hello hello - i’m ajazz (he/him). i figure i should tell you a little about myself and why i’m here.
those who know me personally will know that i am a recent and zealous convert to the “web 1.5.” (or indie web, or alt web, or whatever you want to call it) movement. i believe wholeheartedly that the time to leave The Platforms™️ is now, and there are many millions of people waking up to this reality on a daily basis. “enshittification” is now firmly established as an idea in the zeitgeist, and even non-technical regular people are desperate for alternatives to the current paradigm.
i have been trying to put theory into practice over the last few months by moving as much of my online presence away from the platforms as possible. my Real Blog is now officially on Neocities as of fairly recently, and i’m at the stage where i spend more time in my RSS reader than i do on instagram. i’m very happy with that state of affairs - but consumption is only one piece of the puzzle. i also want to create.
i do create on the internet a fair bit - usually for the aforementioned Real Blog and its attached Youtube channel - but when i’m making something for Down The Ladder i typically feel compelled to have some kind of “public interest” angle for what i cover, either by covering something that has a high level of contemporary relevance or something that is politically, socially, or historically important. it’s not really a place for me to wax poetic about the particulars of Sonic level design, compare and contrast the functionality of various Markdown editors, or engage in various other kinds of assorted bitching and whining (all things i intend to do here).
in addition to wanting to sound off about things without worrying so much about whether it’s good for The Brand©, i also wanted to have a space to directly engage with the indie web, rather than just talk about it - i.e. participate in webrings, show off other people’s site buttons, and eventually also create tools to help people get their own indie web spaces online.
looking forward to vibing and / or keeping it tight with you all,
- ajazz