Indieweb appreciation thread

[Noah_S]

I realized today that the indieweb has successfully replaced reddit for me. After a bad encounter there, I closed the reddit tabs I had open, and.. I haven't been there since. I couldn't even tell you when during the summer it was. I haven't missed it.

I know I'm not the only one who has replaced social media with the indie web. And it got me thinking. What are some things about the indie web that you like?


For me it's the complete lack of pressure to post the "correct" things. My tumblr inbox consisted 100% of messages from people telling me to reblog this or that post, or I'd be a bad person. I never reblogged any of them out of principle. I was initially a bit worried when I realized that people use buttons to make statements, but I'm happy that my choice of which buttons to put in my footer hasn't been an issue.

[honeyontoast]

There is no single person or group that can control the narrative on the indie web in a way that sometimes happens in centralised, highly controlled social media groups. I can put whatever I want on my site (within the law of wherever the server is based, I suppose) and nobody can do a thing about it. Since my whole site is backed up by a Git repo, even if Neocities decided that anyone with 'honey' in their name must be removed immediately, it'd take about five minutes to set up on a new host. It's very nomadic.

I also cut out reddit back in January because I was doomscrolling WAY too much on political subreddits, thought giving it up would be hard but I found I didn't miss it at all. Eight months on now, occasionally I will browse Askreddit specifically because I do like reading stories, but I don't browse /r/all, the front page, or any other subreddit.

Plus I think because making your own site requires a good amount of effort to achieve, in a way that simply signing up for an account doesn't, anyone who's gone through that respects others that have too, even if the site isn't particularly to their tastes, as I have seen sites that aren't to mine, I know the creator put a lot of effort into it and I respect that. It's a good basis for a polite and respectable community.

[Iceglobe_System]

We wanted more "people like" interactions when we came here, and that's exactly what we got! Places more focused on genuine conversation over likes and reblogs that don't actually say anything.

It's only really been a couple days, but..
Now we don't even want to scroll on tumblr anymore, we just check for notifs.
We even prefer notifs from the indie web because it's a guarantee at conversation!

No more hopelessly wishing someone actually interacts with us and our art, and getting a reblog with no words instead..
It's funny because, we used to be so desperate for likes! We thought if we just got lots, consistently, that we'd be happy..

But boy were we wrong!
The likes just lost their original weight over time,
until eventually, when one our most recent post got over 250?

We couldn't even care anymore.

It was pointless.


So, we're very happy with our decision to try something new, instead of quitting the internet entirely. :]
Thanks, indie web! :D

[oro_junestar]

-I love the sheer amount of customizability on, like, everything! You can literally put whatever you want wherever you want on all your pages and that's awesome. Whether someone wants to make the most beautifully-decorated art gallery in the world or just a spinning burger in a white void, they can just do that! The possibilities are endless and no one can tell you what you're allowed to do!
-Figuring out how to code something new feels so rewarding every single time. It can take hours just to learn one simple thing, but it pays off!
-The community is very creative, smart, and passionate about their interests!
-On mainstream social media, things are relevant for maybe a week at most before they're basically gone forever. But on the indie web, things go at a much more manageable pace, everything is eternal, and everything will get the attention it deserves!

I could keep gushing but I gotta go to bed soon :P goodnight!!

[schlime9k]

I realized today that the indieweb has successfully replaced reddit for me.

Same for me, but with Twitter! It just felt as though everything I was being shown on there was something said simply to get a negative reaction out of me, like sadness or anger or rage. I stopped using Twitter one day just because I knew every time I opened it and used it I felt less and less happy, and then I found Spacehey and that was my introduction to the indie web I guess. Then I found neocities, Yesterweb (yikes) and melonland! Yada yada, Indie web has kinda replaced a lot of social media for me, and I'm a lot happier about it!