Q: What’s the point of this website? Why did you make it?

A: Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, a lot of people built websites for themselves in the same way that people these days set up social media profiles for themselves. It was a way of establishing your presence online and letting people learn more about you. Many people at the time referred to their websites simply as their “Home Page,” whether or not it was actually set as the home page of their browser. That was how it felt for a lot of people: that website was their ‘home’ on the internet. A little piece of net real estate they could do whatever they liked with.

As I am writing this in the 2020s, social media as a whole is an enshittified hellscape. Frankly I’ve been dissatisfied with it since at least 2010, but kept going along with it because that was the best way to keep up with my friends. But now that so many platforms have become outright hostile to their users, sending many people scrambling for new places to gather and express themselves, I’ve decided it’s time to go back to what worked for me 20+ years ago: having my own website, where I could post whatever I liked, however I liked, with full control over my content and no need to worry about losing important pieces of my history and the ability to keep in touch with my friends to the whims of some billionaire tech bro. Here, my friends will always be able to find me, keep up with what I’m doing and what’s interesting me lately, and get in touch with me, no matter what sort of dumpster fires are happening elsewhere on the web.

Q: What if the people who want to keep up with you don’t want to be checking an extra website every day?

A: I’ve set things up so that I can crosspost anything I post here to whichever other social platforms I feel like crossposting to. Not every post I make will be automatically broadcast to every social media platform, and a lot of things I write will remain exclusive to this website, but I 100% understand how our daily internet habits can become a comfortable pattern. I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to go out of their way to check in on me. This way, people can still get little occasional updates about me on their preferred platforms, and links back here for when they’re feeling up to a bit of deeper browsing.

Additionally, I’m working on setting up the ability for people to subscribe to my blog entries by email if they like, so they’ll always know when I’ve posted something new.

Q: So, is this website just a blog, then?

A: Yes and no. It’s built with WordPress, which is blogging software at its core, and I definitely wanted blogging functionality so I wouldn’t have to build a new static page every time I felt like talking about something new. But I also wanted the ability to create little mini static pages for specific purposes, and to organize my content in a way that people could focus in on specific subjects and ignore the rest if they want.

For example, if a friend of mine wants to read my life updates but doesn’t really have any fandoms in common with me, they can stick to the Journal section of my website and ignore the Fandom section so they don’t have to wade through a ton of content about media they don’t care about. (Although, admittedly, I do still crosspost some content from the Fandom section into my Journal. 😅)

Or, if someone I’ve met through Neocities / yesterweb / indie web circles checks out my website, they can discover what I’m into based on the navigation menu and pick and choose what content they’d like to browse without having to dig through tag clouds and category lists.

It’s a website with a blog. Or a lot of mini-blogs, organized by topic, with some static pages on the side. It’s anything I want it to be, and I love that.

Q: Why aren’t my comments showing up on your posts?

A: I moderate comments here. Either I haven’t had the chance to approve your comment yet, or I’ve rejected it. This is partly to avoid bot spam, and partly to discourage harassment, trolling, bullying, and other bad behaviour. People can go on about Free Speech™ all they like, but this website is not a public square (and I’m not the government). This is my home, and if you’ve come to visit, I’m expecting the conduct of a good guest. Otherwise, I’m shutting the door on you.

But if your comment is perfectly friendly and we know each other well, it really is most likely that I just haven’t gotten around to approving it yet. 😅

Q: I’m a minor. Is it okay for me to be here?

A: This website belongs to and is run by an adult, and I will talk about adult topics here. Sometimes I will link to or share 18+ content. A lot of the fanfiction I’ve written is E-rated / explicit, and I do share it here. There’s plenty of content on this website that is perfectly safe for all ages, and I will do my best to provide appropriate warnings and tags on any content intended for adults only, but adult content is present on this website. To any kids who have stumbled across this site, I recommend making your own website and inviting your friends to join you there!