Mastodawn

Julian Peters Feb 21

ety://glyphscribe

Hey, you, reader:

Ever been browsing someone's blog, website, repo -- even their social web profile -- and thought to yourself "Wow, that's really neat. I love what they did here!"

Consider telling them! Someone on here made a post a while back encouraging people to do just that, and I've tried to make a conscious habit of contacting the authors of neat little indie and smolweb sites.

Email, guestbook, comment; whatever it might be, consider reaching out somehow to share your appreciation. You might be surprised at how much it makes their day.

You might also be surprised to discover how much making their day makes yours, too.

#IndieWeb #SmallWeb #Community #Blog #Blogging

ety://glyphscribe Feb 20

It doesn't have to be a huge gesture, nor public, nor eloquent.

A few words go a long way.

@ety 100%! I am genuinely elated any time someone reaches out because of something I posted on my website.

derptron Feb 20

@ety Consider this also:

The people who read it and fucking hate it generally don't even hesitate to make contact. You could be reversing an awful perception that could have killed the content you enjoy or distorted it and made it awful.

@ety Someone dropped an email after I published https://www.unsungnovelty.org/posts/04/2025/you-dont-need-ai-summaries-tldr-or-to-be-on-top-of-things/ and I woke up to his email. It was a good day. :)

I certainly appreciate getting emails. Even if it is criticisms. Just be nice about it is all. :)

You don't need AI summaries, tldr or to be on top of things - unsungNovelty

Focus on quality instead of quantity when it comes to consumption and detox your life by consuming less, re-consuming and consuming better instead of using AI summary services and tldr which makes you focus on the quantity of the consumption instead of quality

@ety Agreed! It is always a gesture that puts a smile on someone's face, or at the very least, brightens their day!

Everyday.Human Derek Feb 20

@ety
Heck yeah, I try to do it and support creative artists who spark my interest ! 🥰

shellsharks Feb 20

@ety 100%! This reminded me of this post https://retro.social/@ifixcoinops/114642926324560637. It takes virtually no time at all to just email someone a nice li’l note. The impact on someone’s day is like 10x+ the time it takes you to do it.

I’ve actually been doin’ a thing this year where I email someone every day just to tell them I appreciate what they’ve done with their website. It’s been really fun to chat with folks who up until then I’ve mostly just admired from afar. 10/10 recommend!

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops (@[email protected])

Reminder that if you like a website you should probably click on the "contact" link and tell the author you like their website 🐰 Oh I bet they get lots of email every day saying their website is cool, I'd just annoy them 🦝 Nope. I have a donations button and I'm not exaggerating when I say it gets hit a hundred times more often than my email address. People will literally transfer ten dollars from their bank account before saying "Hey cool website btw." 🐀 Wouldn't it be weird though 🦝 My learned friend, why do you think there's a "Contact" page on the website in the first place, it's so that you can say "Hey cool website btw." 🐴 This site hasn't been updated in ages, I bet they're not even interested anymore 🦝 Or maybe they stopped updating it because they had ten thousand people reading it every day but it felt empty and unfulfilling like shouting into a hole because only two of them ever emailed to say "Hey cool website btw." 🐹 But what do I even say 🦝 You say "Hey cool website btw."

Retro Social

Szabó Em, Enigma He-Art Director

@ety you're really good at making posts

cyberheart_green

@ety
Kudos to you for the smart suggestion!

repeatro Feb 20

@ety trending hard with this, GG

I was checking trending posts and was confused about being in my personal feed for a moment.

ety://glyphscribe Feb 20

@repeatro Yeaaah, extremely unexpected, not sure how that happened

@ety I do make an effort to leave comments in the guestbooks of people's websites because I know how good it makes me feel to read comments in mine

DarkSheep Arts Feb 20

@ety I do this. It can be very lonely writing and producing work and then firing it into the void. If someone's work touches me, I try to drop them a line to say thank you.

@ety seconding this. I am STILL riding the high from discovering that @theresmiling shared one of my blog posts here, saying it had been useful. 💜

Elena. (she/ her)Feb 20

@netzhexe Aww, Anna! This is making me happy!

Which totally proves the point @ety is making.

Rineke (she/her)Feb 20

@ety very cool indeed

VANTABlack Feb 20

@ety This is good advice. I don't always do it, but I usually try to comment more than boost especially when I see art I like on here. I do need to try to reach out more just to say "Hey I liked this thing" though. Either way I think this is very good advice.

Eskild Hustvedt Feb 20

@ety This is one of the things I like about making a phone app. The stores have reviews. And for my little non-commercial FOSS app this mostly (not entitrely) ends up being people saying how helpful it is.

The same is sort of true for buymeacoffee. That people send a bit of money is nice, of course, but the words that come with it are even nicer.

Bartek "Pan Nindyk" Wanot Feb 20

@ety You're absolutely right! For small bloggers/content creators such comment or email (even with just one sentence with appreciation) is a great fuel for their work.

@ety i should really email the cyber.dabamos.de person sometime

The Cyber Vanguard

Ռուբեն Feb 21

@ety thanks, will try

Jonathan Emmesedi Feb 21

Thank you for reminding me to do this.

Rockwell Schrock Feb 21

@ety It’s true! I run a small, free web game for a niche hobby and occasionally I get unsolicited kudos from folks of all ages and backgrounds. Really motivates me to keep it running.

@ety thanks for the reminder!

Nature Punk Feb 21

@ety in that vein, I love what you've done with this post :)

Noah Bailey Feb 21

@ety yes!! The handful of times somebody has written me a note that something I’ve blogged or commented has helped them makes my whole week!!

Anke_Frehse Feb 21

@ety
👍 Das ist wirklich eine tolle Idee! Ich werde versuchen, ab sofort daran zu denken.

@ety I've done this before! It doesn't always get a reply, but it always seems to brighten people's day when it does. 😁

Dave bauer Feb 21

@ety Of course! Great reminder. I'll usually comment on a social post of something cool but rarely reach out to the creator of blog or web site, etc.

Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs Feb 22

@ety do you know what else I love? Someone asking me why I made a decision to do something. Sometimes that turns into a whole new post. Sometimes that turns into an edit to the Original, and sometimes it's just a reply to the comment

China.Gamer.Guy 神州电玩客 Feb 24

@ety
Neat! I like what you're saying here.

Will do!
☺️

Ebauche (Dronal/Exan)Feb 26

@ety totally agree! It makes a huge impact to hear from someone and you never know what connections can arise as a result! Also if you find music you love, send them a message on Bandcamp or socials or leave a mini review. Every time this happens to me it brightens up my week 😊😊❤️❤️

I do it a lot with all the photoblogs I follow and find myself slowly forming new relationships as a result. It's very rewarding.

@ety True. Every once in a while someone will do this, and it does always make my day :>

bookandswordblog Mar 8

@ety often I want to do this but there is no way to contact the author except a public post on corporate social media