Is it time to replace the term Web Revival??

[Memory]

Now thinking about it, wouldn't these names just cause the Web Revival to be called different things in different places like how some animals have multiple names or how soda is also called cola or pop?

I can see that given how each people would have a different reason to call the same thing a different term like the soda example you've given. Though given how the Internet is global I'm expecting one of these terms to get picked up the most like how Dark Web became the term for anything that can only be viewed on with tor, I2P, et al. I personally hope 'Internet Underground' is the one that gets used, but who knows.

[Icey!]

I can see that given how each people would have a different reason to call the same thing a different term like the soda example you've given. Though given how the Internet is global I'm expecting one of these terms to get picked up the most like how Dark Web became the term for anything that can only be viewed on with tor, I2P, et al. I personally hope 'Internet Underground' is the one that gets used, but who knows.

I'm also voting for "Internet Underground" it feels more appropriate. But considering it's length I would like to provide alternative terms like "Web Underground" or "Net Underground". I also thought of "Undernet" but that sounds stupid and probably already taken by a different definition.

[PurpleHello98]

Little Web
Sounds like a street that'd have a lot of cute mom & pop shops. Small Web is an alternative.

Little Web... it's a quiet village!

Internet Underground
(Cool people only)

Neo-net
Like.. new net?..

Wild Web
Yeah.

I like all of these rather well, but I'd say that my vote easily has to go with Wild Web! It really communicates what this is all about: having a Web-site where you can do whatever you want!

when i've interacted with other folks in the "web revival",
my definitions have often been different to theirs.
it might have some identical concepts imperative to it:
the vague notions of anti-capitalism, friendliness and personalization,
for instance, but it's also had its own distinct properties that
differ to the definition suggested by the folks i'm interacting with.

I mean, honestly, I don't think it even has to be anti-capitalist per se; I've seen some Web revival/whatever-the-name-is-now sites who aren't really against capitalism, just against the corporate takeover, so I think anti-corporatism is more of an accurate baseline.

[shevek]

For some reason, Internet Underground evokes a feeling in me as if it is closely related to the Dark Net. Or some obscure chan boards with despicable content and they had to flee and go underground to post it. I don't know

[Melooon]

multiple names or how soda is also called cola or pop?

The key difference is that a drink like Coca-Cola is a literal object; however, the Web Revival is a concept. Unlike objects, you can have infinite variations on a concept, some of those variations will suit you, others won't. For example, someone might not feel like they fit into the Web Revival, but they might be way more excited to be part of something called the Wild Web - even though they are very similar, they are also slightly different and will have a slightly different following. In that sense, it's more like Coke, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke etc

The issue with having one name is that it guarantees that some people will be unnecessarily excluded because they have associations with that name they don't like (for example maybe they don't like the web revival because they don't like me and they associate the term with me!!); so my goal with this thread is not to pick a new name (that would just be renaming the same issue), but to encourage more diverse ideas about what the web revival is ^^

Half of the fun of the web revival is that everyone is always trying to figure it out.. but if they ever actually do, the whole thing will flop

just against the corporate takeover, so I think anti-corporatism is more of an accurate baseline

I think this is a good way to put it!

[devils]

I've always stuck with indie Web just because personal websites never really died (though Web revival is a perfectly fine term, as they fell out of fashion).

For some reason, Internet Underground evokes a feeling in me as if it is closely related to the Dark Net. Or some obscure chan boards with despicable content and they had to flee and go underground to post it. I don't know

I personally like the term, but I can understand the worry... especially with terms such as deep Web being so similar. However, bad actors are and will always be in this scene- I've seen plenty of bigots and conspiracy theories with personal websites.

I'd love if a new term incorporated the letter X in its name, as a reference to the underground comix scene... NetX/WebX? Next Net, for the more hopeful of us? Well, I'm just really passionate about non-mainstream comics/zines, and I feel a lot of personal websites explore similar themes (personal stories and convictions, a lot of queer sites, etc.).

[Absentmind]

I've often referred to it as "the Ugly net" to my friends who aren't really clued in. I like to think of it as an endearing term, I sort it see it as a digital kitsch, overly sentimental and garish but you like it because it appeals to you. Maybe Kitsch net or web then too?

