On the indie web

four months in and I’m nearly convinced that the possibility of a decentralised network of websites talking to each other through comments sections and pingbacks (known as the web) has probably passed.

Funnily enough, I came across this blog post because of web mentions. It was mentioned in another blog post where a post of mine was also mentioned. So I can already say that this decentralised network of websites is working.

That said though, I kinda see the point Leon is making but at the same time I think he's missing the bigger picture. When it comes to human connections happening through the web medium, I believe the path of the indie web is—or at least should be—quality over quantity. A network of personal sites can't really compete with a platform like Twitter when it comes to reachability and possibility of going viral. Nor it should aspire to honestly.

Deeper interactions require time. The indie web has to be slow in order to be effective. No one is going to browse through the last 10 years of your Twitter timeline but I often end up reading 10+ years old blog posts on personal websites. That's the power of the indie web in my opinion.

And since content is what matters, the technology used to share said content is irrelevant. Just get online. Share your thoughts. Reach out to people. Interact in an honest and open way.