The Small Web Is Too Big

Haven’t used the neocities tag in a while…

The small web is too big because I have realized “small” is just 0.1% of the internet.

Now before everything I need to clarify that I don’t have a problem with the small/indie web being “too big” (You got clickbaited, lol). On the contrary, I’m glad that people are expressing themselves through a piece of the internet and connect to other people.

I do have some thoughts to share which I got from previous web surfing from two days ago.

But first.

Some backstory

You see, two days ago I discovered two small webrings which I decided to check out from one of my latest followers on neocities tofurush, who is part of the git gud ring and bolognese ring, and me being a curious fellow I decided to check those sites out and overall I enjoyed going through them! I also switch hosting plataforms twice (not counting sites that are hosted independently) and discovered a small hosting plataform called poyoweb.

And you may ask, how did I found out tofurush? Great question!

I DIDN’T!

They participated in a submission form from nicegirlslumber from last week celebrating the site’s 100 followers, and got to have the first finished drawing of NGS delivered one day after the form closed.

If you’re curious, I got drawn second and I asked her to draw KFCMan.EXE, the little fellow you see on the home page and the posts page. Here’s the result btw.

And how did I found out about her?

I DIDN’T!

SHE FOUND ME FIRST! ON THE ACTIVITIES TAB!!!

Which is when I realised that the sites which I’ve liked the most to decide to stalk follow them were found because of someone else who we’ve both followed, and just so happened to comment on something said person posted a comment about. Therefore…

The rate I discover new websites is proportional to the amount of websites I follow at the moment¹

It wasn’t like that when I started making this website. I had to actively seek out new sites and one of the first ways I did so was through the null webring and looking who were my neighbors. You can see the buttons of most of them being listed first on my home page, too.

But that’s not really important to the story

When I found out the epiphany I mentioned previously, something clicked inside me as I’ve realised a few things:

1. Every single site I have visited is an invitation of someone out there to take a look inside their mind, their interests and their lives outside of the screen.

2. If you love someone’s site, there’s a high chance one of the websites they follow will have something that you like aswell.

3. Anyone² can make their own website and find other people with similar interests to them.

So… that’s social media, isn’t it?

Yes.

And no.

Let me explain.

On theory, the bullet points from earlier can describe the concept of social media (just replace the word website with profile), but I believe the key diference is the amount of expression you can share.

Lets take for example facebook. On there, people will usually share photos from recent events, or talk about other people’s experiences. There are some other ways for people to interact like with groups or pages, but that’s about it.

Everything would seem fine until you notice the way information is delivered to users. Most of the time, you will recieve content designed for you to engage with in whatever way they can, even if it means provoquing a reaction of you. And that engagement subdtly suggests you stay a little longer on the platform, for you to recieve another enraging post, and so on.

On the indie web if you don’t like a site you simply… don’t follow them. Simple really.

Mind you, the argument I made chooses to generalize the scenario of the avarage social media user, and it will vary from platform to platform (cough, cough, twitter), and my position isn’t a “uugh social media bad”. Those platforms can be good tools for information with the local community, and your experience with them can be excelent if you follow good internet manners and are responsible for the content you consume and publish. I use my university’s facebook page and student group to know about events I need to know about, and any questions I have can usually be found in the comments of those publications.

Unlike social media, the web in general will put you in contact with people you will (probably) never meet in real life. But that means you can find new perspectives of life, and maybe even find a spot where you can enjoy your favorite things with other people. I can’t thank enough the day I found about Skud Pai Sho and the discord community there; we play pai sho and sip digital tea every day while discussing very imporant topics like the fact uncle Iroh upside down looks like a frog with a well kept mustache³.

TLDR: Good internet manners are important

Small pet peeves of indie web I have

Before I go, I do have some pet peeves I want to share:

• I don’t like sites that are really messy and hard to navigate. I know you love those 90s gifs, but could you let me have space to breathe and find out what you have stored on your html files?

• It feels off when people’s about me pages are comprised mostly of tags they’ve labeled themselves as. You’re more than the categorization you’ve trapped yourself in.

  • This also applies with neo pronouns/identity lists so large it borders on having to wrap.

• I like to visit your sites from my phone, as such, a little phone accesibility is apreciated. I understand CSS is hard, and I thank all the folks who put a “best viewed on desktop” sign before you enter their domain.

  • Sites who use exclusively position: relative or float to build their layout could problably take a look at your browser’s devtools to see if it looks good on a thin screen.

• Speaking of accesibility, I don’t like when I have to zoom out to see the site. This isn’t really a pet peeve at all because screen resolutions can make your site appear normal on your end. It’s just a matter of remembering not everyone uses a 1366x768px screen.

I think that’s everything I wanted to share today. Good night!