I hate everything about the modern internet with a passion and dread the fact that I have to type in "reddit" whenever I search something to find anything that resembles a human (which doesn't even work most of the time). All the major social media platforms (including , and especially, reddit) are completely unusable, which makes it even more saddening that all internet traffic has been concentrated to mainly those places. I miss the days of niche hobby forums and small, tightly-knit communities where you recognized most people there and at least knew you were talking to a human behind the screen.
So basically what I'm asking, are you aware of any alternative social media / boards / forums / anything that managed to survive this gentrification and are at least somwhat active? Are forums even still a thing? Are there even any humans there on the internet anymore? Tbh I'm asking because I had saved a bunch of links to pretty niche, obscure communities to relive that mid-to-late-2000's "wild west" internet feel, found on here and on /leftypol/, and it seems I lost them, can't find them anywhere in my bookmarks and the "Saved" function on this site is fucking broken lol. I remember being in awe that old BBCode forums were still a thing and genuinely pretty active to boot

The closest I've gotten to that old internet is browsing neocities pages (which is fun!) and lurking obscure alt-chans which tbh are mostly filled with rightoid garbage and probably not a good use of my time. Are there any, and I mean ANY of these types of websites even left?

  • sappho [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The only niche community I know of is attached to a webcomic that I've been reading since I was 12. It's been updating consistently all that time and the Proboards forum is active with a small group of regulars. Gunnerkrigg Court

    • UncleJoe [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Started reading that a while back and was a bit put off by the art at the start, would you recommend it to a newscomer? Webcomics are a bit of a lost art nowadays

      • Soap_Owl [any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It gets way better up till the point where I fell off at least

    • Soap_Owl [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I forgot that exisosted. That has been going on a while hasn't it.

  • crime [she/her, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Without making myself easier to dox by linking multiple accounts together:

    I've found a couple categories of places where forums still exist, private torrent trackers and RP sites

    Otherwise Tumblr can still have decent vibes like that if you follow the right people

    • PapaEmeritusIII [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah I was about to say, tumblr is still really good actually. I follow a handful of leftists and artists and the vibes are top notch. Everyone’s anonymous and follower counts aren’t visible, so it feels like everyone’s on equal footing. Just ignore the new algorithm-driven dashboard tab (the one that says “for you”), I don’t think anyone actually uses it.

        • PapaEmeritusIII [any]
          ·
          2 years ago

          The leftists are people I know irl, so I won’t post those, but here are some artists I like (too lazy to link, sry):

          • iguanamouth (except they haven’t posted in like a year, rip)
          • pocketss
          • mysteryfleshpit
          • samsketchbook
          • person918x
          • jayrockin
          • outsidewolves
          • theveryworstthing
          • sanctus-ingenium
      • crime [she/her, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        There's plenty that are still around that are pretty active, but I feel that - I miss having the time for them :(

        • Kanna [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I'll have to look around then. I do have less time now, but it would be nice

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      McMansionHell helps me feel more sane while being surrounded by McMansion hell.

  • CTHlurker [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I really like Nakedcapitalism for their takes on economy and finance. Their covid stuff is atrocious, and their foreign policy stuff gets weird at times, but they oftentimes have something interesting.

    • thirstywizard [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Shame, they make the all too common mistake of seeing every crisis being used as a tool by capitalism, that they can't see the crisis in question within for what it is and its own causes, history and such that they end up falling into the trap of serving the bourgeois' desires.

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I go to an IRC channel for people who used to go to totse and have become normal now (as normal as you can get I guess)

    I'm in some touhou communities and sometimes it still feels like 2006 in those (for better or worse)

    I still follow some blogs from the blogosphere days but they're just so milquetoast sometimes. Lots of academics though talking about their fields and that can be cool.

  • Cromalin [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    tumblr is pretty good. has plenty of shitheads, but you can customize your user experience super well. just search topics you're interested in and follow a few people who have good takes and you'll probably have a good time.