The Personal Web

[Eden]

With the death of the Yesterweb and "The Web Revival" movement being sorta splintered imo. I wanted to make this thread as an opportunity to:

- Introduce what I believe to be some of the core ideas to anyone fresh-faced and interested.
- Share some of my personal knowledge and strategies.
- Connect what I believe to be a rather fragmented personal web.

I came across sadgrl.online nearly 2 years ago. Reading through its original manifesto (now considered a mistake by its author) & exploring its Cyberspace section led me to create my own personal website. What I, personally, took away from that experience, alongside reading other like-minded thinkers, was:

Own yourself. Share yourself, on your terms. Say something, anything, as long as it is you "the individual" saying it; believing it to be important. Say it in a space where you are not being exploited. Share it with others in a manner that you are not exploiting them.

That was my core understanding / feelings. By no means should it be yours or considered complete or dogma or anything like that. I don't believe EVERYONE should make a personal website. I do believe you should speak if you feel the need to and that the more autonomy you assume over that / the less dependent you are on others for that, the better.

The rest of this post is dedicated exclusively to Personal Web Pages. I don't mean to imply other mediums are inferior; it's really just how it turned out for me, for this group. Don't be afraid to "Do it your way."

Communities
I believe these places and groups and individuals share, at the very least, adjacent mindsets to "personal web" philosophies.

• A key "Web Revival" community imo: MelonLand Forum
• A community of independent & personal websites: IndieWeb
• The smoldering remains of Yesterweb: Yesterweb Forums
  • Yesterweb Offshoot: The-web-raft
• 32-Bit Cafe, a Personal Web Community. Managed, in-part, by @xandra (an Agora Road Traveler)
• Blue Dwarf, a Social Network for the Small Web
• The decentralized, autonomous (maybe slightly cheeky?): Lainchanners & their Lainring
• Socialization (& education?) via public Unix: tildeverse

Collectives & Projects
This is my primary reason for posting today, as I feel this information is not sufficiently "centralized" / amassed / curated, etc. Please understand that the focus is on Personal Websites, not neat or interesting or fun sites, but places made, cared for, and shared by real people- individuals. I have listed them alphabetically:

