Like Wading in Still Creeks

Y'know, today in Texas, they rolled out age verification for one of the only places I consistently share my art- and subsequently blocked me from the small web of artists and doll collectors I call my friends. Bluesky was not the best ever, it devolved rather quickly over time, with it's vibecoding and bending of the knee. It was however, an accessible alternative. It's low engagement and user curated feeds brought way to what I felt like was something a bit more like a community center hosting clubs than anything else. But  no i wasn't going to give it my credentials, hell they think they are? 

I think a lot of modern socmeds nowadays forget- or intentionally disregard- that they owe everything to their userbases; to extort them so far as to destroy the entire platform. It's not a secret either, the big four all use algorithms designed to keep people online as long as possible, showing as many ads for as long as possible, or forcing flame wars and distrust in the common populace so that fear drives users to simultaneously distrust everything they know and while clinging to whatever platform serves as their choice of social interaction, negative or not. 

As someone who occasionally deals with psychosis it ah, became fairly apparent just how damaging this stuff is, and it worries me how those who have yet to deal with any non-standard mental complications will come to cope in the coming years facing it. Considering how Covid reinforced ableism to the modern day and consistently causes brain damage in those too prideful to admit re-infection, I do feel concerned that there will be a large wave of adults who don't know how to care for themselves and refuse to care for others. 

That talk is for another time. When I have more to articulate.

Yet my concern does not overwrite my appreciation for what we do have. 

I didn't really grow up with Myspace. My computer literacy began and sputtered out with the rise of common socmeds. It was in the background of course but I never got to experience it in it's heyday and only just recently got into learning HTML/CSS (and I'm not very far) but i think that makes me adore this site even more? It's got it's issues too, solodev and all, I don't even think I've gotten to see my pfp in the few days I've been here, but It's similar with sites like Neocities- something that encourages digital construction instead of regurgitation. You build your space and share it with others, occasionally give it to others, like me, to use as layout templates... It's. nice. It's a breath of fresh air. You Explore.

I'd be lying to say I wasn't somewhat intimidated though. Like wading through a creek that runs through the land behind you. The main river is polluted, and you might not be able to clean the entire thing itself, but with a bit of work you can unclog the fissures and trash dams and have a place to listen to water trickle and guppies dip in and out of the water. Little by little those who clean the creek might work their way upstream and cross paths and share what they know amongst themselves and others. This simile got away from me lmfao. Do you follow it at least? 

I'm kinda surprised to see so many younger folk here as well. I mean like, some could be lying or whatever, it's the internet, and I am a staunch believer in never calling children a lost cause, but like? yeah, hell yeah, I'm glad there's people willing to take the step to place a little bit of themselves forward. 

Going forward I hope to actually catalog my projects... illustration, comics, animations, but mostly physical crafts & sewing projects &collections, and eventually turn this page into a project of itself. For now though, I'm glad there's a layout sharing functions, Kinda feels like choosing a different outfit lol.

That's all for now, uncertainty and curiosity prevailing.