21 Seemingly Useless Websites That Are Secretly Lifesavers

Jason Scott started Textfiles.com as a digital preservation project in 1998 to save files from old electronic bulletin board systems. The site hosts thousands of simple text files containing historical software manuals, early recipes, chat logs, and computer hobbyist guides written during the 1980s. It uses a very basic layout without any graphics or modern coding. Researchers use it to study how early computer clubs shaped modern digital culture.