The internet is huge but the average person only sees a tiny fraction of it.
There is a huge problem with content discovery on the internet today. Between how backed up the search engines are with 'SEO Optimized Content' and social media platforms luring us into algorithmic echo-chambers, how are we supposed to actually stoke our digital wanderlust?
Make sure to also check out my links page for even more links!
Webrings
Webrings are a collection of website all bound by one thing: the topic or the theme of that webring. These are much more popular before social media, but now people are returning to their webroots.
It might be worth your time to check out some member sites, or submit an application of your own.
The webrings listing has moved to this page.
Link Directories
These are lists of links, usually curated by a single person or group. They can be a great place to stumble upon links to unique websites!
You can find a listing of sites like these on my Links page, under the Discovery tag.
Random Site Generators
(for fans of StumbleUpon)
StumbleUpon was a website that let you select your interests, and based on those interests would show you random websites. I don't think any of these websites have the complete vibe of StumbleUpon nailed down, but the general sentiment is there.
- StumblingOn
- Gimme Serendipity
- Jumpstick
- ViralWalk
- StumbleUponAwesome
- BoredButton
- The Useless Web
- Sharkle
- Stumbled.cc
Search Engines
We begrudgingly use Google to get quick answers, but sometimes you grow tired of seeing the same 10 websites on the front page.
- Marginalia.nu
A search engine for exploring the web. - Ninfex
an experimental "people-powered" search engine. the index is not built by crawlers but by user submissions. - GifCities
a search engine for Geocities-era gifs - SearchMySite
an open source search engine for personal and independent websites - Oldavista
A search engine for OLD websites hosted in services like Geocities, Angelfire, Xoom, AOL, Tripod and so on! - VHSearch
neocities search engine - Teclis
a non-commercial web search engine - Wiby.me
search engine for the classic web - BoardReader
search engine for message boards & forums - Gigablast
an alternative private search engine - Webcrawler
the oldest surviving search engine online today (non-commercial)