sadly there's a lot of people who make accounts, and then almost immediately hop off and never log on again

wish people would just stick around

You're not wrong in feeling like things are kinda dead here. It can seem really less exciting sometimes, once the initial buzz wears off after joining. I think so many of us here are used to algorithmic means that keep us on other social media sites, so it's easier for someone to not only struggle to find people we connect best with, but we expect something more fast paced we can just keep checking and finding something new to do.

That being said, this place has potential to be even busier, sure, but I hope more than anything we see a rise in quality instead. Most of the older web is fueled by regular people making art, music, memes, and all kinds of stuff that are the building blocks of making a unique culture in its space. If there's nothing to laugh at, feel inspired by, or just be entertained by then you're just stuck with hoping you can have some good conversation. Obviously that's still an important part of what this website means, yes, but it's not going to sustain itself alone since there's a lot of options out there that provide that. People used to go to myspace because it was where their favorite indie music was at, and this helped create a culture that many still enjoy dressing like, drawing like, and listening to.

Someone made a great point about the age gap between the userbase here, and I agree. It can feel a bit awkward with all these kids around, especially since they have nothing to really compare this to, which changes how they approach the platform. I hope we can somehow learn from each other and make the best of our differences. I also hope above everything that these kids are safe. Ideally they'll get bored and leave the internet for good until adulthood, but that's a pretty unrealistic thing to expect. Sorry kids, but I don't want you with the same brain issues Myself and my peers got.

I think there are a few UI changes that need to happen that can better encourage us to socialize with us more. Gamifying elements might seem a little random (and for some, complete sacrilege) but off the top of my head seem like a why to encourage people to post and reply and all that good stuff that keeps this place social. Past that I just hope there's a push for more creative work for people to make for here. Perhaps a spotlight area for people who make cool things and do cool things. Maybe even a badge system where we could earn certain badges when we hit certain social milestones. On that note maybe some sort of icon that signals if we accept random adds, or just a forum signature to say that or whatever else we want to say. This whole forum area may be true to it's roots, but it also carries the previous shortcomings with it. Is it more important to have an exact clone of myspace, or something that tries to improve on it in small ways over time? Myspace was great, but it would be wrong to say it was perfect.

Of course, we could also just accept that this place is slow moving for most of us, and accept that as a part of a slower and more deliberate way of living with tech nowadays. A lot of people are beginning to realize that spending a bunch of time in front of a screen just isn't good for you mentally. I'm one of those people. I can see the vision of a more exciting, faster, and more addictive version of this website, and while I do like the idea I wonder if that's just the former social media junkie in me talking.

I'd feel bad for posting a wall of text on an old thread, but I don't. I mean this is still considered a new thread. Not even Gaia is this slow lol.

it may seem that way right now but honestly, I think part of it is just that we forget how new this all is. like there's new people signing up all the time. Also, its a bit more privacy respecting as far as where it promotes your page as opposed to something like FB. Even old MySpace was like this. Many of us still have our MS pages and just don't use them anymore because that sites gone become a flaming garbage fire of ads and bots. And who knows maybe this page will do like FB/MS/etc where there's a group who like it and a group who doesn't care for it. That's fine, I think that is the natural appeal of a site like this. if you have nostalgia for this kinda thing then great you will probably do what you can to cultivate it into what you want to see, if not that's fine maybe you will get something else out of coming here.

TL:DR
It's better than OG.MS/ modern FB

SpaceHey being dead pretty much has to do with the fact that most people just use it as a fun way to decorate a userpage since normal social media sites don't allow people to do that. Same with all of the strawpages and rentrys, people are just tired of the stale corporate platforms. I mean, I'm kind of off and on but there's not much of an incentive to come back if that's all SpaceHey is for most people. It's not really structured to be a forum space, since many people are used to the constant dopamine hits offered by algorithms and trackers. I do believe in forum supremacy, but literally no one uses forums anymore, I use them because I quit/got banned from everything else. If SpaceHey wants to establish itself as a conversational space, forums would need to be highlighted more and there needs to be more out reach on more popular social media outlets. I only found out about this site because a school shooter used it like 9 months ago. I was too young for MySpace.

