introspection for dayz
Jan. 19th, 2025 10:46 pmWhen i get into something, it defines me for the next weeks, sometimes months. What i talk about, what i think about, what I do who i am (what i dream about too sometimes!) all dictated by whatever media thats got stuck in my head. Its a thrilling experience, being so obsessed with a topic that even a comment about something completely different gets you excited because look! that happened there! It becomes apart of me in away, carves a little hole in the ever dwindling space of my mind and hunkers down with the hundreds of other media ive cultivated a love for; be new wrinkles in my noggin to help put together my brain. All that to say everything ive obsessed over, spent chunks of my time mulling over, committing my energy to all feel like they form a part of me. And once the obsession starts dying, or dies, its disheartening! it feels like im abandoning apart of myself. This thing that ive molded myself around like throwing wet toilet paper to a wall is sliding down the bathroom tiles into the bathtub and my mom is yelling at me to get out of the bathroom and i have to leave but i want to do it again!
Sometimes I just wish i could make it last forever, feel giddy all the time at just the prospect of it all but it never lasts and eventually i have to say goodbye to the person that i wholeheartedly was and leave to become the person that i will wholeheartedly be. However, I never completely let it go. Or more accurately, it never lets ME go. Like i said earlier, each and every obsession i've ever had has placed its block inside my head, and block by block it forms who i am. The me that was obsessed with marble hornets left little operator symbols everywhere, left me with a passion of 2000's shitty camcorder graphics, is obsessed with the woods and flashlights, interest in 2000s internet horror series. The me that got obsessed with half life, and subsequent valve titles, left me with an all time obsession over game design(though admitadly i was already obsessed with everything to do with game design, just more so after half life), a constant admiration of valve and its accomplishments, constant little quotes in my head that involuntarily pop up at the most random times. Theres a lot more i could list, but frankly ijust dont feel like it lolll
All that to say that i just miss some of my old interests, the way i felt engaging with the stuff and so on. Like the old web for example, wish i could just get my brain to stick to it instead of coming back every few months ha ha. It just never feels the same coming back to something though. I guess that makes sense. Im a different person from when i first got into something, so naturally it wouldn't be the same now, but sometimes i wish it was. But i mean, I guess its good to experience new things, or just to experience the same things in a different way. Things can't last forever but you can cherish the way it did last, keep it in your little pocket box and carry it with you as you add new things to it. Thinking about it now you can really apply that to a lot of things, not just your old obsessions ha ha.
Anyways, this isn't even what i meant to write about but the feeling of bitter nostalgia came up looking at all my old marble hornets themed stuff. I was gonna just give an update on whats been going on in my life and what ive been into lately (arcane and DBH!!!!!) It doesn't really matter though i guess, writing these journals always kind of feel like screaming into the void. Maybe that's the point of old web stuff like this? Screaming into the void. Its quite cathartic, reminds me of how i'd write my diary entries in sophmore year. It's still a bit weird to me though, i was born in 2007 and grew up on youtube so all i've ever known how to interact with the internet is to post something and try to gain a following from it. Seriously! I've never interacted with the internet and NOT tried to post something with the intention of getting a few likes, comments, or even followers. I guess that's what makes interacting with more niche websites or old web stuff more interesting, its more personal and less, "whats going to get me the most engagement?" On here its more like, "How can i meet the most people?" or "How can i find the coolest site?" and all that good stuff. Its refreshing. I wish it was more popular honestly, the old-web culture. I never really got to experience the oldweb in its prime, only its echo, I think itd be cool to see how much more alive itd look if it were as big as like, tik tok, or twitter.
Well im getting tired so thats it for now, im probably gonna update my site soon here, maybe make it more connected to my blogs? I dunno. toodles!
My Problem With SpaceHey
Jul. 6th, 2024 05:41 pmFor those who don't know, SpacHey is a recreation of 2000s MySpace. You can customize your profile, write blogs, join groups, talk with friends and talk in forums. Which all sounds great, but its biggest downfall to it is its lack of active users. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the intended use of the website is to find people through forums, send them a friend request, and begin chatting. With a system like this, I feel its very hard to grow your platform with how "isolating" it can make you feel. It feels very hard to find people with similar interests as you due to the lack of diversity in the small amount of active users that SpaceHey does contain. Sure, you can create a group and a forum about a topic you like, but waiting for a response takes so long(days, sometimes weeks depending on how "niche" the topic is) that I feel like most users get bored and move onto something else. That's what happened in my personal experience.
And ultimately, that seems to be most old web revival projects downfall, a lack of active members. Which is a shame, because I truly do like SpaceHey, I like the novelty of being able to design my own website, and post little status updates for my friends to see but I don't have any friends on SpaceHey to see my updates to begin with. You might think the issue is that there is a lack of people that is interested in the old web, but I would think otherwise.
