Thank you MelonLand

[Trench_Man]

I will keep this short as it is very, very late where I am but I wish to post this before it slips my mind, thank you to everyone here for having me, I know I've only been here for like one or two days so far but I really feel like this is starting to become my "third place" as it were.

It is a genuinely relaxing experience using this site and I am grateful for the developers, admins, and community members that make this place feel so homely. so thank you to the MelonLand community for being such a great little hangout space away from the more hectic and stressful side of the larger internet. 

[Nova]

I feel this.

I recently deleted my Twitter accounts finally because I could no longer deal with having them around, and Melonland has basically become a second home to me.

There's just... something comforting about small, niche spaces with a dedicated community that feels much nicer than the broad spectrum of people who'll more than likely ignore you or give you too much attention on the bigger internet.

I enjoy smaller communities/spaces, and I'm still glad forums still exist in some way.

Melonland wouldn't be here if that weren't the case.

[SeaSlugUFO]

This place is great  I've gone from cycling through a few social media apps to cycling through a few forums, with Melonland and Gaia being my top faves! Feels great to digest more discussions that I choose rather than content that's chosen for me via an algorithm 

[Xanoverse]

I absolutely agree. Even though I was aware of it I only got more in the personal web space earlier this month and since then I've been so fascinated on what people can build just to connect to each other. I knew that people liked to use the internet but to see there is a whole community like this who wants to keep things real and alive, it really is amazing and fills me with hope.

And since I've discovered MelonLand I have checked it almost every day and it already, somehow, feels like a home to me. I did not know I could get a feeling like this. I've felt so welcome here ever since I've discovered this, it's like all of the MelonLand websites open up their arms to welcome me and make me feel like my presence is wanted. From all my years on the internet very, very few times I have felt a feeling of belonging like this.

Melon, if you're reading this, I was actually pondering on the possibility of sending you a DM thanking you. Because I just feel like you need to know how important what you've built is. Building community is so so important, it's our purpose, connecting to each other is what we are here for. And I hope you're aware how much of a pillar the MelonLand websites are in the community. How comforting and reassuring it feels to know there is a place like this. Through what you've made you have brought people together, you have helped them interact with each other and make their lives more whole. That is something priceless that can never be repayed, and I can only hope that one day I'm able to start giving back, become someone like you and build community and help people.

This is also, the very existence of these websites, is a defiance of the corporate, dystopian world that companies keep trying to force onto us. It helps us resist and provides a safe haven from the super powerful entities that only see us as products to be exploited. It is so important that we don't give up, we don't let them take away our humanity and that we stand together no matter what, that even if we can't change the whole world to be a better place, we at least provide a glimpse into that reality, of how beautiful the internet can be.

And to everyone else, thank you as well. For participating, being active and making everyone feel at home. I hope I can continue being part of this for many years to come but even if it were to end tomorrow I'd still be eternally grateful for showing me how amazing we can make the internet.

[A5eel]

Having lowered my social media usage and using forums more, my day feels so much more positive. and people here are so nice and i love seeing everyone's response to different topics I'm so glad i discovered this 

[Yuvi]

so thank you to the MelonLand community for being such a great little hangout space away from the more hectic and stressful side of the larger internet. 

Its great to have you and for you to be a part of this community! i hope we get to talk some more on other places on the fourm and get to know each other a bit more

Melon, if you're reading this, I was actually pondering on the possibility of sending you a DM thanking you.

@Melooon you have all our thanks for this site man! this site has helped made me feel safe enough to finally leave a lot of the socials that i only stayed on in fear of having nowhere to go on the internet consistently. it has showed me a better path for the internet going forward and has inspired me to be a bit more active in the smallweb space!

i check in on here basically every day too (besides mondays) (thats a lie i still check on mondays) and i still haven't forgotten that one time you and ThunderPerfectWitchcraft helped me when i accidentally posted my introduction to the wrong channel
to be honest i still havent found any other indie fourm that in nearly as active in as Melonland's Fourm

the colorful and non-simplistic look of Melonland is something i've also come to fall in love with and appreciate as well! It makes this place feel even more like home. It doesnt look like an over simplistic black or white void, it looks like a place I'd enjoy visiting every day! Even some indie web projects (wikipedia, AO3, most privacy frontends) can look a little boring now and then (fortunately ppl's personal sites help fill that void for me too)

i hope Melondland and the Fourm continue to posper for years to come! i'll try my best to be here for it for as long as i can be :) (which means all of you may be stuck here with me for a while )

Thank you so much once again, Melon

[Melooon]

Hello! I just wanted to say think you for the posts here  I tried to write a few replies but they never felt right, but I better get one done! 

This forum has been around for 3 years now and sometimes when I look back on how I've changed and how the space has changed, Iv really proud of everything thats been built and discussed and expressed here, although other times I look back and I feel like some things have been lost too

Effort is a hard thing to keep up, and with so many people coming and going its easy to slip into a rote and to forget, or be unable, to treat everyone as whole-ly and as fully as you might have once done ~ I don't know that there's any remedy for this, other than to keep reminding yourself, and to know when to pause and look back.

I hope you enjoy this space as long as you like! And when its time for you to move on again, I hope you all find something worth holding onto from here that you can take away to your future lives on the web  I don't really know why this place exists, but I know that some good can come of it!

Aesthetics, ideals and widgets are all very fun, and I really believe that designing joyful spaces helps build up joyful people; but of course in the end it's the people that make place! Thank you for putting up with me despite my eccentricities of making everyone to use swatch time, closing the forum on mondays, having occasionally intense and jauntily expressed opinions on art and design, while insisting everything must have at least 30 conflicting colors and be animated; and if I get too annoying please tell me so 

It's a nice thing to feel accepted and welcomed in a place; I hope thats a sense that most people reading this can feel here, and if not I hope you find it somewhere out there! It's a big web and everyone makes it bigger by existing and making cool things; there is no limit and there is no end.

  

[Absentmind]

Thanks for being here! Always nice to see waves of new blood and all the interesting questions, art and general things that have to say! 

[ABlueRose]

I'm new here too, and I'm really thankful for this forum too This place is just so nice, and it's a great alternative for when I get the impulse to pull up social media. The threads are fun to read, and the site in general just looks nice!

[MilkJar]

I feel the same in a lot of ways. I've been slowly trying to pull away from social media for a while now. (i could feel my attention span getting worse and worse, and with ADHD it was already pretty shit to start). This forum feels really... homey.
I was old enough to have caught the tail end of this era of website once i got on the internet, and once it was gone, i never realized how much I missed it. Small, niche communities like this definitely feel so much better and healthier than the massive amalgamation of voice on large social medias. 
Im very glad i stumbled upon this place!!!

[wolfkitty42]

I'm pretty new here 2. It reminds me a little of going 2 renassiance faires and camping, or a big costume sale... A place where everyone is polite, and says good morning. It's weird. I think at least 4 me, I just feel very happy 2 be in such a joyful place, trying 2 be happy and bask in the fun. I like it. I usually feel scared 2 be myself or share my opinions, but I want 2 try it here. And I wanna be less shy, and just... Directly message people, or e-mail them if I see something cool on their site or something. I want 2 make friends, cause I feel like that's fun, and I feel like the indie web, and especially this forum is fostering a friend-makery atmosphere.

Sorry. This is all kind of silly and meaningless, haha! I'm really happy 2 be here as well, is all. -w-