Welcome to the little IndieWeb home of Duane's World

 
About the Indieweb My Favorite Movies My Music Playlists My Goals & Education My Hobbies Support my mission
           

 

Duane's World is a homage to the days of a more simple internet. Before the web was owned by billionaires, and we owned our own data. Visit the links below to follow along. I spent 25 years working in corporate retail, and when I became a father it changed my life. 
 
So, about me. I'm from Florida. I spent most of my life trying to complicate things, and when I became a father it changed my life. I became passionate about times that were more simple.  During the pandemic I, like most, fell into the social media world's trap. I became angry, disenchanted, and quite frankly depressed as hell over the world that the algorithms were showing me. This is when I found the Indie Web, and realized MILLIONS of others were just like me. Yes, I know a Google Sites page is not the best way to avoid the big web. That's why I've started up on Neocities and will be transitioning there soon. To see the Google site go here.
 
For more than 20 years, I have been actively selling on multiple marketplaces such as eBay and Bonanza, as well as my own websites. Also an amateur blogger of the supernatural, so check that out here at Midnight Ghostlights.
 
One of my passions is helping those who were like me, trapped where they thought there was no way out of their situations in their lives. Probably why I am finishing up my social work degree.
 
There will be a lot more to come on my indie site journey. Bookmark me and keep up with all the cool stuff I will be doing!

 

For now, my linktree has more about me. I'm probably going to keep it as a backup for all my links along with neocities, but now I am complicating things again. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Houses Skyline Images – Browse 1,916,780 Stock Photos, Vectors, and Video | Adobe Stock

How I see the Indieweb.

There are 4 levels of the public internet. Skyscrapers, High Rise, Mid rise, and the Low Rise.

First is the skyscrapers with all the big data broker, trillion dollar companies. You've got Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Meta, Walmart, and maybe a couple others who own or control the majority of data in the US. Other countries have their own such as China with Alibaba, but this is America's internet kings. This is the internet that a majority of the nation uses whether we like it or not. The BIG web. The centralized web. The data harvesting web. They control everything in our lives. They host the files and websites that control our banks for heaven's sake. That's what happened to the web since about 2000.

Next, you have the mid-rise buildings. These are the lesser known data companies that don't get as much attention in society, but their fingers are just as deep in our data and presence. These would include Cloudflare, Okta, Crowdstrike, Snowflake, Shopify, Etsy, Paypal, national banks, and others. All are known companies, but they really do the same as the big web on a smaller scale.

Then we see the low rise buildings on the edge of the skyline just visible above the hills are the lowest level of the big web. This is where we all live, or visit, to use these services. We all know we cannot live without them. These companies may not be the big web, but they all use the big web to store our data. Most accept that they need these large corporate data brokers, but some of us don't.

Finally, we have the homes with those of us who are slowly but surely detaching from the big web in as many aspects of our life as possible. I am here. I am doing everything possible to remove as much of my personal data from those above by moving most of my presence to open source projects and personal websites. Nothing will ever be 100% decentralized, but that's ok. The goal is progress, not perfection.

I will never ask you for money. If I ask for donations to support my future endeavors, or offer to support yours, it will be in cryptocurrency or cash. Nothing else. Oh, and I don't plan on doing that either, just a side note. If you are still sending P2P money on the centralized big web, you should move to defi. Seriously, you should. Yes, it can be traced, but it can't be controlled.

Idyllic City Stock Illustrations – 1,077 Idyllic City Stock Illustrations, Vectors & Clipart - Dreamstime

 
Built with Frontpage 2003.   Updated 12/9/25