Have a fucking website

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Value of Having a Website

  • Many agree businesses (restaurants, salons, trades, artists) should have a simple site with hours, location, pricing, menu/services, and contact info.
  • Some see lack of a website in 2026 as a red flag for professionalism, unless the Google Maps profile is very complete.
  • Websites are viewed as more durable and controllable than social accounts, and better for things like bookings, ordering, and reducing phone interruptions.

Why Many Small Businesses Don’t

  • Owners are time-poor, focused on survival, and often non-technical; even learning tools feels overwhelming.
  • For many, customers already come via Instagram, Facebook, Google Maps, Yelp, TikTok, delivery apps or aggregators; a separate site feels like extra, low-ROI work.
  • Menus, hours, and offers change frequently; posting a photo or story on IG is easier than maintaining a site.
  • Some local “web dev” offerings are seen as predatory or overcomplicated (WordPress, custom CMS, ongoing retainers).

Tools, Hosting, and Technical Barriers

  • Technical readers underestimate friction in concepts like domains, DNS, VPS, TLS, nginx, Git, even “plain HTML”.
  • Others argue it’s “solved” with Wix/Squarespace/Shopify/WordPress/Google Sites, or static hosts (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, GitHub Pages, B2+Cloudflare), but acknowledge these are still too nerdy for many.
  • Debate over Squarespace/Wix pricing: some call ~$20/month “ridiculously expensive”, others “ridiculously cheap” relative to business value.
  • Suggestions for ultra-simple site builders (like “GitHub Pages without Git”) and anecdotes of niche products targeting this, often with weak uptake.

Platforms vs Open Web

  • Strong resentment of “walled gardens” (Meta, X/Twitter, Instagram) for locking in content, blocking logged-out users, and enshittifying UX.
  • Counterpoint: platforms are where customers already are, free, and easy to update; many small businesses thrive on IG-only presences.
  • Some propose government- or nonprofit-run directory/hosting services analogous to Yellow Pages; others object to taxpayer funding or bias risks.

AI/LLMs and Websites

  • Skepticism that LLMs “bridge the gap” for normies: you still need requirements, hosting, domains, payments, updates.
  • A few anecdotes of kids or developers using LLMs to quickly spin up and deploy static sites, but even then hosting/billing/maintenance remain friction.
  • Some refuse to run public sites at all due to LLM scraping and “digital sharecropping” concerns.

Other Themes

  • TLS and modern browser “not secure” warnings are seen as making long-lived low-maintenance sites harder.
  • Calls for minimalist, static, accessible sites without heavy JS; nostalgia for Geocities/FrontPage and praise for Neocities.
  • Notable discomfort with the article’s performative profanity and inflammatory political language; others find that tone authentic or effective.