Another newbie. Nice to meet you all.

[Memory]

I want to start by saying I can't believe how active this forum is. I used to live on forums. It's what I miss most about the Old Web. I have been searching for literal years for a modern, active forum to join but every one I've found until now hasn't had a post in months or years. In desperation I tried Reddit for a while, but it doesn't fill the same hole. It's a totally different experience and not one that I care for. Very little conversation seems to happen. Topics are ephemeral and people are just shouting over each other to get noticed.

As for my personal history, I've been making websites since I was in grade six. I started on Expage--if anyone else remembers it, I'll give you a cookie; but basically it was a free service that let you create websites without any HTML. You could only use images from their gallery, and it had its own markup language to insert images and links into your pages. One of the biggest sites I made back then was called "Oodles of Wills and Howdowns" (I was told I misspelled "hoedown" after it was too late). It started out as my friend Will cloning himself so he could have a hoedown, and it turned into a huge battle between an army of William Shatners vs Leonard Nimoys. They didn't have images of either actor, so the parts of Shatner and Nimoy were respectively played by clipart of a leprechaun and a blonde surfer dude.

After that I moved onto Angelfire and Geocities and started to learn HTML. I mostly made fan sites for whatever my obsession at the time was, like Mortal Kombat, Star Wars or DBZ.

I took New Media Production and Design in college, which is where I learned PHP and finally got my own server space. That's when I started my own geek culture site. I wanted it to be similar to X-Entertainment/Dinosaur Dracula or i-Mockery, but it kinda turned into it's own thing. It was never popular, but it gave me a lot of experience in coding and design.

I'm now 35 and working as a web software developer using Angular and NodeJs. It's great work, but lately it has been feeling really empty. I write HTML and Javascript every day, and occasionally get to flex my design muscles when we start a new project. But I've been missing the old web more and more.

I knew about Neocities for quite a while. I saw a news article about it years ago and thought it was really cool, but never actually started browsing it until about a month ago. After browsing the "nostalgia", "retro", and "90s" tags for a while, I eventually followed a chain of links that lead me to sites like Sadgirl, Yesterweb and MelonKing.

I'd love to contribute to the Old Web revival, so I'm trying to figure out how to bring back one of my old sites or create something new using Neocities or Blogspot. So far I don't have any concrete plans, but I do have an old unused design that I've been wanting to find an excuse to finally use.

As for my other interests, I like sci fi, games, and anything Jim Henson-adjacent. Farscape occupies a much-too-large portion of my brain.

That covers every remarkable event in my life, so I'll end this here.

[AloeVega]

Wow, as someone whose first website was made on Neocities, it is super crazy and super cool to meet people like you who have so much experience. I'm very excited to see what kind of website you end up making!

Oh, and:

As for my other interests, I like... anything Jim Henson-adjacent.

This is super cool to me, I'm a huge fan of The Muppets and Jim Henson's stuff in general. Have you ever seen his film Time Piece? It was an experimental short film, one of his few works to not feature puppetry. I think it's overshadowed by his work with puppets, but it's a pretty amazing film.

Anyway, hello from one newcomer to another, and I hope you enjoy your time on the forum!

[Melooon]

Hi Gator, welcome to the forum!

I can't believe how active this forum is

Thats good to hear! Im far from the perfect community manager, so sometimes I worry I could be doing better. Reddit definitely is another ball of fish, Iv had a few sites become hot topics on /r/InternetIsBeautiful and whats amazing is you get thousands of visitors for a day.. then nothing.. its like it never happened. I can understand how people enjoy the buzz, but Id rather grow something slow and lasting.

Oodles of Wills and Howdowns sounds amazing, I wish there was a link!

I'm now 35 and working as a web software developer using Angular and NodeJs. It's great work, but lately it has been feeling really empty.

So much of the creative work has been taken away from developers by UX libraries and and teams.. years ago it was all kinda one thing. I don't disagree with that, but humans need to be able to flex our creative muscles; not having room to be creative is as unhealthy as not having room to walk. I hope you are able to fill that void!

thought it was really cool, but never actually started browsing it until about a month ago

I think you're here at a really amazing time! In 2019 Neocties was.. a bit dead.. Then the pandemic came and BAM, a year of everyone being stuck inside lead to the most incredible exposition of new sites and a quantum leap in site quality and new ideas. Its been really exciting to watch and take part in!

I'd love to contribute to the Old Web revival

Don't over think it, it's a bit like swimming; no one really knows how to do it until they jump in and then it just sorta clicks.

Jim Henson-adjacent. Farscape

I watched Farscape for the first time a few months ago! I was disappointed it was so short (I felt like Id been Firefly-d again). The first season was a bit slow, but it really finds it feet as the show goes on; I was hoping it would be one of those sci-fi shows that has like 300 episodes Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal are some of my biggest influences in life.

Ooo-- You've Received Melon's Welcome Pack --ooO
* If you haven't already check out the forum welcome post, and forum usage guide!
* New to website making? Here is a complete(ish) guide!
* Visit your look/layout to pick a theme and set a default colour/font for your messages!
* Feeling shy and unsure what to do? Maybe post a song you like here!
* Finally don't forget to share the forum and invite friends! We have some way cool graphics over here!

[Memory]

Wow, as someone whose first website was made on Neocities, it is super crazy and super cool to meet people like you who have so much experience.

I'm curious to find out what the age range is for people around here. I would have assumed that most of the people interested in the old web would be older millennials and gen X, but it already seems like there are some younger millennials and gen Z around here--people who may not have even experienced it the first time around, but it's great that there's ongoing interest. It means it's about more than just nostalgia.

Have you ever seen his film Time Piece? It was an experimental short film, one of his few works to not feature puppetry. I think it's overshadowed by his work with puppets, but it's a pretty amazing film.

I have never heard of that one, but will check it out now. Thanks for the suggestion!

I watched Farscape for the first time a few months ago! I was disappointed it was so short (I felt like Id been Firefly-d again). The first season was a bit slow, but it really finds it feet as the show goes on; I was hoping it would be one of those sci-fi shows that has like 300 episodes Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal are some of my biggest influences in life.

I actually thought it could have been more concise, hahah. It got cancelled before the planned fifth season, but I kind of felt that the fourth season was superfluous anyway. The main conflict with Scorpius was resolved and Crais had his full redemption arc all at the end of season 3. I definitely liked getting more episodes to explore the universe, though, and seeing more of the amazing puppetry and cosmetic work.

[Memory]

Welcome! You seem to have quite a lot of background. I too would like to be able to see your old sites if I could!

[Memory]

Welcome! You seem to have quite a lot of background. I too would like to be able to see your old sites if I could!

Thanks! I used to have a portfolio site, but I only used it when I was looking for work. Since I've been gainfully employed for a while I let the domain expire. I'll have to go through my old backup drive and grab the screenshots to post here sometime.

[Memory]

I used to live on forums. It's what I miss most about the Old Web. I have been searching for literal years for a modern, active forum to join but every one I've found until now hasn't had a post in months or years. In desperation I tried Reddit for a while, but it doesn't fill the same hole. It's a totally different experience and not one that I care for. Very little conversation seems to happen. Topics are ephemeral and people are just shouting over each other to get noticed.

Oh yeah, I had the same experience. I used to spend my entire childhood and teenage years on forums, using the school's library computers to check the boards every day during every recess. I am equally glad to have found a cool space to be here that is actually ACTIVE for once.

Welcome to the forums and I hope we will have a great time here. C: