Top all-time · #382
Anil Dash
Personal blog · anildash.comcultureaicareer
Anil Dash's personal blog at anildash.com covers culture, ai and career. Since 2016, 140 different Hacker News readers have linked it 233 times, most often “The Web We Lost”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-23, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 2 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Anil Dash's posts on the decline of the open web, DOGE as procurement capture, tech and creator economics, moderation and verification. Commenters cite them as the reference for these topics.
- Recommended for · 2 comments
- One commenter calls a post on moderation a great article. Another calls the talk 'The Web We Lost' a great talk they like.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
Most-linked posts?
- The Web We Lost5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2018-07-07
- That broken tech/content culture cycle5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2022-02-09
- How you could build a search that the Fediverse would welcome5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2023-01-17
- What do coders do after AI?4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-03-13
- How the hell are you supposed to have a career in tech in 2026?4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2026-01-05
- Understanding Doge as Procurement Capture3 people · 18 mentions · first linked 2025-01-06
- If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011)3 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2018-10-11
- The Web Renaissance Takes Off3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2024-01-19
- How We'll fight the platform war against Big AI3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-06-25
- Don't Call It a Substack.3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-11-20
What Hacker News says?
You have to be careful with "naughty" words, like if your description includes the name of a company on the Dept of Treasury's shitlist[1] Some of them are fairly generic terms. I remember when this was posted[2] on HN (payment troubles caused by writing "Blue Sky" on the memo field in a check, because a company called "Blue Sky Industries" was caught doing business with Iran). Supposedly Venmo will also flag your p…
Comment linking /2014/02/21/here_is_a_thing_that_happened/
on “I just lost my wallet on the way home from work”Submitted ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web as a story · 803 points
HN discussionI actually don't think this is true. I think a lot of folks who are (understandably) angry at the Big AI companies want people not to want AI in Firefox. Which is a slightly different problem. https://www.anildash.com/2025/11/14/wanting-not-to-want-ai/
Comment linking /2025/11/14/wanting-not-to-want-ai/
on “I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla”Submitted “Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement as a story · 507 points
HN discussionThe problem has been defined, countless times. Examples include 'The Web We Lost'[1] from 2012, 'The Web We Have To Save'[2] from 2015 and so on. I think we spent enough time on defining problems, so let's start working on fixes.[3] [1]: http://anildash.com/2012/12/the-web-we-lost.html [2]: https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a4... [3]: https://indieweb.org/
Comment linking /2012/12/the-web-we-lost.html
on “Google, Facebook, and Amazon have fundamentally transformed the web”Submitted "AI-first" is the new Return To Office as a story · 335 points
HN discussionAnil Dash wrote something relevant recently: https://www.anildash.com/2025/11/14/wanting-not-to-want-ai/ His point (which I agree with - softly) is that Mozilla could approach this from a more nuanced perspective that others cannot, like not anti-AI but anti "Big AI". Facilitate what people are already doing (and outside of the HN bubble everyone is using AI all the time, even if it's just what we think is "dumb" st…
Comment linking /2025/11/14/wanting-not-to-want-ai/
on “Mozilla appoints new CEO Anthony Enzor-Demeo”Submitted VC isn't VC anymore as a story · 315 points
HN discussionRecent posts https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... Anil Dash - understanding DOGE as Procurement Capture https://www.anildash.com//2025/01/04/DOGE-procurement-captur...
Comment linking //2025/01/04/DOGE-procurement-capture/
on “GSA Eliminates 18F”Submitted I'm at Fog Creek, and we're introducing Gomix as a story · 269 points
HN discussionWild is good as long as it's not wild as in battlefield. It's not like you get diverse opinions; no matter what you post, you get warring factions, vulgar insults, and sometimes, death threats. And bots. I posted earlier today: Anil Dash argues [1] that things can be better in not so wide-open communities. And then there’s someone like Darius Kazemi, a computer programmer and community organizer who has been patient…
Comment linking //2024/01/03/human-web-renaissance/
on “We need to rewild the internet”Submitted MCP is the coming of Web 2.0 2.0 as a story · 251 points
HN discussionFor everyone talking about why things are being done like they are, take a look at this article linked to in the post: Understanding DOGE as Procurement Capture https://www.anildash.com/2025/01/04/DOGE-procurement-capture...
