Article Title: Why I Didn't Upgrade
By Nolan

It was the mid-90s and I was using WinCIM 1.4-CompuServe's interface for connecting to the world before the World Wide Web became the default terrain. It worked. It gave me access to forums, email, newsfeeds. It was structured. Sequential. Human-scaled.

Then came the email.

CompuServe wanted me to upgrade to version 2.0. "Now with pictures and text on the same page," they said. Some new HTML-based experience. A window into what the future would look like.

I didn't upgrade.

I didn't want pictures and text on the same page. I didn't need mouse-clicks and scrollbars and flashy banners. What I had was already enough: paragraphs, folders, messages I could download and read offline, compose slowly, send intentionally. WinCIM 1.4 let me think. It didn't try to excite me. It wasn't built to keep me stimulated-it was built to keep me connected.

The upgrade wasn't about communication. It was about decoration.

And I've come to realize that moment-my refusal to upgrade-wasn't just about software. It was about a stance. A kind of inner orientation I've carried ever since.

Because everything that came after was the same promise in different form:

"This new platform will connect you better."  
"This app makes sharing easier."  
"This tool keeps everything in one place."  
All while making sure *you* have less and less control.

It turns out, I wasn't resisting technology. I was resisting **erosion**. Of attention. Of authorship. Of signal.

To this day, I still live that stance. I make websites that run on paragraphs. I write `.txt` files. I send messages in full sentences. I don't scroll endlessly. I don't click just because there's something to click.

I don't upgrade unless it serves coherence.

That's not nostalgia. It's survival.

It's remembering that what mattered then still matters now:  
Clarity. Integrity. Signal.

And in the end, I don't regret holding the line.

I regret only that so few others did.