Webrings were one of the best parts of the early web. You’d land on someone’s site, see the ring navigation at the bottom, and click “next” to discover somewhere new. The atmosphere reminds me of that era — people making things, putting them on the internet, hoping someone finds them — so a webring felt right.
How It Works
Sites join the ring by adding a small widget. The ring handles navigation — next, previous, random — and tracks which sites are getting traffic from the ring. Site owners get visibility into how discovery actually works across the network.
Why This Matters
The atmosphere is full of people building personal sites and small tools, but discovery is hard. Search engines don’t index half of it. Social feeds move too fast. A webring is a slow, intentional way to say “these are my neighbors, go visit them.”
Ring membership is stored as ATProto records in the participants’ PDS repositories. No central database of members — the ring is as decentralized as the protocol it serves.