Cara Delevingne…”she’s not a professional cocaine” makes me laugh every time I think about it
Almost 20: there's a Flash-based Dance Dance Revolution clone from Japan called Dancing Onigiri that you play on the keyboard. It was apparently pretty easy to mod so there are thousands of songs from various creators, but the original creator slowed way down in 2006 and stopped in 2008.
Every once in awhile I will describe a questionable website as looking “like something created on geocities” and get excited when someone laughs because they are an old nerd like me
Quasi-serious answer: I read Calvin and Hobbes every day at https://gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes. I'm sure I've cycled through the whole oeuvre more than once, but I still enjoy it.
I used to periodically check if timecube was still there. One day, it wasn't. And the world started getting weirder right after that. I wonder if the timecube guy was containing a lot of it in one masterwork of madness and when that was gone, it started leaking out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube
Not sure I can think of one, but I did visit a website which had been maintained recently that explained about clicking links to follow them to find out more. I got quite nostalgic.
Closest I can think of that still exists. I check just to make sure it's still kicking. The website rarely changes. I spent thousands of hours on that MUD.
http://nobodyscores.loosenutstudio.com/ , even though it hasn't been updated since 2010 and I've no idea where/how Brendan Bolt is now. It was the most magnificent piece of anarchist tooning evah.
https://furnitureporn.com still has great 1990s HTML and as much steamy overstuffed action as you could ask for. (It's not NSFW unless you work with real prudes.)
https://www.refdesk.com/ changes the fact of the day/month/etc., but the essential format and structure (and list of links) is essentially unchanged
This site is comprised of a single Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. I'm not sure that it's 20 years old, but it has never updated. I consult it because it is a great cartoon. https://dontknockmysmock.com/#
The world's oldest working lightbulb in Livermore, California. Every now and then I check the Bulb Cam to make sure it's still on. https://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm
Comments
well, it has updated, but it remains true to form.
probably spent every spare minute in the computer lab here from 2004-2012
https://youtu.be/RJ5gEykr73s?si=7oj3-AxRGvfWdGJF
Lil different cuz it actually updates constantly, ive just never seen it be different
https://sidetalking.com/
https://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
I can hear the tune now.
But i just watch Arrested Development episodes to check in to see if George Michael ever gets any better at it.
he doesn’t.
Been visiting periodically since 1997.
Occasionally gets new content, but the site itself hasn't changed format or style.
(Site was around YEARS before the movie of the same name.)
https://www.imood.com/
(It was updated to no longer use Flash.)
/.
one day
https://www.erowid.org/
Okay, the last updates were “only” ten years ago, but the majority of the content is 20+ years old and unchanged like the design.
Hear me out!
You have so much comics, that I just press the Random button to enjoy a comic and is REALLY hard to get a duplicate comic, so it feels like the whole website is frozen in time, pulling comics from an infinite stream, like the knot of temporal timelines.
https://improbable.com/airchives/classical/articles/peanut_butter_rotation.html
https://jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm
Not that I check in on it that often but it's something from the early days of the internet that pops in my head occasionally.
I appreciate its simplicity, absurdity, and consistency.
http://www.mnftiu.cc/category/gywo/war1/
Perfect web-site
Lost so many hours to that site in college (‘01-‘05) and still do on occasion. I think it actually HAS gotten some updates, but certainly not to the overall look/vibes of the site!
Though it actually has updated recently so maybe it doesn't count. Still awesome. https://africam.com/
The games were merged to a new website, but used to play these A LOT.
I happened to meet Bob Nemiroff during the 2017 eclipse, and he seemed unsure how to react when I told him that I had been enjoying his website for twenty years, since high school.
https://www.nuklearpower.com/8-bit-theater/
i heard one of the devs died of a heart attack
RIP
Just in case it works and I can find the Caity Weaver piece on Cara Delevingne…”she’s not a professional cocaine” makes me laugh every time I think about it
Got to be the 25 year wait for the next episode of Hard Drinking Lincoln...
https://flashmuseum.org/windows-rg/
A web comic tracker, which I use to read SMBC and many other fine titles to this day!
Quasi-serious answer: I read Calvin and Hobbes every day at https://gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes. I'm sure I've cycled through the whole oeuvre more than once, but I still enjoy it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube
Closest I can think of that still exists. I check just to make sure it's still kicking. The website rarely changes. I spent thousands of hours on that MUD.
Used to be someone's daily blog, told in an amusing Flash comic form.
Their create.swf spawned a lot of old internet memes and such, such as my current avatar.
Although it looks like he published a book last year! I guess I'm going to check that out
Still great!
https://www.refdesk.com/ changes the fact of the day/month/etc., but the essential format and structure (and list of links) is essentially unchanged
https://dontknockmysmock.com/#
https://www.yellow5.com/pokey/ and behold.
https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
https://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm