Boing Boing began as a zine in 1988 before becoming one of the most influential blogs on the early internet. Self-described as "a directory of wonderful things," it covered technology, science fiction, civil liberties, art, and counterculture with a sensibility that matched the early web's expansive curiosity.
Doctorow joined as co-editor in 2001, and the site became a central platform for his intellectual and advocacy work throughout the boing-boing-era-2001-2020. His posts ranged from science fiction recommendations to deep dives on digital-rights-management-critique, adversarial-interoperability, and right-to-repair — often serving as the first place many readers encountered these ideas. Other co-editors included Mark Frauenfelder, Xeni Jardin, David Pescovitz, and Rob Beschizza.
During the early-blogging-and-cc-era-2000-2007, Boing Boing was among the highest-traffic blogs on the internet, and Doctorow's posts helped build public awareness of issues that electronic-frontier-foundation was fighting in court. The eff-and-fiction-era-2007-2015 saw him use Boing Boing to serialize arguments that would become his nonfiction books.
Doctorow's relationship with Boing Boing shifted around 2020 when he launched pluralistic-net as his primary outlet, though Boing Boing continued publishing his work. The transition reflected both a desire for more control over his platform and the concerns about platform-decay-cycle that he had been writing about for years.