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1---
2title: The Dark Forest and the Cozy Web
3link: https://maggieappleton.com/cozy-web
4tags:
5 - darkforest
6 - cozyweb
7 - article
8published: 2020-02-08
9author:
10 - Maggie Appleton
11image: /assets/2024/darkforest-cozyweb-maggie-appleton.png
12aliases:
13 - cozy web
14---
15Maggie Appleton’s illustration of Dark Forest vs Cozy Web is amazing - visit her article to check it out.
16
17> The cozy web is [[Venkatesh Rao]]’s term for the private, gatekeeper-bounded spaces of the internet we have all retreated to over the last few years.
18>
19> Venkat first proposed the term in one of his *Breaking Smart* emails on [The Extended Internet Universe](https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/the-extended-internet-universe). He builds off Yancey Strickler's companion idea of [the Dark Forest](https://onezero.medium.com/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet-7dc3e68a7cb1) theory of the web. The “dark forest” is a place that *seems* eerily quiet and devoid of life. All the living creatures within it are hiding. Because “night is when the predators come out. To survive, the animals stay silent.”
20
21I use this as the canonical description of [[Dark Forest]]
22
23> The predators here are the advertisers, tracking bots, clickbait creators, attention-hungry influencers, reply guys, and trolls. It's unsafe to reveal yourself to them in any authentic way. So we retreat into private spaces. We hide in the cozy web.
24
25Private / members only areas that mostly look like chats or private forums are the [[Cozy Web]]
26
27> We create tiny underground burrows of Slack channels, Whatsapp groups, Discord chats, and Telegram streams that offer shelter and respite from the aggressively public nature of Facebook, Twitter, and every recruiter looking to connect on LinkedIn.
28>
29> It's the digital realm of [Domestic Cozy](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/domestic-cozy/) Gen-Z vibes. Casual, comfy, and not trying to kick up a fuss.