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These websites could change your life

I asked Kottke.org readers if they had ever seen, heard, or read something on the web that literally changed their lives.

Fourteen people said no. Sixteen said maybe. Thirty-eight people said yes. These are some of their answers. Everyone is anonymous. Some said more than others.

Four different people listed pages from Metafilter:

Five readers listed works of journalism.

Five listed personal essays or advice.

Five listed videos or video series.

And ten listed entire websites.

  • “Josh Davis’s www.dreamless.org message board, now defunct.”
  • Violet Blue’s writing, which lead to me realizing sex is a much deeper and more interesting topic than mainstream news coverage would have me believe.”
  • “The website MathPuzzle. It was the first time a website caught my attention and I corresponded with the owner/webmaster, and it opened me up to the online and offline community of puzzlers around the world. Working as a puzzle author got me through college and helped me establish a name for myself.”
  • Bullet Journal.
  • YearCompass.
  • “Jeph Jacques’s Questionable Content, particularly how he dealt with suicide, depression, and the concept of people from different backgrounds so elegantly. I like to think it increased (and continues to increase) my empathy in the world.”
  • National Novel Writing Month
  • Radiolab made me want to be a journalist.”
  • Université du Québec à Chicoutimi: “In 2005 I was trying to get information on how to study abroad for a year. Everything I read was on the Internet, and I then spent 9 months between 2006 and 2007 in Chicoutimi, Quebec.”
  • Pixel Envy. “Not pandering. Started reading Kottke, DF, and Metafilter, and realized that I could try doing the same thing. I’ve had a modicum of success since, and met a bunch of really cool people as a result.”

Now pick up your instruments, and go start a band.