LonePortal - Your One Gateway to the Old Web!

[Xyphien]

This has been a passion project of mine for a while now, I just got the foundation finished enough a few months ago to start getting people to join it and since then it’s flourish into something amazing imo.

LonePortal .com is an Old Web Intraweb. Which means it’s essentially it’s own website. We have a search engine, community made websites (The foundation for a Geocity inspired site), Myspace inspired social media, AIM/MSN inspired Chatroom, Retro Forums, a 2006 Youtube skinned… youtube. with 5 star ratings, comments, etc., monster taming, TCG & card collecting, an entire Library where the community can upload their own Literature as well as read Public Domain books as well. We have a community currency in which you can buy peoples books, ads on the website, etc. Every time you buy a book, or card for the tcg the quality for those degrades and scratches, stains, tears, etc. start to form on it! There’s so much more to list but I think you get the point.

I’d LOVE to know your thoughts & opinions on it. I hope that despite me being new that y’all will give it a chance for some feedback. I have a list of daily forums I use and I’m adding this to it, so there WILL be more activity from me :3

[Melooon]

You might want to chime into the AI websites discussion over here since it looks like this might be an LLM heavy project?

In general you seem like a positive person who wants to make a good space and has put a bunch of time into doing so - your time is valuable so spending it on a passion project is an honorable thing. However I'm going to be very direct about my initial impression, because you asked, and because I think that's more useful; I think you've built something that is materially developed, but philosophically undeveloped.

As an example; I was skimming the rules and found this "No outside links: We're an Intraweb style website. You can promote anything on LonePortal, just no promoting off LonePortal"

This is a horrible rule that goes against every good value in the indie and open web. The web is a network of links, if you are not participating in that network of sharing and connection, then you become the nothingness that consumes without giving

You follow that up by asking people to share a link to your site, and posting it here? How dare you! You either participate in the web or you don't; everything else about maintaining a mood or a vibe is moderation, and that's a slow painful process that develops over years.

I think you should stop listing Y2K buzzwords, and spend some time reading some of the manifestos on why the web matters, written by the people your trying to speak to now.

I fully acknowledge that you are here, and you are trying to listen to people, and that is worthwhile, so I hope I'm not scaring you away. However if you are going to host a community in the indie web; that's something I'm deeply passionate about, I want to see the people of the indie web respected, and I want them to have spaces that a genuinely good for them and the web.

[poesu]

Looks massive! I'd recommend making custom graphics instead of relying on emojis, because they spoil the fun of the retro look. Also, unless you force emojis of your own choice, they will look different on each OS; e.g. I'm on Windows and it displays Segoe UI Emoji font. If I were to visit the site on an Android, that would be Noto Color Emoji font. None of them look cohesive in the context of the site's style. Maybe Apple's emoji font looks fit enough, but still, custom icons would be the best choice.

Edit: there's a bit of spam on the site's guestbook 

[Xyphien]

You might want to chime into the AI websites discussion over here since it looks like this might be an LLM heavy project?

In general you seem like a positive person who wants to make a good space and has put a bunch of time into doing so - your time is valuable so spending it on a passion project is an honorable thing. However I'm going to be very direct about my initial impression, because you asked, and because I think that's more useful; I think you've built something that is materially developed, but philosophically undeveloped.

As an example; I was skimming the rules and found this "No outside links: We're an Intraweb style website. You can promote anything on LonePortal, just no promoting off LonePortal"

This is a horrible rule that goes against every good value in the indie and open web. The web is a network of links, if you are not participating in that network of sharing and connection, then you become the nothingness that consumes without giving

You follow that up by asking people to share a link to your site, and posting it here? How dare you! You either participate in the web or you don't; everything else about maintaining a mood or a vibe is moderation, and that's a slow painful process that develops over years.

I think you should stop listing Y2K buzzwords, and spend some time reading some of the manifestos on why the web matters, written by the people your trying to speak to now.

I fully acknowledge that you are here, and you are trying to listen to people, and that is worthwhile, so I hope I'm not scaring you away. However if you are going to host a community in the indie web; that's something I'm deeply passionate about, I want to see the people of the indie web respected, and I want them to have spaces that a genuinely good for them and the web.

I'm not the biggest person for Ai, I see no harm in using it and I've personally used it to catch up on all of the various stuff I've missed throughout the years with programming (I've been a webmaster since 2009 and took a break for 4 years when I joined the military). What part of the site looks like it's Ai if you do not mind my asking.

Constructive criticism is the best so I'm always happy to hear the positives and negatives with everything I make, especially this! I've been putting in about 8 hours a day into it for a while now so it's always nice to finally get some feedback!

