Hello world!

Contents

Introduction ⚓

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post.

In the era of mass social media and instant consumption, long-form, permanent content seems quaint, like something an eccentric hipster would be into. It’s like writing a letter to a pen pal, or watching a Blu-ray on an analog TV. You could do it, but…why?

Still, I think there’s value in personal blogs, and especially personal websites. Social media did a fantastic job of getting more and more people to go online and participate in a global community, but at the same time, it made that community smaller. Instead of thousands of specialized forums, messaging boards, and chat rooms ran by individuals, we now have a handful of general purpose platforms ran by massive corporations. Everything we do and say is mined, analyzed, and sold for profit - our ability to talk to each other and share pictures of our cats is just a nice side-effect of what is inherently a for-profit system.

I’m not saying that’s inherently bad. After all, running services as massive as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc, costs money, and if the service is free to its users, then that money has to come from somewhere. The problem is it changes the very nature of the platform, from how it works to how people communicate. Platforms start prioritizing views and engagement. They start implementing algorithms to keep people hooked. They bump posts by celebrities, they push controversial content to the forefront, they make advertisements look like regular posts to trick you into clicking. It’s little things that gradually build up and become more insidious the more you notice it, and unless your technically inclined, escaping it is basically impossible.

The Internet is decentralized by its nature. It doesn’t natively support the notion of having all of its users’ data go through a handful of centrally controlled services. You’re not just allowed to add your own blog or forum or streaming service to the network, you’re encouraged to. You might not show up as high in a Google Search as TikTok, but you’ll still have a presence. People will find you. You might be a single snowflake in a blizzard, but you’ll still be there.

That’s what this site is about. I don’t expect to become some massive online presence, nor do I expect the SEO or social media gods to bump my content to the top. What I hope is that this inspires you to move away from centrally controlled platforms, to plant your own flag on the Internet, to tell the world who you are and what you can do even if nobody hears you. Because trust me, someone out there is listening, and they appreciate you for doing it.