Update #42

These are my site updates for the end of May-June.

• Automated my season change pictures for the Neighbors page of my Cottage subdomain. The primary images for both tabs now change with the seasons, similarly to my sidebar mascot. I’ve also started to automate my theme changes based on season for the “Outside” pages on my Cottage subdomain, changing out the backgrounds every 3 months. I really like the idea of my “realm” automatically changing with the seasons, like a real world would. Many of my seasonal nature backgrounds were made using my Tiny Glade dioramas. ♥ Eventually I’d like to do indoor seasonal ones as well, with seasonal decorations but that will be a project for another time.
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• In addition to the automated image changes for the Neighbors page, I’ve also completely revamped and polished it. I think the way it looks now makes it feel a lot more like a cozy video game. I really really love it. ♥ I’ve also added a couple new neighbors! ☺️
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• Polished my primary domain up a bit. Removed the background music and made a few subtle changes. I am thinking about restructuring the front page a bit but I just need a plan first.
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• Changed the style of my Status Cafe update background from a scroll to a little speech bubble and put it above my cat mascot. I quite like this look better. 😀 Also removed “Realm Weaver’s Ramblings” text.
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• Moving away from the like/dislike button system I previously had on my site and replacing it with ‘marked as read’ buttons. I feel like the like/dislike button system doesn’t really align with the direction I want for post interactions, because genuinely, I don’t care so much if someone likes or dislikes something I’ve shared. I feel like that system is more of a reward/punishment system that’s been ingrained into people by social media. With the nature of this kind of website building being so personal, I feel like there’s a lot more value in someone genuinely taking the time to read what I have shared, moreso whether they liked it or not. If people want to share how they feel about something, comments are a lot more valuable. I value constructive discussion more than I value likes or dislikes. The like/dislike system is great for people who make content specifically to appease an audience, gauge approval, and influence the kind of content they should or shouldn’t make in the future. But, I think with personal website building, at least for me (I can’t speak for everybody), what you post and share should be more for yourself, what brings you joy, and being authentic to who you are rather than trying to change yourself or your space to fit into a mold that makes other people happy or comfortable. I just think the nature of making a personal website is very different than social media. Social media is all about seeking validation. Building a personal website is more about sharing yourself and your own preferences, and more about doing what makes you happy than always trying to please others. I’m not here to seek validation from others. I think just being here is valid and those who vibe with me will stay, those who don’t won’t stick around and I don’t want to try and convince them to either. I’m not here to meet everyone’s expectations. So I think removing the like/dislike system and just replacing it with a “mark as read” button across the board is a good shift. Because I am interested to see that there are people who take the time to read what I have to say, but less interested in seeking validation for what I share. It means a lot that people even bother to visit my little home on the internet and are curious enough to take the time to read. That’s what’s valuable to me.
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• Updated my Library subdomain, made a few minor tweaks. I’ve also decided to shut down the community feature there. Reason being, it wasn’t going anywhere. I don’t have time to promote it or even be active on it myself. I might pick it up again down the road but for now, it just isn’t the right time. None of the members who had joined had really posted anything so there was nothing to preserve or reach out to people to export their data if they wanted it, so everything has been wiped on that front and accounts deleted. I’ve shut off registration and will continue to keep that subdomain active for the webring and bookish related resources. 🙂
  There is still a lot that needs to be updated.
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  I’ve also decided to shut down the Library over at Marigold Town, because truthfully, I don’t think I’m going to have time to develop it properly, as well as other reasons I won’t fully mention, but I’m starting to want to pull away from a lot of small web communities, simply because I feel some of my values don’t align with the larger demographic. I’m finding it’s either you have to 100% align with a certain set of values in order to be accepted in this movement, or else you’re bullied and treated like an outcast. I just don’t have the time or energy to surround myself with those kinds of people anymore. Many people in this movement are very unkind if you don’t share all the same values. I don’t want to remain in spaces that ultimately I feel like I’m unwanted in. I’d rather build up my own space and allow others who align more with supporting freedom in this movement to find space and community here, where people can feel supported to create in whatever way they want, without fear of condemnation, judgement, bullying, or peer pressure to fit a certain mold in order to gain acceptance. So I think I’ll be moving more in that direction in the near future with anything I commit my time and energy to going forward. This isn’t a jab at Marigold Town or any relating forum communities specifically, just feelings I ultimately have right now towards a large portion of the Small Web community in general.
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• Removed the update from the Free Speech Webring page about changing over to a new webring system.
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• Removed the update from the Book Ring page about changing over to a new webring system.
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• I’ve redone my Tamagotchi Shrine page! Due to my current living circumstances, I am unable to get a current complete collection photo. But I have most of my updated collection there now.
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• Did a little bit of back end clean up. I had a few subdomains I wasn’t using that I’ve deleted and hopefully will increase performance for my domain and rest of my subdomains. Also fixed the Library. Previously it was an external subdomain, unlike my other subdomains. Took a very long time to figure out how to make it an internal subdomain with my hosting provider, but I persevered! This just makes back end management a little bit easier and more organized when changes need to be made.
