The point is: reality is always frustratingly more complex than we would like it to be. We’re in a complex capitalist system, where both literally and metaphorically, there is no free lunch. I don’t want it to stay like this, and nor should you. But making changes to these systems will require messy, coordinated efforts into all sorts of ethical conundrums. And just because those conundrums exist, doesn’t meant mean we shouldn’t act.

How does this relate to #selfhosting, you ask?

Well, I think we can still address concerns 1 and 2, without falling into the intellectual trap of 3.

Many big tech companies offer free tiers. If you are hosting an #indieweb service, you probably don’t have the benefits of scale that those companies do.

Leverage those free tiers by using AES-256 encryption BEFORE it hits their servers. You keep the keys secure. The files can sit on those public storage places, and it can’t be used for any data mining, because it’s encrypted gibberish to them.

You then use what’s available to you to actually help further the indie web that we want to see. We can use those services to HELP us get away from reliance on big tech, until we can get things to a scale to stop using those services.

2/2

🔖 Bookmarked To Build A Website, and Remain Invested (https://nova.mkultra.monster/webdev/2025/01/15/to-build-a-website-and-remain-invested.html)

> Make your website the central communication and sharing platform, that’s all about you, that you own.

CMDR Nova wants you to build a website!

🔥 https://flamedfury.com/bookmarks/to-build-a-website-and-remain-invested/

#web #webmastery #indieweb

New update to the JellyCat Cafe :blobhaj_reach:

- Added Gusetbook
- Added Links Page
- Polished up the main page
- General bug fixes and optimizations

URL: https://jellycat.cafe

#indieweb #PersonalSites #webdev

Ok this is actually today's show! Now on demand and very soon on all good Podcast apps.

"But I can't find it on Spotify"

Yeah I said all GOOD podcast apps, not all good podcast apps plus some shitty walled garden run by a bunch of cunts, plus Daniel Elk isn't a real elk.

All good podcast apps, including Podcasting 2.0 (I hope).

https://video.mxtthxw.art/w/4ebnXRfjNkX9kSEcFgah4A

#Music #Stream #PirateRadio #OneManAndHisTurntable #IndieWeb

Whoever started the blog questions challenge gave the #IndieWeb community a lot of interesting workflows and approaches to look at. Some of my favourites:

https://gkeenan.co/avgb/blog-questions-challenge/
https://rknight.me/blog/blog-question-challenge/
https://heydingus.net/blog/2025/1/blog-questions-challenge
https://kevquirk.com/blog/blog-questions-challenge
https://blog.ctms.me/posts/2025-01-14--blog-challenge/
https://manuelmoreale.com/blog-questions-challenge
https://tracydurnell.com/2025/01/15/blog-questions-challenge/

H/T to the people on Bear Blog who started this whole thing albeit with slightly different, Bear Blog-centric questions.

Since I'm constantly writing right before midnight, I sometimes accidentally fugg up the timezone syncing, and then my blog posts don't automatically push to Mastodon.

So, today, I'll be sharing this one manually.

Today on Nova Prime, I write about how and why you should maintain a website, why I do, and how you might stay invested in doing so, far into the future, much like I have and continue to do.

https://nova.mkultra.monster/webdev/2025/01/15/to-build-a-website-and-remain-invested.html

#webdev #indieweb

Link seals provide a quick soft-check utility for link health on your web spaces.

It's inspired by a blog post from Terence Eden about managing link rot on a website.

It proposes a very simple concept of a seal key, seal function and seal checker.

Read more on

https://mistystep.org/blog/testable-links

#indieweb #blog #linkrot #websecurity

Capitalist social media is bad, but I will never be nostalgic for the "old web," since I actually remember what it was like. Websites were all slow and shitty, half of them would infect your computer with a virus, there were dead links and broken images everywhere. People were obsessed with posting slurs, swastikas and gore. I witnessed all kinds of sickening things when all I was doing was looking for video game cheat codes and Disney movie fan art.

It's good to promote personal websites, but let's not romanticize the past.

#OldWeb #PersonalSites #IndieWeb #Aughts

Question: Is WebSub (formerly PubSubHubBub) still relevant these days? And if so, to what extent?

#IndieWeb #WebSub #PubSubHubBub

New instance, new #introduction

My name is Mike (a.k.a. "shellsharks”) - I am a security researcher, #IndieWeb advocate, all-things #Fediverse convert and all around #tech enthusiast.

