...as I see them
I read all of this - https://indieweb.org/small_web
and decided I would define, for myself, what each thing "is".
So I'll begin:
Small Web/Smol Web: roughly a bare bones but not more site on the WWW. Proper DOCTYPE heading, HTML (CSS debatable), no video/music embeds. Not even GeoCities level of media. Quick, unobtrusive.
Small/Smol net: the people of the Smol Web. Or, small netWORKS of folks who read/comment amongst small Web products. Email, forums, BBS. et al - Just networks that are small.
Decentralization: I see this as a process, and less an end "state". Moving-away-from a service that is centralized. DE-centralizing one's presence, activity, or participation in a platform that is considered centralized.
Indie Web: independent of centralized services/platforms (maybe?), independent of large-scale tech (no-AI? No social media? No high consumption devices?) it is less "unclear" and more "all-encompassing to define Indie Web properly (for me).
lofi Web/lofi tech: Gemini, Gopher, Web-adjacent protocols, using the Internet. Though not the WWW. Lofi (as I call it. Lo-fidelity uses/capabilities) that (as I've seen) a tighter and sincere community (communities) than other places in the "open" Web.
...and a number of other groups - Tildeverse, Webrings, DIY Web, etc. All similar to, though never identical, effectively are, the Internet(TM)
as someone slowly tip-toeing into the small web and still puzzled at some of the phrases that pop up here in there, these definitions are similar to what i've come up with when reading up on them. overall, the easiest description i've come up with for the small web is "simple and accessible."
Words are making my head hurt, and back ache. I was falling asleep with such clarity, but awoke six hours later to pee, having wrenched my lower back due to a role "I" was playing in a nightmare too difficult to explain. Just want all the words to stop. They're not only not what they crack themselves up to be, but seemingly indicative - or at least exacerbative - of The Problem.
"I wonder should I get up, and fix myself a drink - no no no"....