Name	How To Join?	Features	Creators
Agora Road Feeds	Join Agora Road	This List.	zinricky
Bear Blog	You have to create your site via bearblog.dev	Search	Herman Martinus
BlogScroll	Github	Random	Den Delimarsky
Bring Back Blogging	Can't Join	Search	Ash Huang & Ryan Putnam
Gossip's Web	Can't Join*	Random	Unknown
Hacker News Blogroll	Email Nelson Hernandez (deathbypenguin)	Random, CSV / JSON / OPML, Live Feed & Search	Nelson Hernandez (deathbypenguin)
Hyperlink Cafe	Github	X	Simon Dann
ichi	You have to create your site via ichi.city	X	m15o [1 & 2]
I'll Read It	Email Manu	OPML	Manuel Moreale (an Agora Road Traveler)
Improbable Island "Ads"	Form	Random	Dan Hall
indieblog.page	Form	Random, List & RSS Service	Andreas Gohr
IndieNews	Form	List, Weekly Summary + Audio Edition & Languages	Aaron Parecki & Marty McGuire
indieseek.xyz	Form	Random & Search	Brad Enslen
IndieWeb Directory	IndieAuth*	X	Grant Richmond
i.webthings directory	Form	Random & Search	joe jenett
JAUP	Form	X	Unknown
johnvertisements	Email citrons	Random	citrons
Lainchan Webring [1 & 2]	Look for the "Let's Create a Webring!" thread	Random & OPML	Lainchan & Yukinu
LinkLane.Net	Form	Categories	Unknown
List-Me.com	Form	Categories	Unknown
Marginalia Search	Search "site:example.com" and get in the queue	Random & Website Tinder	Viktor Lofgren
Moonjump	Indirectly via Are.na, Hacker News or Marginalia Search	Random & Search	Ankit Bagchi
Neocities	You have to create your site via neocities.org (ZinRicky's & dorgon's advice)	Random & Tags	Kyle Drake
Nerd Listings	Form	Categories	Unknown
Nightfall City	Form	The Midnight Pub	m15o [1 & 2]
No CSS Club	Email Martin	X	Martin Chrzanowski
Non-Profit Bloggers	Github	X	Matthew
nownownow.com	Email Derek Sivers	X	Derek Sivers
ooh.directory	Form	Random	Phil Gyford
omg.lol	$20 per year + You have to create your site via omg.lol	List [2, 3 & 4] & Work-in-Progress* (To-Do)	Adam Newbold
Peelopaalu	Email Snooper	X	Snooper
PersonalSit.es	Github	Sites with Feed	Andy Bell & Henry Desroches
RSS Club	Email Dave	OPML	Dave Rupert
Search My Site	Form	Random	Michael I Lewis
Smooth Sailing Listings	Form	Categories	Lysianthus (Asclaria)
The Big List of Personal Websites	Form's at the bottom	X	Cheapskate (terraaeon)
The Darktheme Club	Github	Random	Garrit Franke
The Forest	Form	Random	Manuel Moreale (an Agora Road Traveler) & Carl Barenbrug
The Internet Portal	X	Random	Samuel Berman & Erik Uden
The kino webring	Email or Github	X	Ty3r0X
The Neon Kiosk	Form	X	m15o [1 & 2]
The no-JS Club	sourcehut	X	Frank Homburg & shruub
The WebRings Fanlisting	Form	X	Nicki Faulk
The Whimsical Web	Github	X	Max Böck
thoughts webring	Create a thoughts page	X	Wesley Aptekar-Cassels
tildeverse	Join a tilde & build your site there	List [1, 2, 3 & 4] & Random [1 & 2]	To-Do
uses.tech	Github	Tags	Wes Bos
Websites	Message SolidStateSurvivor	Descriptions & Tags	SolidStateSurvivor (an Agora Road Traveler)
Wiby	Form	Random	Unknown
XHTML Club	Email Brad	X	Bradley Taunt
XXIIVV Webring	Github	Random & Search	Devine Lu Linvega
Ye Olde Blogroll	Form	Random, Planet & Search	Ray
Yesterlinks	Can't Join	Random, Search & Tags	Sadness
1MB Club	Email or sourcehut	X	Bradley Taunt
512KB Club	Github	X	Kev Quirk
250kb Club	sourcehut or Github	X	Norman Köhring
10 KB Club	Github	X	Susam Pal
1kB Club	sourcehut	X	Bradley Taunt

With only a few exceptions, all of these places are joinable and (mostly) exclusively connect you to personal websites.

 

[Eden]

Webrings
I'm not explaining them here. Ray Thomas "brisray" hosts the quintessential 1. List of Webrings, 2. History of Webrings and 3. How Webrings Work pages on the internet. He estimates nearly ~9,000 personal websites to explore via those webrings alone.

Not only do I encourage you to browse them, I encourage you to join them. I believe you should broadcast your voice. Send out signs of life, state your presence. Do not be passive in your site's discovery. I believe YOU are worth finding.

Also: Consider joining the Travelers of Agora Road Webring! Write Voicedrew if interested :^)