I'd really like a status update feed.

The problem is that people are approaching SpaceHey like they'd approach modern social media, where you never really talk to or add someone unless you know them irl or you have a really good reason to do so. And if you do talk to someone, they damn sure better be within 3-5 years of you age wise and of the same gender.

The people who used the original MySpace and got that concept wouldn't do it that way but there aren't enough of us here. Or that is, there are a lot of us that come here but we don't stick around because with no advanced search, we can't find each other. You browse around and it just looks like just a huge ocean of inactive profiles and 12 year olds.

I myself will probably be inactive by the time you read this. I've been a member for a year and I always stay for a week and then give up on it when I realize the site just isn't happening.

Hah, just saw that I wrote exactly the same thing a year ago. Fair to say this isn't improving.

I've noticed a significant age gap on SpaceHey—most users seem to either be between 12 and 17 years old or, like me, 30 years or older. This creates an interesting divide in the user base, but it also feels like a challenge in terms of fostering meaningful connections.

Most people seem to tinker around with SpaceHey for a day or two, then never return. The main reason, quite frankly, is that they struggle to find people to connect with or have engaging conversations. The forums are too unorganized, making it difficult to navigate and participate in discussions. I’m not even sure if we get notifications when someone comments in a forum we’ve participated in. Is there a way to monitor forums for new activity? If not, this is a crucial feature the site needs to implement. Keeping users informed and engaged is key to building a thriving online community.

The user interface (UI) also needs improvement with many quality-of-life changes. For example, why do I see 3-year-old forum posts by default? It would be much more intuitive if the latest activity was shown first. Forums in general should be more prominently highlighted and better categorized to make them easier to explore. Another frustration is the unnecessarily complicated process of embedding media like YouTube videos, Spotify tracks, or Bandcamp songs—this could be vastly simplified.

I also believe the platform would greatly benefit from a tagging system. Allowing users to add tags based on their interests would make it easier to connect with others who share those same interests, enhancing the social experience and making connections more meaningful.

On a broader scale, SpaceHey should focus more on supporting the music scene and artists. Making it easier for bands to promote their music, allowing users to add, rate, and review albums, and even giving artists a space to upload galleries of their work would be great features.

Lastly, personalizing and designing profiles, one of the nostalgic charms of platforms like this, should be easier and more intuitive.

EDIT:

I feel like SpaceHey is trying hard to be a MySpace clone but is missing the mark on why people loved MySpace in the first place. MySpace wasn’t perfect—so instead of giving us an authentic but outdated version, focus on the aspects that made it great while improving everything else.

Nostalgia alone won’t keep users around. MySpace had its charm, but people today expect a more refined and functional experience. SpaceHey should capture the positive aspects, like profile customization and a focus on music and self-expression, while modernizing the user experience. The cluttered forums, outdated features, and lack of meaningful ways to connect aren’t going to engage users in the long run.

Instead of leaning too heavily into the past, SpaceHey has the potential to evolve into something better—a platform that celebrates the MySpace spirit but embraces modern design and usability.

It's just a very niche social platform. Personally I won't really be using this to interact with other users but mostly to use as my personal blog and just link my profile to other social media. You can't expect such a niche space to be popular. This website could benefit from advanced search features and more quality of life improvements. I think it would be nice to find a good balance between old social media and modern social media. We need more features and interesting things to do.
As example there's no section that lists the latest forum threads that have been created. When I go to forums I just see a ton of sub forums and there's no info about last posts, so I just find it overwhelming and close it.
Website is very cool but still feels bare-bones lacking some essential features. A dark mode option is needed too.

Another example,  I just posted this comment and when coming back to the heyspace forum, this thread still appears at the bottom even though it says a new comment was posted a few minutes ago. Why doesn't the thread get bumped to the top? 

I have thought that exact same thing once. I first joined spacehey 2 years ago in the hopes of getting to know other users from them commenting on the stories and poems that can take me many months to perfect. So I began to write. I have always worked tirelessly night and day with my stories and have almost never received a single comment to anything that I have ever written. I continued writing but was always overlooked and I was becoming fed up with this. I left spacehey about a year ago and I didn't intend on ever coming back. I came back lol but don't intend on working my @$$ off with writing stories anymore. It's just not worth the sleepless nights and the hard effort to just be ignored everytime ...

