Looking at old forums

[Metropolis]

So I started looking at old emo forums/websites in the internet archive, and wow, was internet culture different back then.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070227182955/http://vampirefreaks.com/main.php,https://web.archive.org/web/20080913100348/http://www.emo-corner.com/forums/index.php?showforum=2.

I guess the internet has just started feeling so unreal? Everything seems to be made by a bot and replied to by bots, and it's just an ouroboros of bots. The World Wide Web is not interesting anymore for me, I'm trying to find forums or something more tangible other than my website to look at. (Im not making much sense lol)

I don't know, guess I need to go for like a hike or something.

[FinleyIsHere]

i love the old internet even though i was never on it due to being a kid in the 2010s, i guess that internet doesnt exist anymore, the indie web as we know it today is only a call back to what was once lost
hopefully through being offline a little bit more we can mimic a fraction on what its like living back then

but even that is hard since the modern world forces you to be online, even when ur outside
man...

[ヤーナム]

I grew up with that era of the web and think a lot about what made it special. There are tons of factors but I think the biggest are:

1. The internet was somewhere you went, not something you carried in your pocket.
2. Desktop interfaces (keyboards, big screens) made text and longer-form communication the dominant medium.
3. Far fewer people, thus less infrastructure for monetization, so it was more hobby-oriented and less exploited.

Something I try to do more of lately is drawing a distinction between "the internet" and "the web". The internet is the network that apps, social media, and the web all sit on. The web is specifically a web browser going to web sites. I think we often conflate the two and I even use them interchangeably without thinking. But they're different and I think that matters a lot for the "indie web revival" that MelonLand etc. are a part of.

As smartphones and apps became the dominant medium to interact the content has been formed by it, like phones are annoying to type on, so video and voice are more popular, and phones have less screen space, so designs/interfaces have been simplified and made bland. etc.

BUT that's just apps on the internet. The WEB is still here, still best used on a desktop with a nice big screen and full keyboard, still full of possibilities. Most of the attention (money) has shifted to app ecosystems, but the web is still here and it's ours to do with what we want. Socializing on smaller, slower forums is still very much possible. Unique and artistic interfaces are still possible, and I think is's up to us to not only keep that spirit of alive, but to try to be forward-thinking about it. I have tons of nostalgia for the way the web used to be, but I try to use it as fuel for the future instead of longing for the past. I want to take the things that made that era of the web special and try to bring them with us into building a better web of the present!

And of course obligatory plug, I've been collecting a links to independent internet forums if you're looking to find a new one to join: https://indieforums.linklists.net/

I also participate in a small indie forum with some friends that is cozy and friendly if you want to come say hi. :) It's mostly an offshoot of a different community and full of most of the same people, but new friends are welcome! https://forum.sickos.net/ (if you can't figure out the bot-prevention registration question just PM me here on MelonLand)

[milo]

I think we should all take some solace in the fact that we are here, in this lovely community posting with each other because we have found this place and want to be here.

I think that was a big distinction back then. Typically, the Internet was a harder place to get to since you had to have the right hardware, and usually had to pay extra for it. If you were on the Internet it was because you wanted to be there. These days, everyone is kinda connected whether they want to be or not.

But places like this take me back to the way it used to be. Where you went out and found a space to exist that was tight knit and organic and not trying to sell you something. The indie web revival has kinda become my home away from social media and my phone as I try to transition my life away from that stuff and I love it all the more for it.