I decided to make a manifesto after finding others doing similarly. I think it’s an interesting idea, something that connects us all and should be talked about more. So here I am.

The Distant Past.

I’ve always wanted my own space – something personal for me and perhaps a few people to peek at if they so wish. I was about 14-15 when the internet started gaining popularity. I didn’t get a computer until I was 18, but from school and friends’ computers, I could spend hours creating a Geocities website where I posted my fanfiction and art at the time. It was an interesting time on the internet: everything was new, and communities were slowly forming. Getting an email (Hotmail! I still have mine haha) was a big deal, and joining mIRC chatrooms and forums was what the internet was made of. Discovery was what made the internet so fun. People were creative, excited to put themselves out there, and so was I. Some websites were bigger, like Deviantart in the early 2000’s which I joined as an artist.

The Past.

Then came the era of Social Media. On paper, it seemed fun, and early on, it was. Facebook had a lot to offer, from staying connected with friends and family to interesting games (I’m still mad The Sims was removed and changed for something sterile and boring). But like every good thing, it got spoiled. Today, I don’t care much for social media besides trying to see what’s going on in the world. (Especially now in 2025. If you know, you know, and I know you know.) It’s not good. It’s not pretty. It has become a corporate mind grab, a brain disease. The algorithm is constantly changed to pit people and especially creatives against one another when you’re not getting attacked by a swarm of bots. It’s exhausting, and I missed the old web, the one that incited people to create, to have fun, and to learn.

I don’t remember where I first saw Neocities. It may have been on tumblr. Obviously, its name alone was enough to strike my curiosity, and lo and behold, I found something I was not expecting: the same feeling of the web of old. People, young and old, proudly putting themselves, their creativity, out there by their own rules. I’m in my early 40’s now, and the urge to create a website the way I had back when I was a late teenager resurfaced. I realized it was still possible to get that experience, to make something of my own. A place to post my art, my writings, my views. Now, I didn’t jump onto the opportunity right away. I watched from afar. I tried other places, socials that were more open like Substack, but once I realized who the creator of that website was, I got out as we did not align. It seemed nothing made me feel like Me, just another user on a platform.

The Present

Exhausted from social media, I began looking for more alternatives, including building something from scratch; except it appeared so daunting it took me months to sit down and begin… and that was hard. Very hard. Social Media fatigue doesn’t just influence you online, it creates this void in you. But I trudged through. I created many versions on paper, and online, until I began to shape it the way it would represent me most. I even created a new OC based off this website who also became my artsona: Ms. Anna Logue.

I want to create. That’s it.

And I bet you do too. By simply working on a website like this, like the old days of coding, I created something new, something truly mine. And that is worth more than any social media platform filled with cats and AI one could ever hope for. This is me. Really me. This is my home and no corporate bully can take it from me. No toxicity, no negativity, no sludge of AI and bots flooding my world. Just me. And you. Here. I was, am, and always will be, a big advocate for technology (green and efficient, that is). I just love technology, computers, even AI (NOT generative AI).

I called this website a Human Error – but it is more human than I’ve ever been able to express in a very long time.

The Future

If you read this far, it’s your turn. Make your home. BUILD! Create your place in a vast, beautiful world. Social Media is a part of our culture now, but it doesn’t mean you can’t close that tab for a day or two, a week or a month. Drama, negativity, bots, generative ai… We don’t have to suffer this. We can make a better world even if we’re screaming from the bottom up. Whatever you enjoy, make a website. Writing, art, reading, collecting things, Warhammer painting, D&D maps and character creation, LARP, etc… The possibility is endless. Social Media will drain you – this here, it revitalizes because it is a true reflection of you and not who people behind screens want you to be.

Doesn’t mean you have to quit Social Media – like I said, it’s part of our culture now – but you can take a step back, see Web 3.0 for what it is: a corporate cash grab, and make your place otherwise, by being you. Just you. And I’ll be me, and as a collective, as a We, we are stronger, better. It doesn’t have to be doom and gloom all the time.

It can just be You. And that’s enough.