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• I have taken the leap and have officially left the “Small Web” movement and started the Sovereign Web movement, which aligns more with the vision I personally want to be part of, and create space for others. For anyone interested, you can find the announcement of me leaving the ‘Small Web’ for the ‘Sovereign Web’ here. Building on to what I mentioned earlier, at its core, the Sovereign web shares that same sort of idea of decentralization through building personal websites, but its values are more focused on freedom of self expression and curating your own experience, and less about trying to instill certain ideologies into its community and the collective curating the group’s experience. If you own a personal website, you are welcome to be part of the sovereign web. That’s it. There is no code of ethics you’re pressured into in order to be part of it. You are not bound to regressing to any systems of the past, unless that is your style, then all the power to you! But that is not the goal of this movement and not something anyone has the right to peer pressure others into. It doesn’t matter how you build your personal website or what tools you choose to build it with. There are no hidden agendas here or group influences peer pressuring you into what you should or shouldn’t do in your own online space. No gatekeeping or trying to mold everybody into falling in line with group culture. The core message of the sovereign web movement is that you, and only you, are sovereign over your online space. You curate your experience.
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  I feel really happy with this new direction and it truly feels authentic for me, where as before, I just felt like I was trying to create space in already designated groups that didn’t welcome how I created in my own website. Now, I feel like it doesn’t matter. I’m not impeding into already designated group territory that tried to enforce values I don’t fully resonate with. The Sovereign Web is a new ethos in this system of decentralization, and really, it supports everyone, no matter which way they choose to create their personal space on the web. And people can either support and be part of that ethos that respects everyone is sovereign over their own web space, or be against it and stick to the other pre-existing ones that share limiting beliefs and abide by specific group ideologies and practices. Maybe I’ll be on this path alone, or maybe I won’t be. But I think this is a really positive shift. At least, for me.
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• In addition to the above change, a lot has been updated. My smallweb subdomain has been changed to sovereignweb.thecozy.cat. All smallweb subdomain urls are now pointing to my new subdomain so no links should be broken, they will just automatically redirect you to the new location on my new subdomain.
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  Also, after 18ish hours of sheer will and determination, I finally figured out how to federate my website. I’m stubborn as hell and sometimes it comes in handy. When I want to do something, I don’t think about it, I just do it. Whatever it takes. I attempted this 3-4 times in the past and always ended up unsuccessful. But this time, I succeeded and I feel very proud of finally overcoming that hurdle. So all posts that come from the sovereignweb subdomain are now federated.
  I’ve also updated my world map on my primary domain to reflect these changes. I’m trying to go through everything and replace terminologies to support this new ethos, which may take awhile and chances are I will likely miss some things but it’s just something I’ll have to keep an eye out for and adjust when I come across whatever I’ve missed.
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  For those who might not know the different between the “Indie Web” / “Small Web” and the “Sovereign Web”, I’ve created an about page for the Sovereign Web here that should provide more clarity. I’ve enabled comments there if anyone has any questions! On this page I’ve also added a bunch of Sovereign Web badges for people to put on their sites if they choose to support this new ethos of personal website building and display that they’re part of it.
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  As far as my previous small web marketing campaign goes, I think I am done with it. I have moved a lot of those posts to drafts for now until I decide what I’m going to do with them. To be honest, even with all the scheduling and whatnot, the marketing campaign was A LOT of work and I’m just struggling to justify continuing it. Originally when I started it, the purpose was to help people on mainstream social media discover alternatives to the corporate web. But what I am now realizing is that the majority of folks on the corporate web are really not interested in leaving. I’ve heard a lot of sentiments shared of discontentment with the status quo of social media, so for a long time I thought that people just needed to be shown a different path, that there are alternatives out there. But the truth is, most people don’t actually want alternatives. Most people can’t be bothered to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. And that’s fine. If people want to stay despite a part of themselves feeling discontented at the worsening state of things, all the power to them I guess, it’s just a shame. But I’ve realized that my time and energy being put into this marketing campaign is ultimately fruitless. I’m not at all reaching the people I’m intending to reach. I think I’m mostly just preaching to the choir. So after over half a year of doing this marketing campaign, it’s time to stop and invest my energy somewhere that makes more sense. I think I’ll still utilize post automation to social media to easily distribute what I’m making to other platforms, I think that is still a really smart thing to do and ultimately will still help folks discover this movement occasionally, but I won’t be doing daily posts anymore. I don’t even know if I’ll have a post schedule anymore. I kind of just want to go back to doing things at my own pace again. Maybe focus more on quality over quantity as I focus on growing the ethos of the Sovereign Web.
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  It’s all a journey, and I’m learning and growing as I go. Figuring out what works and what doesn’t as I try new things.

That’s pretty well it for this month’s updates! Thanks for following along my little web dev blog. I noticed a few people have already marked some of my previous blogs as read. I think it’s really cool people take the time to read these since they’re pretty long winded and sometimes a little rant-y. 😆 Thanks for reading!