Sunday 16 August 2026

Another big shout out to Gemcities users!

I started GemCities at the beginning of March 2026. A mere five months ago. I had started really getting into the whole Gemini protocol/small-web thing and decided that it would be cool if there was a simple way to test the waters without actually having to stand up a server to publish, while still being in total control of your capsule.

The idea came to me from the past, the exact vibe that the small-web encompasses, in the form of the classic GeoCities. Simple, easy to use, no hassles with servers and domains, just sign up and begin creating.

I decided GemCities would be a free, donation-supported hosting service for the Gemini protocol, a small, quiet corner of the internet that strips away the noise of the modern web. No ads, no analytics, no tracking, no paywalls, and no plans to add any. Every capsule gets 50 MB of storage, which is generous for gemtext files. Simple publishing infrastructure, run ethically, kept simple on purpose. A HUGE feature is that the users own the content they publish. GemCities claims no rights over it. They can export all their capsule files at any time from the editor with one click. Content is not held hostage.

The process is idiot-proof – Pick a username. A capsule will be generated at username.gemcities.com on the Gemini network. Then use the web editor to write gemtext files. A live preview shows exactly how the capsule will look. Save the file. It’s live instantly. No deploys, no configuration, no waiting. I mean, how much simpler could it be?

To be honest, after I worked out the code, the backend, and the security and privacy/DMCA/abuse concerns, and launched, I figured I would get a handful of users over the next 6 months or so with a lot of spam accounts (which I did get a TON of and eventually worked out a process to weed most of them out automatically).

It is now five months later and GemCities is sitting at 126 users.

Now, I will be the first to admit that about 10% of those accounts aren’t really active. I think they were created and then the person decided not to follow through. Still, the remaining 90% are actually active accounts with content. The beauty is that, honestly, it has been hands-off. It is working and I have gotten feedback about the service.

I have had people ask for features and other things, but because of how it was designed and managed (by me, a one-man team), feature sprawl has to be kept in check. Also, privacy issues are a real concern to me. For example, I had someone ask for a public directory of users. I replied that,

I understand why people want a public GemCities directory. Discovery matters, and a browsable list would be convenient. But I’m not going to publish one. GemCities is a hosting service, not a social platform or community index. Users get a public Gemini capsule at their own subdomain, but they did not consent to being listed in an operator-maintained directory. Publishing one would change the privacy expectations of the service after the fact. That fits how GemCities is built: no analytics, popularity features, social mechanics, centralized search, or promotion layer. The goal is to make publishing on Gemini easy while leaving discovery to users and the wider Gemini ecosystem. People who want to be found can share their capsule, link it elsewhere, use existing Gemini discovery tools, or participate in community spaces. What I won’t do is list everyone by default. This isn’t a technical limitation. It’s a trust decision.

All I can say is I would not have guessed this would be as successful (to me anyway) as it has become. I see GemCities users posting on some of the main Gemini communities (like Station, GeminiSpace BBS, Antenna, Cosmos, etc.) and it makes me feel really good that these people are using my service and joining the small web-community.

And, finally, while I am not patting my own back, I am proud that I can provide this service at no cost. The money it costs to run this is microscopic in terms of what I am offering and what it means to me. A lot of people these days tend to create an app or service and their sole motivation is to earn money from it. Not me. On my own capsule (gemini://calvusrex.gemcities.com), I make it very clear where I stand:

I don’t really need support. I host GemCities because I want to, because I think there is a need for it, and because I like to make it easy for folks to be involved in something that I have grown to have a passion for.

However, if you do feel so inclined, here is the link to my Ko-Fi page. I thank you ahead of time mostly for reading my capsule, and if you are a user of GemCities, I thank you for using the service and I hope it is something you find enjoyable!