what non-personal things to put on your personal website ?

[deuil]

okayyyy if this thread has been done elsewhere, please let me know i tried to check but the forum interface is very overwhelming for me. 

what i'm asking help/opinions on is, i guess. it's really stupid ! i don't know if anyone will relate to that. but without going too much in useless sob story details, the result is that i am a very recluse individual who can not do things like "turn your website into a journal" or "tell other people about yourself". i'm working on it, but that's how it is right now.

BUT i still have the desire to participate in communities and share things about myself. and of course a website IS all about yourself ! it's got the colors you think are appealing, the layout you think is most aesthetically pleasing/practical... those are still things you share with people, but. i guess they're less hard to do. my question really resides in "cool, i have a website, but what do i put in it because i realised i can't put anything about myself on the website i made for myself ?"

so that's what motivates me to make this thread, i'm turning my plight in what i hope to be a general conversation. what WOULD you like to see in a website/what is being done out there that is not AS personal ? what do you do on your personal website that you would consider ""useful"" for others ? gifs ? adoptables ? resources ? 

[BananaBoots]

I mean it doesn't have to be stuff about you specifically. It could be about your favourite show/book/movie/etc., you could put art or games or something if you do other creative things, you could collect graphics and things from other sites. There's plenty you can do without talking about you. Maybe you could look at other people's sites to get inspiration? Of course there will be lots of personal stuff on them because they are personal sites but I'd imagine you could still find plenty of inspiration

[teatime]

honestly this has been a similar worry of mine as well - i don't want to put too much of my irl self out there on the web. i think you could feasibly use your site as a way to talk about the things you like (such as video games, movies, tv, etc) without talking about how they relate to your life. you could make a shrine, or make a fansite! i think information in the form of text is pretty useful, and it tends to make up some of the most engaging content on this side of the web.

if you're not comfortable talking about your interests directly, i think the best thing to do is to either create something you want to create (website decorations, art, buttons, browser games, online tools, etc) or do some other fun things (take care of an online pet, take quizzes, etc).

[xandra]

this is a great question! as others have said, you could make your site more about your interests rather than personal information. you could also do a lot of interactive things rather than put personal info up on your site. get involved with pixel cliques, give out awards to other websites, have resources or downloads for folks like fonts. there's ideas here in this guide, if you'd like to give it a read.

[Melooon]

So you wanna engage with the personal web, but you don't wanna broadcast your own personal things (that's totally fair) - it sounds to me like you need some kinda purpose or project you can claim as your own. 

I'd like to see more community-building projects - like someone going around interviewing (by email maybe) people about their sites (like web weekly does - but we could use way more of that); I'd also like to see more events for people to participate in; like a page of the month award or something - I'm really bad at hosting events like that, but it's always fun to see them happen! Maybe even a virtual art gallery that exclusively shows art that has been published on web revival sites. (I'm just trying to think of all the different ways we celebrate people in real life that could be transferred to the web)

Resource sites are great and very useful, but there are quite a lot of them. One of the issues with the personal web is that (by its nature) everyone is so into their personal websites that they don't put so much effort into celebrating other people's sites; we could really use a lot more of that! That kinda thing might not be your cup of tea, but it's definitely an option that's available!

[xandra]

Resource sites are great and very useful, but there are quite a lot of them. One of the issues with the personal web is that (by its nature) everyone is so into their personal websites that they don't put so much effort into celebrating other people's sites; we could really use a lot more of that! That kinda thing might not be your cup of tea, but it's definitely an option that's available!

so true! more things to participate in together is definitely needed! instead of personal stuff, you could hold coding or art jams, host a contest, give a "prompt" for folks to do and send to you, create a template of whatever you want and display the finished ones people send to you. you could build wacky web things, web-based games, or puzzles for visitors to figure out. the more interactivity, the better in my opinion. :) those are awesome ways to participate in this side of the web and connect with more folks (and help others connect!).

[arcus]

If you want to keep something similar to a journal, you could make a log to record or review your reactions to media you consume, or hobbies in general. It's a way of talking about your day, without being overly personal. As a visitor, reviews and such are fun to go over if it's something I'm a fan of. If it's something I don't know about, it's a fun way to discover and learn about something new.

Aside from reviews, I like sites with tutorials and guides. There's something nice about seeing a recipe from a personal site, or a highly specific guide for a hobby that I would have never stumbled upon otherwise.

[deuil]

thank you everybody for your replies and suggestions and links ! i have a clearer idea of what i could do with my website now.  i'm dogbleep at coding, but i've been having fun with it, so i'm excited to think up things i could do that others could interact with. i'll keep the community building ideas in mind bc i think that's a really good idea ! maybe when i'm less mentally ill.

honestly i felt pretty stupid making that post, so i'm really grateful for your kind posts.

[creaturefeature]

so far I decided to start adding reviews of monster/horror related media, it´s a work in progress, but I ´ve added at least two. And somehow managed to get people into watching an obscure 90s anime, or so I´m told.  Or even fun facts about animals I got to see in real life.

You would be surprised how interested people are in learning about animals they never bothered to notice in the first place.

I think writing informative pages, about any topic can be kind of useful, and who knows you might be introducing people to a new point of view

[lime360]

probably post something funny