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09/10/2024: Goodbye, Cohost

(Warning: This blog mention negativity, depression, has some swearing and me ranting over Cohost shutting down. Please take care before reading on.)

Well this sucks.

Just yesterday afternoon, I went on the “unofficial” Cohost app on my iPhone to see many people in the home feed sadly announcing that the site is shutting down at the end of this year and is going read-only starting next month. Because of the news, the users made their goodbye posts and published their alternative accounts. At first, I thought it was a bad joke, but then I did some researching online to see that Cohost IS shutting down! What a disappointment to see as I only have the account for 7 months and now it’s going to disappear!

Funny thing is that on my upcoming birthday blog, I mention some of the downside of being on Cohost: that it’s small, has a very off-hand moderation (which is either a blessing in disguise or a curse) and has financial problems to the point there’s rumors that the site is going to shut down at the end of the year. Turns out I correctly predicted that they’re shutting down due to the lack of funds! Of course, its run by 4 people (who need to be paid for the work they do) and that running a website cost tons of money. It also doesn’t help that they’re also suffering from burnout from the lack of finances that they need to run the place!

So now, the former Cohost users have to go somewhere else that allows them to their selves. They can’t rely on Tumblr anymore. Their transphobic CEO banned a well-known transwoman back in February, which caused many trans and nonbinary people to flee the hellsite! There’s barely anyone on Pillowfort. Discord is sometimes questionable on if they’re a good social media site. Some don’t trust Bluesky, Threads or Mastodon for reasons. And I know that they’re definitely NOT going back to Twitter, X or whatever the hell that Muskrat is calling these days! Yeah, they can make a Neocities account (or even a Nekoweb account!), but they have to learn how to code and such, which is WAY different than just making a post and calling it a day!

It sucks that Cohost is shutting down as it’s one of the few sites that truly allow NSFW posts. Now there’s one less site for NSFW users to be in without getting kicked out for being horny. And it’s shrinking each day. It sucks for both NSFW and SFW artists as it means less views and less income for them. It sucks for those who post and follow niche things on the site. And it sucks for the trans and the nonbinary people, where Cohost allows them to be themselves, when Tumblr won’t let them. Now, it’s all gone…

Yeah, Cohost didn’t made much money because of its’ small user base, but it did had a small, cozy community feel that I liked. It was slow, homey and allows everyone to be their selves, which made me feel good about myself. While I didn’t post too much, I do go there every day as much I did with Tumblr. I also enjoyed reading and looking at the posts that some of them posted on my home feed. And that I’m going to miss.

Thankfully I still have my Neocities account and website, which turned one year old last week. I also have my Tumblr account, which I never abandon due to some of the fandom that I follow, isn’t on Cohost. But now I’m hearing rumors that stupid CEO is doing questionable things again that mightttt cost Tumblr to go out of business NEXT YEAR! So now I have to go find ANOTHER Tumblr backup, in case the hellsite finally dies for good! Sigh, I wish social media stop doing terrible things that cause people to flee in disgust…

So now, I expect tons of new Neocities accounts being made in the next few months as many on the dying Cohost suggested to everyone there that Neocities (and Nekoweb) is one of the few alternatives to go that allow them to be themselves. At least Neocities is making some money that will keep them from going out of business for a while, so I’m not too worried about the future of my site here.

But still, hearing what happen with Cohost (and what might going to happen with Tumblr soon) scares me as nothing last forever on the Internet. When that happens, where will everyone go now? We can’t trust major social media anymore as the only thing they want is to shove ads and algorithm down our throats. We saw how toxic social media can be and Cohost was one of the few (mostly) non-toxic ones and now it’s gone! But at the same time, we need an Internet space for everyone as for some; they can’t go out for various reasons. Because of this, I think the future of the Internet looks bleak and that’s scary.

But for now, I’ll say so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen and goodbye, Cohost. It was nice while it lasted. You’ll be missed.

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