I've been here since the start of the year or so, I've got a couple of friend requests etc that I still haven't responded to. I feel kinda guilty about it, but I'm just dealing with a lot of stress in my life right now. I really want to be an active user.

I just joined and I want to love it so bad but i'm bored. No one talks and can't make my own layout. I'm a bit sad.

I love the concept but I think the problem is that its full of 13-16 year old kids and not enough people who actually had myspace know about this app.

I always try to get my friends in Zuckerville to come over here toSpacehey. I think people have had their habits programmed for Facebook and the other sites, despite all the data mining and the whistle blowing incident of 2021 when Facebook got in trouble.

Imagine that > This was posted 3 yrs ago to the day and I guess the site is still kinda like that in terms of social interactivity. I joined in Sept this yr, returning in Oct after I figured out how to decorate my profile and I too have notice the same issue as you.

At first I thought maybe the site doesn't have alot of users or  maybe that because the site doesn't market itself, not alot of people know about it, or maybe people just log on to play games (like on Pogo.com) or maybe people come here to read mangas or something -  but then it's said that this site recently crossed it's 1 million milestone and so far from my exploring, there doesn't seem to be any other pass time activity available, besides interacting with the Forums and your friends Bulletin Posts.

So I guess maybe like me - people join and then leave? - least for a while, like how I did? Idnk.

It is possible that some people don't know how to use this site as well, since it's entire layout is different from what most of us have grown used to on Social Media sites like FB, Deviantart, Twitter etc. 

(Like sure I had a My Space account back in 2010 when they were slowly closing down, but I never used it, so all of this is new to me in general. Case in point, It took me 5 days to figure out where my notifications are - like where I go to find out if anyone replied to me or not ^.^" )

Everything on most platforms like FB, is designed for instant gratification and instant access to people - (which often leads to negative outcomes for some, like being trolled on.) Not so much on here, so maybe that too doesn't really appeal to some people.

You had this thought 3 years ago, so I'm only adding to the topic based on from what I felt when I joined just a couple hours ago. Activeness seems to be tricky. SpaceHey is potentially interesting when you go to browse and see how much active users shuffle. The layout is comforting. 

i'm here!

I find it extremely ironic to find this forum topic 3 years later and to see Spacehey thriving and growing as it is. This person clearly jumped to a conclusion without much effort.

I'd really like to invite my IRL friends to create their own accounts here, but I do believe a huge portion of Gen Z has a very low attention span and would get bored with this site. Not to sound pessimistic but that's all I see where I live, and it's very disappointing.

This post was created 4 years ago and I can confirm it's still dead lol. I joined myspace in 2005 so yes I'm in my 30s. From what I can tell, there's a bunch of 18 year olds on here. To be honest I only joined like an hour ago and haven't really tinkered around the website. This definitely brings back memories from the simpler times of social media. This website is almost identical to the OG myspace.

Certainly is quiet here. At least, I could ramble to my heart's content. I just have to know how to embed images correctly!! :<

Three years later and the site is still kicking.

I try to welcome new users when I can but I also don't want to seem like I'm hoarding friends so I only really hit up people with shared fandoms and stuff. Maybe I'll try to be more active with it though

well i just joined the site. And it looks HELLA excitingg!! its quite silent here which is great!! hope i make some frnds here

Yeah, it's a little dead. I honestly got into SpaceHey through TikTok to make friends, but I don't think this app is really a social go-to app for many. I like decorating/styling/updating my profile but no socialising really going on. It feels like people use it for a day and get offline immediately after socialising. :(

I get on SpaceHey pretty regularly but I'm scared that I actually might drift away from SpaceHey. Sadly, the "last active" bar would probably go by: hours, days, weeks, months, years and continuing

I'm still hopeful though ^^

Agreed, even though the only forum I could compare this one to is the one of ximboland.. That one is like so damn active and the only one I've ever actually been a part of. The people there are writing comments every single day,(even though its a game) reading and sharing their thoughts on the forums, while here everyone seems afraid to go out of their comfort zone. 

