So there's this idea that gets floated around that "there's only four sites left and all they do is talk about each other" in regards to how Internet became synonymous with Social Media. And while its getting trickier to find shit nowadays, with the constant depreciation of search engines and whatnot, we all know a little something here and there that's not tied to Everything Sites. Places that do few things, maybe only one thing instead of trying to do it all (and failing).
This is both for sharing a little bit, but also my hopes of spreading out and reading more independent stuff, like in the earlier online days, because I realized I don't keep up with small sites anymore as much as I wish.
So what interesting stuff do you browse? Blogs, news sites, forums, webcomics? Even if its your own site, don't be afraid of plugging it! Comment or re-share, whichever you prefer!
For my (shamefully few) recommendations:
Gaming News
https://www.siliconera.com/ - Although not a small gaming site, I appreciate the focus Siliconera has on japanese releases, as well as usually not being completely filled with news only related to the latest AAA game in the block (though it still gets a little cluttered with some favorite gems)
Media Functionalities
https://gg.deals/ - An aggregator of sales and giveaways for PC games, keeping tabs on multiple storefronts and their discounts.
https://psprices.com/ - A similarly built website for but focused on Playstation games. Display sales, new releases, PS+/Extra/Deluxe availabilities, as well as physical store prices (depends on your region). Has recently branched out to Switch and XBOX games as well but I don't have those consoles to attest how well done it was.
https://snap.fan/ - For Marvel Snap only, a catalog of cards, decks, recent news, datamining, keeping tabs on possible meta changes, tracking your progress among other functionalities.
https://www.backloggd.com/ - Catalog, review, analyze and share your latest (or earliest) gaming ventures. Like Letterboxd for videogames, is what I'd say if I ever used Letterboxd.
https://www.justwatch.com/ - Look for specific shows and which streaming they are available in your region. Starting to become sadly less useful in the past years with the overall depreciation of streaming services.
https://dirtytorrents.com/ The show you looked for isn't available in your country? Well, there's a very easy solution for that! And also for any other kind of media you're looking for. Dirtytorrents is an aggregator of multiple torrent sites - usually 1337x.to and limetorrents being the most popular - for your piracy needs. Don't forget to check beforehand for a guide on privacy, depending on your country's disposition to spy on people. I never needed to do that myself but I know some places get fairly invasive about what people do with their connection.
Dirty Torrents has, unfortunately, died. I've look at https://btdig.com/index.htm BTDig for an aggregator replacement, but have also just been using https://www.torrentdownloads.pro/ and https://www.limetorrents.lol/home as individual torrenting websites.
https://tvtropes.org/ - I still get bored and browse this once in a while! Especially like to do it after finishing a game, series or comic, almost like doing a little farewell (though I also randomly check stuff every now and then)
https://witchdice.com/simple - A dice rolling site for D&D 5E, Lancer or just a simple template. Has a built-in catalog of skills and moves for the two games, as well as Discord implementation for sharing the rolls in a specific channel.
Image Hosting
https://imgchest.com/ - My Imgur replacement ever since it started making some weird changes. Currently fairly small, but useful, which is basically what I need from any tool. Can be easily adapted to Sharex.
https://imgpile.com/ - Another simple image host. Didn't use it much before changing to chest, but its still fine.
Webcomics
https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/ - An urban fantasy long running comic about teens attending a quirky school that borders a magical Forest, and the contrast between their lives focused on the Ether and science applications versus the openly fantastical wilds that surround them. One of the old guard webcomics, it has gone to places multiple times and is still going.
https://www.oglaf.com/ - Very NSFW more often than not! A lewd, comedic fantasy webcomic, mixing dirty and clever jokes and the occasional story arc.
I made this post a long while ago and now I am once again in the mood for looking independent websites, but I'll change the deal: I've lately been noticing that some of y'all also have your own places, so I'll add:
What websites do you browse or What are your websites?
This was mildly inspired by @SpaceVixen own place at Neocities, and me realizing I don't know how to browse neocities (if its even browsable). So instead of leaning that, I'll just ask y'all to drop your links
Their own (nsfw) address is https://spacevixen.neocities.org/ with music, reviews, art, writing and other stuff.
well turns out i have a single link to answer both of these questions!
https://solflo.neocities.org is my personal website and i have a links page over there with some of my favorite (mostly personal) websites. it's slightly out of date though so:
- i ought to add @suppe's fear not!
- and @jayrockin's runaway to the stars
- there's also the classic omnipedia... which i must admit i haven't read much of yet. oops
- and m0r1bund!
Whoa, thanks for the shoutout! Gotta check these sites out myself. I have a bunch of old favorites to add from my bookmarks bar, some of them I use regularly, some of them are just for fun:
https://www.wcostream.tv/ - watch nearly any cartoon or anime you can think of, including ones from a number of other countries. Updates daily with brand new stuff, massive archive of things you can't even find on paid streaming services anywhere, or if you need to get around Region Locks.
https://ravensdojo.com/ - Raven's Dojo is a long-running and wildly creative [nsfw] webcomic and multimedia page, including a massive archive of comics and even some games you can play as well!
https://ezgif.com/ - online converter that can quickly help you make and resize gifs to get them to an appropriate size for wherever you need to post them. I rely HEAVILY on this to make all my little gifs that I post on my site!
https://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/ - Fully indexed and keyword searchable archive of Calvin & Hobbes comics. Spend hours getting lost reading everyone's favorite comic series!
https://hackertyper.net/ - This is silly little site that lets you type quickly in what appears to be complex code with every keystroke. A fun thing to do when you have your laptop in public is to pull up this site, put it in fullscreen mode, then go nuts on the keyboard. See if you raise any eyebrows!
https://www.animecornerstore.com/ - for folks in the US, here's a classic website selling anime DVDs that kinda looks like it hasn't updated its look in 20 years, a living relic of the old internet age. Still haven't ordered anything from them yet, but they have very high rated customer service!
There's plenty more links to friends' sites on the Links page on my own Neocities page as well!
