Small-Net

⸺ by Charles Iliya Krempeaux

Small-Net is a social-movement born in the late 2010s and early 2020s focused on using & creating technology that serve and to put the needs of individuals first, before everything else — and in particular:

Alternative Spellings

"Small-Net" is also sometimes written (without the hyphen) as "smallnet", and (with "small" written as "smol") as "smolnet".

Small-Net versus Small-Web

Related to small-net is "small-web", which is also sometimes written (without the hyphen) as "smallweb", and (with "small" written as "smol") as "smolweb". "Small-Web", in some contexts, can be be considered a sub-set of small-net; and in other contexts can be considered more or less synonymous with small-net.

Motivation

The small-net social-movement (as well as some other social-movements) was born out of a feeling that the modern (2010s and 2020s era) Internet, Web, and social-media are broken.

Reasons for feeling that the modern (2010s and 2020s era) Internet, Web, and social-media is broken include the ubiquity of individuals:

In addition to this, other reasons for feeling that the modern (2010s and 2020s era) Internet, Web, and social-media is broken include the ubiquity of and obtrusiveness of:

Small-Net is partially an attempt to fix these things by using and even creating alternatives to the modern (2010s and 2020s era) Internet, Web, and social-media.

Vintage Protocols

Small-Net enthusiasts are sometimes attracted to vintage computer networks protocols. The vintage computer network protocols that tend to get a lot of attention from small-net enthusiasts include:

With the gopher computer network protocol probably being the most popular of the three among small-net enthusiasts.

Some other vintage computer network protocols that also sometimes get attention from small-net enthusiasts include:

Vintage Data Formats

Some vintage file data formats have also attracted the attention of small-net enthusiasts; namely:

"Modernization"

Although many small-net enthusiasts are attracted to vintage protocols, some have found those vintage protocols difficult to work with and lacking features they feel as important.

A reaction to this is that there have been attempts to create "modernized" versions of these vintage protocols, while trying to avoid the mistakes of the modern (2010s and 2020s era) Internet, Web, and social-media.

"Modernization" can include:

Retro Protocols

Some retro protocols — that are attempts to "modernize" specific vintage protocols — that have come out of the small-net communities include:

With —

Retro Data Formats

Some other retro file data formats — that are attempts to "modernize" specific vintage file data formats — that either have come out of the small-net communities or have drawn the attention of people in the small-net communities include:

Other Protocols and Formats

Although not generally considered part of small-net, these protocols and file data formats are also often of interest to small-net enthusiasts:

Small-Net Goals

There are a loose collection of goals that seem to be commonly desired by small-net enthusiasts. These goals in part explain why certain protocols and file data formats are of interest.

Not all small-net enthusiasts desire all of these goals. And some of these goals are even in conflict with each other.

But one does not have to satisfy all of these goals in the same protocol.

And also, noting all these different goals is important to understanding the small-net social-movement, even if some are in conflict.

These goals seem to be (in alphabetical order based on category, and not in order of popularity):

Alternative

Archivism

Better

Fix

Legibility

Lifeboat

Modernizations

Nostalgia

Revive

Perma-Computing

Privacy

Take-Over Resistance

Trust

Unobtrusiveness

User-Experience

Debates

There are several debates within the small-net communities:

Encryption

Media

Old Computers

Rich Formatting

The Web

Logs

Here are some other things I have written related to small-net:

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