Why?

This is a brief part of my website which is designed to answer the question of why? Why bother making your own website like this? For one its a great way to explore and build upon your own personal creativity and learning the ins and outs of coding - I have never coded a website before now and have used this website to test "how do I make a video game?" (to be clear, that was a Doodle Jump clone that no longer exists because I couldn't get it to function properly, not my ACTUAL video game) "how do I promote my art?" "how do I rickroll people in insane ways?" "how do I make a personalized chat system?" (that last one was a joke but its still something I did). I even experimented with displays and if my photos look better in a scrolling marquee. All of this is VERY general but what this means is if you wanted to make your own website devoted to a cat or something (something I ALSO have on this site), that is possible. Or if you're a bit more serious, write out a 15 000 word manifesto on Social Anarchism and siezing the means of production.

The second is very general but also something I'm sure many of you are sick of hearing about and that is that there are MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY think pieces on how the internet has become "too corporate." That the core web (think of ANY website that people use en masse - Meta, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok, Google, you get the idea) has become too much of people's online time and "why can't we go back to the late 90s and early 00s?" and I make NO effort in hiding that is a part of why I made this website (I used to use The Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine" to find examples to draw from as inspiration). I don't think people who use popular websites are dumb or even to blame (that would make me a hypocrite - I check Tumblr everyday). That said, one thing the internet has now that internet of this era did not is diversity. All you need to do is play Pico's School on Newgrounds to get just HOW different that era was (I will still stand by it - and its "clean" counterpart - as biting satire on the abysmal state of school shootings in America though so take my opinion how you want). So the idea of having individual websites made by individual people, all expressing themselves in their own weird way actually appeals to me(see Note 1). I also know that the idea of learning how to code and get everything "up and running" for a website seems like a bit much but I do defend this practice as I get a THOUSAND times the personality from someone's own website full with a neverending repeat of a jpeg over a modern social media profile which, many copy eachother so we all look the same regardless of what site we're on (if I wanted a Twitter accout, I'd GET a Twitter account - I refuse to call it an "X account" because it sounds like I mean porn. EDIT: I just found out I'm NOT the only person who thinks that).

Now I know that all this is something that wont change the internet overnight or even "at all." I mean lets get real, the internet has its profitability in this style of eyeballs on phones. Its REALLY hard to tear yourself away from an algorithm that is designed to grab your attention as much as humanly possible so the website has more traffic. The fact that companies are making people complacent in inactive thinking DOES legitimately terrify me. The internet is a communications tool that is just a universal part of life now. There's no way in HELL a company isn't going to mine every bit of profit possible from that statistic(see Note 2). As much as I'd like to say out loud that this is my "ULTIMATE WAY OF FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE MAN" (my "Guide" is just my way of drawing attention to what can be done in the moment), this is actually more of my personal little corner. Where I can write about my cats, link to other cool websites and show off my art. There ARE other websites out there besides "the big ones" and my own and some of the others do offer a legitimately fun internet time without the hassle of real world drama or algorithmically generated content to keep you complacent (BIG SpaceHey, Dreamwidth and Newgrounds fan - if you couldn't tell. I have a love/hate relationship with Tumblr, on one hand the people running the site are fucking idiots, even by the standards of people running social media. On the other hand...it has great communities(see Note 3) and a chronological news feed. Others I love are in my linkpage). The way I see it, the more websites I can find in that space that are away from the bullshit of the modern era of social media is a win for me.

So...yeah, that's why.

Notes

Note 1 = I know what most will be thinking with that. I know that a crackpot with a website can be dangerous but in a way, I also think easier to disprove the BS. All you really need to code a website is to make a Neocities account AND have the patience to learn the HTML and Java required to make it look decent (this website wont pass for a professional one but it was never trying to be so...I don't care to look up how to make it look pro). Someone makes a website on "Transvestigation" (the conspiracy theory that people with even a modicum of fame are transgender - real conspiracy that includes names like Marilyn Monroe and Adolf Hitler. No I'm not kidding), its PRETTY easy to see it as some crackpot with enough time on their hands to learn basic coding and so "here's my theory." Not quite the same as seeing it on a Facebook feed with a real news website article. Maybe I'm being naive but I believe a fringe website VS a social media account where "Red hats can find more red hats" - the social media is more destructive.

Note 2 = That and making online engagement that's deliberately designed to be divisive bullshit "addictive" is fucked up - firstly I debate using "addictive" in a positive way - there aren't many moments in life where "addiction" is a synonym for "good", secondly you can't even say THAT about mainstream social media addiction. So why is "Twitter is now the respectable 4chan but SO ADDICTIVE" a positive thing to say?

Note 3 = This doesn't include TERFs or Nazis.

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