Entry #002: 6 months on SpaceHey!

Wow... I never expected to use SpaceHey for this long, honestly. It's finally been 6 months — half a year! This is a pretty big milestone, so I thought I'd document my SpaceHey journey for you all, to show how much this website means to me!

Beginnings

My first account on a MySpace clone was actually made a few years ago, I'm unsure of the actual year. I was fairly young, and very scared of adults! It was also my first introduction to HTML and CSS, which I absolutely hated at the time. Unfortunately, I don't have any screenshots of my first profile code. It was simple, and I figured some CSS out by using inspect element on other people's profiles. Looking for pre-made layouts did not occur to me at all. The layout was cobbled together with random "aesthetic" web-themed pictures from Pinterest, and whatever code snippets I dug out of the trash.

I chickened out pretty fast once I saw that a lot of the people using the website were adults, though. I ended up not trying out any new MySpace clones for a long time, and eventually forgot about the website.

The Return

After seeing a lot of other Homestuck fans using SpaceHey, I signed up for an account! I can't quite remember what year this was in either, but I'll make an educated guess of 2022-2023. Not a lot of people interacted with me though, so I didn't use it often. I would occasionally make blog posts about random subjects — things that honestly could have been bulletin posts! Once again, my memory fails me, and I'm not sure if bulletin posts existed at the time, or I just didn't know how to use them.

This also marks my proper first delve into HTML and CSS! I began customising my profile myself, though I was too scared to try anything more advanced than slightly editing a Layout. Fortunately, I do have a screenshot of my last theme on the account, before it was deleted, (Though, I had already removed quite a bit from the profile, sorry!). I also managed to snag the url "laivan", after Laivan Ferroo from Vast Error, a fancomic. Lucky!

The Return 2: Electric Boogaloo

Around May - April this year, I had to go through a (fairly minor) surgery. It meant that I hadn't been to school for a while due to pain, and that I was stuck at home with nobody to talk to. Then, I remembered a certain site that I had tried to use unsuccessfully in the past...

SpaceHey!

My account was set up fairly quickly, as I had past HTML and CSS knowledge. I opted to edit a Layout and made it Homura themed. The Layout I chose was a little more complex than what I was used to — but I managed it just fine. In my opinion, this was my proper introduction to making more complicated themes, and understanding CSS! I had tried to make a website in the past, before making my account here, but it was so horribly made that it quite literally fell apart...

Here is the first ever Layout that I used on my current profile!

By this point, I had finished my Graphic Design course, and felt a lot more comfortable with choosing colours and themes for a layout. Design has always been a fairly large interest of mine, so it was nice to experiment with SpaceHey themes! My Homura theme resulted in a lot of Madoka Magica fans following and interacting with me, something that I wasn't used to! I was surprised to see that SpaceHey was now fairly active, and that people were actually talking to me instead of just friending me and disappearing. So, I decided to continue using SpaceHey to try and improve my social skills.

Don't get me wrong — I'm not a total shut-in, and I can hold a conversation just fine! Unfortunately, a lot of early online experiences meant that things like notifications would send my heartrate through the roof, and I couldn't handle the fear of possibly being treated like that again. Though, everyone I met on SpaceHey had been really nice! So I've used it for 6 months now... and I don't plan on leaving any time soon.

The Sappy Part

I am honestly ever-so-grateful to everyone that I have met on SpaceHey! I've learnt so many new things, and met so many new people... Genuinely, I have no idea where I would be without you all. I owe it to everyone on here for helping me overcome a lot of fears that I had. Talking to people used to be really difficult and terrifying for me, and I would feel embarassed and unwanted if I shared my opinion on anything, or talked about something that I liked. The world does a good job of making you feel small and insignificant! But everyone here has made me feel heard, and actually wanted. I don't think I've had someone tell me that they were thinking about me while I was gone, or that they're happy to see me back. It's a funny feeling!

So thank you, everyone. I'm not sure how exactly to word what I'm thankful for, because it's so much! You've all been so wonderful to talk to and get to know. Here's to having a lot more conversations and friends on SpaceHey!