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?

  • 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