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Indie Web Annoyances

Let me preface this by reassuring that my opinion doesn't matter, and that you should not take this blog post as anything close to fact, or what the majority thinks. I'm simply rambling on my own site on my own blog post because I want to. I will always say: Do what you want forever! becuse I genuinely believe it to be true! The points below do annoy me, but don't let that stop you! The net is yours, so on and so forth.

With that out of the way, here are some things that annoy me about the indie web, and indie sites in general. Not targeted towards anyone in particular, just things I have encountered in my travels online.

In no particular order...

  1. Autoplay Music: I'm usually always listening to my own music when I'm on my computer, browsing comfortably, and oh... Look! An interesting site I wanna visit! Let me just click the link and AH! I'm immediately blasted by overwhelming sounds, whether I want them or not, which more than often ends up in me forgetting all about my want to explore the site as I close the tab as fast as I can to avoid being assaulted by music I never asked for. And even on the sites thaat I stick around for, I immediately mute the tab as soon as I can to avoid being forced to endure whatever music has been forced upon me. Sometimes, I understand that the music offered can add to the experience of exploring a site (this, however, is rare in my opinion) but I'd still very much rather be given the opportunity of choice. To be immediately blasted without consent always rubs me the wrong way, and only ensures that I never return to the offending site on principle alone.
  2. Reliance on catbox.moe and/or imgur: I understand why people do it, assuming that saving space by hosting files elsewhere is appealing. However, not only do these services go down (catbox somewhat regularly) but both services are actually blocked in multiple countries and by several internet providers. This means that on a semi regular basis, whenever I visit sites that rely heavily on these services, I'm met with broken images, links, files in general. It's just annoying as a visitor, and I think it's a messy practice to not keep all of your files somewhere safer. Why bother relying on other services when you can just keep your files hosted by yourself? Seems silly and shortsighted to me.
  3. No Right Clicking: I get it, I do. Not wanting to have your code stolen is incredibly understandable, and you're absolutely allowed to take any and all preventative measures to stop the act. I, however, merely want to open an image on your site to get a better look at it. I just want to open a link on another tab. I just want to traverse your site with as much ease as expected, but the sudden roadblock of no right clicking immediately puts me off. Of course, as always, do what you want to feel safe! There are other ways to view the code of your site without right clicking though, and it seems unnecessary to me to remove such a basic function.
  4. No Sitemap: This isn't much of a big deal when it comes to smaller or more simple sites that are easier to navigate, but I've lost count of the amount of times I've gotten lost or can't find the information I'm looking for on an indie site because it's heavily decorated with graphics and feels like a loop of everything except what I want. The lack of a clear and minimalist sitemap discourages me from exploring further; I'd rather give up than fight to find what should be easily accessible.
  5. DNI's: A very petty pet peeve I must admit, but DNI's are literally beyond useless. The people you don't want interacting with you won't care enough to first, read a DNI, and second, abide by the terms stated in your DNI. The very existence of a DNI offers nothing, does nothing, and you're only opening yourself up for further or future harassment from the very people you're trying to avoid. It's like putting a massive neon sign above your head that lists every exact way to upset you, endangering your safety online. If anything, including a DNI only increases your chances of harassment, and I'd encourage you to instead curate your own online experience by blocking those you don't want to interact with, rather than relying on them to respect you enough by not interacting in the first place.

There are more points I could make, but I think I've been enough of a hater in this post for now LOL. Remember, this is just my own opinion, and I'm not begging you to change your ways if you do any of the things listed above. My opinion doesn't matter! Do what you want forever.

17/8/26