The Personal Websites of Agora Road

Website(s) ~ Total: 61 / 62 (26 on Neocities)	Web Feeds	Traveler's Name
55-pedro.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	Sulfate
aboboracandy.neocities.org	Feed	dargon
agoraroad.com	X	IlluminatiPirate
alixxd.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	alix
andrei.xyz	Feed	andreixyz
aoaed-official.neocities.org	X	Chao Tse-Tung
aralsheart.ichi.city	Archive, but no feed.	Aral of Xiaohe
argusarts.com	X	stonehead
blissnet.neocities.org	X	Cinderpeach
cornsyrupcentral.com	X	DIGIT4L_
dc-blog.neocities.org	X	Digital Cheese
deurachavich.moe	Feed	Ashman
dorgon.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	dorgon
falsememories.neocities.org	X	Vaporweeb
foreverliketh.is	Feed	Eden
freckleskies.net	Feed	myrriad
getimiskon.xyz	Feed	getimiskon
h00.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	h00
i330.dev	Feed	I-330
itapun.bearblog.dev	Feed	Obake
idelides.neocities.org	X	Jade
insomniac.ichi.city	Journal, but no feed.	backroomsDev
jackals.neocities.org	X	スーパー Meidoメイド
kodeb8.neocities.org	X	kodeb8
lisanna.neocities.org	Feed	Lis
lostinthecycle.art	X	LostintheCycle
manpaint.neocities.org	Feed	manpaint
manuelmoreale.com + theforest.link (niuenso.com)	Feed	niuenso
microbyte.neocities.org	Feed	microbyte
myyolo1999.blogspot.com/p/ja.html	X	雨、Some_porcupine、 逃げ出した後
neonriser.neocities.org	Dreams, but no feed.	Neonriser
nhkhq.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	sleepwalker
no56.neocities.org	X	№56
nuedge.ichi.city	Feed	Lunedgy
overcrook.club	X	Boxerdog
psychcool.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	Psychcool
purplehello98.neocities.org	Blog, but no feed.	PurpleHello98
rereversible.neocities.org	Posts, but no feed.	wearyinternettraveler
risingthumb.xyz	RSS or Atom Feed	RisingThumb
blog.shr4pnel.com	Feed	shrapnelnet
sizeof.cat + Tor mirror	RSS or Atom or JSON Feed + Microblog Feed	sizeofcat
skeleg.org	Posts, but no feed.	skelegorg
splashy.neocities.org	blogs and articles, but no feed.	splashy
starbreaker.org	Feed	starbreaker
thecozy.cat	Feed	Aevisia
epilepsy warning* themaczone.neocities.org	X	Dr. MacGutsy
Tor exclusive	X	gsyme
upallnight.wtf	Blog, but no feed.	upallnight
vetusomaru.dreamwidth.org	RSS or Atom Feed	Vetusomaru
voicedrew.xyz	X	Voicedrew
vulonkaaz.flyingcube.tech	X	vulonkaaz
walrus-island.neocities.org	X	HammerKoopa
whitevhs.xyz	Feed	whiteVHS
wkyk.neocities.org	X	WKYK
xandra.cc	Feed	xandra
evvv.org	X	eve
yabba.bearblog.dev	Feed	Yabba
youtuube.neocities.org (Websites)	X	SolidStateSurvivor
yuiui.moe	Blog, but no feed.	Yuiui
zalazalaza.xyz	Blog, but no feed.	zalaz alaza
zeropointfool.com	Feed	Brapuccino
zinricky.tilde.team	Feed	ZinRicky

RSS & Engagement / Connection
My final piece of advice regarding the personal web is that you (primarily) keep up with it via feeds. There really isn't an easier alternative. If a site doesn't have a feed, you'd just have to remember to come back. Which is a shame for both you and the webmaster. So I encourage you to have a feed on your site and collect the feeds of others. Shoutout to my feed reader: Miniflux

Additionally, consider engaging with others. I mean, if you're on Agora Road, you're clearly ahead of me here, but don't let your website become a castle that you never leave. Connect with others, ideally via mediums that respect you, i.e. NOT garbage social media sites. But you do you, if you feel you can manage, awesome. Be it through the Fediverse or IRC / XMPP, reach out. Or don't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do it your way!

Button Walls / Web Badges / Friends
If you ARE interested in connecting with others, I've found web buttons and exchanging them to be a rather intimate (yet casual?) fun activity. I think many people just kinda collect badges from sites they visit and liked, but never interacted with the site owner. I'd say that's more akin to "travelling" and collecting magnets for your fridge of the places you've been. I think it's more interesting to reach out to the site owner, to connect with them in some way, even if it's a tiny gesture. If you don't want to spend too much time building a rapport, ask them outright to exchange buttons with you / be friends. If you're willing to commit some time to a mutually-desired relationship, it can feel pretty special when that topic arises naturally. And then the buttons kinda take on a deeper meaning: those aren't just places you visited, those are relationships you built, connections you made. I think that's pretty cool, and why I kinda consider this "tradition" above all the others I mentioned. Also, it's an interesting experience to create a web button. Worth doing, imo.

Edit: Here's the largest 88x31 GIF (Web Badge) Collection for reference & inspiration.

 

[h00]

GOOD POST, nice site too
I still need to get a domain for my shitsite lol

 

[Yabba]

Bear Blog [To Join: You have to create your site via bearblog.dev]

Cannot recommend bearblog enough if you want a simple, no nonsense way to get your voice out.

