Guestbook
As you step into the cozy confines of the townās quaint post office, the creaking of the wooden door echoes softly in the air. Your gaze is immediately drawn to a colossal guestbook sitting atop a polished mahogany desk. Hovering gracefully above it is a pixie, her soft glow casting a warm ambiance throughout the room. She flutters with excitement as you approach.
āGreetings, esteemed traveler! Your arrival is a welcomed breeze in our peaceful town. Would you be inclined to leave an indelible mark within the pages of our cherished guestbook? Your name and a heartfelt message shall forever grace the tales of those who venture through Satyadasa.ā
Her enthusiastic charm becons you closer, inviting you to contribute to the rich tapestry of stories woven by fellow wanderers whoāve passed through this magical enclave.
I am very excited about this new site. I hope to meet many like-minded people to form meaningful connections!
Hey Scarlet!
Iām so happy you have discovered my website and the Small Web movement! I wish you all the best on this journey and if I can be of any help or if you have any questions, please donāt hesitate to reach out. š I am always happy to help. ā„
All the best,
Aevisia
For the life of me, I canāt remember how I stumbled on your site (probably while reading up on web revival), but I just want to tell you how much Iāve enjoyed it. I love how cute and nostalgic your site is while feeling modern and responsive. Oh! And who doesnāt love a guestbook? š (I really hope i didnāt mess up the formatting on this lol)
Iāve been slowly building my own website from scratch, re-learning HTML, CSS, jsā¦ Iād like to learn some server-side stuff, too, like PHP. Iām using WordPress at the moment, but my goal is to move off of it and onto something more bespoke. I feel like itās a decent CMS but really limiting when I want to start moving out of the boxes and plugins it puts me in.
Lately, Iāve jettisoned myself from most social media sites. I used to share my art on places like insta, xitter, etc. but they were SO negative and overly political IMO- it felt like people were always wanting to just pick fights instead of just talk art.
So Iāve been focusing on curating my own little webspace, and supporting indie sites/forums for art-sharing (And other socializing).
On the topic of AI art, Iām an artist (a traditional one, at that), and please donāt feel bad for using it as a placeholder on your site! I understand (very deeply) the moral quandaries around AI image generation (how it was trained, etc), but some people just are not illustrators at the end of the day. This technology is here to stay, and yes, it will absolutely displace people. On the other hand, it will open up new avenues for people, too. For digital artists, it will become a valuable tool as more use-cases get discussed and discovered. Plus, there are artists who are training models on their own work, which is very neat. Every time a new technology comes out into this scene, it is very disruptive, but we eventually reach an equilibrium.
Have a good one! I canāt wait to see what else you wind up doing with your site!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Kzuich! This made my whole day. š
Thatās really cool that youāre learning all those things right now! Iām attempting to do something similar and taking a web developer course on Udemy to learn the same things. Iām also using WordPress! Iāve also noticed it has its limitations, though, Iām hoping to learn WordPress development at some point as well to fill in the gaps, maybe make my own plugins. š Itās definitely understandable why youād want to move away from it though, and there are lots of really great options out there. I wish you the best of luck in whatever route you take on your web building journey! Iād love to check out your website as well once youāve got it set up!
I totally get where youāre coming from with social media as well. Iāve recently been reflecting on my own use of it. Iām really bad with doom scrolling on instagram. Could do it for hours and it usually leaves me feeling empty, my day wasted, and makes me feel even more miserable about the world. xD It sucks everything is so overly political these days, and thatās probably a big part of the problem why folks are so divided today. We categorize each other into stereotyped groups/tribes that we either get along or donāt get along with rather than just seeing and communicating with each other as people whom on some fronts we find common ground and other fronts we donāt. We donāt gotta agree on everything and share all the same morals to have a pleasant conversation. We can enjoy just connecting over things like art, music, books, and other common interests without bringing the heavy stuff into it. I guess thatās part of what drew me to the small web. I still see a lot of political stuff around the small web, even on my own site Iām still trying to figure out how to best approach those things, but I think the small web has really done a great job at helping folks to see other people online as actual people again rather than just another stranger on social media.
And thank you so much for your comment regarding the AI art, it really does help put my mind at ease. I have a degree in graphic design and informal education in marketing and honestly see the same things happening in both of those industries as well. AI and being replaced by machines is a big threat thatās facing a lot of industries right now, even retail. For awhile I was pretty against AI everything, but the more Iāve dabbled with it for personal use, the more Iāve found it to be a great aid in a lot of things. I figure at the end of the day, Iām only using it here for personal use so itās not like Iām putting anyone out of a job. Itās either I use AI, make my own art which would look terrible, or find free graphics online so no matter which route I go itās really not benefiting anyone else anyways. I agree though, itās definitely proven to be a great tool for artists now as well, and Iāve also recently discovered there are ways for artists to protect their work from unauthorized AI training. With problems come solutions and this era is still young. Hopefully we will find plenty of solutions to the challenges weāre facing on the AI front and adapt to it in ways that can benefit us more than harm us.
