My brother's minesweeper site (minesweeper.org) has been running for 27 years
8 hours ago
- #technical-debt
- #software-longevity
- #mission-driven-development
- Richard created minesweeper.org in 1999 as a free, mission-driven site to honor Princess Diana's campaign against landmines, raising awareness and funds for the HALO Trust.
- The site thrived from 1999 to 2007 with daily leaderboards and thousands of games, built on simple, fast HTML without tracking or monetization, emphasizing user trust.
- It collapsed in 2007 due to technical debt when its FastCGI foundation became unsupported, leading to a 20-year hiatus before a 2026 AI-assisted revival with modern tools like FastAPI and React.
- Key lessons include: focusing on solving one problem well, serving users without extracting value, choosing stable dependencies, letting mission drive persistence, and embracing rebuilds when necessary.
- The revival retains the original mission and simplicity, adding features like a board editor and troll management, proving that commitment and purpose can ensure longevity over decades.