 

[vect0r]

It's really good to see that the movement isn't dying off so-to-speak. Rather it's evolving/ getting revised. Anyway, thank you for the resources; especially Bear Blog. Because it really seems like a better alternative to Neocities, considering what the topic of my blog is and how Neocities isn't really privacy-respecting AFAIK.

 

[Eden]

Website Creation
This one's a bit of a toughie, cause there are so many ways of doing it. In a perfect world, autonomy would be directly proportional to convenience. In reality, it is inversely proportional. Meaning: the more independent you try to be, the more of a pain in the a*s this sh*t becomes. Since I consider outreach to be a core philosophy of the "personal web", I'm going to prioritize convenience. (I am also not very smart) So, this is meant to be introductory; maybe you don't even want a personal website! As soon as you get one and try it out for a bit, you may feel something akin to: "Uhh, yeah: This is retarded." Which is 100% true, btw. And it's wonderful that you figured that out NOW rather than AFTER your 1,000-hour shōnen training arc where you master HTML, CSS, Javascript, Version Control, the Terminal, Self-Hosting (& Servers), some general IT know-how and God only knows what else.

A very common thing in this space is that people get so obsessed with making and designing and setting-up and optimizing workflow and self-hosting and "blahblahblah"-ing their websites that when they're (finally!) done, they find out: "*wheezes* Uhhhh, actually, I don't really have anything to say." I swear this is a meme (we have memes! We're legit, join us!); I cannot tell you how many websites I've come across where the only motherfuggin post is some tech bro (from years ago btw) going on about how they made their website. Like, man: Find Jesus. It's essentially this Spongebob joke:


Option #1: Bear Blog

Cannot recommend bearblog enough if you want a simple, no nonsense way to get your voice out.

My homie here is galaxy-brained. You want to find out if "personal website"-ing is for you: Bear Blog is, likely, an excellent way to do so; to find out if you have anything to say. Herman has made this service that essentially skips you all the way past your year with King Kai and drops you straight into the fight with the Saiyans (OK, I'm done, I'm sorry). And don't even feel bad at first if you feel you don't have anything to say- like, the fact that you are now thinking about what to write is one of the key reasons for having a personal site. That facet of exploring yourself and molding your message for an anonymous public is the TRUE & HONEST purpose. NOT becoming some genius tech wiz.

OK, now, for a couple of issues: Bear Blog is not really YOUR website. It is Herman's website and he has rules. And irrespective of how you feel about those rules, you live in his house, and you will "respek his authoratay". So, the things you want to say: Are they edgy? Are you skirting a line? I'm afraid you may not be welcome. Please understand, that it is not so much due to censorship, but more for the other people using the service. The logic is that your bad juju could rub off on the site as a whole, and then nobody wants to visit Bear Blogs. I'm not justifying it, I'm just explaining it.

This is unironically something I struggled with after I made my website. I was so used to not having to "bend the knee" to anyone that when I started interacting like this, I had to reel myself in a bit. Like: "Oh sh*t, I live in a society." The freedom is baller, few things like it, yo. I recommend.

Another issue (but also a strength) is the lack of control regarding appearance. I'm not this kind-of person, but many artists take great pride in "pimping-out" their site. Like, the appearance is part of their message, which is awesome! But not what Bear Blog is about. If you are primarily a writer, you should be golden though. Unfortunately, it can also feel a bit like suburbia when all of your closest neighbors have the exact same house as you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[ZinRicky]

Collectives & Projects

I think we should mention The Neon Kiosk as well: you can join as long as you have a journal / blog webpage as specified by the creator's standard

 

[Eden]

I think we should mention The Neon Kiosk as well: you can join as long as you have a journal / blog webpage as specified by the creator's standard

Love this! Adding it now.

