One person tinkers around with an idea and posts about how they did it. Someone else sees it and thinks it’s cool and wants it for themselves. They then modify it for their system, maybe with some changes or even improvements, and post the details on their site.
They’ve both syndicated copies to IndieWeb news or to the IndieWeb wiki, so that in the future, others looking for that sort of UI research or examples can find them and potentially modify them for their own personal use.
And the cycle begins anew…