Hopefully I remember to save my draft this time so it doesn't go over a day. I'm sure I could hotwire another blogging service to tidy my website up, but I'm just learning as I go.
Currently listening to ArpWire TV as I write this, which inspired the look for the message wall banner that I just put up.
I noticed a video the other day on my YT reccommends, where somebody visited nostalgia revival pages such as SpaceHey, NeoCities (The one you're on, unless somebody archived my blog for some reason), and NewGrounds. There was a few I didn't recognize and I didn't click on the video, so sorry to whoever you were. It got me thinking, well, is this a genuine revival thing or is it just a place where other fellow oldheads get to complain about how the most recent flavored internet tastes rancid? What I'm doing is actually making a site and putting my miscellaneous internet thoughts in it, like Planet Tad.
Update before I click save: The video in question is 'The weird world of "indie social media" by Diggon! If you want, give it a spin, I pruned my algo to get some small channels like this to get pushed!
Forgive me if I oust myself for being fairly noobish with my internet skills, but the question that got me jogging is from the genuine questioning that video title and thumbnail got me to think. What is the purpose of these neo-sites? Another link to chain to your iKeychain for the biggest net of exposure? To keep in touch with a particular social group, or to just be the guy that says "yeah, I kinda have my own SpaceHey profile...". The forums of SpaceHey and Newgrounds appear to be in their own little worlds, with NG being a host site of artists, genuine amateur VAs, and music artists getting their help with whatever. SpaceHey mostly has reasonable threads of people being people, getting some advice with their page or whatever, or the occasional troll slipping through the cracks and causing a bit of miniature chaos. I decided against hopping into SpaceHey, because I don't get out enough as is, and the last thing I want to do is to give all my personal details to a remarkably more niche market than others.
The most observable thing with NeoCities for me is that people are primarily using it as a more down to earth website provider, and well, it's hard to gauge interaction with others based on a view counter. Doesn't help that you have to sift through some options to be able to search for whats in a page, and the search bar implies that it's on tags/categories instead of actually being general details like a search engine. I try to explore some sites, like I found some dude talking about watching some old TransWorld Skate videos, and it felt like I was just vegging on a couch as the dude talks about the various things that he likes and hates. I also learned that any skate brand that he mentions that I recognize is probably some revitalization. Other sites are likely game related, like airing grieviences on the skate series banking on the flickit controls, even though it feels more like moving your finger-foot on a slightly curved ball than a flat board. the recognition is also flabby at times, but blame me wanting to just go outside and DO the actual trick than to get more thumb pain grinding my stick's plastic down.
Sorry, I got sidetracked. Anyway, these neo-revivals I started on. This is the part where I play the video I saw and get lazy and kinda, reply to the points they're bringing up. The point that the 'Tuber made is something that I agree with, why should we get stuck in the mud with nostalgia when we can be sincere and actually go with making a site with the 'human' element? Well, old habits die hard, something that I can share about.
I used to be an active member of a flipnote revival service called sudomemo. I did scroll like it was just a humble continuation of hatena, but there was something missing about it. There wasn't much originality or fresh blood to warrant me continuing to use the site, and I feel like it only got more stagnant as the pool of people familiar with the site shrinks harder and harder. Not to mention, hosting a thing like that takes money, which is hard to find and even harder to slip in without seeming like it's virtual panhandling. For the new bloods that do manage to get past the reqs and post their stuff, it's always emulating another flipnote artist that got popular on OTHER SOCIAL MEDIAS, which kinda leeches people back into using the same 3 sites. Even on the Discord that I kept on for about 8 years was not showing any signs of growth or genuine artists to connect with. Why bother with sticking on a site that's growing more stale when I can just cut the middleman and go onto YT again?
A huge issue with the indie sites that aim to replicate these experiences is that it always feels like there's always a huge shadow to escape from, no less safeguard from the less appealing parts of the internet. Why should I mingle with a niche sect of strange people when I can already do that with the click of a button? The aim is to replicate the feeling of hanging out with somebody in the real world, not just end up back to trying to get another internet paycheck or hit of social popularity, that stuff belongs to be banished back to the high school era. Time will tell though, I hope one of those sites manages to spite me and become successful (as in moderately used) just to knock my metaphorical socks off.
Crap, I really need to stop ranting and going off topic like this. I know this isn't college, or university, but I do want to be somewhat formal. It's also getting late as I type this. Until next time, I'll be doing something boneheaded.
