The Internet Manifesto of FaerieMachine
| 3270 words
As they're commonplace amongst the indie web scene, I figured it was appropriate for me to finally sit down and write down a manifesto myself- or, at least, some kind of semblance of one.
As of March 4, 2026 this manifesto is still a work in progress, and my opinions on the following topics are bound to shift as I also change and grow as a person.
"Nostalgia"
I was born in 2000, and have been using the internet since around 2005. This means that I barely remember what web 1.0 was like, and therefore don't have the ability to go on about how great the Internet used to be in any ways that are honest and genuine.
When it comes to my coding experiences, the websites I used to make before I hit the age of ten were made using Google Page Creator, with no HTML or CSS knowledge required and a complete nonsense URL that it spat out for me, since I couldn't pay for a legitimate domain name at the time. My time on the internet came when HTML/CSS was beginning to die out as a hobby, which gave me little incentive to learn about the indie side of the internet at the time. Due to the timing, I had no reasons to actually delve into coding as a hobby until much later on in my life, with sites like DeviantArt, Toyhouse and Tumblr, and then afterwards with static site hosts like Neocities and Nekoweb. And even with being introduced to these site hosts, I'd only use them as extensions to my social media profiles until around 2023, after I started become acquainted with the indie web community.
What I do remember, however, is watching the Internet become more corporatized as I grew older. I became witness my favourite web-hosted children's MMORPGs becoming more and more focused on squeezing as much money out of my parents' pockets as possible, before either succumbing to swift deaths or fading into irrelevancy. I saw little websites like YouTube and DeviantArt grow to exponential sizes and being bought out by megacorps, and changing them for the rest of their continued existence on the Internet. Just like the real world, the Internet has become yet another free market, and it's left it in a much worse place than how it was when it was created.
Taking this into account, the Internet was never perfect, and there's lots to be said about the romanticization of Web 1.0. I highly recommend giving Kirryn's "Nostalgia is Bullshit" a read for smarter words on the topic than I can give, but in short; the version of the web that many people feel nostalgic before never really existed in the first place. Of course people can enjoy the aesthetics, but I find it tacky and disingenuous whenever people harp on about how great the early Web was and how things will never be the same again, especially when they hadn't even been born to experience it for themselves. After all, shock sites and videos were some of the hottest trends of the old Internet, and bigotry was always a evident issue on many of the forums and sites that you could visit back then. Sure, we had designated kid's spaces back then instead of 9-year-olds being on TikTok, but not only were these spaces never foolproof, nothing ever really stopped children from stumbling upon the wrong site or video on YouTube (coming from my own experiences.)
I honestly don't intend to revive the corpse of the 90's and early 2000's with creating FaerieMachine, especially when I had such a limited experience of what the Internet had to offer when I was literally still a baby. But I at least want to take the parts of web 1.0 that I know I would've liked, and turn it into something that's unique to me.
"Originality"
A complaint I see a lot within indie web circles is the idea that "All Neocities websites look the same," with terminology like nostalgiamining taking hold in the community, even after the essay coining the term was posted nearly 6 years ago. People are clearly passionate about the idea of others not having passion, and I do agree that more webmasters should be getting into webdev because they genuinely want to learn the skill to show off a fundamental part of themselves. Whether it's your artwork, your pets, a subject you find interesting or whatever-have-you, I think there's much more to be gained out of creating a website that showcases your uniqueness, rather than going towards the grain out of obligation.
But that being said, while I do wish more people would use web development as an opportunity to make something that the webmaster would like to see in the world, I also don't believe that there's ever been an original thought on this planet, and trying to turn others away from getting inspired by your site is fruitless. You can have your boundaries with regards to copying that are worthy of being respected, but barring people from ever taking beats from your site to create something new is a surefire way of discouraging genuine creativity in new webmasters. Everyone who does something creative takes bits and pieces from the work they enjoy to implement into their own work, and I'm under the belief that true creativity comes from remixing preexisting material into something new and fresh.
