The Ultimate! Super! Robot (Fan) Appears!

[Hoshi]

Hello! I am Hoshi/Ryusei slash many other names. I'm a fiction writer, (amateur) self-hoster/Linux nerd, and strong advocate of the open/indie web. I've been looking into running my own website and suite of self-hosted services (Owncast, Peertube, Personal Site, etc.) for a while now, but life just keeps getting in the way, and it still continues to do so. I was mainly aware of the indie/open web through the Fediverse, and that's pretty much where I've been for the past few years. No X, Instagram, Tumblr, or any other means of corporate social media.

My bullheaded nature led to me completely dismissing NeoCities and other similar webhosts because it wasn't true self-hosting, and as a result, I completely missed out on the community and social aspects, and seeing it has been a game changer. Websites are the main method to interface with others. Status.cafe is used for more personal microblogs without toxic algorithms, guestbooks for social interactions, and even e-mail for further communication; it was like a completely different world. Masto/Pleroma are nice, but at the end of the day, it's still the same thing. Screaming into the void for the possibility of a conversation, which usually lacks nuance due to the low character limit.

My long-time struggle with Discord has recently turned me to the idea of forums. It's what I've desired for years but did not realize because people claim they are a thing of the past. Focused threads with slower, more meaningful discussions and a connected community. I've tried to find this in Discord, but my long, detailed messages always get buried by meme spam, other conversations, or a mod telling me to take it to another tab—which obviously kills all momentum. Even Reddit/Lemmy yielded similar results, despite supposedly being the modern replacement.

This is a repost of my site application, because I honestly really like it, and I'm still getting ahold of this forum thing. It's kinda weird and tough as someone who's only used social media (and barely posted), but something about it just feels more... right to me. I guess I'll end it with a list of interests.

- G/t (You get a cookie if you know what this is.)

- Mecha (Super Robot Wars OGs and G Gundam, my beloved.)

- Tokusatsu (Kamen Rider Gaim is da coolest!!!)

- Manga/Anime (Current fav is Dandadan! Love my little scrimblos.)

- Retro Gaming (I need to finish my Emerald playthrough...)

So yeah, hope I can make some friends and all that jazz. Maybe check out my writing on my Gemini Capsule or Sheezy? I don't have any long or more complete works yet, but hopefully I'll have my current project completed by the end of this month or the next for something more substantive to share. Same for my (future) website, since I'm new to frontend stuff. I've mainly messed with my server backend and Docker, haha.

Ending Note: Man, I really miss markdown.

[ValyceNegative]

Welcome, Hoshi!
I too am a fellow user of "actual" personal websites, as you say xD bought my own domain around 4 years ago now and back then I didn't even know Neocities nor the web revival movement existed. I can tell it's more jarring at the beginning (especially if, like me, you decide to just buy webspace with no other tool like Wordpress attached) but the satisfaction for seeing your first webpage online is tenfold <3

I totally see what you mean on your argument that Neocities doesn't exactly feel like a true web hosting as it still has plenty of features one generally sees around more classic socials (the followers/following bar and the status/comment dash, to make an example) but it's undeniable that it has been the gateway to indie web for many users that didn't experience the uh, "golden ages" so to speak, and I see some do upgrade to actual hosts after growing up enough on Neo. So don't worry, there's still hope!

[Paprika]

Hello and welcome to the melonland forum !

I had up and downs with Fediverse because three instance/domains where I was got closed and I wasn't aware of it so I lost accounts. I do have one now on shelter.moe and it seems stable. I was on witches.town at some point but it closed suddenly. There's too much drama on some instances and if your instances doesn't like some for reasons you can end up in a closed environment where you always talk to the same people and when they leave it's pretty dead so you sit in an empty echo bubble almost alone.

It's not bad, of course I also enjoy the fact you can block instances, but it's not easy picking up a quiet/small one and realize you're blocked from a lot of others because the admin didn't do X or Y when Z happened or the reverse : since admin did X or Y during Z then he's bad. There's a lack of nuance on context sometimes. If I had to say something on the concept of Mastodon it would be : double-edged sword.