The reason why that rule exists is because the project of LonePortal is to be it's own Intraweb to an extent. Outside of hosting videos (Which we utilize Youtube) the goal is to keep everything in house. We have user created websites (The foundation, I have the large update done I am just testing it on my test server atm to make sure it's fully functional) so you're able to make your own websites inside of LP, make your own forum, community, chat room, essentially everything I already have as code on LP you'll be able to utilize and make your own website on, we have our own search engine that searches everything on the entire site to include user made websites, so the goal, on top of having every major feature hard coded is to have an entire website of custom user sites made on it, all linking back. Our Ads you see on the site are not paid ads, and 100% are built in ads I'm manually creating for them, eventually you'll be able to buy your own ad space and even add ads to your user made website for LP$ (Website currency). So, I get it's a little hostile to not allow outside links, but at the end of the day my enitre goal for the site is to have a retro inspired web, website and to do that I'm having it all be built into LP.

"The web is a network of links, if you are not participating in that network of sharing and connection, then you become the nothingness that consumes without giving" that's why I have it so everyone can make their own website on LP, anyone can customize their profiles on the social media, promote their own forum posts, make their own forums, RolePlay site, creepy pasta, whatever they want and they can share it amongst each-other. As for myself personally giving back every community I promote on, have a signature on, etc. I have an entire tab on (Currently around 20 sites) in which I post every day I'm able to sit down and have free time on! So I give back by giving them content, making forum topics, and generally being an active member on their site, even if I get no return on it, I enjoy it and find it very relaxing to talk amongst people who are still users of forums and other old web systems like that :)

"I think you should stop listing Y2K buzzwords, and spend some time reading some of the manifestos on why the web matters, written by the people your trying to speak to now." I'm making my own website, recreating everything I loved experiencing growing up in a pre-google era. I'm not listing Y2K buzzwords, if something I add happens to be a buzzword that's a happy coincidence. I haven't built any SEO for it, nor am I planning on it. I'm planning on having LP grow based off of word of mouth and by being active on other individuals forums and what not. This may sound greedy, but once again, I'm putting in a full time jobs worth of hours into developing the site, I'm taking absolutely ZERO from it, literally nothing on the site is monetized and it's going to stay that way, forever. I've paid for everything out of pocket, or made it myself if I wasn't able to pay for it so I personally think I have a right to be a little greedy in developing it how I'd like to see it. I view this site as my personal Magnum Opus :D I'm planning on adding things the community wants though, my irl friend really loved Roleplaying on sites and stuff, so I'm working on making that an easy option for user sites to be able to implement in, same with creepy pastas since that was big during that time, and several other things the community asks for. The goal is a community first site, but the foundation will be me first if that makes sense lol

"so I hope I'm not scaring you away. However if you are going to host a community in the indie web; that's something I'm deeply passionate about, I want to see the people of the indie web respected, and I want them to have spaces that a genuinely good for them and the web."
I hope what I said helps you see I'm not trying to just take, take, take, and you are not scaring me away at all! I love your passion, and don't think you should shy away from that and if I'm doing something that goes against it I completely understand the passionate response behind it <3 No harm no foul :D

Looks massive! I'd recommend making custom graphics instead of relying on emojis, because they spoil the fun of the retro look. Also, unless you force emojis of your own choice, they will look different on each OS; e.g. I'm on Windows and it displays Segoe UI Emoji font. If I were to visit the site on an Android, that would be Noto Color Emoji font. None of them look cohesive in the context of the site's style. Maybe Apple's emoji font looks fit enough, but still, custom icons would be the best choice.

Edit: there's a bit of spam on the site's guestbook 

I'm planning on doing that a lot more once I'm done with everything. I'm making the site in steps, I've spent a long time building up the foundation, the last 5 or so months (I think, I have zero sense of time, I've been retired since 26 and I'm 32 right now so I never even know what the day is, let alone how long time passes) building up the foundations, and now I'm in the polishing state of the site! After that I'll be working on content, and making it pop more! Most emojis and what not are current place holders. I've finally got my wife to retire, so she'll be working on the art for the site as well (She's an excellent artist imo <3) I've added the Emoji font being changed to actual icons/site wide emojis to my list of ever growing things to do <3 so that WILL get done eventually <333

As for the guestbook, I didn't even notice that! Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention! I've deleted the spam <3

[Melooon]

What part of the site looks like it's Ai if you do not mind my asking.

Its in the color choices, the feel of the animations, the content density, the logical structuring; the fact that the answer to any question seems to have been "more"

that's why I have it so everyone can make their own website on LP, anyone can customize their profiles on the social media, promote their own forum posts, make their own forums

On a community level, its like having a conversation in your head, instead of with the person sitting next to you - I'd argue that's not an expression of connection, its a form of solipsism, and its the same model that Facebook and every other social site use because it traps people into a closed loop that feeds itself while denying them the possibility of encountering something else; and I'd stretch to say its one of the primary reasons for apathy and depression in a lot of the developed world today.

