Reviving Listgeeks
Around 2011, Listgeeks was a place to list your favourite things, remix other people’s lists and get lost exploring subjects you hadn’t thought much about before.
Fifteen years later, Derick reached out about reviving it. We got to work, and Listgeeks is back.
I think the timing makes it more interesting than it was the first time around.
AI can give you ten books to read, ten films to watch or ten places to visit in a second. Generating a plausible list has become almost free. But when I look at someone’s favourites, I’m interested in the person doing the choosing. What stayed with them? What did they put first? What’s the odd little thing I’d never have found on my own?
A list doesn’t need to be comprehensive or balanced to be worth reading. Sometimes the strange omission or the completely unreasonable number one is what makes you want to compare yours with it. You recognise a shared favourite, disagree with the order, borrow something and make your own version.
That feels particularly useful in 2026. So much of what we discover arrives through a feed optimised for us, or an answer generated on demand. I miss wandering through other people’s tastes without an algorithm deciding what I should like next.
Human-curated lists leave room for that. Someone cared enough to choose, and you can follow their curiosity somewhere unexpected. That’s a good reason to bring an old idea back.