RSS/Atom
After a lot of convolutions I've now got an automated atom feed. I hope. If it doesn't work, don't tell anyone: I'll fix it next post. 
From my reading Atom is the more descriptive feed so that's what I went with, and I use the python feedparser library to read and rebuild the existing feed each post.
While scrounging around, I found some neat ideas for feeds, including:
- 32-bit Cafe discusses adding a greeting to the end of each entry
- Cassidy William's How to make your RSS feed pretty
- RSS Club (Does this count as talking?)
A while back I ditched Google News and began using Feeder on Android to read News RSS. I'm testing FeedBro on desktop for smallweb and socmed feeds. I use the reader on my phone regularly, now I'm trying to get into the habit of using it on desktop as well.
Webmentions / Comments / Etc.
After mulling over webmentions, I've decided they probably add an unnecessary extra layer for me, but I went ahead and added webmentions.io to my header. I set this up years ago but was never sure if I actually did it right since I never got any pings. I'll incorporate it into my frontend script, and if I ever actually get a ping I'll figure out what to do with it then. After reading Brain Baker's Why I Retired My Webmentions Server, I suspect my experience will be similar.
Broadly speaking, likes, hearts, kudos, etc. have nebulous utility outside the social media context so I ain't doin' none of that.
NeoCities provides a comment section in the site profile that allows comments on individual updates as well as general comments. One limitation is a NeoCities account must be active for at least 2 weeks to be able to comment (some may consider this a bug, for others it's a feature). But as far as the Neonauticon is concerned, driving users to this built-in feature makes more sense than building something. I never set up a domain for a reason, this is a NeoCities-centric site, so if you wanna yap at me you gotta come down to my neighborhood and hang around a bit.
In Conclusion
Not to be, like, a old luddite weirdo, but... RSS/Atom and email still seem like the most straightforward and convenient way to remain connected.
As the net gets sloppified, human connections grow increasingly important. My creed remains link often, link informatively, and give credit to your fellow humans. Link your neighbors, link your friends, link your tools, and create curated directories. Organize by topic when possible.
