Anyone else feel presure to selfhost?

[EdgyRabbit]

So ive been hosting on neocities for 8 months, and it was my introduction to HTML and the indie web.

Now, ive seen people complain that they feel limited on Neocities when i dont. I dont have any other website hosting exprience. now i feel like im missing out on something.. so im conflicted?

Im only in high school, and im not sure if i could afford it..

idk what do you all think?

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

As long as you don't feel any limitations (or, if you do: As long as they don't feel grave to you) there is no real need to move away from Neocities.

If you want to check out what options a unlimited server can offer, you might set up XAMPP on your computer. Theoretically, you can even use this to host a website on your own computer (read about this whole topic before you try it - there are certain risks involved).

If you do feel limitations, there are alternatives to paid hosts: You can take one of the many other free hosts (as far as I know, there are hosts with less limitations available). There are also good paid hosts available that are rather cheap.

[BlazingCobaltX]

I've wondered the same since a lot of people made the switch away from Neocities. It suddenly became uncool to be on Neocities vs places like Nekoweb or self-hosting. I know some people specifically moved away because they could not agree with Kyle Drake's AI stance; for others there are various reasons (and personally, I think a small part simply followed a trend).

For a moment I, too, wondered if I should switch. But thinking about the many things I need to learn and actively upkeep, I realised I'd much rather outsource those backend things and focus all of my own energy on webcrafting. That is actually the reason I updated to paid tier: Not because I needed extra space or accounts, but because I acknowledged how much effort it takes to run a service like Neocities. Don't take from this that you need to also pay for Neocities, but do think hard about what you'd gain from turning towards self-hosting versus the effort it would take.

[starbreaker]

So ive been hosting on neocities for 8 months, and it was my introduction to HTML and the indie web.

Now, ive seen people complain that they feel limited on Neocities when i dont. I dont have any other website hosting exprience. now i feel like im missing out on something.. so im conflicted?

Im only in high school, and im not sure if i could afford it..

idk what do you all think?

Stick with what works for you. I know what I'm going to say next might seem harsh, but other people only matter if you let them. I have my own reasons for not running my site on Neocities, but those reasons are most likely of no concern to you as long as you are content with Neocities.

[EdgyRabbit]

Stick with what works for you. I know what I'm going to say next might seem harsh, but other people only matter if you let them. I have my own reasons for not running my site on Neocities, but those reasons are most likely of no concern to you as long as you are content with Neocities.

Thanks! Really needed this! I tend to fall under pressure.. so im glad yall r cool.

(and personally, I think a small part simply followed a trend).

Literaly! that's what it feels like! It just feels like Neocities is suddenly not cool.. when its simply just a hosting service! We shouldnt judge based off of our hosting methods..

[Lyonid]

Seconding what has been said! I could self-host, but I am choosing not to. I think my journey restarted on Neocities, and I don't want to move the space I built somewhere else when it's not really necessary. And if you do feel like you want to try out self-hosting or another provider: Just build something different over there! Claim the space you need, I'd say!

[cult_status18]

Limitations are minor for me the reason I want to host myself is bc I want to learn how to and to gain experience and I also want multiple sites with real domains

I'm not happy with neocties bc of personal reasons, too They don't cater to the best community for me, and I would prefer to stay detached from them or another way of saying it there are sites that have upset me and while the social feature is nice to monitor your friends its not as fun exploring random sites it can sometimes be a downer

I'm going to host myself soon, once I figure everything out, I might leave the details on the melonland wiki or on a post here so if you really want too, then maybe I could help you out that way (˶ˆᗜˆ˵)

[Eunice]

You don't have to go the full self hosting route, you could try shared hosting. There's a lot of companies that do that. One I would recommend is X10Premium. Look at Webhostingtalk, there are lots of deals there.

[villain]

To my limited understanding, the main difference is you can do backend stuff like sql - which I imagine if you've only been involved in the indie web for 8 months, you have little interest in  I certainly don't feel like its necessary for what I use my site for, and I've been doing this a couple years! Don't feel you need to follow trends, especially with the more tech-y side of the indie web. No need to complicate your process if you're not going to use it or it's going to get in the way of actually updating regularly.