I agree 100% with you on discord, meme spam is awful and good posts/infos is lost forever in the middle of "lols" or "ratio diff" or whatever the latest meme slang term it is. I'm in a discord dedicated to dolls and there's channels but valuable info is lost. It's one of the reasons why I made my own website, to put all info/tips in a place where you don't need to login/register/scroll/enter your e-mail. You clikc, you read, you leave. Simple as.

You will certainly enjoy the forum format. Not all posts are super important but since you have to think and write before posting so there's less "emotion of the instant" replies. Nothing is perfect but some people are not made for instant spam and some people are made for it. To each their own I guess.

I hope you'll like this place, best wishes to you !

[invader_gvim]

Hello! I am Hoshi/Ryusei slash many other names. I'm a fiction writer, (amateur) self-hoster/Linux nerd, and strong advocate of the open/indie web. I've been looking into running my own website and suite of self-hosted services (Owncast, Peertube, Personal Site, etc.) for a while now, but life just keeps getting in the way, and it still continues to do so. I was mainly aware of the indie/open web through the Fediverse, and that's pretty much where I've been for the past few years. No X, Instagram, Tumblr, or any other means of corporate social media.

My bullheaded nature led to me completely dismissing NeoCities and other similar webhosts because it wasn't true self-hosting, and as a result, I completely missed out on the community and social aspects, and seeing it has been a game changer. Websites are the main method to interface with others. Status.cafe is used for more personal microblogs without toxic algorithms, guestbooks for social interactions, and even e-mail for further communication; it was like a completely different world. Masto/Pleroma are nice, but at the end of the day, it's still the same thing. Screaming into the void for the possibility of a conversation, which usually lacks nuance due to the low character limit.

My long-time struggle with Discord has recently turned me to the idea of forums. It's what I've desired for years but did not realize because people claim they are a thing of the past. Focused threads with slower, more meaningful discussions and a connected community. I've tried to find this in Discord, but my long, detailed messages always get buried by meme spam, other conversations, or a mod telling me to take it to another tab—which obviously kills all momentum. Even Reddit/Lemmy yielded similar results, despite supposedly being the modern replacement.

This is a repost of my site application, because I honestly really like it, and I'm still getting ahold of this forum thing. It's kinda weird and tough as someone who's only used social media (and barely posted), but something about it just feels more... right to me. I guess I'll end it with a list of interests.

- G/t (You get a cookie if you know what this is.)

- Mecha (Super Robot Wars OGs and G Gundam, my beloved.)

- Tokusatsu (Kamen Rider Gaim is da coolest!!!)

- Manga/Anime (Current fav is Dandadan! Love my little scrimblos.)

- Retro Gaming (I need to finish my Emerald playthrough...)

So yeah, hope I can make some friends and all that jazz. Maybe check out my writing on my Gemini Capsule or Sheezy? I don't have any long or more complete works yet, but hopefully I'll have my current project completed by the end of this month or the next for something more substantive to share. Same for my (future) website, since I'm new to frontend stuff. I've mainly messed with my server backend and Docker, haha.

Ending Note: Man, I really miss markdown.

I have detected megaman ZX fanfiction on your page. I am a very very big fan of this as mega man and its various eras or universes are great. Megaman Zero / ZX are my two favorites behind the true ultimate -->



I absolutely, totally, completely agree that discord is a wasteland. I am on one discord server, but thats only because i was invited by a neocities creator who I think has an uber kewl website. I think that the main problem with social media is that it does not feel like interacting with individuals. It feels like shouting in a crowded subway. This is what I think leads to a lot of social medias becoming a sea of clique vipers and politics sharks.

I love linux and open source. Copy left in general makes me happy. 

