Emails are so underrated so I’m glad to see the appreciation for them here. I pass it on to cool people I meet IRL too and we never keep in touch, I think people just have a main email filled with spam and work stuff etc and get tired of using it. Most people I know don’t even set up alt emails (at least intentionally).

But my favorite is forums hands down, really enjoy the pace, like the openness, like that they foster recognisable faces. My closest friendships have always been the ones I met on forums first lmao. I just prefer being able to have topics up and perpetually free to be answered / pulled up. Onio pretty much nailed it.

Not indie but I do actually enjoy voice chat a lot, the problem is it has to be with people I already know as established friends or I’m not comfortable doing it. We haven’t had the time to get together and do that for months sadly. Anyway, it’s pretty much the only thing I like about moving to Discord… forums were so much better.

Karkalicious wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2026 1:47 am Emails are so underrated so I’m glad to see the appreciation for them here. I pass it on to cool people I meet IRL too and we never keep in touch, I think people just have a main email filled with spam and work stuff etc and get tired of using it. Most people I know don’t even set up alt emails (at least intentionally).

But my favorite is forums hands down, really enjoy the pace, like the openness, like that they foster recognisable faces. My closest friendships have always been the ones I met on forums first lmao. I just prefer being able to have topics up and perpetually free to be answered / pulled up. Onio pretty much nailed it.

Not indie but I do actually enjoy voice chat a lot, the problem is it has to be with people I already know as established friends or I’m not comfortable doing it. We haven’t had the time to get together and do that for months sadly. Anyway, it’s pretty much the only thing I like about moving to Discord… forums were so much better.

I’m definitely open to trying email again, especially since I got this little 2009 macbook - something about running on os x mavericks again makes me want to try. I just don’t know which email services or tools I’d like to use. I’ve also just learned that some people access e-mail through their terminal, which sounds super neat, so I might have to look into that on my x220.

Onio wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2026 7:37 pm

Karkalicious wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2026 1:47 am Emails are so underrated so I’m glad to see the appreciation for them here. I pass it on to cool people I meet IRL too and we never keep in touch, I think people just have a main email filled with spam and work stuff etc and get tired of using it. Most people I know don’t even set up alt emails (at least intentionally).

But my favorite is forums hands down, really enjoy the pace, like the openness, like that they foster recognisable faces. My closest friendships have always been the ones I met on forums first lmao. I just prefer being able to have topics up and perpetually free to be answered / pulled up. Onio pretty much nailed it.

Not indie but I do actually enjoy voice chat a lot, the problem is it has to be with people I already know as established friends or I’m not comfortable doing it. We haven’t had the time to get together and do that for months sadly. Anyway, it’s pretty much the only thing I like about moving to Discord… forums were so much better.

I’m definitely open to trying email again, especially since I got this little 2009 macbook - something about running on os x mavericks again makes me want to try. I just don’t know which email services or tools I’d like to use. I’ve also just learned that some people access e-mail through their terminal, which sounds super neat, so I might have to look into that on my x220.

I just use the email service that already came with ZorinOS xD i guess its got pretty much everything i need, its simple and it does the job. But it's very nice to have a separate email just for conversations, it takes out that weird feeling of having convos mixed up with email marketings and spam xD

kuroi wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 1:36 pm I just use the email service that already came with ZorinOS xD i guess its got pretty much everything i need, its simple and it does the job. But it's very nice to have a separate email just for conversations, it takes out that weird feeling of having convos mixed up with email marketings and spam xD

Good point about keeping personal email separated from marketing spam. Do you find you get a lot of emails from having your email listed on your website? Do you ever get overwhelmed by them, or do you think the medium itself generally tends to attract exactly the kind of people you want to have a discussion with?

Onio wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 2:09 pm Good point about keeping personal email separated from marketing spam. Do you find you get a lot of emails from having your email listed on your website? Do you ever get overwhelmed by them, or do you think the medium itself generally tends to attract exactly the kind of people you want to have a discussion with?

To be fair, my email is quite hidden so i dont get as many emails xD but the ones i get are pretty nice! They usually dont spark any discussion in particular but it's a nice way that people found to reach out to me and leave a really kind message. Some asked questions about the development too which was really nice to answer in a slower and more thoughtful way. I should definitely make my email more visible xD i don't open the email app very often, like once a week maybe, and it's pretty nice to see a new message when i get to open it, feels like a little surprise letter and it's even better knowing that someone took their time to write to me.

I think for me it'd probably be Forums and Chatrooms (and forum DMs if it needs to be one on one)

Since I discovered the indieweb and in turn forums, i think they've become probably my favorite online social space format like ever. While ive been on social media, I never really loved it cuz of the whole liking and like algorithm. I like forums a lot cuz they are not algorithmic and actually encourage discussion and conversation over likes and views. Like even if its a casual topic like this its still fun to just respond and read through other peep's responses and hear opinions.

And recently, chatrooms, but i think specifically active ones (duh kinda). Idk, i like Onio's chat cuz its active almost all the time but I think i spend a lot of time on Kuroi's cuz its a lot more chill and slow paced and usually has kinda one conversation going vs like, 50 XD.

