(explanation adapted from the Hotline Webring)

Do you long for a simpler time, when America was Online and the only person you could Ask was Jeeves? Hotline Webring is bringing that time back, with Webrings!

In the 90s, search engines were of generally low quality, and people wanted a way to discover related sites. "I wish I could see more sites about puppies," you might say to yourself over the sonorous clang of your modem, while waiting for a bitmap of a Clumber Spaniel to load.

So people with websites joined webrings, which were collections of sites where each site linked to their neighbors to form a ring. Sometimes there was one button on each site that'd take you to a random site in the webring. People got more traffic and less-popular sites benefited from being linked to more-popular ones.

Now, in 2022 C.E., there are search engines and aggregators so finding related sites isn't that hard, and webrings have fallen by the wayside.

They're still pretty cool though.

this looks like a lil tradition among the yesterweb community. i think it's cute

something abt adoptables? claimables? idk but i didnt draw these.

apparently its another way to link to other websites and for pixel artists to spread their art