I do like the term

"post social media" internet.

Or even "Post Internet", but I think these terms aren't as inclusive since they kind of fall into the realm of people in the art world in which a lot of these creators do not fall into. Interesting thoughts for sure though.

[drakonic]

Oh, I do like ugly net! Feels rebelious in my opinion, with modern web design leaning towards "sleek and clean".

It's good to see all these proposals; as Melon said having one single name for the movement will exclude some people - everyone here has different associations with certain terms, as well as different goals, motivations.

For me, this internet rebel stuff is about refusing to fit neatly into corporate platforms, about altering your perception of the internet, reimagining digital communication, about community initiatives, about refusing to let your entire digital life be monetized... And expressing yourself freely, without arbitrary limitations, having control of your presence and experiences on the web.

[Melooon]

Oh I meant to add it in! Before I started using "Web Revival" my term was "The Bespoke Web" - I dunno if I ever really liked that term that much, but maybe someone will enjoy it 

[Memory]

I mean, it's like Melon says; we're not a homogenous kind. Some people have a "retro web" because they love that aesthetic, some people have a "web revival" because the web and its netizens are something special to them, some people might have an "indie web" because that aspect is important to them, and so on. It's an overlapping Venn diagram, not a fixed group.

Personally, I have switched terms a lot but "web revival" has stuck with me.

[starbreaker]

I tend to think of what I do on the web as "hobbyist web" or "noncommercial web". I'm here to have fun, not to make money (I have a day job for that).

[andou]

i think "indie web" probably makes the most sense, but "web revival movement" sounds like a cool punk thing to participate in LOL

i'm just all for using whatever term gets people excited to make a website of their own. the semantics matter less to me if each term is encouraging the same thing, you know?

[starbreaker]

i think "indie web" probably makes the most sense, but "web revival movement" sounds like a cool punk thing to participate in LOL

I was going to suggest "webpunk", but that's been a thing for a while and has a lot in common with vaporwave.

[thank you!]

TLDR:
+1 for Wild Web

+1 for wild web for me too. I think it evokes the kind of whimsy that even the most grungy sites embrace. We're all just a bunch of cringe cowboys out here :3

I mean, honestly, I don't think it even has to be anti-capitalist per se; I've seen some Web revival/whatever-the-name-is-now sites who aren't really against capitalism, just against the corporate takeover, so I think anti-corporatism is more of an accurate baseline.

Like melon said I think this is a super good way to put it. I've seen a lot of variation in politics in this movement but its all vaguely against corporations

Oh, I do like ugly net! Feels rebellious in my opinion, with modern web design leaning towards "sleek and clean".

I really like this one too!! I don't think it can refer to all the individual sites out there, starbreaker's site is literally as clean as you can get while melon's is mega crunchy and a lot of sites fall somewhere in between that, but I think it does kinda describe the experience of browsing this side of the web? I feel it describes the whiplash of styles while clicking through.


I agree that we need a lot of different terms for this beast that we're a part of, I don't think we can describe what is intentionally such an eclectic and personal movement in one or two words. The best we can really do is to all adopt terms we vibe with and recognize others terms as neat ways of describing a lot of the same stuff :)

[Kallistero]

Things have probably changed from the term when it was a theory to the term as it grows further into practice! It seems that some colors of people here are:

• retrofuturists
• regressionists
• libertarian socialists
• neo-aestheticists
• humanists

It also seems like it's more about culture itself than just the former Web. The goals of promoting free, creative, playful personal expression in a landscape that's seemed to betray those values, it can stretch beyond a revival of the Web; it's just that the Web is the chosen medium! This form of "revival" can fundamentally be used to refer to music revivals, art revivals, game revivals, writing revivals, a revival for any medium of creation.

I think of this whole thing as not strictly a hearkening back to what the Internet was in the past, but, instead, as a general longing for what the FUTURE could've been. It's a social stance, to say that things could've been this other way instead. As much as the Internet of the past is used as an anchor for what a more free & creative Web was & what it looked like, we ARE in the future. We're just here to demonstrate a different future for the Web. A better one. A(n)... (fill in the blank)

   

• Alternet
• Cybershift
• Post-retroweb
• Internet Creative Resurgence
• People's Web
• Web 2.Other
• Net Positive