Ethos

This page addresses my thoughts, attitudes, and principles regarding both this website and the broader internet. Some people have a page for their web manifesto, and this is kind of like that, but the word "manifesto" feels too...declarative? This is just a reflection on how I feel. It's rambly, but maybe someone else will enjoy.

Why make a website, anyway?

Moreover, why code one from scratch instead of using a service like Wordpress or Carrd? Well, like many hobbyist web developers, I used to code web pages for fun a lot as a child. Show of hands if you got your start with the Neopets HTML tutorials and Lissa Explains it All!

I first attempted to make a Pokemon fansite called The Torchic's Nest (after my Torchic named Amber), then a Tokyo Mew Mew fansite called Tokyo Mew Mew Power Forever (what a mouthful), and finally a multifandom site for Pokemon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Hamtaro, and Azumanga Daioh called Sugary Sweetness (I thought it sounded cute). None of them were ever popular, good, or even finished. I made all of those bad boys on Bravenet and Freewebs. Sorry, I'm a poser who never used Geocities.

As I entered my teenage years, Facebook emerged as the big "cool" thing (yes, it wasn't always the boomer site) and I moved away from creating my own web spaces, which is something I now regret...but like all teens, I wanted to fit in. I went where my friends went, hopping over to whatever sites they were using too.

I never abandoned my love of web coding and continued to personalize my pages on whatever sites I could, such as Tumblr and Toyhouse. But over time, sites like Twitter and YouTube removed the ability to add even simple things like background images to your page. Customization is out, uniformity is in. Countless web communities have gone to hell in a handbasket, and the emergence of "X" was the last straw that pushed me to start taking control of my own internet presence again. In late August 2023, work on whiona.me began.

By coding my site entirely on my own, I have full control of how it looks and functions. In fact, I like to think of coding itself as a creative hobby. Some might view it as sterile and immutable, firmly within the realm of STEM and without artistry. But making a good, or even decent, personal site requires a good eye for design and plenty of writing! I love choosing my favourite colours for a new layout, considering the structure I'll apply to the content, determining what elements to include and what images to accent. All of those decisions with total freedom at your fingertips, and the pride of seeing something you made with your own keyboard come together, are why I think coding your own personal site is so fun and rewarding.

Social media VS. websites

So where does that leave social media? Some people have replaced their social media entirely with Neocities. I tried that, but it didn't ultimately work for me. I'm a yapper, and I don't always have the energy to boot up Visual Studio and draft a new page just to share some random opinion—nor is the thought necessarily important enough to warrant a presence on this site in the first place.

I have started to think of this place (and its sister site, /yoldance) as an archive of the self. This is not the place for my fleeting thoughts, but rather things that are important to me, or which I want to preserve. Things I create, things I collect, things I truly love and want the world to know it forever, or at least as long as I keep paying for a web host. I do share these things on social media as well—typically before I take the time to add them here—but there's a lot of silliness I just need to get out somewhere low-pressure and low-effort, and social media fills that role for me quite well.

That's not to mention that the act of creating a website is, for the most part, solitary. Sure, there are fantastic communities surrounding indie/small web development that one can participate in, but maintaining the site itself is done in isolation if you're flying solo, as most in this community tend to do. During the period where I didn't use social media much at all, I missed my online friends a lot. I wanted to share with them what I was thinking and doing, and it's not like everyone's going to check my website every day and then send me a long email with their thoughts. It was also harder to keep up with world events, particularly from the perspectives of those marginalized. Obviously news sites exist, but legacy media can be incredibly biased in favour of those with privilege and power.

Still, social media sure does contain a lot of bullshit. I made the jump from Twitter—sorry, X the Everything App—to Bluesky during its invite-only period, and for the most part it's better. But as more users have migrated with me, I've found that the same cyclical patterns of discourse and discord from every other social media site have emerged. Sometimes, when I log off an app, I feel much worse than I did before because everyone is fighting over things that nobody gives a damn about in real life. It is at these times that I need to remember there's a refuge. The small web will always be here for me as a quieter place free of pointless acrimony, where I can just be on the net without all the background noise.

I want to do my best to maintain a balance between these two spheres of my online life. Both fulfill their purpose, but both can also be detrimental if I remain in them for too long. When I retreat from socializing I miss my friends and lose out on valuable learning opportunities, but when I retreat from the small web I lose sight of deeper meaning and the hobbies that truly fulfill me. It's not always easy to maintain that balance, especially when social media is designed from the ground up to be as addictive as possible, but I'll keep trying.

Ode to the Bouncer Block Button

...I wrote that heading as a joke, but the block button is kind of a bouncer for your social media presence, isn't it? I like that image.

Anyway, one of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the past few years of trying to improve my relationship with the internet: block with abandon. Do it to anyone who bothers you for any reason. I'm da freakin blocker, baby! It doesn't have to be something serious like bigotry or spreading misinformation. You can block people who ship your NOTP. You can block people because you don't like the art they make. You can block people who posted a mildly irritating but ultimately inconsequential opinion. It doesn't matter!

Some people might see that as rude, but I think we should all take blocking way less personally (particularly from a stranger) and view it as a curation tool. If you don't wanna see something, simply remove it from your online experience and carry on. I think the internet would be a much better place if we all just did this instead of fighting over ships and whatnot.

You can, of course, also just use the mute function if a site allows it and the other party's infraction isn't that serious to you. Still, I prefer the nuclear option. My attitude is this: there are billions of people on the internet, and typically millions of users on the popular social sites. Why bother talking to someone who's bugging me if they're not someone I'd ever have to interact with in real life? There's loads of them where that guy came from, and on the internet we have the privilege to be choosy.

Be free, you who have read this far, and block with my blessing. You can even block me if I piss you off! Feel free!