A while ago, I experimented with the indie web and I had an really rewarding interaction
At the very start of quarantine, I got curious about The Indie Web. A collection of protocols that enable interactions between personal domains in lieu of centralized social media. I basically forgot about it, but then something awesome happened.
(warning: use of F word in post)
Getting involved
1. Added some extra markup to my site
If you inspect the source of my site, you'll find an element with the class h-card, which is some extra metadata that other domains I interact with can parse about me. See, for example, how it looks using the provided h-card validator.
2. RSVPd to an Indie Web Event
The Indie Web provides a protocol for informing other people you'll be attending an event. You can see here that I publically stated my intent to attend an online meetup to talk about the indie web.
3. Actually attended the event
This is where things got interesting, since I actually met some other humans.
I has a lovely discussion with a number of interesting people, including a mellow named Maxwell. (You can also see they said they were going to attend the same event, and they did!.
At said event, Maxwell told me about their interesting project collecting drawings of Sith Lords, and it's a hilarious and awesome collection of art!
Immediately, I had to make a contribution and later that night, Darth Skivin was born:
Getting Not Involved
I promptly stopped caring at all about The Indie Web, and contributed no more to the community. Not for any particular reason, I just didn't really participate, and I stopped doing much with my website.
Fast foward almost a year
I decided to completely overhaul my website. This was a lot of work, and I didn't initially get all that much out of my Indie Web experience, so I decided not to bother implementing the Indie Web markup on the new version of the site or even to keep around my RSVP or my reply to the Sith Lord Challenge.
That is until a few days after the overhaul, I received an email, from the Master of the Sith Lord Challenge Directly! (published w/ consent):
Dear Aaron,
I'm chunking up the content of many of my website collections (e.g. Sith Lords) into individual posts [...] but it looks like that page died in your recent website overhaul!
I hope that wasn't intentional. Luckily I saved the picture; if you accidentally blew it away it's still available at mxjn.me/sithlordchallenge, search for "skivin." [...]
I really dig your https://the-zuke.net. A wireframe ghost-sona for your car? That's rad as fuck, my mellow. It doesn't get more cyberpawnk than that.
Yours,
Maxwell
What an amazing thing to receive for so many reasons!!
- It brought back nice memory, the creation of Darth Skivin
- What validation!! That someone actually noticed the overhaul!! (and what epic timing)
- "That's rad as fuck, my mellow" is such beautiful phrasing. I want to cherish this forever.
Keep in mind, my only prior interaction with Maxwell was a short online group chat as strangers in April of last year.
Staying involved
With that, I'm back aboard the Indie Web train. I'm stoked about the strangers on the internet again. I've re-instated all of the additional markup on the pages of my site, and I've brought back to life the links that perished in the transition.
And I hope, in the coming weeks, to go even deeper, bringing webmentions, and more of the Indie Web spec to AaronStrick.com.
Thank you Maxwell, that email was rad as fuck, my mellow, and so is the Sith Lord Challenge.
Also, as an FYI - Maxwell has started publishing this rather interesting series of interviews collectively known as "The Drongo".