time to brush up on yer swirly eyeliner skillz and dust off those angsty teen diaries: we goths finally have an old-web-style home in social site xxafterlife.com!
forums, chatrooms, music that plays when you open a page - all the stuff that we miss about the old web and more. the developer deliberately made the aesthetic and layout to mimic the old internet and encourage a slower way of being online, as well as building community for us weirdos.
this old website has remained unchanged in design since 2000, only adding social media links as the internet changed!
#shortpost is a series of little artifacts, art pieces, and other random things that aren’t long blog posts but that i want to talk about anyway.
this one is about a website from one of my fave goth bands - which has not been updated in 26 years - and which has finally disappeared from the internet.
i love old internet relics that are still extant, so it’s always a bit sad when one finally disappears. i think it’s a testament to the fact that things on the internet are not as permanent as we were taught they were. (but also thank goodness for the WayBack Machine!)
the internet is actually so big and so alive outside of the big platforms! there are so many fun things to do, and in this one we’re talking about what they are - including the early web concept of creating your own corner of the internet.
what we’re covering in today’s blog:
being an internet hermit: how i use the internet without the big social media platforms
VampFreaks: a new revival of the old social site VampireFreaks - complete with forums, chat, and ability to customise your profile!
VampireFreaks: the MySpace before MySpace that for alt kids that, incredibly, lasted for 20 years - and the small revival forum that’s bringing back cosy internet community.
oh, and I signed up, obvs. :3
on the new VampFreaks - modded by some elder goths who remember the old forum - you can customise your profile with images and CSS, talk on the forums, and join a live chat with other goth + alternative folks, just like on the old VF - minus all the problematic stuff that absolutely proliferated on the OG site. 😅
a collection of old websites - including a lord of the rings site from 2008 that was a fave for me back in the day!
When did the internet get so boring?!
There is so much I want to say about this topic (corporate enshittification, etc.) but in this post, we’re starting out with a bit about how the internet changed from an experience to just ‘content creation’.
The old web as an experience was all about graffiting the margins and creating unique spaces that were like digital lounge rooms or incredible worlds that you couldn’t wait to log into.
The internet as it is now is all about content: staying inside the lines (vs graffiting outside of them), fitting products onto shelves, and we largely scroll out of anxiety, frustration and boredom.
The late 2000s/early 2010s were an amazing time for blogging: so much variety, lots of stuff to read, and a kind of evolution of webrings where folks linked back to each other’s blogs, giving readers whole worlds to explore on their favourite topics.
(and for 18 year old me, sites like The Ultimate Goth Guide were like digital replications of the coziness and excitement of getting to sit down with a hot chocolate and flip through a magazine!)
This post explores why blogs felt so much better than social media - with plenty of old-web GIFs and screenshots of goth blogs from 16 years ago to illustrate and bring the nostalgia!
the early-web-themed shrine to goth-girl culture I made out of old icons, blinkies, and other gifs
dark angels, sad girls drifting around cemeteries, ornate crosses, vampires, skulls - everyone wanted to be dark and soulful in their online expression.
well, i haven’t grown out of it yet - so enjoy the 2005-era shrine to the gothic side of the web that our millenial teen girl selves would have loved!
i made a website of my own because I got tired of social media and wanted the internet to be a fun creative experience again.