This can't really be a social platform without socialising. Most people are probably here for fun (to make their profile and such), but to me it just seem so fun to just like, have friends who log on once in a while to share their thoughts?

that's just so romantic to me in somehow, away from the usual social media

I feel like there are some features this website could incorporate better. such as the ability to upload pictures or videos for example, or group chatting. The existence of ways for people to be more active with each other would really do this site a service...

But there is a dilemma about whether these features are "too much" so i could somewhat understand why this website is being stagnant when it comes to new features.

Given that this is a niche social media community, it's a blessing that not everyone knows about it. The people who are on here may take some time to become more active. But be grateful that it's still in that honeymoon phase of social media platforms. Myspace was definitely more active in its day, but it was never the suffocating, mass-populated monstrosity that Instagram and Facebook became--and TikTok. 

Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok were once little digital havens of peace that people could actually enjoy and engage organically with others, and experience real creativity and autonomy in a digital community, before everyone and I mean everyone--and their grandma--flocked to them, and ads and greed and complicated algorithms ruined the entire experience. Myspace was just put out of its misery before that ever happened to it. Blessed with an early death, RIP.

My point is, this site may be a little slow on the uptake, but it's better that way. Let it grow organically and by word-of-mouth, rather than let on to the masses that it exists. Everybody's grandmas and aunties, all the celebs, and money-mongering clout-chasing influencers can stay away. That day may come and ruin this site like it has ruined all the others. But maybe we can have something nice for a while again before that happens. Let's just focus on the community that is here, and invite close friends we have in real social groups to engage with us here. Keep the club cool for a little while, yeah?

I think it depends about what kind of people do you surround yourself with here. My friends here are very active do that's why I don't think that SpaceHey is dead.

In the short time i've been here i've witnessed the servers being a little unreliable. If SpaceHey really was far more active than it is, i'd hate to think what the speed of the site would be like at that point. From what i gather it appears that most people customise their profile, add a few people then slowly visit less until no longer visiting at all.

On MySpace i found that people would talk to each other more. I do agree that the lack of communication can hurt this place. Making actual friends is more than just pushing a button. Though one thing i really enjoyed about MySpace that isn't present here is the photo galleries. Just being able to show people a group of photos, and being able to see into friends lives with their photos. It gave more of a reason to be on the site and active. It felt less cold and generic as FB, and really the only other site that ever gave me a similar feeling to MySpace was a platform called Bebo.

SpaceHey with a little TLC and couple of extra features could be really good. It does require people do engage more with each other also, and i fear this maybe a issue of modern times rather than something SpaceHey can fix. I hope this place doesn't die, but more than likely it'll continue as it is for years to come.

I've managed to make a few friends on here who are regularly active, you just have to find the right people.

I'll add you as a friend and if you accept I promise I will engage with you at least a couple times a week, probably more. I really want a site like this to work out, as I agree about all the modern social media crap. The new stuff just seems so "cookie cutter" and shallow.

For real. I posted something in one of the groups I’m in asking for music recs, and all the recent forums are dead.

From my experience with the site, I don't think it is dead. There are a bunch of people online every day and new users show up regularly. Some forums also receive new posts and comments from time to time, but I would like to see people being a bit more active. My biggest issue is like many other have mentioned that people don't socialze enough with eachother. 

My conclusion: Could it be more active? Yes. But it’s definitely not dead.

to paraphrase tyler durden; we determine our own level of involvement.  

all too often i see posts where it's like OH GERSH WHY AINT IT ACTIVE

its up to us collectively to pull up our sleeves and get involved

thats it, there's no other answer rly :o

I wonder why no new features are being added.. photo albums, status feed and music pages.. It's way too bare bones

gonna go out on a limb and assume that the main reason new features haven't been added is that this site was started durin lockdown as a fan project, and was never anticipated to become so widespread, such bein talked about on tiktok etc.

however the increased user base has obviously led to strain on the server, hence the site periodically 504'ing so imagine how it would be with additional resources bein used up on the regular

the obvious solution is upgradin the servers, but its all costly, and maybe the owner doesn't have the capital to put up rn, idk

im thinkin of making a few donations tbf, i love it here, all the creativity etc. 

totally my vibe

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