Where LB Goes For Fun On The Internet

[lb_lee]

"LB, you're not on social media, and you live like some weird austere godless monk. Do you even have fun on the Internet???"

Oh, don't worry, friends. We have fun on the Internet:

• Archive.org (for old music, old multi stuff, old website research, weird niche research... what DON'T I use Archive.org for? Seriously probably the website we spend the most time on)
• Archive of Our Own (for prose fiction and porn--most known for fanfic, but its tag system is so good that we sometimes trawl the original fic archive for stuff)
• the Anarchist Library (what it sounds like)
• Bandcamp (for new music--I have YET to figure out how the fuck iTunes works)
• LotusPrince's Let's Plays (this is the only Youtuber I really watch anymore, been watching him for over ten years, he is a softspoken, straightfaced completionist who tries to be positive about every game he plays, no matter how clunky or goofy, and he is still my favorite parasocial companion for when I am so brainblasted I really can't handle anything more complicated than "go to the right, fight boss.")

We use an RSS reader to stay on top of blogs and artist accounts scattered across the ether, but if it can't be RSSed, then we don't bother. Lotus Prince is the only exception; he's a self-limiting, Gatorade activity, something I only want when I'm badly depleted, and once I recharge, I'm off to the races again, digging around in 1998 soulbonding websites on Archive.org.

I only play one game now, hack103 (and we use our local offline copy. Our shoulder only allows it on occasion, but fortunately, Hack is from 1985 and pre-poopsocking, so it's a very easy game to put down for years at a time and pick up again.

Comments

[wispfox]

... What does poopsocking mean?

[lb_lee]

It describes an activity so riveting that you’d rather poop in a sock than go to the bathroom.

[wispfox]

Aaaah! Ok, thank you. :)

[ainmhidh]

I just set up an RSS reader today! I'm hoping to stay off of social media and YouTube a bit more (or, well, at least be more intentional about when I do use it).
Perhaps this is a sign that I should trawl Archive.org and AO3...

[lb_lee]

I truly think having an RSS reader did a lot to improve how I interacted with the Internet. It keeps things all in a row for me, for when I am ready and interested, and I can sort things however! No ads, no tracking, only what I want and nothing I don’t.

Archive.org takes some getting used to, but I love it.

[beepbird]

RSS my beloved! It's what got me to break from most fast social medias- it's nice to be unable to see things I didn't actively put there (lots of science feeds, some stationary blogs that are less "trying to sell stuff", blogs, some humor...) and generally avoid the temptation to doomscroll by not having the temptation there in the first place.

Any favorite feeds?

Favorite archive.org collections? (There's a neat one that catalogues old malware that's been de-fanged so all you get is the neat visuals they came with. And I like browsing trans zine collections and various music collections.)