 

[Eden]

Option #2: Neocities
So I would say Neocities is the next step-up after Bear Blog. You still don't have to worry about acquiring a domain or hosting, but now you essentially have to code your website (with stuff like HTML, CSS & maybe even JavaScript). This is bad in the sense of involving learning the code to get your website to look how you want it to. It's good in the sense of you can take that code with you anywhere you like, even if Neocities should die, as long as you have your code and your files, you own your content. In the event that you don't really feel like building your site from scratch, there are places you can go to acquire a sorta template / premade code to hit the ground running. Sadness famously had one she made herself. This path will be more work, but in traversing it, you acquire more autonomy. Not just via the code you write, either. Knowledge, learning itself, is autonomy. Another thing I advise you to figure out here is how to make an RSS feed for your site. Bear Blog auto-magically generates one for you, but you're on your own with Neocities. I don't know if that video I linked is any good btw, my RSS feed is auto-magically generated as well, but I found it on rss.com so hopefully it's at least decent. If anyone experienced wants to talk more about creating RSS feeds, I would love to read it.

Edit: Here is an even better list of Layouts / Templates / pre-made Website Code.

In terms of weaknesses, I can only really think of 2 or 3 that Neocities suffers from. While this is also still a case of "not your house, not your rules", I've found Neocities to be quite tolerant (or at least ignorant, kek) of edgy sites, so it's not as big a problem as Bear Blog imo. An actual big problem with Neocities, & I don't personally use it- disclaimer, is that I find its coding / uploading interface to be pretty bad. Very slow, very wonky / glitchy. I think I once read there were ways to circumvent it, but I could be wrong or maybe that's just a premium feature, I don't know. What I'm saying is I believe the User Interface kinda sucks. And if it bothers you a lot you should know that there are alternatives. Don't force yourself to use something you hate.

Finally, and I think this is the biggest one imo, for both Bear Blog and Neocities: You don't have your own unique domain, yo. And what that essentially boils down to is you don't truly own your URLs, your links. They are at the mercy of the true domain owner. There's this concept known as link rot that is a slightly decent counter-argument to "the internet is forever". In the personal web world, dead sites and links are everywhere. And what's really tragic is when they are not due to the site admin, but a consequence of the service(s) they were reliant on. And usually, people are left with no way to find the original site or their owner or the content from said link.

Slightly melodramatic, but it's a legitimate issue. The main reasons for not owning your own domain include: 1. You gotta learn to acquire one 2. You gotta pay for it, yearly, for the rest of your life 3. You gotta do a bit of technical mumbo-jumbo to use it. Irrespective, both Bear Blog and Neocities support usage of their services with your own domain, so there really isn't any reason you can't acquire a unique domain and not use these services.

 

[RisingThumb]

This one's a bit of a toughie, cause there are so many ways of doing it. In a perfect world, autonomy would be directly proportional to convenience. In reality, it is inversely proportional. Meaning: the more independent you try to be, the more of a pain in the a*s this sh*t becomes. Since I consider outreach to be a core philosophy of the "personal web", I'm going to prioritize convenience. (I am also not very smart) So, this is meant to be introductory; maybe you don't even want a personal website! As soon as you get one and try it out for a bit, you may feel something akin to: "Uhh, yeah: This is retarded." Which is 100% true, btw. And it's wonderful that you figured that out NOW rather than AFTER your 1,000-hour shōnen training arc where you master HTML, CSS, Javascript, Version Control, the Terminal, Self-Hosting (& Servers), some general IT know-how and God only knows what else.

I believe independence has little correlation to convenience. A system that makes you more independent can make things more convenient(Linux, Workshop tools etc). I believe independence within networks of people, creates inconvenience.

 

[ZinRicky]

its coding / uploading interface to be pretty bad. Very slow, very wonky / glitchy. I think I once read there were ways to circumvent it, but I could be wrong or maybe that's just a premium feature, I don't know. What I'm saying is I believe the User Interface kinda sucks. And if it bothers you a lot you should know that there are alternatives. Don't force yourself to use something you hate.

This is quite the issue with Neocities, but we're fortunate enough that this Github template exists: you upload your files / sources on your personal repository and changes are pushed. No payment required: you just need your (free) API key

 

[Eden]

Option #3: Static Site Generators
Ok, this is as deep as I'm going, cause this is as deep as I am. Again, there's no perfect way to make a site. Use whatever gets your site up and shared and that you're happy with. In my opinion, there are few things I consider simpler, in the long run, than using an SSG. I, personally, use Hugo, because that's what Papa Luke said I should use. (Yes, I am that basic.) The reason for the tool you choose doesn't matter. What matters is that you use something instead of spending eternity thinking about what would be best. CHOOSE SOMETHING and then USE IT.