Do I have my opinions on what sites interest me, and which ones I click off of immediately? Of course I do, I think everyone does when it comes to any form of creative work. For one, I loathe websites that are littered with flashing gifs, eye-straining colours and autoplay, especially without a fair warning beforehand. I'm also not super interested in sites that don't implement basic accessibility features (as I will go into in-depth in the next section), as well as those that are stuck in the past and don't use any modern coding techniques. But these are really just my own personal pet peeves, and I have no control over what you do with your websites because site hosts like Neocities and Nekoweb are all about doing whatever you want. Besides, isn't that the whole point of all of this, is to have the freedom to do what you desire?
Websites don't have to be high-art, and they often aren't. If it's fun for you to make your website however you want, then go for it. People are allowed to have their own opinions and reservations about what kind of websites they like to see, but that's all they really are; opinions of strangers you probably will never get to know on a personal level. You don't have to take anyone's word as gospel when they say "All Neocities sites look the same."
"Accessibility"
I know that I can't ever make anybody do anything they genuinely don't want to, and that isn't ever my goal because it's one that's impossible to reach. That doesn't mean, however, that I'll feel impressed by anyone's coding if they can't at least make it readable or navigatable, at bare minimum.
I don't fault beginner coders for not knowing about accessibility in their web development, because I used to be that exact beginner in this site's earliest versions. I, myself, used to prioritize responsive layouts very lowly, not only because I thought it was too challenging for my scope of coding knowledge at the time, but also because I refused to take into account how many people don't own computers (under the guise of "Screw those mobile-only users.") I didn't even know how to make responsive websites with flexbox until this site's 3.0 layout was being built, so it doesn't take a genius to say that everyone starts somewhere when it comes to learning new skills like coding.
That being said, accessibility is part of indie web etiquette for a reason, and I get a bit frustrated with continually coming across sites littered with flashing gif backgrounds and bright colours with no warnings beforehand at the bare minimum, especially as a disabled person who calls the Internet his home. Usability shouldn't be sacrificed in the name of one's personal aesthetic, and there's always ways of making a site accessible while also retaining a sense of individuality.
Plus, it goes without saying that accessibility doesn't just start and end at making it easier for disabled people to use the Internet. Sometimes people have low-quality monitors, sometimes people prefer to use their keyboards to navigate the Web, sometimes people are startled by autoplay, and sometimes people are disoriented by there being too many gifs on your page- all are issues that don't have anything to do with disability.
It goes without saying that it's often not possible for a website to be truly, fully accessible, and that's perfectly fine. Even many professional websites aren't going to be completely accessible, and many of these web developers don't even know anything more than the very basics. My website can't even offer as an example of being one of the most accessible websites on the planet, because it just isn't, despite my best efforts to include as many accessibility features as I possibly can. The truth is, learning accessibility is a skill, and it's going to take time to hone it in and master it. But every website needs at least a little bit of it, and I find that many of the excuses people use to refuse learning are inconsiderate of the fact that people use the internet in different ways, regardless of any pre-existing medical conditions.
I'm a bit harsh about this because, as lovely as it would be for everyone to have perfectly working personal computers that will allow them to visit any website with ease, this isn't the case, and it's annoying at best having to come across site after site that doesn't even try to make the experience of browsing it any more comfortable, or even safe for disabled users. Many people either don't seem to realize the hidden dangers of littering their sites with thousands of flashing, colourful gifs and moving elements without proper warnings, or they don't care and do it anyway because "retro aesthetic." To the latter half of those people, I sincerely wish you a massive "fuck you," as nothing of substance will be lost if your site goes under one day. To the former, I sympathize as someone who was in the same position, but I hope that this serves as a reminder that there's no such thing as it being too early or late to start learning accessible web design.
"Social Media"
A hot topic within the Indie Web scene is social media, mostly with a lot of negativity surrounding it, and I can understand why. It eats up your time with endless scrolling through algorithms trained to keep you on their platforms for as long as possible, so it's easy to see why people have such a negative outlook on social media. I have many of my own experiences where social media was a detriment to my health and well-being, and I also loathe how social media has come to exist as another vehicle for pushing propaganda to the masses.
That being said, I believe that social media is a tool above all else, and you can use it in good and healthy ways. Do most people do this? No, not really. But I find that with the right discipline, you can totally get away with using social media in a way that isn't dangerously detrimental to your health and well-being.
