Free Speech and the IndieWeb

A couple days ago, I wrote the blog post titled "Five Interesting Indie Platforms You Might Not Have Heard Of". I was really happy with it—being able to share the work of others that deserve support and can help foster digital indie communities. But, regrettably, I had to rescind one of my recommendations. Let me explain. As I mentioned in the post itself, BlueDwarf's "rule enforcement is informal, and I admit I've stumbled upon some... peculiar opinions and takes during my time on the platform, so take that as you will." This was a nice way of saying you can find fringe, conspiratorial or right-wing beliefs and rhetoric on the site. At first, I really didn't like the idea of disavowing a small indie platform simply because it allows bad takes or opinions I personally strongly disagree with. I believe the price for community and connection we pay is inconvenience, annoyance, and weirdos. There are such a small amount of people who give a fuck about the small web and independent…