5 ms·

I never understood the appeal of neocities. What's the upside vs just dumping it on github pages?

popcar2 3y ago
It's more of a platform than just a website dumping ground. You can tag your site and browse other people's websites, and most people on neocities have the same goal of making websites that are more old-school and less modern. https://neocities.org/browse https://neocities.org/browse
mxuribe 3y ago
I'm not a user of neocities, but I know plenty of people who do use it..and they all use it for reasons having to do with principles as well as fun, and less so about technology. The people i know who use neocities might consider github and other similar offerings as the continued centralization of all the things, where neocities would be considered "the alternative". Of course, if enough users also populate neocities and github, then we have less decentralization, and more of a duopoly...but still the folks i know who use it, just think of neocities as the scrappy offering alternative to the "big powers" - so not just against github but also other big web hosting powerrs who behave more centralized. In addition, and beyond the principles aspect, they often like neocities because its a bit nostalgic back when the web was weird, quirky, and more fun - and not so bland and corporate-like as it often seems to be these days. Final note, the people - that i know - that are neocities users are actually quite tech-savvy enough to use github, so its not that they lack the competency to use github, its just that they *choose* not to.
skrebbel 3y ago
Not having to learn Git to make a website, for one. Both my kids have a neocities website, github pages has an enormous barrier to entry compared to it. Just google around, read some w3schools, type it into a textarea at neocities and woa, your own site. Obviously this is only interesting for relatively nerdy types, but i don’t at all understand all the “why don’t people just <twenty cumbersome steps and tools>” comments that are here currently. I know no place that makes having your own, self-built website, easier. And it’s free!
- yallpendantools 3y ago
  THIS! I've been maintaining a Neocities website for almost three years now. While, being a software engineer at heart, I still ultimately versioned the offline copy of my website via Git(lab), it's liberating to not have to wrestle with a git workflow just so I can hide my works-in-progress. Also, in my case, a matter of branding. While I'm not trying to promote my content (a bunch of short stories and illustrations) so heavily, it just felt wrong for them to reside in Github/Gitlab subdomain. The closest I would've considered Git* pages is if I was doing sci-fi stories and that is still a "maybe". At the time I started my project, I was also worried I might run afoul of some content policy these Git platforms might have given that my website is not exactly for their demographic.
- creatonez 3y ago
  With Cloudflare pages, you can upload a .zip file via the web interface and that becomes your website. No git required.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - notzane 3y ago
    Compare the copy on the landing pages and it’s pretty obvious https://pages.cloudflare.com/ https://pages.cloudflare.com/ https://neocities.org/ https://neocities.org/
  - skrebbel 3y ago
    But now you need to understand what files are, what zip is, what “upload” means and how it matters whether a file is on your computer or on a server, and so on. With neocities you can just type HTML into a box.
- shp0ngle 3y ago
  ok, that makes sense I guess. Once you know how git/hub works, it seems much easier to me to use github, but I understand that not all people do; while all the other sites (squarespace, wix etc) are too much of "website builders". Fine thanks
blueflow 3y ago
Neocities is not about to lock out a segment of the users by requiring 2FA. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-account-with-two-factor-authentication-2fa/about-mandatory-two-factor-authentication https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-acco...
- josephcsible 3y ago
  Who is this going to lock out? Aren't TOTP apps available for every platform that can access GitHub?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - blueflow 3y ago
    Everyone not willing to carry around a device with them that can run arbitrary apps.
    - josephcsible 3y ago
      My point is, don't you already have a device that can run a TOTP app, namely the one you're using to access GitHub? You don't need a separate one. For example, KeePassXC can generate the codes on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
      - blueflow 3y ago
        I'm not single-device. I can use a laptop but then I'd might be locked out whenever i don't have it with me.
        josephcsible 3y ago
        You can have TOTP apps on all of your devices.
    - TheCleric 3y ago
123yawaworht456 3y ago
github now engages in same bullshit that all big platform do with gaslighting/shadowbanning upon account creation. if it doesn't like you, for any reason or no reason at all, it doesn't actually prevent you from signing up, but your account is blacklisted and severely limited. in particular, your github pages won't work - you can do all the steps, but it never comes online, and it won't tell you shit.

