As the open web continues to evolve, it’s easy to forget the fundamentals that make it so powerful in the first place. In a recent episode Dave Winer (credited as one of the inventors of blogging, RSS, and podcasting) joined host Matthias Pfefferle to discuss the building blocks of the open web and why linking should never be optional.
Winer shares that one of the essential rules of the web is simple: if people can write, they should be able to link.
“If you offer users a way to write, but you don’t provide for linking, then you are not on the web.” — Dave Winer
Platforms that treat links as a threat, perhaps out of fear they’ll lose users to outside content, break from the very nature of what makes the web open, interconnected, and vibrant.
Matthias adds to this by pointing out the evolving habits of content creators and platforms. He notes newer trends like YouTube stars simply commenting on other videos, leveraging someone else’s content for their own channels without reciprocal benefit. He draws a connection to other platforms as well:
“Twitter and Facebook … they need content they could share on their platform, but it’s only this way. It’s sharing on their platform, but you can’t share a Twitter link very easily. So it’s kind of the same problem.” — Matthias Pfefferle
Similarly, platforms like Twitter and Facebook prefer to keep content within their own walls, making it cumbersome or even impossible to link out, or be linked to, with ease.
Why does this matter? As Winer recalls from the early blogging days, the magic happened when people linked to each other. Blogrolls, cross-references, the ability for readers (and other writers) to dive deeper. Permalinks weren’t just a technical perk, but a social glue. They allowed conversations to extend beyond a single platform or feed, turning isolated posts into parts of an ongoing, ever-expanding dialogue.
Both agree that today’s web needs, and users deserve, not just the ability to post, but to point. To reference. To connect.
“The whole idea was to get everybody else to blog, not just to come read mine … The harder part was to get everybody to go do it themselves.” — Dave Winer
Platforms that lock down content and hinder linking may grow in user numbers, but they end up siloed, a far cry from the open web’s promise. As developers and content creators, we should keep asking: can we write? Can we link? And if not, what are we missing?
So the next time you’re building a tool, a blog, or a community, remember: a true part of the open web is one that doesn’t just let people create, it lets them connect. And that connection? It often starts with a simple link.
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