Thanks so much again for stopping by! And if you happen to return sometime soon, Iād love to see your website as well and leave a comment in your guestbook (if youāve got one set up)!
All the best,
Aev
Hi! I finally got around to writing a reply. My site still doesnāt have a Guestbook yet (Iām working on itā¦slowly, lol) I do have some art and things, as well as a link on there to my comic Iāve been working on. Itās over at https://kzuich.com
I hope youāll take a look if you get a chance! š
I know exactly how you feel about doomscrolling and things like that. Iāve been slowly stepping back from even reading news because so much of it is specifically to evoke a reaction (usually negativeā¦). I try not to be completely blind about things that are happening, but limiting my consumption has been so helpful.
I hope youāre having a nice summer! (Itās sweltering here already ^^;)
Hey Kzuich! I apologize my reply is a bit delayed as well. Weāve been in the process of moving and unpacking the past month and finally have things in order, just starting to get caught up and settled back in to site stuff.
Your site looks awesome so far! I took a peek at your artwork and comic as well. Youāve got an amazing talent for drawing, keep up the great work! š
I know what you mean. Iāve been doing the same with limiting consumption and it has drastically improved my mental health. I think a lot of folks are kind of of the same mentality of sleeping with one eye open though. xD Good to know whatās going on but strike a balance because it can be easy to be consumed by all the bad news.
Itās been super warm here lately as well, feels great to have summer back. Try and stay cool and have a great summer! āļøāŗ
I found your website through the book webring and itās so charming! I recently made a neocities because Iām fed up with all the major sms platforms. The resources you have collected here are so helpful! Thank you for making this magical place <3
Aw thank you so much for your sweet words, Jo! The feeling is definitely mutual; Iām part of very few mainstream social media sites these days, and the few Iām part of I hate. Web weaving your own space is so liberating and honestly just so much fun. š I try to add any useful resources I find to my site, but if you have any questions about anything, feel free to reach out anytime. Enjoy this new journey and I canāt wait to see what you create! ā¤
ā Aev
the use of ai images makes this site far less charming and cozy than it could be š
Iām sorry you feel that way, Vermis! I understand though. A lot of people have really strong feelings when it comes to AI, and rightfully so. AI is coming for peopleās jobs, and as a graphic designer myself, I know first hand theyāve already come for my job. Itās a sad reality weāre all facing right now that weāll all likely one day be replaced by it. But I think youāll be happy to know the AI images are mostly just fillers for now until I can replace them with ones made by real artists. I covered this in a status post about a month ago here, but once I have the CafĆ© up, Iāll be holding contests for artists to help me start replacing the AI images. š Lots of exciting things on the way! Web development just takes time.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! š I hope you have a great day!
EDIT 05/08/2025:
I will no longer be moving forward with my prior web cafe plans. I just have far too many projects on the go, Iād never had time to properly maintain it, as much as Iād still like to. As for the AI stuff, I have had a lot of time to think about my position on it, my ethics and morals around using it, as well as considered and researched commissioning artists to decorate this space. At the end of the day, it just isnāt practical and is not in my budget to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars commissioning artists to decorate a space thatās purely just a creative hobby of mine. As of today, my position regarding generative AI art is that there is no moral dilemmas using it for personal use projects. Commercial use projects, circumstances that would take real paying jobs away from artists, is another story altogether. I believe that there are positive ways to use AI that do not cause harm and can aid people in a large variety of ways, and there are negative ways to use AI that can harm people in a large variety of ways. AI is a tool; whether itās a positive or negative tool highly depends on the person and how they choose to use it. All that being said, I know my site wonāt be everyoneās cup of tea, given I do enjoy experimenting with AI and using it to propel my own creativity and productivity. But I am fine with that. š We are all entitled to do our own thing in our own spaces. Not everyone has to like what everyone else is doing. Thatās the beauty of having freedom in this movement and being decentralized by nature. We are not required to follow one specific set of rules or do what everyone else is doing. We all make our own rules for our own unique spaces and carve our own paths in this movement. ā„ This is how Iāve chosen to carve mine, but that doesnāt mean you have to follow suit. We will go our own ways. āļø