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site manifesto!

introduction

i've lurked across the indie web since about 2021 and throughout my days, i've seen dozens and dozens of site manifestos. when i finally got back to coding, one of the top things on my list was to make a cheesy and shitty but ultimately sincere site manifesto for the indie web :) this page is meant to be a site manifesto, but also a letter to those on the outside; to show you what beauty you can find in the internet outside of the constant loop of traditional social media.
p.s. if this is incoherent, i am very sorry because this manifesto was written while i was very mildly high

table of contents

what is the indie web?

in 1994, the website geocities was first established! this era of the internet before and shortly after the turn of the millenium was called "the wild west." although a lot of things were operated by professional software developers, the internet was ultimately a space owned by the people. many laws censoring the internet now just didn't exist. geocities was a web-hosting platform that allowed you to create your own hand-coded website! geocities was a platform used by many many people. from weird teenagers to small businesses, you couldn't escape geocities on the early internet. however, geocities was acquired by yahoo in 1999, and eventually died a painfully corporate death in 2009.(very dumbed down version of history and there were other influential platforms but my original draft of this section got too long) the shutdown of geocities along with the end of many other similar services reminiscent of what the internet used to be (forum boards, old web games, etc.) also symbolized the death of the internet being fun for people like you and me! the indie web is a collection of small individual hand-coded web projects to reclaim what we can of the internet and at least attempt to bring back our old spirit!

corporate greed, surveillance, and censorship

think about the average social media platform you tend to find yourself using. youtube, tiktok, instagram, facebook, snapchat, the likes. generally, the social media you use is owned by companies making millions or billions of dollars. this sort of control makes the internet a collection of monopolies watching you. the modern internet is not for your own enjoyment, but for more money in their pockets. this makes social media not a very safe place for the average person. large social media companies (and big tech in general) often have ties to the government. and regardless of your political affiliation, you can acknowledge that the government doesn't always necessarily have the common person's interest. these social media platforms are censored to remain profitable and to stop certain kinds of ideologies or information from spreading. these social media platforms and the information you attach to it are used to watch on you: to sell your data or to make sure you are doing the "Right" thing. the internet as we currently see it is owned by advertisers and billionaires and corporations, when it should be owned by the people ☭:)

the rise of minimalism and the death of customization

no matter where you go--the real world or the web--you can notice that the world arguably looks boring. the world used to be filled with vivid colors and personality. look at archives of old sites, whether personal or business, but they had their own personality. this is another symptom of corporate greed. in attempt to make the world the most palettable and marketable possible, the world was made generic. shades of black and white and grey littered with hints of red and blue were used to make everything boring. when you look back at the old internet, you really could make most of your profiles look however you want. you customized your own website, maybe you coded your own myspace, you got to play with your forum signatures, the internet was your oyster as to how you wanted stuff to look. nowadays, very few social media platforms keep the spirit alive. you can change a profile picture, maybe a header image, a bio, maybe some funky characters or fonts or emojis in your user name, but that's ultimately all you get. the web has been made bland, and the indie web is an actionary rebellion against it

nostalgia or anemoia

nostalgia is a pain or longing for a place or concept in the past that no longer exists or is no longer possible to return to. anemoia is nostalgia for a time you personally never experienced. you can learn more about me here , but i must confess i am very very young. i am... in 8th grade (as of writing this). i never got to experience the internet truly in its prime. i got to be a couple years late to peak fandom culture, but when it comes to the indie web, i truly never got to experience any of it, but i do feel this longing for being a teen who got to experience these forums and this era personally. my heart really does reach out to those who truly did experience the internet during this time. nostalgia is an emotion that feels so despairing. the passing of time and the sense of growing older is a feeling that i don't think any human doesn't pain from. my contributions to the indie web are not just for my own selfish anemoia, but to fulfill the childish joy of early internet childhood for those who experienced it.

internet toxicity and discourse

i do understand the internet was stil very very toxic back in the day, but the web used to be so sincere during the early days. nowadays, everything on the internet is super centralized, meaning trends cycle faster and you end up afraid of being yourself. with how centralized the internet is, literally anyone can find you! you live in fear of strangers or uncomfortable acquaintances or employers finding your accounts and judging you :( the internet, as it grew, also ended up breeding a huge ecosystem or bullying. being anonymous made people more comfortable to ridicule others for having fun, which makes other people scared of filling their space the way they want to. cyberbullying is (and it still was back in the day) a huge issue and its way more accessible than bullying in real life. people on the internet argue just for the sake of arguing. i can't guarantee you that every person on the indie web is amazing and cool and nice, but the majority are very very nice. indie web folk are usually weirdos from all walks of life, and it lets the people be unabashed in their identity.

freedom

this site is a love letter to my life, but if you make your own site, you can make it whatever you want! a diary, a fanpage, a scrapbook, a portfolio, it doesn't matter! and for a lot of you (especially if you have no coding experience) it sounds daunting to make your own website, but i promise it'll make sense when you start. if you want my guide to starting your own site enter here

site manifestos / blog entries that inspired this page :)