It's more of a platform than just a website dumping ground. You can tag your site and browse other people's websites, and most people on neocities have the same goal of making websites that are more old-school and less modern. https://neocities.org/browse https://neocities.org/browse

mxuribe 3y ago

I'm not a user of neocities, but I know plenty of people who do use it..and they all use it for reasons having to do with principles as well as fun, and less so about technology. The people i know who use neocities might consider github and other similar offerings as the continued centralization of all the things, where neocities would be considered "the alternative". Of course, if enough users also populate neocities and github, then we have less decentralization, and more of a duopoly...but still the folks i know who use it, just think of neocities as the scrappy offering alternative to the "big powers" - so not just against github but also other big web hosting powerrs who behave more centralized. In addition, and beyond the principles aspect, they often like neocities because its a bit nostalgic back when the web was weird, quirky, and more fun - and not so bland and corporate-like as it often seems to be these days. Final note, the people - that i know - that are neocities users are actually quite tech-savvy enough to use github, so its not that they lack the competency to use github, its just that they *choose* not to.

skrebbel 3y ago

Not having to learn Git to make a website, for one. Both my kids have a neocities website, github pages has an enormous barrier to entry compared to it. Just google around, read some w3schools, type it into a textarea at neocities and woa, your own site. Obviously this is only interesting for relatively nerdy types, but i don’t at all understand all the “why don’t people just <twenty cumbersome steps and tools>” comments that are here currently. I know no place that makes having your own, self-built website, easier. And it’s free!

yallpendantools 3y ago
THIS! I've been maintaining a Neocities website for almost three years now. While, being a software engineer at heart, I still ultimately versioned the offline copy of my website via Git(lab), it's liberating to not have to wrestle with a git workflow just so I can hide my works-in-progress. Also, in my case, a matter of branding. While I'm not trying to promote my content (a bunch of short stories and illustrations) so heavily, it just felt wrong for them to reside in Github/Gitlab subdomain. The closest I would've considered Git* pages is if I was doing sci-fi stories and that is still a "maybe". At the time I started my project, I was also worried I might run afoul of some content policy these Git platforms might have given that my website is not exactly for their demographic.
creatonez 3y ago
With Cloudflare pages, you can upload a .zip file via the web interface and that becomes your website. No git required.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- notzane 3y ago
  Compare the copy on the landing pages and it’s pretty obvious https://pages.cloudflare.com/ https://pages.cloudflare.com/ https://neocities.org/ https://neocities.org/
- skrebbel 3y ago
  But now you need to understand what files are, what zip is, what “upload” means and how it matters whether a file is on your computer or on a server, and so on. With neocities you can just type HTML into a box.
shp0ngle 3y ago
ok, that makes sense I guess. Once you know how git/hub works, it seems much easier to me to use github, but I understand that not all people do; while all the other sites (squarespace, wix etc) are too much of "website builders". Fine thanks

blueflow 3y ago

Neocities is not about to lock out a segment of the users by requiring 2FA. https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-account-with-two-factor-authentication-2fa/about-mandatory-two-factor-authentication https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-acco...

josephcsible 3y ago
Who is this going to lock out? Aren't TOTP apps available for every platform that can access GitHub?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- blueflow 3y ago
  Everyone not willing to carry around a device with them that can run arbitrary apps.
  - josephcsible 3y ago
    My point is, don't you already have a device that can run a TOTP app, namely the one you're using to access GitHub? You don't need a separate one. For example, KeePassXC can generate the codes on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
    - blueflow 3y ago
      I'm not single-device. I can use a laptop but then I'd might be locked out whenever i don't have it with me.
      - josephcsible 3y ago
        You can have TOTP apps on all of your devices.
  - TheCleric 3y ago

123yawaworht456 3y ago

github now engages in same bullshit that all big platform do with gaslighting/shadowbanning upon account creation. if it doesn't like you, for any reason or no reason at all, it doesn't actually prevent you from signing up, but your account is blacklisted and severely limited. in particular, your github pages won't work - you can do all the steps, but it never comes online, and it won't tell you shit.