Thanks Cohost
Originally posted on Cohost, a very good website
I've gone through several drafts of this post since the announcement Cohost was shutting down was made. It’s hard to put into words what this place meant to me. It almost feels a bit weird to say that given I didn’t use Cohost that differently than other social media – largely lurking and sharing cool art and posts instead of actively participating myself – but something about this place just felt better. It was a far from perfect site (people far more eloquent than I have gone over its failures better than I could), but when Cohost was good, it was good.
There's plenty of answers for why Cohost was special. But for me, it's how I could always see people just being their authentic selves. It was refreshing – inspiring, even – to see people flourish. The amount of queer joy I could encounter, how freely people felt to express themselves without fear of reprisal for being "weird," that anyone could share their hyper-specific interests through longform writing and have it actually be read (one of the best parts of Cohost, easily). Hell, even just using CSS crimes to make silly jokes, absurdly high-effort shitposts, or even people simply posting via visual novel portraits with their OCs or fursonas or whatever. It was a lot of little things that made browsing the timeline fun. Never knew what was going to appear at any given moment. It's a kind of variety and energy no other social media site has (far as I know).
And now it's going away.
I've seen plenty of spaces disappear, lost contact with plenty of folks over the years I've spent online that it's become expected. Existing online is a series of transient spaces and relationships sometimes. Nothing lasts forever. I've made with peace with that a long time ago. It still really hurts to see Cohost go, though.
At least everyone is making actual efforts to keep the spirit alive, to maintain those connections, take that energy and do something rather than scattering to the winds. I was expecting that to happen when the closure was announced, but people have been making Discords and forums and websites, blogs, and webrings and entirely new networks to stay in touch and keep the spirit of the community alive. Whether any of them will work or stick around in the long term, who can say, but, like Cohost itself, the value is in the attempt.
But even on other social media, people are making efforts to regroup as best they can. Seeing the #HeyCohost tags on BlueSky and Mastodon and hearing that folks on Pillowfort have created communities for Cohost users specifically to find each other is heartening. No matter where we all end up, it seems like the community will be able to stick together in some form. It's great to see! Makes Cohost's closure a little easier to bear.
It's not the end – at least not entirely.
Whatever comes next, whether that's another site that captures what Cohost created and learns from its missteps and hopefully makes something sustainable, forever hopping between whatever social media is The One to use, or somehow end up back at the old Internet of small websites and blogs, hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch and cross paths once more.
Thanks for everything. It was great hanging out on this site with you all. See you on the other side, whatever that may be.