Hasty IndieWeb thoughts; bad roads as filters

I recently skimmed through Andros Fenollosa’s post, I joined the IndieWeb, here’s what I learned. It’s a good post.

I’m on board with the IndieWeb principles: “owning your domain and using it as your primary online identity, publishing on your own site first (optionally elsewhere), and owning your content.” And this blog and my process with it seem to follow what Adam Newbold describes in his post, Hardcore IndieWeb: write your content on your hard drive and upload it to your hosting provider of choice, which ideally sits behind your own domain name.

I appreciate that Adam scoped his post to just publishing a simple website, because it seems that a lot of the IndieWeb action is around social features: syndication, webmentions, h-cards, IndieAuth, carting an indie “identity” around the internet.

I can’t drum up any excitement about that stuff. I assume I’m the wrong target audience for it, as I don’t like social media. From my perch, the slower pace and more effortful communication of simple blogging and emailing are features, not problems.

I’ll add, it’s disappointing to me when a blogger’s contact options are only Bluesky, Mastodon, etc., with no email option. This was the situation moments ago when I wanted to email a blogger to thank them for a post I found helpful. Alas, no email.¹

Bad roads as filters

I found an interesting nugget as I skimmed the Hacker News discussion about Andros’s post above.

This person said the IndieWeb should be easier to use if it wants to attract more people. Then this person argued, “No. Exact opposite. Opening it up to everyone is what kills everything good…”

And then this person shared the following quote from Joseph Wood Krutch:

Bad roads act as filters. They separate those who are sufficiently appreciative of what lies beyond the blacktop to be willing to undergo mild inconvenience from that much larger number of travelers which is not willing. The rougher the road, the finer the filter.

This is an interesting idea when applied to any sort of community. I think I lean toward finer filters being a good thing, even if means that some online spaces can feel a bit monoculture-ish.

Although, the only time I get a monoculture vibe is when I’m looking at the upvote-driven trending lists, like Bear’s. If I instead look at the firehose of latest stuff from powRSS, Bear’s most-recent list, or Bubbles’s “new” list, I feel there’s a good diversity of content and already more than I can keep up with.

So, yeah, my vote is to keep the roads rough.

Updates

After posting, I found and read Brennan’s People and Blogs interview:

I promise you’re capable of learning how to buy your own domain and start your own website. And I promise it’s worth it. I’ve specifically wrote an IndieWeb guide for non-technical people. There is so much joy and fun to be had.

A better, kinder, more human Internet isn’t just possible, it’s already being actively developed. Join us!

Now I feel like a proper asshole for not being more encouraging.

See also Coyote’s post, Which Part of the Indie Web Ethos is the Bigger Priority?, which I found after I posted.