The Yesterweb
Formerly a Discord server started in February 2021 by sadgrl.online; the original server closed in February 2023. It was fully replaced by their forum which also later closed in April 2023.
During its peak in 2022 the Yesterweb was a hugely influential group with around 5000 members on their Discord, 800+ members in their webring and 600 members on their forum.
In its early form the Yesterweb focused on “good faith interaction” as the cornerstone of its experience; it emphasised creating a community environment that was constructive, aesthetic and encouraged healthy debate and learning. These ideas were later laid out in their first draft etiquette guide. They heavily advertised via social engagement on platforms like SpaceHey, creating a bridge between the more esoteric Neocities community and mass social media culture.
Through building open knowledge about HTML, the Yesterweb energised the web crafting community and triggerd many spinoff projects and new sites. Terms like the Web Revival, Web Gardens and Personal Site Manifestos were popularized within the Yesterweb. It served as many people's first experience of the indie-web-crafting scene, combining a mix of nostalgia, social activism and community that particularly spoke to people in the wake of the covid 19 pandemic which had many people stuck at home and online for months at a time.
However, by 2023 the group had started to disintegrate. There are numerous theories about what exactly happened, including; getting too big too fast, changing ideologies within the admins, and general moderator burnout. Ultimately the community element of the Yesterweb ended in April 2023 with the locking of their forum.
While the modern Yesterweb is no longer part of the web revival; there are some historic resources that are worth exploring:
- Yesterweb Zine 1-6 - A community made HTML webzine!
- Yesterlinks - A large link directory of interesting/useful sites.
