That’s an interesting idea I’d potentially be on board with – especially if the browsers themselves could incorporate opt-in social features that shift the onus of managing data / privacy / age restrictions away from individual web administrators.
Possibly (in her specific case), but I mostly mentioned her to paint a portrait of the average internet user who knows nothing about RSS and other syndication / social technology that is common on the independent web. Even something like RSS-to-email adds another layer of friction that the average internet user simply doesn’t want to deal with.
I’ll be interested in reading that! Comments sections can be such a catch-22… It’s true that they could possibly draw more people to the independent web, but it’s worth noting that people could also be driven to the independent web because of comments sections on social platforms and the toxicity they so often stoke.
I used to be pretty firm in my belief that all websites (especially blogs) SHOULD have comments sections, but I’ve relaxed my stance on that. I would add a comments section to my blog again only if it was possible to do so in an easy, totally anonymized, privacy-respecting way, and if I could easily block trouble makers. The non-commercial personal web is largely exempt from stuff like the GDPR, but keeping up to date with various nations’ continually-evolving data / privacy laws to ensure that I’m still in the clear just isn’t something I want to do.