the role of this website

currently, or at least at the time of posting this, the internet and social media are undergoing a little bit of a shift. firstly, the growth of the internet since about 2008 has involved the commodification of user data: we are all allowed to connect across the world like never before, but at the cost of allowing a handful of centralized, silicon valley-based technology and software corporations to monetize this data. secondly, the proliferation of open text and image data across the internet has brought on a profound shift in the statistical models that investment capital calls the vanguard of the tech industry's AI wing, with ensuing conflict over ownership and right of use of said data. the consequences of both of these coming to a head (particularly in the last few months), alongside a spat of wildfires among the tech corporations that hold up half the social internet: the layoffs, the firings, the decay of infrastructure, the necessity to continue adding useless features and chase useless fads to an otherwise stellar single-use software service due to the "float-or-drown" nature of capital accumulation, has meant a higher chance that the internet of tomorrow might become more of a series of walled gardens. maybe! but regardless, it is better to carve out the little spaces we can. there has been a burgeoning movement to try and reclaim little spaces on the internet for ourselves. i'm currently hosting this on neocities, using someone else's servers, and a domain that isn't fully mine, but in time i hope i can teach others to set up little spaces for each other totally on their own to really fully invoke the desire that this struggle generates. i don't think you can fully "de-commodify" the internet, by its origins, or by the nature of our social-economic system, but every place that is a site of struggle and social connection is a place to try and build a better future.

i wanted to make this for a while¹, but decided to more quickly set this up in light of the above and in some of the limited time i have to carve this out. i think this was for the best, as it is nice to have a small little space just to consolidate all the things i want to do going forward (the more serious articles will use proper grammar, i promise). please use and enjoy this website for any useful information² you might find from what i write or post here! you are loved ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

1. this was a test for citations ...
2. ... and also any little endnotes.