And so on. There's an explanation for some of this oddness. Click on those words, and you'll be sent to another screen, another character. From there, you can return to where you started, follow other links, quit, whatever. You can pick your way around and see who's there and go away and come back.
Online fiction has a surprisingly long history.
Not only does 253 actually work, but it also shows a refreshing openness about science's limitations. That alone would have been a good reason to translate the website to print. But it probably wasn't the most pressing. Unless you're offering porn, it's hard for an individual to make online publishing pay. Having put so much time and effort into 253, it's only natural that Ryman should try to make some money out of it.