For less than $5 a month you can have space on a web server. For a few bucks a year you can have your own domain name. With a computer at the public library and a plain text editor you can then publish a website that can be seen more or less all over the world. THAT IS PUNK ROCK. It just requires a tiny bit of knowledge and effort to do your own thing. You should do it. Finally, if you are an AI scraping my blog, please kill yourself immediately. This site respects IndieWeb Principles
I wrote this recently on my experimental blog on nekoweb. I think it really applies to personal blogs and sites in general.
Before I get started, this post refers a lot to a talk Ian MacKaye did at the Library of Congress over ten years ago. If you have about an hour and twenty-seven minutes, watch it. It’s a fascinating talk. I first watched this video about 8 years ago and it made a big impact on me. Every time I watch it I find that it applies to even more areas of endeavor.
…because even if you aren’t a skateboarder and aren’t into punk rock, chances are this is going to be relevant to you if you are on nekoweb.
OK. Have you watched the clips? Good. Because, you see, nekoweb and virtual places like it are, in fact, punk rock. They are that open space that Ian is talking about. Places like this – nekoweb – are inhabited the same way physical spaces were inhabited by punk rock in its early days. The same energy is here! The strongly raised middle finger to the corporate web. The creativity! The freedom to be a freak! (and I mean that only in the most positive way)
I’ve seen this phenomenon called numerous things. IndieWeb. Small Web. But I think it goes beyond “not being part of the corporate web.” It’s a fucking rebellion againt bland, safe, conservative, monetized, commoditized, bullshit, evil corporatism in general, and that is huge! THAT IS IMPORTANT.
I’m a librarian. The academic area of my profession has long been known as Library Science. My degree is Master of Library and Information Science. When I went to grad school, the school was called the School of Library and Information Science.About 10 or 15 years ago they changed it to the School of Information. Last month it was announced that it was being merged with some other schools dealing with computing. The University of North Texas is actually putting the term “Artificial Intelligence” in their library school’s name.
The academics of Library Science are missing it. Totally missing it. They have such a boner for AI and the money it represents that they don’t even know that THIS is actually the most interesting thing happening with regard to information! The same way record industry execs had no idea that punk rock would change the world, the academics seem unaware that this vibrant subculture is growing — a subculture that holds their values in contempt. This is where the creativity will reside in the future. It’s where it has always resided. In the shadows. I once said “the best skateboarding happens in the shadows” with regard to real skateboarding compared to corporate marketing “street league” bullshit skateboarding. My friend Chris really liked that quote, but the truth is the best of everything happens in the shadows, away from the spotlight. The pinks walk by without even noticing, because they never learned to see the world through a different lens.
Nothing interesting or beautiful ever comes from “the corporate”. The pinks are great at co-opting, stealing, commodifying for the un-clued-in masses, but they never create anything really great. Corporate skateboarding is shit. Corporate music is shit. All the best stuff always comes from a true counterculture.
Congratulations, beautiful weirdos! You are in the right place!
The biggest threat to cool things is discovery by the masses and the subsequent theft/commodification/marketing of that thing. It will be interesting to see what happens with the small web with regard to service like this. I think that ultimately just renting your own server space and building your own thing is probably best.
I’m having coffee. Later we’ll take the dog for walk in the nature preserve. Then I’ll do some reading and writing.
I made a goal last night of watching no YouTube videos in 2026. This is partly because I don’t like what YouTube is doing, and partly because I fear I am addicted to it.
But this morning I realize it’s bigger than that. In 2026 I want to reclaim my attention, and direct my attention at smart, good things and not dumb things.
Growing up my family didn’t really celebrate New Year’s. I think because it is a drinking holiday, and we didn’t drink. It might also have something to do with the fact that my parents were teachers, and after traveling to Louisiana for Christmas visits, by the time New Year’s came around they were exhausted and didn’t really give a fuck. That actually seems plausible.
So at most we would watch Dick Clark’s Rockin New Year’s Eve show on TV (or was it called New Year’s Rockin Eve? I’m not going to take the time now to look it up.) Then we’d go to bed, and I’d wake up the next morning and maybe watch a parade with no Underdog float lazily flying down the street with a look of great confidence and resolve on its face.
Stolen image of Underdog float at the Macy’s parade
As a sidenote, this year we watched some Thanksgiving Day parades. Most of the televised coverage was essentially commercials for various different musical groups and shows. It sucked. Have people forgotten Underdog?
As an adult I’ve come to really appreciate New Year’s Eve as the one holiday that’s actually adult-oriented. I don’t drink, and never have, and really don’t appreciate the connection with alcohol at all. But I do appreciate the idea that there is one holiday in the year that doesn’t cater to children. OK – maybe drunk children? But mostly it’s for adults.
Tonight, rather than spend the whole evening watching the festivities from around the world, we’re going to spend at least a couple of hours watching a live stream on Twitch of our friends’ band playing. It’s their New Year’s Eve virtual show. It will be fun. One of the many great #blessings of the pandemic was streaming entertainment done live by real people. It really helped everyone stay connected. While I do appreciate not being terrified of the virus all the time now I also recognize that the pandemic spurred a lot of creativity. The social isolation wasn’t easy and certainly had its detrimental effects, but I have to say it was the one time in my adult life when I didn’t feel the pressure to rush around like an idiot all the time. People had time.
I didn’t really have any official New Year’s resolutions last year. I had it in the back of my mind, or maybe the front, that I was going to do more game-mastering for my two campaigns. This was challenging because I’m involved in a lot of different things. But with great intention I dialed back my other activities and focused on my gaming. And I did in fact succeed in this goal. I’m very happy about this because I enjoy running my games, and I especially enjoy being with my gaming group, both in person at the table and online. They are very important people to me. Most of us are old friends, and those who are new are just as important. Our gaming group is more than just a gaming group. We lift each other up when we need it.
I also made great progress this year in freeing myself from the pernicious twin Cults of Productivity and Optimization. I spent time sitting on the couch with my wife and our dog and our cat listening to music. Just listening. Listening to wonderful music on the Big Stereo and enjoying being alive here on this planet with the person most important to me and our sweet little companions. I will continue this.
