i think its easier to remember theres people out there because people treat me like a person here so random bursts of realization that theres. so many fucking people here. like actually here looking at me. its wild, i honestly just wanted to have a spot to express myself and collect web gadgets and toys. its pretty cool but freaky.

if this is difficult to read then thats normal, im extremely brain fogged and its hard to focus on making things legible.

I get what you mean!! Im slowly growing and its scaring me a little bit.. ive seen some sites get deleted because they got caught in the crossfires of something for no reason, and theres also people who are still around. I made my website SHITTY meat for a reason when i made it, to fuck around with html and stuff. So i feel the exact way

I get this a lot. My coping mechanism is to just kind of disconnect? Since all my work is done locally and then uploaded to Neocities later, I try to just get on once a day (at most) and upload. Then I'm "done" for the day, I browse a little, check out some new sites and finish my day. Does this work? Not all the time. But it helps sometimes.

If it helps, as someone who has very few followers and views, but loves keeping up with more 'established' pages, I pay more attention to the creation than to the creator. At the same time, so valid to feel the way you do.

i was literally thinking about this last night, lol. starting college has me freaked that my website has too much sensitive information on it and maybe i overdid it a bit 😭. maybe i wouldn’t be so scared if i didn’t have 1k+ followers. ultimately it is overwhelming, and even turning off your nc profile can help. or just letting things die down for a bit.

dude i totally feel that, sometimes i realize how many eyes are on my site and i get scared

I have a bit of an opposite problem where my creative background for the decade before joining Neocities was to try and make things that got me seen on the giant social media apps, to fulfill some sort of attention I wasn't getting in my real life. Still trying to learn how to not rely on the (unexpected) attention my Neocities page got as it grows on here too. TL;DR dont do clout kids

@tabf5 I UNDERSTAND THAT TOO!!! i feel like my feelings about my site's visibility are constantly oscillating between being being nervous that so many people are paying attention to me and chasing that validation i desperately wanted when i tried (and failed) to become a famous instagram artist in high school lol

i can relate hank, everyone is so nice. their websites are so cool. no toxicity and stuff.. you just make fun stuff.. dw about the views and followers, its not about how popular you are, its about that you keep making stuff you like and thats the whimsy of having self expression, freedom and self expression..

i totally feel it, i mean i only have like 10 followers and 4k views but i think thw thing that makes me be like "nah no one is looking at my website im still small" is (besides comparing it to twitter where i do get interactions) think that the views apre people that only click at your website for one second and then click off. i dont know if thats how neocities work nor i wanna know if its different

thank you for all the replies, it feels really nice to be heard like this and actually comforting knowing im not alone feeling this way. i apprecaite you guys's time and comments i just dont have much else to say besides thank you annd glad im not alone on this boat of fears. its actually comforting too and it feels like a lot less pressure.

@tabf5 i've got a history of also trying that but it became overwhelming when i kept getting stalkers and in really abusive relationships with people so it's become more just be trying to unlearn being a content maker and be more myself. so far so good i hope