There are quite a few benefits to using an SSG:
1. File partials - Instead of repetitive code, you write that code once, and the SSG will put it where it needs to go for you, in as many places as it needs too.
2. Markdown - You hardly deal with actual code when writing content, you mostly do things with Markdown and the SSG automagically translates it to HTML / CSS / etc. Which is wonderful because you focus, exclusively, on what you have to say. Which is, likely, the point of your personal website.
3. Templates / "Themes" - Hugo in particular has quite an array of starter templates, some with really detailed guides.

Cons with SSGs include:
1. Figuring out how the heck to use your SSG which is likely to have a learning curve. Hugo in particular uses the Go programming language, so I occasionally also have to deal with that. You're likely also going to be dealing with the terminal.
2. Becoming dependent on this middle-man software that generates your site for you rather than just writing out your code by hand.
3. If you are exclusively using an SSG you will still have to figure out hosting for your site and, ideally, setting up a frictionless pipeline that makes running your site a pleasure rather than a pain.
4. Should you become reliant on a template made by someone else, you are dependent on that person for updates, along with any dependencies they built into it.

"There is no heaven on earth."

I encourage anybody with experience to share the pros and cons of their route to making a website.

 

[Eden]

I have added the tildeverse to the list of communities. I'm not really familiar with them. They are not exclusively focused on building websites, but I feel their "philosophy" is in a similar ballpark? Could be wrong here, so if anyone is in-the-know with that whole sect / group, feel free to shed some light!

 

[RisingThumb]

I'm more of a werc guy myself

 

[Eden]

I'm more of a werc guy myself

You know, I forgot to talk about WordPress. Honestly, though, that is a whole other discussion.

My man, would you be willing to talk about werc and what it's like a little? Pros and cons? I have never met a site that used it until I came across yours, and that's pretty impressive because I visit sites for fun. If it is that niche, I question how much assistance or support someone struggling is going to find. And with all due respect, cause your site is clearly based, that kinda attitude of link and leave, not very olive branch-y. Not very supportive. Perhaps this hobby is not a struggle to you, but it is to me. Do you care not for whether another can follow in your footsteps? I ask sincerely, apologies if a bit intensely. I really do like your style.

 

[ZinRicky]

I have added the tildeverse to the list of communities. I'm not really familiar with them. They are not exclusively focused on building websites, but I feel their "philosophy" is in a similar ballpark? Could be wrong here, so if anyone is in-the-know with that whole sect / group, feel free to shed some light!

I am a member of ~team, one of the biggest "tilde" communities. Tildes are about the concept of a pubnix, i.e. a single machine running a Linux or *BSD system, shared among the users. The idea is that you can always SSH into a plethora of services (mail, IRC, hosting with PHP enabled) and program your own small services (as long as you don't abuse the system).
The difference between a generic pubinx and a tilde community is the general "philosophy": tildes are often founded on rejection of Web 2.0 dynamics (walled gardens, attention economy, SaaS etc.) and thus offer an online experience more like "the best from the old days". You get a modest amount of space on disk and the power to create and share, that's it.

 

[RisingThumb]

My man, would you be willing to talk about werc and what it's like a little? Pros and cons? I have never met a site that used it until I came across yours, and that's pretty impressive because I visit sites for fun. If it is that niche, I question how much assistance or support someone struggling is going to find. And with all due respect, cause your site is clearly based, that kinda attitude of link and leave, not very olive branch-y. Not very supportive. Perhaps this hobby is not a struggle to you, but it is to me. Do you care not for whether another can follow in your footsteps? I ask sincerely, apologies if a bit intensely. I really do like your style.

Sure! Werc is definitely a bit difficult to use because it requires setting up a webserver that allows CGI. I do this on my VPS. You then also need programs on plan9 that are ported to Linux(alternatively host it on a Plan9 OS but I have no experience with that). The best way to describe it is it's the "UNIX Philosophy" or web pages.