So my question would be: Why don't you trust people to provide good outbound connections? Why does your design assume that links diminish your project instead of expanding it? You already allow exceptions to big and arguably quite aggressive sites like YouTube, so there are already holes in the rule that you created, so what's the point of walling yourself away?

There are easy technical ways to indicate the bounds of a site without isolating it; for example this forum displays an icon next to links to give people an idea about if the link is heading to a MelonLand page or an external site; and many browser show you the URL your going to as well.

So I give back by giving them content

I would very strongly suggest that content is not a form of giving back. Again that's an idea that was built by social media companies. Linking is the real form of giving back on the web. That's because the best of the web is not about consuming media, its about moving between points of relation. The gift of the web is not what you put onto it, its the freedom you create for others to flow through it. That's why a site with one page and 10 good links can feel infinity more intimate than an entire social media site with a million amusements. A good discussion is great, but if there were none happening here, I would do something else Content is not a gift, if anything its a tiny extra burden on a server bill that I pay; but its a burden that's worthwhile because it leads to connections.

I'm making my own website, recreating everything I loved experiencing growing up in a pre-google era. I'm not listing Y2K buzzwords, [] This may sound greedy, but once again, I'm putting in a full time jobs worth of hours into developing the site, I'm taking absolutely ZERO from it

The buzzwords bit was cheeky of me, I was getting emotional, I apologize for that As for the second part, you're preaching to the choir there. I've worked full time on MelonLand for six years now, I have traveled the world and spoken at conferences, and tried my best to help make the web a better place; it has cost me every cent I've ever had, and a good deal of dignity too. I don't feel there is any great honor in that kind of life, its just a way of living.

Like I said before, content is not giving back, I've spent six years making content, and I've learned that the hard way The web does not need me or you, but we can contribute something worthwhile, the question is, what is worthwhile? My argument is not to detract from your "Magnum Opus", or to make you do it another way that's not true to you. However most of the web is built around a series of ideals that have largely been defined by large tech companies, and they were not made to help people. I think to answer my own question, its worthwhile to question things; its worthwhile to break rules, and its worthwhile to be vulnerable to the results

[oro_junestar]

This site is neat! The first thing I did on it was play Escaping the Prison :) I don't condone generative AI usage at all because of the sheer damage it inflicts on the environment and against artists, so I really hope this site won't use any.

I've got a couple suggestions on how to make it look even more early 2000's:
-The emojis gotta go, they definitely don't fit the aesthetic. Replacing them with custom-drawn icons would look awesome!
-There's too much smoothness, like gradients and glow effects. Early sites are much more angular and crisp. I'd replace those with either flat colors, subtle dither effects, or custom patterns.
-The blue-and-grey palette looks quite corporate. I feel like I'm on a car dealership's site!
-I think the biggest problem is that the site doesn't seem to have much of a distinct visual identity. Using custom-drawn artworks as icons, banners, and UI elements could really help give site more personality! If you don't draw, you could commission an artist or ask for submissions from the community :>

I'd recommend taking a look at many of the sites listed here for inspiration: https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/all-websites

[Xyphien]

This site is neat! The first thing I did on it was play Escaping the Prison :) I don't condone generative AI usage at all because of the sheer damage it inflicts on the environment and against artists, so I really hope this site won't use any.

I've got a couple suggestions on how to make it look even more early 2000's:
-The emojis gotta go, they definitely don't fit the aesthetic. Replacing them with custom-drawn icons would look awesome!
-There's too much smoothness, like gradients and glow effects. Early sites are much more angular and crisp. I'd replace those with either flat colors, subtle dither effects, or custom patterns.
-The blue-and-grey palette looks quite corporate. I feel like I'm on a car dealership's site!
-I think the biggest problem is that the site doesn't seem to have much of a distinct visual identity. Using custom-drawn artworks as icons, banners, and UI elements could really help give site more personality! If you don't draw, you could commission an artist or ask for submissions from the community :>

I'd recommend taking a look at many of the sites listed here for inspiration: https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/all-websites

The emojis will 100% be replaced, as well as the "logo" which is just colored text.
The next 2 parts are easy to answer :) I made the site look like Windows XP/2000, I just used a more blue, blue instead of the off blue they use. YOU personally can change the theme of the site to whatever you want by 'buying it' with LP$ (Free currency you get on the site. The ENTIRE site will forever be 100% free and everything will be 'purchasable' using forum currency only) We have several other themes such as matrix, runescape, and several others. Here's how that looks :) Each part of the site I made to look different/unique and you can further make them change with themes <3 the goal will be to come out with more and more themes eventually, each theme you can use to change the entire site or individual sites if you'd like.

