Author/reader interaction on the indie web

Every so often I hear or read about the significance of readers as part of the indie web. Indeed, the indie web is about much more than making personal websites: it is a space where there are many personal websites to explore. You don’t need a personal website to explore the indie web. And while having a personal website is a way to participate in the indie web, reading is participating, albeit, but in a different way. There are also middle points: for example, being a reader and starting a discussion (i.e. by emailing a site author, leaving a note in a guestbook.I have spent time designing the experience for readers on this website, both in the visual sense as aforementioned but also in the collaborative sense. My site doesn’t have a comment form. Readers (that’s you!) are invited to email me. I link to my email address in my site navigation and often specifically invite readers to email me toward the end of a post. I write such invitations manually at the ends of posts so that they…