Before I joined the Fediverse, it felt like the Internet was composed of only 4-5 social media sites and a bunch of corporate news articles, with only a couple of old remnant sites that looked out of place like a historic church in a business district. All of a sudden, though, it feels like people are creating lots of new sites. I’ve been exploring the other Fediverse sites since then, and playing around with Marginalia.nu/hearing about them from other people, and it seems like the “real” web that we were told about in the 2000s is thriving again, albeit in the shadow of the big sites where 90% of people will never see it.
Yup, I went through all those same stages and am loving the Fediverse. I had forgotten how it felt to have to EXPLORE. To find good content, to see something that’s (only mildly) outside my comfort zone, to use a tool that’s still a WIP. I spent 15 years on Alien Site and it was just the same jokes, the same content, all the same topics, the endless commercialization of every word you say.
No it’s not as easy to find content here. No the apps aren’t as polished. But it really feel like how I felt back in the BBS or Slashdot days. I hadn’t realized how miserable I was with the current state of the internet until I abandoned all the mainstream sites.