Owning my own data
Something that's been a driving force for a lot of the things I do online is to own my data.
I started my website on my own domain, Interordi.com, back in 2000 so that I would have an address that's mine. It's also what's become my email home. While a bunch of people jumped on Gmail when it launched in 2005, I stayed at my own domain. The web host itself has changed a few times since, but the contact point hasn't.
Likewise, I've never been big on social media as I prefer to be on platforms that aren't at the whim of someone else. This comes at the cost of some visibility: I would probably attract more attention by being more active there, but then it comes at the cost of being at the whim of the owners of said platforms. Those who follow me know how much I criticized the changes that have plagued Twitter / X in the past year and a half.
This is one of the reasons why I started running a Minecraft server, too! I wanted to play in a place where the world would be protected and have a long life instead of facing resets, or risking going offline as its owner lost interest. I knew in the worst case that I'd cut down on maintenance and updates, but could always play whenever I wanted.
In the same spirit, I've been thinking more and more about my online writings such as this one. Over time, I've written posts here on Patreon, on my own forums, on Tumblr and elsewhere. I'd like this to be regrouped somewhere that I own, from where I can share links on other platforms. This is why I've been playing with the idea of starting a blog. I probably wouldn't be very active on it, but it would be a me place, where I don't have to worry about a platform unexpectedly shutting down or becoming non-viable. Would it be popular? Probably not, and that's okay – I just want to consolidate my cozy corner of the Internet!
That's pretty much always been my driving force, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
– Doctacosa