I think I like chatrooms for general social interaction and forums for like, deeper more conversational stuff. I do enjoy guestbooks but they feel a bit stressful for me cuz it almost feels like im like... reviewing someone's site or something lol.

ALSO since so many peeps shared their opinion about emials on this thread, I shall share mine!

For emails, I feel like my mind has been kinda poisoned by school. Like I didnt really grow up using emails to communicate, so to me emials are to me just this overly formal thing you have to send to important people and it feels really high stress for me. But I think id be open to using it for communication. I have an email (proton) specifically for like the indieweb and kinda emailing and messaging peeps and added it to my website recently so idk id be open to using it, its kinda just idrk if people actually would since I already have a guestbook and chatroom on my site

SummerO wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 1:49 amChatrooms are good but sometimes I feel like the conversation is too fast paced for me, or I feel too much pressure to reply to something I would rather just ignore, which you can do more politely in a forum than in a chatroom when your name has been tagged.

Chatroom
Somebody nice: @Summer_O what's your opinion on ________?

Me: Ah, oh no. Don't ask me that. Uhm!? My opinion would take too long to express because of nuance. (I wish this was an email...)

Ok so I actually relate to this a lot tho, cuz the other day me and KirbyDogs were on Kuroi's chat and this person came on and asked questions about the indieweb and it felt so awkward when I responded with these super long messages. Like its a thing I would have far preferred in a forum

GlitchWolf47 wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 8:09 pm Like I didnt really grow up using emails to communicate, so to me emials are to me just this overly formal thing you have to send to important people and it feels really high stress for me.

This is amusing to me because it's how I felt writing real mail, but when I was a kid, I'd be writing two sentence emails back and forth to my friends It's fun to feel what every generation has felt at a point their life where they'd grown up quite a bit. I wonder what will be the next antiquated form of communication?

Forums can sometimes definitely have this inviting feeling that I don't feel on say Facebook posts or Reddit threads or anything like that. Not every forum - it typically comes down to the attitude of the community - but some forums really nail it, where it just feels like you as a member are invited and even wanted in the conversation, and I think that's really cool.

kuroi wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 4:11 pm To be fair, my email is quite hidden so i dont get as many emails xD but the ones i get are pretty nice! They usually dont spark any discussion in particular but it's a nice way that people found to reach out to me and leave a really kind message. Some asked questions about the development too which was really nice to answer in a slower and more thoughtful way. I should definitely make my email more visible xD i don't open the email app very often, like once a week maybe, and it's pretty nice to see a new message when i get to open it, feels like a little surprise letter and it's even better knowing that someone took their time to write to me.

Aww, that's sweet, I can see how the intentionality behind it drives up the impact and meaningfulness. There's a little more friction for a person to go write an email than it is to just have a text box and a send button slipped into their hands! That's really cool that people have been connecting with your website so much and coming to you for advice

Email absolutely! I'm a bit of a yapper if I'm honest, and I struggle to tone down my messages in an effort to fit into an instant message format. I also like to take time to look over what I've written, rewrite certain parts, shift them around a paragraph or two, check for spelling and such. Email allows me to do all of this, with the added benefit of making me wait for a reply. I think a lot of people are so used to the instant gratification that comes with instant messaging, and have forgotten how nice it can feel to experience delayed gratification. I do love reaching out to people and inquiring if they'd like to become penpals, and we keep in regular contact to this day! Some email once a week, some once a month, I enjoy the space between because it gives me time to collect talking points too!

Forums like this one allow me a lot of the same breathing room that I appreciate from emails! It just feels a bit less personal compared to emails, which is why it's my second fav.

It's been little over a month since the forum opened, and the rate of growth has been very nice. The rate of membership applications were fair but steady, the posting has been slower-paced but consistent, overall activity not exploding but not at all dead, and I think that's exactly the best middle ground a newbie admin like myself could have hoped for.

While I haven't yet spent as much time interacting here as I imagined I would in the beginning, I've found that the time I spend posting feels very pleasant. I really like being able to return to a topic days later, I like that I don't miss out on a conversation just because I wasn't there when it happened, and I like that I can add my thoughts to a topic (like this one!) days or weeks down the road without it feeling out of context.

Chatrooms are fun, for sure, but there's something about a forum that feels more substantial. I've enjoyed how responding to posts have me sitting and reflecting longer on what I have to say and weighing whether my input is really adding anything to the conversation. Chatrooms don't place that kind of pressure on me, two or three words are acceptable in a chatroom. A two or three word response in a forum context, on the other hand, just feels spammy. So this has certainly challenged me to think more about what's worth adding and if it's something I genuinely want to say, a challenge that has proven to be rewarding!

I'm also glad to have a place where I can be privately messaged by you guys

Thank you guys for participating in this forum experiment And a special thank you to the generous donor from a couple weeks ago, whose wish is to remain anonymous, and who shall henceforth be referred to as The Forum Patron of '26. I've decided the appropriate use of this donation is to fund hosting costs for this forum for the next 7 months, so I can say fairly confidently that the future of this forum is secured for at least the rest of this year! Thank you, Forum Patron of '26!