Once you have it set up, the default set up allows multiple users(literally just a filename with a password as its only line of text), multiple "accounts", web-based editing of pages, and it allows you to use whichever markdown language you like as it just pipes the text for a page into an awk script, and that awk script ouputs the HTML. You can also change the configuration for your werc site depending on the folder directory you are in(this allows you to change styling, variables used in scripts, templates used etc), and have "hidden" directories too(that you can still link to on the internet). It is also a dynamic site, not a static site, so any changes you make are reflected in real time. This configuration allows you to have "applications" (in reality just short scripts written in any language you like) that you can enable or disable accordingly by setting variables in that werc config. There's a bunch of applications available by default, but you can modify and add your own. If you want to modify it a lot, it is not something for the faint-hearted and technically illiterate(and I'm not saying that as a gatekeeping thing, but because it is difficult because it falls under the plan9 niche). If anyone should have interest and wants to try it, feel free to message me for any support. Kyle's work is a good point of reference to making new and unique things with it.
PROS

• Can write in any markdown language you like, even your own, by writing a script to convert it into corresponding HTML
• Can use any applications you like, including writing ones of your own to extend dynamic functionality
• Uses templating
• Uses Plan9 tools, and the UNIX philosophy
• Minimal size
• All in text files and folder structures
• Dynamic
• CGI

CONS

• Lack of users
• Lack of support
• Some familiarity with Linux is a must for hosting
• Familiarity with programming for extending functionality with applications
• Dynamic
• CGI

I put CGI and Dynamic in as pro and con, because depending on who you talk to it'll be one or the other.

As for why very few people use it, the presentation is a dead giveaway that it chides modern internet styling(anti-web framework and cat-v considered harmful), the lack of documentation, the original creator committing suicide leaving the project in stasis and maintained by Stanley Lieber, a guy who dislikes computers, the use of practically dead applications and OS tools(I would say the number of people who use Plan9 is under 1000 people, and more likely under 100 people who take a serious interest in it). It appeals primarily to programmers... and from the looks of it almost nobody else, and the way it presents information is incredibly dense and minimal.

That said, you can make modern sites with it as Kyle shows with Tokumei and with Flirtu.al. Since your interest is intense, feel free to pick my brain if you have any more questions

I am a member of ~team, one of the biggest "tilde" communities. Tildes are about the concept of a pubnix, i.e. a single machine running a Linux or *BSD system, shared among the users. The idea is that you can always SSH into a plethora of services (mail, IRC, hosting with PHP enabled) and program your own small services (as long as you don't abuse the system).

I see some tilde stuff is gemini focused. +Respect!

 

[h00]

That said, you can make modern sites with it as Kyle shows with Tokumei and with Flirtu.al.

WTF is FLIRTU.AL

I do not like this

Shit I guess its at least less depressing than the ChatGPT 3D VR Waifu

 

[wearyinternettraveler]

WTF is FLIRTU.AL
View attachment 61101
I do not like this
View attachment 61102
Shit I guess its at least less depressing than the ChatGPT 3D VR Waifu

Allah will punish us for our insolence.

 

[Eden]

Website Builders (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, etc.)
I do not mean to speak for the entirety of the Personal Web (Small Web / Indieweb / Web Revival / Old Web / Cozy Web- Jesus, too many names for very similar things, imo), but it is my understanding that these "Website Building" services are generally looked down upon. I want to say primarily because these places are businesses whose goal is to exploit you as much as they are able, in order to turn a profit. They thrive off of your ignorance, insecurities, haste, reliance, etc. Not only will they have a negative effect on you, they will exploit your visitors as much as they can as well. Perhaps I am being too harsh with them, but more likely you are being too kind. This is my gut reaction, but...

There are many people who just cannot Technology. It is not "in their blood", and if it was, they'd expel it. People who want the convenience of social media without the struggle that would come from taking charge of a site. Should they be barred from associating? I don't believe so. It may not be with as much independence, but these people have something to say too, something to share. It is not these people that we lament, but their keepers. I am certain there are people for whom these places are truly the ideal solution, but I also bet there are many people who have just been "psyopd" to believe that.

These places share a very similar message to the one in this thread: "Create a website!", but their intent is entirely different.

WordPress.org
WordPress.com is a service like the one discussed above using the WordPress software, while WordPress.org is the software itself, which you can use to build and maintain a website on your own. WordPress.org is more based than WordPress.com. There are many concerns regarding WordPress in general however, issues involving security, bloat / speed, age, etc. And yet, WordPress perseveres. I don't use it, but I'm not saying you shouldn't ¯\_(ツ)_/¯