Ill also add that im in agreement with others in saying that, wanting validation doesnt make you inherently bad, and that i think some of your questions were pointing at that you feel like there is some social media impulses ingrained from usage (i agree generally, hence the me still typing facebook into browser) and that maybe one of those ingrained things is wanting More validation? To which, maybe yes and maybe no, but i dont think that desire is inherently bad at all, and not necessarily anyones fault. Wanted to add this bc i felt like i was a lil quick to respond in my first reply.
I wonder how much of the retro web revival is actually also built around the same psychological mechanisms, just less obvious. We still live in the same society that rewards all the toxic things after all, and it shapes us.
Like, are we all just kidding ourselves here? Isn't a significant part of our participation in the retro web subconsciously driven by yearning for recognition and belonging to in-groups like yesterweb or melonland, and becoming a well known site/user/person? Isn't one of the reasons we dislike mainstream social media the fact that we don't stand out enough due to the oversaturation of content, and migrate here for the potential of becoming prominent in a niche? I can't tell, I don't trust my own judgement.
And if that's so, is that even something bad and undesirable, or a healthy natural byproduct of being creative, wanting validation, acclaim and approval? Is attention not a good thing? Is perhaps the vilification of attention and validation seeking behaviour the real scourge social media inflicts?
Your line of questioning is important to consider, But I'd stray away from the big we's as im sure you dont comprehensively know everyone you're including in using that word! I know in my case, i just find social media difficult to encounter and parse thru in a way that feels good to me--its not because im some scorned artist that wishes they were a rising star and had more views or something. In my understanding, something like instagram isnt really trying to center 'making new friends' 'hearing about others experiences' (outside of being a symbol of yourself) 'having fun' in their platform, and it shows in the way it effects me.
Melon land doesnt stick in my brain or feel competitive or show me adverts. Etc.its just some stream of information and people that lets me forget about it and return whenever. I dont know that im specifically trying to make friends, its just a fun place to check when im bored that doesnt feel like its devouring my time or attention.
Im curious--what are your reasons for joining melonland? You seem to have a lot of retroweb knowledge, so im sure something in that is part of it? Do you find yourself trying to replicate your modes of interacting on the big name social medias to melonland?
I fucking love Alien Crush!!! I bought it a long time ago for my PS3 (one of those classics u can buy)
I've been replaying Shadow of the Colossus with my partner lately, finally freaking finished Kentucky Route Zero some weeks ago, and the only other game I play lately is Slay the Spire but it becomes a quick timesink (insert villainous handrubbing)
Im super guilty of using way too many big gifs and images, and i think alt text and image captions are awesome, but apparently not awesome enough to have implemented them anywhere on my sites. Its kind of ridiculous because I love describing things and I needa get off my butt and start. I have never heard of Lynx before, and i find that really interesting and exciting, and I think both the original post and finding out about that is definitely starting a snowball. I can't wait to try... Its like reading sites like a book... Thats so cool
I totally forgot about Saga! I really liked it for a while. I read the first five volumes, but after that it felt like the series was dragging on. I was hoping it would have been something shorter, but the characters and world they created were really amazing.
I totally agree. I got pretty tired of reading it after a while but I did end up finishing it. I also hadn't expected it to be a long thing. I actually think recently I saw they were picking it up again, like, continuing it or something? And I was just like... Sheesh. But it is prolly one of the only american Comics I read all the way through.
social media seriously harmed me. i really think that infinite feeds should be illegal, they are damaging to peoples health. i also had the "phantom limb" type experience it took me MONTHS to stop typing "facebook" into my browser... seriously... i would have dissociative episodes and panic attacks...
Same. Even to this day every now and again i open my browser and type in 'facebook' despite not having used it for several years now. I also get dissociative episodes and panic attacks bc of social media... I tried many times to just keep one "type" and try my hand at it bc my friends kept responding with comments that I just 'wasnt using it right' or was 'taking it too seriously' or some other flaw that was my fault, but like if i have to be perfectly sane to enjoy whatever it is someone is peddling then idk if i can get behind it. I even tried to be really into discord for a while but I just felt crazy all the time. Now i only really use my personal discord w IRL friends on it, and the melonland forum.
Should mention that I lived w some people that were callouty in my Social Media days and in a way I protected myself by living w them and participating in their opinion-having but I eventually came under scrutiny and dipped before it could get big. Its really the one thing I've ever regretted in my life, and I've done lots of dumb shit.
For console games, I'd have to say Tales of Symphonia. I was in middle school when I played it and I had never been so enraptured in a game that long, much less finishing and RPG all the way. My mind was blown
Lots of movies to list, but most recently I really clicked some shit together in my brain that had been loose and dangling around in the circuitry with no home after I saw the 2022 Crimes of the Future by David Cronenberg. I've been helplessly craving the feeling I got right after I watched it and am unable to reproduce it. I bought the dvd but know I'm putting too much stake in watching it again so I've been avoiding it
Woah!!! Runescape archiving!!! Thats so cool... I spent many years of my life in that game... That bit about how you got the music sounds so satisfying... To be like, 'wait!! I figured it out!!! I got em!!!'
I LOVE COMICS! Right now i'm reading an italian comicbook called Cybersix that's insanely intentionally filthy ... and to think i had a few volumes of it in the bathroom when i was a kid! Unfortunatley it's very obscure and has no english translation but if i discover a way to scan comicbooks without ripping the seams it might exist in the future :omg:k:
I havent tried looking, but is Cybersix findable online? I know spanish fluently so I imagine I could understand the gist of an italian translation
This is a hard question if I have to choose... Either way I gotta do some thinking on it. On another bote, I've always had my eye on ace attorney but never got around to playing it. This might push me into trying it out finally!
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