Can a website be "useless"?

[shevek]

Would it be wrong to feel bad for demo in this topic? Not sure how well he would take his blog post being dissected in a forum topic like this while being criticized. After all he would not have expected this if at all.

In my opinion, if you are publishing blog posts, you should expect people to read them, form their opinions and they may choose to respond or pick up on it - I did the same a while ago. Blog posts are usually meant to be shared, or at least will be, if they are of value or interesting for positive or negative reasons. It's just another article, and Dokodemo is one of the bigger sites on neocities and is probably used to the many eyes. And I think most of the replies are not really about the blog post, but it has only served as a starting point for a discussion about the initial question.

That said, I have also stopped engaging with that particular source because I find most of the blog posts "mean-spirited" as the OP said, or at least being in a questionable tone.

[ItzKey]

Everyone here makes very valid points and counter points.

My thoughts are that people put out their sites for themselves first and foremost, so any perceived social value doesn't matter. Just like "Saturn Devouring His Son" by Goyo. It wasn't intended to be seen, given value, or even a name except for Goyo himself, yet society has done all three despite never needing it to have any.

I don't blame mariteaux for being so outwardly biased about how websites could or should be, and he continues to make his opinion clear, if wild in his approach. He even says in his "I fucked up and I give up" post when he says his whole point was "fuck what I like, do your own goddamn thing". He wants you to make a website that calls to you as a person, not to make a website that only appeals to others. I personally have a negative opinion about flamboiant use of curse words to make a point, but when stripped of it the point becomes easier to understand.

I love his passion about individuality, and that people should upkeep that said individuality. He loves websites, and what people come up with. He's just incendiary as a point. He even made his own "Nostalgiamining" (I very much don't like this term) site and enjoyed it. It RPs as a site made from someone in the late 90's and is wonderful.

Make what you want, the way you want to, because that's how you want it to be. Be it for others, yourself, or both. Value be damned.

[shellsharks]

Never!

[NoxidKin]

I love that this article about Neocities page devolved so quickly into navel-gazing philosophy, that's what the web revival is about!  :D

I hope nobody thinks my page is too pointless, what a mean thing to say.  :(

I'm glad not many people seem to agree.  :)

[larvapuppy]

Who decides what is useful? Who decides which art is allowed to exist and which isn't?

Look up the term degenerate art as used by a certain historical political party and compare to this discussion of usefulness. What message does linking to the "delete your website" send? *I'm not being dramatic, I'm putting two and two together.

We don't have to like all art, and art that is "useful" to one person might not be useful to another. It's a bit sad that we still have to explain the concept of people having different opinions being okay to fully grown adults with large internet platforms. 

Reminds me of the story "The Rock That Changed Things" by LeGuin. The interpretation by those in power (often the most smug and self-satisfied people you'll ever meet) is taken as the only valid interpretation. The rest of us don't get to read the patterns or express ourselves in ways that suit us. We're individualistic without individuality.

[cynderthekitsune]

i mean, i guess lots of those 'useless' websites are more like lures for me, lol
my ADHD gets caught on them for a whiile, and doesn't want to let go!

though, i can also see them being helpful for people who need a distraction. whether it's for genuinely horrible things or even just someone being annoying next to them, i think that's probably their purpose!

[boreal_cryptid]

many many many people here said it better than i would ever. i just want to add a small thing: you don't need to finish creative projects ASAP. you don't have to finish or polish them at all.

it's your space first, not others'. you can create a purpose for it yourself: train HTML/CSS skills? cool. try to code just because you're interested in trying things? good. create "art" code (when website looks like an art project itself)? cool. want to fill it with your creative projects? cool. want to unlink all pages and write only for yourself? cool. want to make it a links and bookmarks pile? cool.

not you, not your creativity don't have to be "useful". so it can't be "useless". you're good! :3

[Monoki]

“Usefulness” is rather subjective.

I get Doko’s zealous about passionate websites. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad.
But also you can kill other people’s creative passion by being hard-nosed about it.
So in a sense it feels a bit ironic to me.