Bear blog carnival: how I websurf
I am not the type to have a million tabs open but I do like to have a million bookmarks; it's a special satisfaction of mine to save a site that resonates with me after having visited so many different links on the internet. so I thought to make a guide on how Iāve curated my bookmarks (and rss feed) for the grizzly gazetteās January blog carnival, how I __. methods are in order from my most to least used.
pros: the neocities activity feed has served me ever since I made my first website on the host five years ago, and the frequency of its updates have only gotten greater. Unlike most of the options here, the thumbnails allow you to preview the site, making it easier to search for what may interest you particularly. The limited social features (likes, comments, follows) also make interaction convenient. Neocities profiles even generate automatic rss feeds (share > RSS Feed), which I feel isnāt very well known, and has saved me a lot of grief when a website I like doesnāt offer their own proper feed.
cons: the social features can also be controversial because it isnāt ideal for those on the indie web who want to escape the numbers of social media. And I donāt like the new feature that includes peopleās status updates, if I wanted to see microblogs and arguments I would go on twitter … it has made me avoid the activity feed as of late. The demographic is also a little limited compared to other methods, I noticed that anyone older than their 20ās isnāt too common.
sites I found with this method:
sweetfish.site: I liked the design of their site and now its my pleasure to skim their checkout counter at the end of every month. And I was satisfied by their advent calendar of 88x31 buttons after struggling to find a bear blog button.
angelsaremathematical.neocities.org: I have followed this siteās blog and 'hobbies' section for a long time, the minimalism of both the design and the writing is something charming to me. And I just noticed that the webmasterās name shares my siteās name (the diminutive form of Sonya, which I based on the character from crime and punishment).
Button walls
pros: the classic form of websurfing is to follow links from site to site; ābutton wallsā are groups of 88x31 graphics that link to other websites. It can be fun to be surprised by a random website without any context beyond its button. though, it's common for some walls to consist of sites that share the same interests as the host, so it could serve a more intentional search as well.
cons: while I sometimes find button walls that include short descriptions of the linked websites, most do not, which can make large button walls look overwhelming. You should also expect broken links.
sites I found with this method:
darkmoon.moe: I remember I was specifically pleased that I found a website hosted outside of neocities through a button. Another site that attracted me for its minimalism.
turd.neocities.org: Iām noticing a pattern in my taste in website design … I like when Iām aesthetically pleased by as little visual stimulation as possible.
Webrings
pros: a webring is a list of sites in which each participant links to the site above and below them through a widget. The idea is that they link websites together that contain a similar theme, which may be useful if you want something specific; however, I find that most webrings today are very general, and so they often share the same randomness as button walls.
cons: expect broken links, even more than button walls. Webrings depend on the host to keep up with sites that have removed the widget or that have entirely went down. They also depend on the participants placing the widget in an accessible place, which is really annoying when its buried somewhere beyond the home page …
sites I found with this method:
sunnytea.org: found through journalring. there are over 200 members in this webring for anyone at all that journals. It seems well maintained as 99% of the time I easily find the widget on participant sites and I have never run into a 404. I love to spam its random button.
mudflower.earth: I found this through the webring stamp society, which is so new that its participants donāt seem to have included the widget yet, but I like the concept and Iād like to see how it goes.
pros: I found that Iām most attracted to sites that actively maintain a blog, so the minimalist Bear Blog is perfect for people like me that prefer substance over aesthetics on the indie web. Instead of my first impression being someoneās homepage -- like in the case of the above methods -- itās one of their blogs. The trending page can work if youāre looking for a little curation but I mostly gravitate towards the āmost recentā feed.
cons: the upvotes could be too social media-y for some, but thats its only social feature, which is even more limited than neocities. The topics can also be repetitive on the trending page. There is also no tag system beyond language filters and the option to hide certain blogs.
sites I found with this method:
bencology.bearblog.dev: I like blogs that fulfill the spirit of "learning in public."
life.drsh.io: I want to get into birdwatching. and I discovered a favourite font through this site.
pros: if you like rss feeds then you will be pleased to exclusively find websites with rss feeds on here. And most of the siteās feed is blogs, so, like bear blog, it works if youāre more impressed upon by blogs than by homepages.
cons: no tag system.
I only discovered this site recently and so I canāt judge too much of its worth. I just like that it offers rss feeds that share a random blog post regularly (I use the daily feed of one post). The other day, the random post was of a man explaining the very clean kitchen that appears on his zoom calls.