welcome (back)!

whether you are new here or a regular – my deepest condolences.

so, what is this all about?

well, my dear reader, unless it's your first time visiting Earth or the internet, you've probably noticed a slow but steady degradation of quality when it comes to content on the internet.

what used to be a space by people for people has become a place dominated by giant corporations. the internet's purpose has shifted from serving the needs or the curiosity of its visitors to maximising profits for shareholders. wherever you look it's just engagement farming, AI-generated slop to be consumed (all that counts is your click and the time you spend on a website, actually – whether you really consume the things you click on, big tech couldn't care less), most webpages now look bland and sterile but you are still bombarded with ads and cookies and trackers and please won't you forget to like and subscribe to all your private data being sold off to the highest bidder.

what used to be a magical place for exploration, for exchange, a place to learn or find genuine entertainment has turned into a cesspool of exploitation, tuned to become as addictive as possible, churning out content faster than a lot of us can process what is going on anymore.

now, i am neither the first nor the only person to notice this phenomenon, or complain about it. the small web, personal web, or indie web (however you wanna call it) is an expression of resistance against the ongoing corporatisation of our beloved internet. it is just a bunch of small, independent websites (like the one you are on right now) that attempt to return creative and personal freedom to the users that made the internet so amazing in the first place.

i would say it is more than just a sense of nostalgia – a lot of those engaging on those indie websites aren't even old enough to remember what the internet was like in the 90s, and neither am i. if it weren't thanks to preservation efforts like the internet archive, footage seen in videos, or the aforementioned small indie pages, most of us probably would have no idea what we are missing out on.

and that's such a shame! as cringey as some of these older sites were, i'd take them any day over the boring corporate goop we're being served today. looking around a bit, i see that i'm not alone in this sentiment. and i have a feeling more and more people are starting to feel similarly, so i wish to spread the word and participate as long as it is fun for me to do so.

but where to start?

now, the irony of linking to resources on the video platform of THE biggest tech monopoly imaginable is certainly not lost on me, you got me there. it is, however, a starting point, to learn about your options and get a feeling for what we can do to fight back against the giants. and, let's be fair, you're probably already bored here (this is my blog, after all).

if you'd rather skip out on the videos and dig straight into the cake, check out psychool's personal web map for a whole bunch of interesting resources that might be able to help if you too want to explore alternatives to all the mainstream slop.

as for me, i will continue fleshing out my webpage (look around, you can see that this is a construction site; where is your helmet?!) over the coming weeks and months, so don't expect this to be the final look. thanks for visiting though! noticed something? you did NOT get any cookies while you were visiting, ha! (sorry, but let's keep it that way).

until next time! (hopefully on a better-looking page!)