The Small Web As A Safe Space For Sharing Experiences

[littlesecret]

As for what people say; well people say all sorts of things; really all that matters is the experience you make for yourself, the same goes for, safety online, (even on places like this forum where a lot of effort it put into it) its ultimately self constructed and only exists within the bounds of what you decide feels correct!

Reading this thread makes me wonder about your experience building Melondland. Its a lot of work to build an online community, trying to prevent oppression and exclusivity, maintaining certain ethics, etc. especially because like you said its self constructed, and it starts to take its own form based on the community.

I recently joined a social file exchange club, the usb club, started by a couple guys in new york. I plug in the usb i got from them and open an app they built, and every day im prompted to upload a file of my choice. After uploading, i can see what everyone else in the network has uploaded that day and save it to my usb. Every day is a new upload and a new set of stuff. The concept is awesome and I admire one of the guys who runs it a lot. However, im surprised at the kind of content i see being shared. Some days its a bunch of self promo from some bro, a video of some "trippy lights"  or just a  picture of something random, as if the app is like BeReal. Its not as much sharing material that people find interesting. Its not a complaint, its just a thing to notice. Its a small community and there are people who post things that i like, and people who post things that i dont like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just like any community. But yeah it makes me think about how communities will take their own form regardless of what the creator intends for it to be. As i write this i think that may be a sign of a healthy community or just something inevitable because. This way the community (along with the creator and their intentions) can mold and shift together. and if if the creator really cares about building community then i guess they know that this is part of it. Its not exclusive, its open to however you want to use it, and you can connect with the people that you like.

Melon - do you have anything that comes to mind about the creation or melonland or being a member of this/other communities?