Good Web Graveyard

[osteophage]

For those of us interested in more ethical, user-focused social platforms, it's worth understanding how these ventures can go wrong. To that end, start at the Good Web Graveyard: a link compilation on departed websites that had marketed themselves in terms of ethics. Avoiding exploitative business models isn't itself a guarantee of failure, but plenty of other things are, and by reading up on what's gone defunct, we can learn to recognize the warning signs.

Comments

[zavodilaterrarium]

I didn’t even know of any of these sites, and tbh my only knowledge of DW for many years was kink memes. Thank you for the article!

[osteophage]

Glad to introduce them to you! I think it really helps put Dreamwidth's survival in perspective.

[elf]

Couple more dead social sites with good intentions:

WritScrib - 2017-2018. Fanlore page about it.

Oldest one I know about is Inksome!, 2008-2011, an LJ clone created in the wake of Strikethrough.

[osteophage]

Thanks for the tip! I had forgotten about WritScrib, and I don't think I'd ever heard of Inksome. I'll have to read up on them and see how much information I can find on the business side of things.