Community for the appreciation and sharing of links, resources, and culture of: the smol web / small web / ~(w)~ / the indie web / or even the non-www internet (gemini, gopher, etc).
Back of a napkin definition, subject to change: if it's internet accessible and is maintained by a person, especially for non-commercial aims, then I would consider it smol. There are, however, much stricter definitions.
Remember Ajit Pai? A few months ago, the FCC tried to reverse course and once again instate net neutrality laws. Unfortunately, an appeals court stopped it.
So, if you wonder why the smaller sites you visit take longer to load, sometimes 15 seconds or more, this is why.
No, it used to be a mostly boring desert populated with oases of fun. Hidden from view in obscure forums frequented by 11 people.
It's basically the same. Instead of forums or newsgroups we're forced to keep up with anti-corpoate social media, but its the same shit. I have a computer, you have a computer, they talk to each other. What's changed is how honest the advertisers are.
Im not saying it's better now, people.
desert populated with oases of fun. Hidden from view in obscure forums frequented by 11 people
Perfect. We should do that again.
I find that a lot of the forums that I used to visit closed down when everyone started using facebook, reddit, deviant art, digg, etc.
Nowadays most of the personally hosted websites tend to be either: resume / portfolio site or a developer/tech guy that wants to bring the feeling of a community from the early 2000s back and has a forum (and has the know how).
For a time I also checked out some creators slack/discord channels, but the vibe didn't feel right (and apparently are unsearchable).
I would say its very different now.