Underground and Alt-Tech Communities Thread

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

I made this thread for everyone to share small online communities and alternatives to mainstream, heavily centralized services that while sometimes useful, have really swallowed up and sucked the some of the soul out of the internet in pursuit of algorithmic retention and revenue chasing. I'll list the few I know of here. They can be more generalized drop in replacements, or niche communites like this one. There's no pressure to share your community here if you would rather it stay even more underground than RGT.

Rumble - https://rumble.com/ - Probably the most mainstream that I know of. A direct competitor to Youtube, it so far has good servers that don't buffer a lot and can be used somewhat anonymously. It'll ask for a lot of information on the sign up form, but I put a bunch of bullshit in all of it and Rumble still lets me upload long videos without any form of phone number or ID verification, the latter of which they've stated they won't comply with. It also has far more permissive moderation than Youtube. The issue with Rumble isn't so much usability as it is the users it attracts. It is VERY predominantly used by United States conservative and far right content creators who tend to be very click baity and hyperbolic, and there aren't enough left leaning, moderate, and non-political creators to balance all that out. I mainly use this site as a backup host and don't really engage with the content there. If you're in Brazil, you may need a VPN as I think this site is banned there.

VidLii - https://www.vidlii.com/ - A niche video host not directly competing with Youtube's robust infrastucture and monetization. Instead, it's simply a throwback to mid-2000's Youtube in user interface and community interaction. Channel customization, 5 star based video rating, response videos under the main video, and the ability to upload up to 10 videos a day at up to 35 minutes each with only email verification. You can get more features if you apply to be a "partner" which seems to just require being popular on the site and making original content. They even plan to feature livestreams, though I seriously question if they're biting of more than they can chew with that one. They cleaned up a lot of the gore and neo-Nazi stuff after a new person took over, but still seems to allow different opinions and edgier humor so moderation seems pretty reasonable. The biggest drawback is the site can be buggy. I had to come back a few days later to verify my email address because it wouldn't send the verification email the first time, and others have complained that the captcha is sometimes broken. Still, not bad for a small host that's hung in there since about 2017, so it's unlikely that this place will just permanently shut down at random.

Spacehey - https://spacehey.com/ - A clone of 2000's MySpace made by someone about my age who was tired of the corporate internet and enamoured by the community and customizable pages of the past. The site is pretty active and you have a lot of control over the design of your page via HTML. I was pretty active here a few years ago and it had a pretty active emo, goth, and scene presence, a lot of small bands promoted their work there, and discussions were mostly pretty civil. The userbase tends to trend young and progressive leaning, though I never felt like I was walking on egg-shells around the site moderators. The site blocks areas that demand ID verification, so you may need a VPN.

Neocities - https://neocities.org/ - A free host to make your own website in HTML and view those of others. As long as you stay within the storage limit, which I think is 1GB, it seems like you can do whatever you want. Some of the websites here are absolute works of art and others are just edgy shitposts. Neocities gives no fucks and holds no responsiblity for what others do with their space beyond the legal necessity to cover their ass, though it does a pretty good job at promoting high effort and beautifully designed pages.

Devil May Cry Forum - https://devilmaycry.org/ - A forum for fans of Devil May Cry. Pretty self explanatory. Semi-active and pretty civilized. Not really much to say here.

Element - https://element.io/en - Open source encrypted chat app that let's you host your account data on a server of your choice and still interact with anyone also using Element. The default Matrix.org host is fine unless you find another host with a use policy and values you really like. There are messengers that are more paranoid and decentralized, but for most people's use cases, the privacy and security of Element seems more than sufficient. It has a device and account integrity verification via email and verfiying new logins from existing logged in devices, but requires no ID or phone number verification. Pretty fast and reliable if you pick a good homeserver, though requires just a bit more technical know how than Discord and the user interface needs a little work. Has text chat, small file uploads, voice calling and video chat.

 

[JiruleanSkies]

The timing on this was pretty awesome.
Dear Iyo, thank you for this list.

I randomly heard about Vidlii from someone else on this site prior, and I was really surprised to find out that there were still places that might exist where I could throw out info about my work without you know, being shoved into a dark corner of non-discoverability because what I'm working on isn't an ultra Imax 4K capable game that has a chance to draw an audience for advertisement.

I didn't know about Rumble either. I think a lot of these just don't come up and it sort of sucks when you're just sort of a middle of the road person liike me looking for a place.

Also 100% thought Neocities was geocities and therefore no longer existent, so, yay, a new hosting site if I ever need to use one! (...I don't want to have to learn CSS, but hey.)

I'm an Element user, although I'm never 100% on sites like these and their actual security methods, it matters less to me than the fact that Discord is 100% annoying. I've never had an issue with Element as a whole and would generally recommend it.

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

The timing on this was pretty awesome.
Dear Iyo, thank you for this list.

I randomly heard about Vidlii from someone else on this site prior, and I was really surprised to find out that there were still places that might exist where I could throw out info about my work without you know, being shoved into a dark corner of non-discoverability because what I'm working on isn't an ultra Imax 4K capable game that has a chance to draw an audience for advertisement.

I didn't know about Rumble either. I think a lot of these just don't come up and it sort of sucks when you're just sort of a middle of the road person liike me looking for a place.

Also 100% thought Neocities was geocities and therefore no longer existent, so, yay, a new hosting site if I ever need to use one! (...I don't want to have to learn CSS, but hey.)

Glad I was able to help. It takes a lot of digging and luck to find places like this, which is why I'm hoping other people have found places I haven't and share them here. Are you active on VidLii?

I'm an Element user, although I'm never 100% on sites like these and their actual security methods, it matters less to me than the fact that Discord is 100% annoying. I've never had an issue with Element as a whole and would generally recommend it.

There is no software or hardware that is internet connected and 100% fool proof, but software with open source code and a good reputation for privacy and security are generally far better than mainstream options. It's just a matter of your needs and threat model and not letting perfect be the enemy of good. The goal isn't to be impenetrable, just to be more trouble than it's worth for bad actors to snoop on you. For most people, Element's encryption and decentralization should reduce the chance of a leak, stop companies from scanning your chat for mass data collection, and make enforcement of ID verification more difficult without compromising usability too much. Obviously if you're a well known activist, whistleblower, or just someone the government and mega-corporations don't like in particular, you might need something more secure.

If you want, feel free to message me on Element. My contact info is on my about page.