I write about #infosec, #technology and #life over at https://shellsharks.com

Here's some other stuff I like... #apple #sports #travel #battlestations #food #starwars #lotr #pokemon #gaming #space #fitness #nba #basketball #hiking #camping #music #coding #programming #cybersecurity

So what's going on with this instance? Is this my "main" presence or am I still on shellsharks.social? Fair question. The answer is, yes! This is a #GoToSocial instance, on a new fun, shiny, vanity domain. If it works out, I might end up moving all my activity over here and shutting down the Mastodon instance I have at shellsharks.social. Until then, I'm operating out of both spaces. This also means that for now, I haven't migrated my followers (or followed accounts) over here, so don't be offended if I haven't followed you back yet! I don't want to knock this fairly low-spec'ed instance over so I'm taking it slow with how I am using it.

Why am I doing this? Well for one main reason really, I wanted an instance where I could post more than 500 characters at a time. GtS gives me that, and much more. Bonus points for A. being less resource intensive than Mastodon (so cheaper to run), B. more customizable and C. I could get an even more ridiculous vanity domain.

So don't be surprised to see a lot more from this account than my usual @shellsharks account. If you'd like, you can follow me here for now. No worries either way.

See y'all around Fedi!

It's been a while since I've published something I consider a "blog post" on my site. But thanks to @ApisNecros tossing over the "Blog Questions Challenge", this now exists --> https://shellsharks.com/get-to-know-my-blog

Turns out, I've answer much of these questions in various places across the site at one point or another, but this post puts them all together in one place if you want to learn more about the site! May it inspire others to write their own "Get to Know My Blog" post or maybe to get started with a site/blog of their own! #indieweb #blogging

I'm really quite terrible at graphic design (I'm not even fit to sarcastically claim it's my passion), but I finally forced myself to make an 88x31 website button.

It's hard to fit any context into just 2728 pixels, so I'm forced to run on a vague non-sequitur of a domain name, and a drawing of a cute girl.

The URL (in text form) is https://bigraccoon.ca

#IndieWeb #PersonalSites

Finally, a new blog post! Inspired by @kev 's "Blog Questions Challenge", I followed suit and wrote up my answers to these eight questions. I loved these kinds of things back in the MySpace days. I've also tagged @shellsharks and a couple other to hopefully continue the trend :)

#IndieWeb #SmallWeb #PersonalSites #blogging
https://vzqk50.com/blog/get-to-know-my-blog/

Speaking of online communities, is your personal website part of a webring?

#indieweb #webring #PersonalWebsite #internet #TheWeb #community

Yes!
Yes, a few?
I run one or few myself!
Not really
No, but thinking about it!
I don't have a personal website
What's a "web ring"?
Something else?

We should be making more internet forums. Like with Discourse. Or more old school ones.

We need to invest in our communities and build new ones. That's how we get through the difficult times. Together.

#indieweb #community #internet #TheWeb #forum #discourse

🤖 There’s a new post on Michael Burkhardt’s Whirled Wide Web:

It’s Time To Ditch My Old Report Cards

#Downsizing #IndieWeb

https://mihobu.lol/time-to-ditch-my-old-report-cards

The only way to use AI as a writing tool is if you have a bigger ego than the robot.

I wrote a blogpost about it

https://caffeineandlasers.neocities.org/blogs/KeepYourEgoInCheck(AboveTheAI)

#ai #llm #writing #blog #indieweb

Thursday will be Front End Study Hall #019 - https://events.indieweb.org/2025/01/front-end-study-hall-019-WjRE1WdPjK1v - we have a good time exploring #HTML and #CSS (and related tech!). If #FrontEnd things interest you, our informal study hall might be something you dig. Prior shared notes linked from https://indieweb.org/Front_End_Study_Hall #IndieWeb

There are many good use cases for AI-based solutions.

One use case I find deceivingly dangerous but often discussed is using it in your notes system to automate creation or extraction of notes.

For this month's IndieWeb Carnival, I wrote about why the friction created by writing and reading your notes - also known as thinking - is such an important part that shouldn't be automated.

Thanks @vhbelvadi for hosting this month!

https://hamatti.org/posts/be-careful-with-introducing-ai-into-your-notes/

#blogging #notes #IndieWeb #IndieWebCarnival