14 / JUL / 2022
I wanna open up this month's blog with a little story...
Some time ago, maybe about a year or some number of months, I accidentally spent a full day on YouTube. I just turned on my PC, opened my web browser, and fed off of YouTube's endless stream of garbage for over 8 hours. I didn't do anything creative, I didn't play any games, I didn't even talk to anyone on Discord. I just sat on my ass and numbed my brain to video after video. It wasn't until the end of the day when I switched off my monitor and suddenly realized what I had just done: I shot down a day of potential and fed it to a gluttonous video-sharing website that I honestly don't enjoy all that much. I felt guilty, as if I'd betrayed myself by ignoring every opportunity to create or interact with anything.
At that moment, sitting upright in bed and looking out my window, I gave myself something of a challenge for the sake of self-betterment: Try to visit one new website a day. It doesn't have to be something interactive, relatable, or even enjoyable; it just has to be something I haven't visited before.
Truth is, the Net has been monopolized by Alphabet (Google's parent company), Meta Platforms (Facebook's parent company), and Tencent. The only way to pull out of this harsh reality is to immerse ourselves into the vast array of sites on the Net. Don't sit and eat the same endless stream of garbage. Go outside and find something new.
Right, that's enough of that. The real purpose of this blog post is to show you giuse where I've been since I started doing these daily "walks throught the Net," as I like to call them. I've dawdled long enough with the intro, so I'll cut to the chase and show some interesting sites I've visited:
First up are some Neocities websites. If you're reading this, chances are you already browse Neocities and know about these sites... Just humour me for a bit, okai?
WMBU is an online radio station, and... You know what, I have to be honest: I keep forgetting to actually tune in and listen to a broadcast. The site is on a hiatus as of writing, but it should be over by the time you're reading this. Broadcasts are at 8PM EST on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and despite knowing that by heart, I keep fucking forgetting to tune in.
Please forgive me, WMBU ;~;
Hotline Cafe is probably the most versatile site I've seen yet. It's run by a guy who's done it all: Music, photography, artwork, CB Radio (something that I've always wanted to get into, but never knew where to start), and even games. Yes, games. If you want to spend a few hours poking around and seeing what this guy's made, I highly reccommend it, even if it'll make you feel insecure about how little you've accomplished in comparison to him.
EGGRAMEN is one of those sites that I'm always sure to keep up with whenever there's another update. I mostly just like to admire the CSS test pages, but it'd be a sin to not mention the interactive fiction and conlangs. Admittedly, I've never been a big fan of conlangs (aside from Synapsian, but for a very specific reason), but they take way too much effort to just be ignored. I've also been a big fan of CYOAs, so if that's your thing, then check out this site!
Just remember that Problem Sleuth will always be better than Homestuck, no matter what people say.
Lastly, I know you've all heard of Nostalgia for the 2000s, but as a grubby little zoomer, it hits close to home and I adore the shit out of it. In particular, it reminds me of the days when I would poke around on DeviantArt and the Minecraft Forums back when I was in 5th grade with my mom's shitty WinXP laptop. I get a lot of nostalgia from websites with simple CSS, as well as ameteur drawings that try to capture an anime artstyle during a period when the rest of the world didn't exactly know how to replicate it.
Of course I looked at some sites aside from Neocities, and these ones vary quite a bit. Regardless, I still go back to take a look at them from time to time, and I'd reccommend doing the same for yourselves:
Odysee is another one of those doomed-to-fail YouTube alternatives that I can't help but applaud for its successes so far. There are actually a lot of popular YouTube channels on the site like Hyun's Dojo, Cinemassacre, and EmpLemon (whose YTPs are actually still up on his page!). There are some problems, of course, such as the looming presence of fringe right-wingers and the lack of a decent algorithm for related videos. I think the site should be given a fair shake regardless, and will definitely be my safe haven for the next time YouTube decides to commit another holocaust.
Jet Set Radio Live is a website that I actually found in late 2019/early 2020 while I was playing Jet Set Radio. I also played the fan-made Jet Set Radio Future Multiplayer, which is how I heard of the site. It has some "stations" with varying genres of music (mostly just hip-hop subgenres), including the OSTs to the JSR games and some indie games that were inspired by JSR. That's not all! There's also a page where you can post "graffiti" images, and see the wacky shit that other people have posted. There's even a chatroom, and although it tends to be a bit empty, the discussion is usually very comfy. On the off-chance that you see a guy called "OldManYoYo" in the chat... Yep, that's me.
The Chris-Chan Wiki has been my most recent obsession, as I just can't pass up the opportunity to observe the life of the most well-documented person in history. I... I really wish I had the words to properly introduce you to this man and his antics, but every time I see anyone try to explain Chris, they fail to do justice to his mind-blowingly idiotic antics. It's best that you delve in headfirst. Just make sure to bring an oxygen tank, because you're going to be down there for a long time.
I also want to take advantage of the fact that a lot of people have their own personal problems with 4chan. For some, there's too much focus on politics, while others feel that the site has become too "normified." Others feel a sense of betrayal by all the shilling that the site and its owners have done, while still others just find the site to be plain boring nowadays. My biggest complaint about the site is that it's too big, which I believe to be the reason for it becoming overly politicized in addition to causing most other gripes that former users have with it. The solution, as many have proposed, are Altchans! This speed-round "finale" should wrap up this blogpost, and each site will come with a one-sentence description of the site and its culture, a one-sentence review, and a rating out of 10.
8kun is a "revival" (I'm using that term really fucking loosely) of the now-defunct 8chan.
The site now consists of schizophrenic Q-worshippers (redundant as the term may be) and archived boards (of which the only good boards weren't even archived), plus you can't make your own board anymore.
0/10
9chan could be considered the closest thing to a successful revival of 8chan, including the feature of being able to successfully make your own board.
There's a shit-ton of boards, and while this leads to a lack of a cohesive culture on the site, it ensures that most users will find something they like.
7/10
SIDE NOTE: I personally don't use 9chan, but given the right circumstances, I believe that it has the potential to be the best Altchan out there. We just need to get /pol/itics out of our imageboards, I'M FUCKING BEGGING YOU. Imageboard culture would be improved so much if every /pol/ user choked to death on their own manifesto.
3chan is an altchan that was made because that's what you do when you're sick of 4chan.
It's small enough to be able to keep track of it, although the site isn't put together as well as every other altchan.
5/10
SIDE NOTE: I do enjoy browsing this site, and have been visiting daily since I found it last week. I mostly lurk /www/ and /cb/, since I have a fond appreciation of Net culture and femboys.
420chan is an imageboard about drugs.
The site's appearance is actually pretty dope, and while I've only been there once or twice, /jenk/ still has me rolling.
9/10
Perfectchan is an imageboard that I'm putting here because MOTE will kill me if I don't.
There's funny stuff on /b/ I guess.
10/10
BONUS ROUND: Mellowchan is a textboard that made me laugh.
6/10
All right, that about wraps it all up in a pretty little bow. Sorry for this being the longest blog post in history, but I have a lot to talk about in terms of the Net and I wanted to make up for the fact that my YouTube/Odysee channel has been pretty dry for the last few months. In any case, I hope you enjoyed this year's read!
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