My goal is to replace the emojis/none custom stuff with custom made things after I'm done polishing everything else. Most graphics/artworks are placeholder and I rather use emojis than anything else atm, although I have custom emojis so not using those and instead basic emojis was laziness I'll admit but I am almost done, I have one last final push today or this week to finish off the last of the major polishing, and then it's about changing the images, adding daily/weekly/monthly content, and expanding what we already have (finally) XD It's been nearly a year journey of 8+ hour days and almost 7 days a week (Which my wife has hated XD) buuuuut it's finally almost fully over!
 

[Xyphien]

Its in the color choices, the feel of the animations, the content density, the logical structuring; the fact that the answer to any question seems to have been "more"
On a community level, its like having a conversation in your head, instead of with the person sitting next to you - I'd argue that's not an expression of connection, its a form of solipsism, and its the same model that Facebook and every other social site use because it traps people into a closed loop that feeds itself while denying them the possibility of encountering something else; and I'd stretch to say its one of the primary reasons for apathy and depression in a lot of the developed world today.

So my question would be: Why don't you trust people to provide good outbound connections? Why does your design assume that links diminish your project instead of expanding it? You already allow exceptions to big and arguably quite aggressive sites like YouTube, so there are already holes in the rule that you created, so what's the point of walling yourself away?

There are easy technical ways to indicate the bounds of a site without isolating it; for example this forum displays an icon next to links to give people an idea about if the link is heading to a MelonLand page or an external site; and many browser show you the URL your going to as well.
I would very strongly suggest that content is not a form of giving back. Again that's an idea that was built by social media companies. Linking is the real form of giving back on the web. That's because the best of the web is not about consuming media, its about moving between points of relation. The gift of the web is not what you put onto it, its the freedom you create for others to flow through it. That's why a site with one page and 10 good links can feel infinity more intimate than an entire social media site with a million amusements. A good discussion is great, but if there were none happening here, I would do something else Content is not a gift, if anything its a tiny extra burden on a server bill that I pay; but its a burden that's worthwhile because it leads to connections.
The buzzwords bit was cheeky of me, I was getting emotional, I apologize for that As for the second part, you're preaching to the choir there. I've worked full time on MelonLand for six years now, I have traveled the world and spoken at conferences, and tried my best to help make the web a better place; it has cost me every cent I've ever had, and a good deal of dignity too. I don't feel there is any great honor in that kind of life, its just a way of living.

Like I said before, content is not giving back, I've spent six years making content, and I've learned that the hard way The web does not need me or you, but we can contribute something worthwhile, the question is, what is worthwhile? My argument is not to detract from your "Magnum Opus", or to make you do it another way that's not true to you. However most of the web is built around a series of ideals that have largely been defined by large tech companies, and they were not made to help people. I think to answer my own question, its worthwhile to question things; its worthwhile to break rules, and its worthwhile to be vulnerable to the results

It's not about trust, it's about providing everything. My goal with LP is to be a Y2K Intraweb. To have "The Old Net" be there. It was a goal I had, and the reason why there's so much and always going to have even more added to it. I'm on my final major update, and this final major update (ignoring the MMO I'd like to make for it eventually which will not be out for I'm assuming years) will completely overhaul user made sites and make it so you can make anything on there. Once that's done the site will be able to hold & handle everything and that's where the Intraweb part comes into place. The reason why I allow youtube links is purely for Castyr which is a 2006 reskin youtube. I'll be adding the ability to upload videos at 360/480p that's super compressed but allowing youtube makes it so we can have a ton more video content without it costing me an arm and a leg. The rest will allow you the opportunity to add whatever to the site and thus completing the intraweb project I had set out to make. It's not about distrust, or anything, it's about the goal of the project and the vision I had of creating an all in one old net / intraweb.

I get the need for sharing links, and I've had people instantly quit when they found out they couldn't. It's a price I'm willing to make for the project, and there will come a time where I'll probably remove youtube links completely and utilize my own videos exclusively, until then though youtube will be one of the few links used and that's specifically for that content. We do have a showcase section on the forums that allows you to share outside links, so there's going to be little breaks in the rules, it'll just be very specific sections like that, that will have their own rules that trumps them and allows outside links. So it won't even be a full intraweb, but a super close version of it.

Also, you have a stunning site! There's a few confusing things here and there but visually it is a stunning site and one I'll be on daily (This is already added to my Daily Forums tab that I keep open). Not to get off topic but you've built a stunning site <3