Jeff AtwoodMar 18, 2025
"Let's Encrypt is a golden example of how creating inalienable good is possible with the right approach and the right values. And while I'm excited about the work Let's Encrypt has done, I am eager to see their work continue to keep up with the growing Web; to sustain encryption for everybody at Internet scale. To do so is going to take more than me—it's going to take a community of people committed to this work. I am confident Let's Encrypt is a project that deserves all of our support, in ways both large and small." https://letsencrypt.org/2025/03/18/community-of-funders/
Ten Years of Let's Encrypt: Announcing support from Jeff Atwood

As we touched on in our first blog post highlighting ten years of Let’s Encrypt: Just as remarkable to us as the technical innovations behind proliferating TLS at scale is, so too is the sustained generosity we have benefited from throughout our first decade. With that sense of gratitude top of mind, we are proud to announce a contribution of $1,000,000 from Jeff Atwood. Jeff has been a longtime supporter of our work, beginning many years ago with Discourse providing our community forum pro bono; something Discourse still provides to this day.

Show threadDave Winer ☕️Mar 18, 2025

@codinghorror

i don't agree that let's encrypt is good, at least not the way google and the eff promote it and treat https as a requirement as if they were the platform vendor of the web. the great thing about the web is that there is no platform vendor.

they premise their pitch on the idea that https is always good, but for sites that predate the broad adoption of https, it's not only unlikely someone is around to adapt the site, but it might be such a big job that it's impossible.

Show threadMatija NalisMar 22, 2025
@davew
how is LE & EFF conflated with Google here? Let's Encrypt doesn't force you to install https support, they only provide simple and free way to do it *should you CHOOSE to do so*.
As for legacy sites (if you want to appease Google too), it is actually quite easy to put a reverse-proxy https in front of your legacy box and thus give it "https" support. But unadmined sites that are on autopilot might die due to other problems too (e.g. security issues, defacement risks)...
@codinghorror
Show threadDave Winer ☕️Mar 22, 2025

@mnalis @codinghorror

"But unadmined sites that are on autopilot might die..."

this is the problem, where did you get the idea that the web is something for you to screw around with. we're all guests on the web and guests don't make the rules. this is so objectionable. it's like musk deciding the us doesn't need social security so we might as well give him our money.

Show threadMatija Nalis

@davew
What? I never said (nor implied) that "web is something for me to screw with"!

Instead, my "But unadmined sites that are on autopilot might die" was a statement of statistical fact based on my sysadmin/webmaster experiences.

Just like "if you never service your car it will start getting problems and die eventually". You and I might not LIKE it, but that is how entropy seems to work in this Universe. Good luck fighting the laws of physics if you disagree with them 😉
@codinghorror

Mar 22, 2025 at 9:54pmWeb