Why I Don't Want to Leave Neocities

I Love the Community Too Much

I complain a lot about communities I'm a part of and it's mostly because of my stupid anxiety--I use anger to hide it. But I love the Neocities community (mostly). I think one of my favorite things on here are pixel cliques! It's so much fun to see what everyone makes and to throw your own hat in the ring.

I recently discovered teeny towers by Keys Klubhouse through a mutual, riotghoul, on Neocities! What a fun chain of events! This is the sort of thing I crave online--a thriving, breathing, beating community. Y'know, with flesh n' guts n' stuff.

Some people criticize the social aspects of Neocities, and I can understand why. It is a little strange and slightly social media-ified--but, all in all, I really like what the social features have to offer for the smallweb experience.

I have a feeling that Neocities is only going to continue to grow, it might even become an internet standard--albeit still niche as you need coding knowledge to participate. But still, templates and guides (another community aspect I enjoy about Neocities) allow coding novices to join the fun. It's also completely free, and who doesn't like free stuff?

It's really cool to see how Neocities has revived things like deviantart stamps! DA was the best in its heyday. RIP DA. It's also revived personal blogging and internet journaling. I think my only complaint is it hasn't revived the same chaotic free for all energy of the oldweb. I really miss that unbridled honesty--though admittedly it came with a lot of very toxic baggage.

The Drawbacks

Neocities is amazing, and awesome, and super duper cool--and I love making websites! However . . . It's not all sugar and rainbows--even if the community tries to pretend it is. Some people are cliqueish due to the social features. Some people think the smallweb should be all cozy sunshine-bedtime all the time. Some people are outright bigots and assholes in hiding.

I've had a few bad run ins on here personally. The cliquey types and the sunshine-bedtime types. Mostly there's just a feeling of exclusion from these people--as I'm very prickly and intense--as is my art. My art is also radically honest because my heart had nowhere else to go. This isn't fashionable of me, but who cares? I never follow trends, my delusions of grandeur would have me believe, or at least I'd like to try, and set them instead.

But those really are not that common (thankfully), I think a more prominent issue with the Neocities community is the lack of new content. That's why pixel cliques are so fun! They're all about fostering new creations and I think that's wonderful.

I understand a lot of old graphics on old Geocities websites were very beautiful, and it's okay to use them (I personally don't because it kinda feels like digital grave robbing, but that's just me), but I really prefer to see new beautiful (and credited!) creations. This is why I made a graphic hosting website, Rainbow Range. It's dedicated to new webgraphics and each one is fully credited! There is also a member directory, just like a webring or clique.

New New New

I've always been a future forward thinker, never caring much for nostalgia. I remember this feeling very strongly in regards to Pokemon. I was a Gen 5 kid, I still remember the hate all the designs got--Gen 5 has some of my absolute favorites. I guess I'm trying to say I've been through this sort of rodeo before; while everyone else cries about the past, I'm busy trying to build the future all by myself.

It might be the severe, unmedicated ADHD, but I just love new things! New, new, new! I wanna see what else humans can do--what else can we make? There's so much still left untapped and unexplored. The past is pleasant and good to learn from, but it shouldn't look to be recreated imo.

Learn from the past, don't live in it.