The Redditization of the Small Web
2026-06-21
Hey guys, can we stop trying to turn the Small Web into Reddit, please?
Yes, this is about Bubbles. All the guy who made that did was rip the feeds from aggregators that already do their job and put upvotes and comments on it. I DON'T WANT THE SMALL WEB TO BE INTEGRATED WITH THE FEDIVERSE. The Fediverse is a stupid concept because microblogs like Mastodon and Bluesky just do Xitter, but worse. Platform centralization sucks, but platforms suck PERIOD. If you can't figure out basic HTML and a simple web host, your work does not deserve to be seen on the internet. Sorry you have such a skill issue. Internet-based community is a stupid, stupid thing. People complain (usually online) about not feeling a sense of community in the world, just to get into stupid flame wars with people they will never see or interact with. Then you have people who are into the Fediverse trying to insulate what is supposed to be a free and open place. If you don't like what I have to say, click the close button and never read my website again. It's that simple, really.
All something like Bubbles does is take a genuinely good social movement and infects it with the same problems that have been pissing everyone off about the internet ever since it was popularized. We don't need upvotes. We don't need idiots farming clout. We don't need Reddit over and over again. I hate looking at Bubbles and comparing myself to other bloggers. We came onto the Small Web so that we could get the fuck away from the trappings of social media, and all Bubbles does is invade the space and make it another shittier implementation of what we're already trying to fight against. Sure, the bigger platforms have problems unique to them: bot traffic is getting worse; intelligence officers of varying nation states create and suppress narratives; they're making people not functionally illiterate, but just one degree better. If we don't do something about this Redditization immediately, we are going to make a world where the only use for reading is to understand fast food menus and propaganda posters.
I write because it helps me process my thoughts and maybe helps others feel less alone, but I don't want to build a community around that. There shouldn't have to be one on the internet. Literally nothing ever happens here. Nothing. If you want to effectuate actual change in the world, go out there and do something. Host meetings, organize things, do acts of tangible service. Shit, vote if you think that helps. But a sense of community? Get off the damn phone. Get off the damn computer. Go out there and actually fucking do something. What you'll find is that it's a lot harder to actually get stuff done out there than it is in here, but that's why it's worth it to try. It won't get done in a day, and it most certainly won't get done in five years. But every day is a chance to try and move that needle wherever you think it should go, and the internet absolutely will not help you do it.
The internet's sole purpose is to facilitate warfare between nation-states. Everything else is simply a byproduct of that, and every day we keep investing our time and energy to these soul-sucking platforms is another day spent in the never-ending demoralization campaign. Every time we feed the beast, all we do is reap the mental anguish and discord sowed between people who only want us to engage with their agendas, and never anything deeper than that. The Small Web is a decent attempt at curing that problem, and as the barrier to entry for technological mastery lowers, it could empower people with actual voices to control their destiny. I know that I can say whatever the fuck I want on here. I don't have to worry about getting de-platformed. I don't have to worry about getting canceled. I don't have to worry about pleasing strangers; shit, most of the people in my life don't even know I have a website, and those who do probably don't want to act like they're glazing my nuts and tell me that they read it. It's not like it matters either way.
The whole point of the Small Web is that it's small. Most people don't want to take their thinking and turn it into a hobby, and that's fine. But for those of us who do, let's not repeat the same mistakes we already made.
Let's do better this time.
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