Manifesto

It all began with a post on tumblr.

I don't remember what it said exactly, but it was a user complaining about the state of social media. They complained about how social media is all about money and engagement and controlling our lives through spying on our browsing history.

That was when they mentioned that we needed to start using Neocities.

I believe I had heard of it at some point before, but I never really thought about it until recently. I was interested in managing my own website and doing all the things that everyone loved about the site, but I had no idea how to get into it.

That was when I heard Chuggaaconroy talk about how much he missed the old youtube channel layout. It was a source of inspiration that kickstarted my journey into Neocities.

However, it was much more difficult than I thought it would be.

I was trying so hard to make my website into something so big. It was impossible for me to code it on my own.

I eventually managed to actually make something I was proud of with OpenElements, but it was also a homepage that was very difficult to update and continue working on. To this day, I avoid updating that page until I have a major overhaul of it ready to go.

However, it wasn't until I started making more pages using some free templates that I really got into Neocities. Having something that was easy to update and add pages to changed EVERYTHING. Neocities turned from this huge creative project with impossible expectations to a cozy hangout space for me to make whatever the hell I wanted.

After a while, this website became so much more to me. It's a place to post whatever I want and rant about the things I love. I really fell in love with everything about it. It is such an addicting experience to make this website my own. There are so many things I want to to with it now, and it has way more meaning to me than the other social media websites will ever have. I do still stay on those other sites to connect with my friends and put out content, but Neocities isn't about that.

It's about having my own quiet, personal space to write and post whatever I want completely freely.

And that means everything to me.