[Hoshi]

I feel so bad for being so inactive after that giant hurrah of an intro, but life stinks. Plus, getting used to this slow drip feed is still a challenge. After messing around with some other forums it's been fun, though. I especially like the ease of identity separation/anonymity since I can make different usernames for each site. I have no idea if doing all this in one big reply is a smart idea, but we live and we learn!

I totally see what you mean on your argument that Neocities doesn't exactly feel like a true web hosting as it still has plenty of features one generally sees around more classic socials (the followers/following bar and the status/comment dash, to make an example) but it's undeniable that it has been the gateway to indie web for many users that didn't experience the uh, "golden ages" so to speak, and I see some do upgrade to actual hosts after growing up enough on Neo. So don't worry, there's still hope!

My stance has changed on this since I've looked at the larger picture, but seeing people go full in is nice. I highly doubt most will do it, and their reasons are understandable. Learning and managing all that alongside your professional and hobby work is hard. I just think having more widely used options and forming a community that is host-agnostic is essential. Like how some guestbooks tell you to put your host or whatever in your entry. I sometimes see NekoWeb and other alternatives mixed in these entries, and that sort of community outside of your dedicated 'platform' is what we need. At least in my opinion.

If I had to say something on the concept of Mastodon it would be: double-edged sword.

That's my thoughts summed up. I recently deleted all my Fedi accounts after careful consideration, and I don't feel like I'm missing much. I plan to host a really simple self-hosted instance on snac2 for intentional networking purposed, but that's it. It really is just a case of same stuff different label, and can't fix the inherent issues of social media. Handing off control to smaller hosts/people seems cool, but also people are just irresponsible. It's often very nuclear without any nuance, context, or consideration like most of the modern web. I'd honestly prefer something like federated forums or something with portable/multi-site accounts, but even that sounds like it could be a mess.

I agree 100% with you on discord, meme spam is awful and good posts/infos is lost forever in the middle of "lols" or "ratio diff" or whatever the latest meme slang term it is.

This is basically what's chased me out of every public Discord I've ever been in. Even in smaller more thoughtful ones, my discussions always got buried. It was so frustrating and I got more upset over it than I probably should have, but it's still incredibly frustrating. Just look at this post! It's been around for like 2 weeks but people are still replying, and it's all incredibly in-depth! This is all I've ever wanted, even if it isn't a 'lot.' I don't care about the numbers, my interest lies in having in-depth conversations with a few individuals who share that desire.

Not all posts are super important but since you have to think and write before posting so there's less "emotion of the instant" replies.

True! Even quickthreads on large forums are slower than Discords with significantly smaller populations. It's insane.

Nothing is perfect but some people are not made for instant spam and some people are made for it. To each their own I guess.

It runs a bit deeper than that for me. While to some extent that might be true, I really don't think this sort of communication is all that great. It might be fine for small friend groups or communities focused around finding games/party members/etc., it's genuinely ruined thoughtful and long-form conversations for many communities. Not to say this is entirely Discord's fault, but more-so the effect of it's high adoption, and how people keep trying to use it for things it was not meant for.

I have detected megaman ZX fanfiction on your page. I am a very very big fan of this as mega man and its various eras or universes are great. Megaman Zero / ZX are my two favorites behind the true ultimate --> Megaman Legends RULES.

It's nice to see a fellow RockMan fan here. If you read it, I hope you enjoyed it! I still have so many WIPs to revise and edit, and maintaining focus on it or any project has been incredibly hard, but I'm trying to get better at managing them. The ZX rewrite is a result of me wanting to end the series because I know Capcom will never, and I'm not the biggest Dash fan so I decided to retool ZX's contents because it felt like a more fitting end in my opinion. You'll see why... When I get around to finishing it. My favorites are as follows: X > Z > SSR. Dash is the one of few series I haven't completed, but Dash 1 was a really fun time when I played it years ago.

I love linux and open source. Copy left in general makes me happy.

Same here. Glad to see more FOSSheads around these parts!

Ending Note:

Holy crap this took forever to write... You get what you ask for, I suppose.