There's a lot of choices I consciously make when using social media, which include:
- Using extensions and apps like StayFree and ScreenZen. StayFree allows me to put a time limit on how long I use a specific site per day and allows me to visualize my internet usage, while ScreenZen allows me to limit my social media usage to a set number of times a day before it locks the app from me.
- Never looking at any "For You" or trending pages.
- Blocking people very liberally.
- Only following my friends on my private Twitter page.
- On Tumblr specifically, not following any tags, and using browser extensions to filter out tags I don't want to see.
- If I see something online that makes me upset, I immediately close the platform I saw it on and redirect myself elsewhere.
What does any of this have to do with my website? Well, for one, the Indie Web is often seen as an "escape" from social media, where you make the rules and choose exactly what you want on your website. And there are many upsides to coding your own websites compared to posting everything on social media! For example, if you're an artist of any kind, it might be smart to build your own website where you host your work from, since no social media platform is ever going to last forever. Plus, personal websites give you the freedom to do whatever you want to do, whatever you want to put on it and discuss about. There's no algorithms, no massive companies stealing data from you, just yourself and your site on the internet.
But the idea that making your own website can completely replace the functions of social media is rather misguided in my opinion. Of course, it's a great way to get your thoughts out there and have a piece of the internet that's strictly your own. But the vast number of connections one can make on social media pails in comparison to the connections you make through an indie website, for better and for worse. Naturally, not everyone knows how to code a website, and some people don't want to learn, so the Indie Web scene is one that's small and specific to it's niche, and will likely remain that way for a while.
I see comparing indie websites to social media like comparison apples to oranges; they both exist on the Internet as forms of individual self-expression, but have totally different functions and outcomes for users. While social media is often used to keep in touch and network with others, I see the indie website as being an online sandbox for people to share what matters most to them, with the goal of connection being second to none.
Closing Thoughts
In an age of total convenience at all corners of our lives, many of us have neglected to give ourselves time to sit down and do something for the sole purpose of learning something. A hobby, a craft, something to keep our minds and hands busy—I truly believe that we'd all be better people if everyone had every opportunity to indulge in our specialties more, because it's such an important part of being sound-of-mind when you're able to express yourself through them. Especially when our world continually undermines the act of expression in itself, I just think oh my fucking god, just take the risk and create something for once!
If there's anything to take away from my manifesto, it's that I genuinely want anybody who's even slightly interested in coding to take the leap and get their hands dirty. Learning something new, especially something like coding, involves a lot of trial-and-error, and you are going to suck at it at first. Some people suck at it more or less than others, depending on what resources they have access to, but you're still going to suck regardless. Own it instead of running away from it, and use that suckiness to build on your self-confidence later on as you collect evidence of yourself learning and growing from the mistakes you made.
Or, if after all this time and effort, you realize that coding isn't for you, then there's absolutely no harm done either. Hell, maybe coding isn't even what's most appropriate for your project, and you're just as happy sticking to site-builders like Straw Page and Carrd, which is totally cool too—I'd be lying if I said I don't still use both of these myself for certain projects! But the thing that counts here is the fact that you actually put the effort into it and tried to learn something new. Even if you realize that you're not built to be a coder, you'll still walk away from the experience having learned new skills that you can apply to your next creative venture.
None of this is to say that "retro = bad" either, because I'd be lying if that wasn't a big reason as to why I'm even interested in static site building in the first place. While I retain very few memories of it, I was able to live through the beginning of web 2.0, watching as the remnants of 1.0 faded away, and it's something that leaves me with a sense of longing. There really was so much I missed out on due to being born in the early 2000's, so many parts of the internet I wish I had experienced. And on the opposite side of the coin, there's so many things I did experience that I miss dearly and would love to help bring back, and I feel this site really encapsulates that. I come into coding my sites with the mindset of honouring the Internet's long legacy, while also bringing in the new, fresh ideas that have come along with the advancements of technology made in the past few decades.
As much as web development is a type of coding, it's also an art form that allows for endless opportunities in how one chooses to express themselves. Of course, with something as limitless as coding, you have the choice to make your websites say whatever you please, so nothing says you have to take my words as gospel. After all, you're in control of your website, so do what you please.