I know what naysayers are already thinking: "if it's shutting down, how does it prove that your definition of The Pure Internet can happen?"

first, the definition. The Pure Internet, to me, is an internet that functions the way I remember it as a young kid. It's primarily sharing stories and information, whether that be through shitposts and memes or long-form blog entries. Cohost is a fantastic example of The Pure Internet; it's not perfect because it's built by and for humanity, but it's unapologetically built for humans to exist in. It's not built for human consumption, which is your Twitters, your Facebooks, et cetera. You don't "consume content" on The Pure Internet," you are in community with The Pure Internet.

So how does Cohost shutting down prove that The Pure Internet can exist? Well, it fucking existed. That's how. It proves that these things can pop up every now and again. It proves that you can be lucky enough to get pulled into The Pure Internet just because you know somebody who knows somebody, or because you heard about it from someone you're following, or you heard from a friend. It proves that these types of projects aren't unreachable or unattainable.

Furthermore, Cohost's short existence is itself proof of genuine, vintage Internet. Many websites developed back in the day were short-lived and only seen by a few eyes. In retrospect we see all the long-term projects like social media platforms, YouTube, Twitch, et cetera, but we don't remember all the smaller pieces of the puzzle that went missing. we don't notice all the tiny sites that existed in an incredibly small way, here today and gone tomorrow.

These things can happen. People are desperate for a Pure Internet, and there are people willing to step into the Modern Web and make it happen with exhaustive effort. ASSC are just one group of many other passionate people who want Pure Internet to exist. Cohost is a proof-of-concept for a revolution won by paper cuts. If we, as people who've experienced the Internet at its best in 2024, can show others that it's possible to experience the vibes of The Pure Internet, in its true-to-form short-lived nature.

Go forth and proselytize the goodness of The Pure Internet. It can exist in 2024. It can exist in the future. The Human-centric Internet can blossom even in this late-stage capitalist hellscape ruled by the ultra-rich.

Is that on top of the links to various social media sites, so many posters are putting up links to personal sites. Often at the very top of the list.

BBSes, web rings, Newgrounds hosting everything,
Federated Twitters spreading Toots around the net,
Little forums, big Discords, IRC and imageboards,
Archive team historians make sure we don't forget,

Furry spaces vastly grown, archive of our fucking own,
Queer respites we carve out from the cishet hegemon,
Telegram has yet to fall, Photomatt can't ban us all,
Carrds, and sites we own outright,
and Pillowfort are still not gone!

This is not the ending!
Cuz the queer and random always find their fandom,
This is not our ending!
We'll be reunited, though the world may fight it,

Being gay, doing crime, Furry Credit Union time,
Passing laws that regulate the Skinner box designs,
Server hosting, torrenting, peer2peer your everything,
Revolution's happening if you can see the signs,

Making little AnCom spaces, punching fascists in their faces,
Starting more tech co-ops knowing EggBug here was going places,
We have not yet begun to fight, expression is a human right,
No transphobic AI mod—Judith Butlerian Jihad!

This is not the ending!
Cuz the queer and random always find their fandom,
This is not our ending!
We'll be reunited, though the world may fight it,

This is not the ending!
Cuz the queer and random always find their fandom,
This is not our ending!
We will go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on!!!!

also the August 2024 financial update, but I’m trying not to bury the lede.

Hi everyone,

We have come to the decision to cease operations of cohost and anti software software club due to lack of funding and burnout. As of today, none of us are being paid for our labor¹; all of our money in the bank, and any money coming in from people who buy our merch or don’t cancel cohost plus, is going towards servers and operations — paying the bills so we can turn the lights off with as little disruption as possible.

cohost will become read-only on Tuesday, October 1st. At this time, we will make best-effort attempts to keep the servers online through the end of 2024.

Development focus has immediately shifted to data export. We have offered minimal data export for GDPR compliance for a while now, but this is a barebones system that doesn’t meet our quality standards. We will be improving this system over the next few weeks and will issue full data exports for all users when the site goes read-only. We will continue to offer downloads of your data export through the end of the read-only period.

When the read-only period concludes, we will delete all of your data from our servers without a backup. Even now we want to reiterate that we think “data brokerage” and other common practices of the software industry are inimical to who we are as people, and we would never consider selling your data to others or asserting any rights to stuff you posted under any circumstance.

Majority control of the cohost source code will be transferred to the person who funded the majority of our operations, as per the terms of the funding documents we signed with them; Colin and I will retain small stakes so we have some input on what happens to it, at their request.

1. on that note, we’re looking for new jobs. we’ll each be posting about that bit individually.

😭

Fuck Stripe for this. Bankers really just hate artists, don't they. I hope someday soon, artists will have their own payment processor that makes paying artists easy, maybe a Furry Credit Union as some have suggested.

I wasn't really on as much as I would like, and the smaller community and tag-only search meant that I couldn't always find whatever super specific content I wanted to find. But I wanted it to grow, and was glad of its existence.

I know it's not realistic to expect this decision to be reversed. Y'all need to put your own survival first, And between offering a download for everyone's data and cooperation with Archive Team, I doubt there will be much data lost. We could even pick up right where we left off if that ever became a possibility. But...gods, I just hope we get a worthy successor someday. Part of the internet that isn't subject to endless enshittification. Where we can just scream our stupidest thoughts into the void, only to be yes-anded by like minded individuals, without being subject to outrage-for-engagement and algorithmic bullshit. Where artists can make money without being subject to endless bullshit.

I hope this isn't the end of the Anti Software Software Club, either. Not just that you all land on your feet, but that you can keep working on things that align with your values. I want you all to keep bringing stuff to the world. I want you to keep being the change we all want to see.

I love you all, and I will miss this site!!