Where Is My Tribe?

It's 2026. I came back over to my own patch of grass on the internet because there was yet-another-praise-the-indie-web article listed on the Orange Site. This one was specifically, “A Website to Destroy All Websites”. The article was fine. It tried to sound more academic by referencing BOOKS! Maybe even a couple Essays. The Orange Site jackals attacked the websites style and its javascript requirement, which I didn't understand at first because I read it on mobile first, where it looked quite fine and readable, and I resigned myself to Javascript about 20 years ago. Some fights are worth it ( Linux on the Desktop, baby! ), some are not.

Anyways, I popped on over here and according to the built in WriteFreely statistic, a non-zero number of people have visited this site. That's pretty cool, but maybe you visited and wondered why it's been relatively quiet since 2023, or, more likely, you didn't give two shits. Either way, it's mostly quiet here because I found that my preferred anonymous public outlet is short posts sometimes with funny pictures. This is not WriteFreely's forte, but I really like WriteFreely as a pure writing experience, and didn't want to lose that. So I spun up a short-form site over at my sub-site Campfire. It's not perfect; I think I broke my gunicorn (or is it uvicorn? or uwsgi?) Either way, sometimes it doesn't load. One day I will look into that, but, like my real-world physical properties, since its mine, I ultimately get around to it, when I get around to it. Let's not talk about that cracked tile in my kitchen....

I do like writing, and I have always thought of Where Is My Tribe as a way for me to, “comment on that post on the internet, but NOT delete the comment after drafting it.” Are you familiar with that technique? It's a way to satisfy my compulsive need to COMMENT!!!!!, but without all of inevitable backlash that comes with public disclosure. For you see, while I am allowed to have opinions on OP, THOU SHALT NOT OPINE ON ME! Man, I am on Fire with Caps today. I forget where I picked up the technique, but it's helped me NOT respond to many a stupid, time-wasting, conversations.

Maybe I will write more here. Despite my sarcasm in my intro, I actually really like the Indie Web or Small Web (is it Vanilla Ice Cream, French Vanilla Ice Cream, or Vanilla Bean Ice Cream). I am a paid user of Kagi Search, and once in a while, I find myself over on their Small Web portal. It's nice.

What's odd is, most people rage about being forced onto the same, “three sites.” I assume they mean Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok? Or maybe it's, [Meta property], [Micro Blog Site], [Short Form Video Site]? I don't know. I do admit to spending time on Youtube and Reddit. Those are my poisons. But, do you need to? I love how there is always that guy in the online discourse around Small Web who comments, “Nobody is forcing you onto those sites.” And I find that true as well. I don't use social media as a way to be social. I find I much prefer just being social through messaging people and IRL social functions (sporting, “going out” with friends, working from third spaces).

Heck, even if no one reads this post, I feel better and lighter just writing my stream of thoughts here, relatively unedited. I don't know the scientific phrase for “person who thinks best by hearing their own ideas out loud,” but I would definitely assert that one of the best ways I refine my thoughts is through speaking them out loud. You see this pathos expressed in a few ways that you may be familiar with. Rubber Duck Debugging? Proof Reading Out Loud. These two are what I use as examples to remind myself I am not just some narcissist who, “loves to hear his own voice.” I do indeed rely on my hearing my own voice, but I don't get a chub over it. Instead, I get better refined thoughts.

I am starting to run dry and as I said, I feel lighter. Oh, one last thing that article about destroying websites or something introduced me to was WebMentions. What the heck is a web mention? How did I deploy self-hosted ActivityPub, TWICE, and never hear of WebMentions. I don't have much more to say on the topic, beyond that at a cursory glance it looks interesting! ActivityPub is a bit heavy. Embarrassingly, even the framework that powers Campfire mentions WebMentions on the github and I just missed it. D'oh!

So, here's to 2026! Here's to not re-reading this post before publishing! May those who want one, find their own patch of grass on the Infinite Web. I know where mine is, even if I don't always take the time to mow the lawn. Consider my patch of grass rewilded!