how do you make friends in web revival spaces?

[sibusen]

I can sort of relate, I am in my 40's

Hello fellow 40s friend. PMs are very welcome!

[candycanearter07]

I definitely also have trouble with this. I tend to be a lurker, which habit I'm trying to break... but it's hard getting past the deeply embedded notion that nobody wants to hear what I have to say.

I suppose that's one thing easier about my own website than a forum - nobody has to visit my site, and it's my own space. If I post in a forum, it feels like seeking attention in someone else's space, like intruding. (Not the healthiest way to approach interaction, but "stop interrupting" was unfortunately quite formative for me.)

I like talking to people! I just don't know how to start conversations.

agreed! as someone with anxiety and stuff its hard to like actively reach out to certian ppl..

the only person im really friends with in the area so far is roly buts thats because of unrelated discord stuff :D

[larvapuppy]

I am notoriously bad at making and keeping friends, so I may not be the best person to respond, but... My advice is to feel okay with friendships growing a little slower in this space. I haven't made any super close friendships here, but there a few cool people who I interact with and occasionally talk to, and I value those connections even if we weren't instant best friends.

That being said, I'm always up for a chat sooo-

[Misanthropic Monster™]

I genuinely don't understand how people maintain relationships. I have been alive for over 4 decades and I literally have no actual connections, relationships or friendships to show for any of that time. A mix of not trusting people, mistreatment and my autistic inability to maintain anything.  I look to people who have managed to remain close to others for longer than a decade with genuine envy and curiosity.

As for making friends in web revival spaces; I've not made friends as such, but I have been PMing one or two folk here and having nice chats so that is something 

[Eunice]

I don't really know anyone in web revival. This is where I miss all the big groups for women back in the day, and webrings, and web competitions. There are only two competitions left, and they are rather boring. No back and forth in each other's guestbooks, no visiting at all now. Unless you're a member of Neocities or Nekoweb, then it's difficult to find anyone.

[Melooon]

There are only two competitions left, and they are rather boring. No back and forth in each other's guestbooks

Why not start one? It sounds like you have a pretty clear idea of the culture your missing; if someone doesn't work to built that culture it will never exist.

One of the treads I see across web revival spaces recently is a real lack of motivation to carry new ideas and projects into public spaces. People want a better web, they want to have spaces for connection, but so rarely do I see people really putting in the force to build alternative spaces and keep them alive.

This is not directed at you @Eunice or anyone in particular; but I would like to see people take more initiative; because if people don't start making the spaces they want to see, I think this whole scene will fade out ~ I don't want people to just end up back on discord or stuck orbiting the same three sites, there should be more, but people need to make it happen!

I suppose this is more of a follow up to what I wrote here in April; the structures exist, but people need to actually use them if they want to create the opportunities for connection.