Almost everyone my age I talk to online has a customized "strawpage" which is (from what I can tell) basically a modern homepage; but its much easier to create. And everyone who I've talked to about the concept of SpaceHey and making HTML websites have all expressed the desire to make their own homepage or enjoyed the concept of SpaceHey but never stuck around because there wasn't a lot to do. I think the solution to this is to advertise more outside of small circles and add live chatrooms.
In order to bring back the old web, I think we need to start using modern web tactics to garner more users for these sites, which might not be favorable to some people. From my 16 year old perspective, I think my peers would be a lot more interested in SpaceHey if there was just more to interact with. I also think live chatrooms with dedicated topics(that you can create and perhaps moderate like forums) would be a fun addition to the website. Of course that's all a double edge sword. The more people come, the more hostile and weird the environment could become. Along with the fact that SpacHey would most likely need more dedicated moderators (and an upgrade to the site if enough people are on it at once)
SpaceHey has a lot of competition to deal with, the biggest ones off the top of my head mostly being Discord and Tik Tok, but I think it already has a unique concept going for it that no other modern social media has anymore. Its customization and 2000s aesthetic gives it a unique charm that would just be more enjoyable if it had more interaction. For example, on discord if I want to talk to people about, lets say, marble hornets, I would just look up "marble hornets discord server" and start chatting. If I wanted to post a forum dedicated to talking about marble hornets on SpaceHey, it would take days, maybe even weeks to get a response out of anybody if any at all due the just sheer lack of people. I want to use SpaceHey like a social media but I just can't, which sucks because again I just really love the amount of customization within the website.
So in conclusion, SpacHey is a great website that has a unique and charming concept going for it but is killed by its lack of advertising to broader groups and more immediate ways of talking and I think this sentiment could be extended to a lot of old web revival projects. Anyways, this post is kind of unrefined but I did that on purpose cause I'd like to spark a debate. Leave a comment, DM me through my profile or email me at mellohd44@gmail.com if you want to talk more about this with me !! :]
Where to start:
I suggest making a personal email without sensitive information in it so that people online can contact you easier(cuz a lot of people on the old web talk through email)
It’ll be hand if you do zine projects or webrings!
(my email :3 mellohd44@gmail.com )
Start Here:
https://thoughts.melonking.net/guides/introduction-to-the-web-revival-1-what-is-the-web-revival
-Talks about web revival(if you keep going it will also lead to the website layout guide)
Website layout guide:
https://thoughts.melonking.net/guides/introduction-to-the-web-revival-2-learn-about-websites
-tells you the basic info youre gonna need to know, keep following it until you get to the end/comfortable going on your own and doing your own stuff. Will tell you the programs you will need
- NOTE you dont have to use VSCODE there are other programs you can use! I use an app called Caret its on chromebooks and windows. VSCODE might be a better option though cause i think its a little more user friendly.
Bonus stuff, guide to the indie web!:
https://www.tumblr.com/zombvibes/700729336236523520/beginners-guide-to-the-indie-web
Use this to create a free site:
This is an html guide:
https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
If you ever get stuck not knowing how to do something, look at this first. It is a giant collection of tutorials and basically an HTML wiki. If you go through the website it will give you a basics HTML tutorial. Its VERY handy and you will be looking up a lot of stuff when youre stuck
Resources
BirdWrong
https://birdwrongs.sh/resources/
-An organized list of helpful resources(gifsites blogsites interactive stuff check it out)
32 Bit Cafe
-has some helpful tutorials and resources
MelonLand
A website where you can browse other websites and connect yourself to the melonland webwring!
Decorations
Imood:
https://www.imood.com/dashboard
-A little status where you can choose an emoji and write a short message about your mood that you can display on your website
Status Cafe
-Pretty much like imood
Under Construction Gifs and Shit
http://www.textfiles.com/underconstruction/
-bunch of blinkies dividers gifs for under construction
Gify Pet
https://gifypet.neocities.org/
-Get a little pet to put on your website, you can change the pet to be anything im pretty sure
99Gif Shop
https://99gifshop.neocities.org/
-Lots of like 2000s gifs and stuff, pretty cool!
Gif Cities
https://gifcities.org/?q=crystal+ball
-Huge archive of gifs from thousands of websites, if you click on one of the gifs it actually takes you to the website it was archived from
Blinkie Maker
https://blinkies.cafe/?s=0210-werewolfmoonhowl
Pretty basic site to make simple blinkies
3d Text To Gif
Just allows you to make 3d text gif
Glitter Graphics
https://www.glitter-graphics.com/backgrounds/starry
Huge collection of dividers backgrounds, text, dolls,etc and organized
Betties Graphics
https://bettysgraphics.neocities.org/
More gifs images etc
thanks for reading! made this for my friends and thought I'd share. Warning though I'm not an expert, but I used these websites to get mine going so I thought it could help someone else out.