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.