Comment linking /2025/01/04/DOGE-procurement-capture/
on “Moving on from 18F”Submitted VC isn't VC anymore as a story · 186 points
HN discussionAside: where do the extra slashes in the submitted anildash urls come from? frequent reoccurrence. An rss feed somewhere? Some scheme for him to track outside shares? heh https://www.anildash.com//2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-ret...
Comment linking //2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-return-to-office/
on “"AI-first" is the new Return To Office”Submitted Tim Cook Sold Out Steve Jobs (2025) as a story · 157 points
HN discussion> And did you know pension funds invest in this stuff?(which is bad?) Not if this were something healthy. This wouldn't be the first time joe average is holding the bag when the rich set the house on fire again. The USA economy is particularly brittle (as in: not diversified) in that regard. I can understand how the article might conflict with personally held notions and thus might look odd, especially as the weird…
Comment linking /2023/07/07/vc-qanon/
on “VC isn't VC anymore”Submitted We are going to kill "unalive" as a story · 124 points
HN discussionSpeaking of Technorati...the site Technorati. "The Web We Lost" pretty much sums up what I miss: https://anildash.com/2012/12/13/the_web_we_lost/ The early 2000s had so much promise. The rise of reasonably easy to use blogging platforms, RSS, and web companies that were interested in playing in that world of distributed independent communication. Even Google was a different beast back then. It was the perfect balanc…
Comment linking /2012/12/13/the_web_we_lost/
on “CollegeHumor shuts down”Submitted If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011) as a story · 96 points
HN discussionHe was involved in the Pax Dickinson affair a few years ago. I am very tempted to write my own thoughts on the issue, but rather than start a political flamewar, I'll simply link to both men's side of the story: http://anildash.com/2013/09/my-meeting-with-pax.html https://paxdickinson.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/moral-panics-a... (My 2c: though I'm on the political right and agree that tech is becoming increasingly hos…
Comment linking /2013/09/my-meeting-with-pax.html
on “Anil Dash Is the New CEO of Fog Creek Software”Submitted The Web We Lost (2012) as a story · 88 points
HN discussionI sympathize with the GP...The first thing I think when I think of you is your blog post about what it was like to be verified on Twitter :) http://anildash.com/2013/03/what-its-like-being-verified-on-... Though now I see the timestamp for that post is 2013 and I definitely knew of your work before then.
Comment linking /2013/03/what-its-like-being-verified-on-twitter.html
on “Anil Dash Is the New CEO of Fog Creek Software”Submitted If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault (2011) as a story · 78 points
HN discussionre: "He gets people fired for making jokes" This seems like putting a spin on things. Following a link in the article, you might want to read what Anil actually wrote (in particular, search for "Update"): http://anildash.com/2013/09/my-meeting-with-pax.html
Comment linking /2013/09/my-meeting-with-pax.html
on “I'm at Fog Creek, and we're introducing Gomix”Submitted How Tim Cook sold out Steve Jobs as a story · 76 points
HN discussionYeah HN has anonymous accounts so people can speak more freely. I have a day job and I bet this guy knows the CEO at my company and could probably get me fired. I just want to state my position, not create an escalating personal war with the guy. But if I was wealthy I would call him out in my own name as loudly as possible. In my opinion there are few worse things you can do then try to blackball someone from an in…
Comment linking /2013/09/my-meeting-with-pax.html
on “I'm at Fog Creek, and we're introducing Gomix”Submitted The Majority AI View as a story · 69 points
HN discussionOh, you are right. I never heard of this guy before, but this quote from his "about" page is choice: "His Twitter account is the only one that’s been retweeted by the White House, Bill Gates and Prince, a succinct summarization of Dash’s interests." http://anildash.com/about.html
Comment linking /about.html
on “I'm at Fog Creek, and we're introducing Gomix”Submitted Vibe coding: Empowering and imprisoning as a story · 66 points
HN discussion
