Manifesto 2025

2025 May 29 // 2025, essay

aka "why i made my own website"

gg8473.com started off in 2023-ish as a "professional portfolio website"... not that I ever let it get that polished! I had all the links to my professional animation work when I was working in the industry (rip). It was meant to act as a classier linktree. I wasn't interested it making it anything more than that.

I don't know why, I was getting sick of socmed. I had been for a very long time. Sick of the same complaints, sick of the skinner box, sick of the attitudes online, sick of trying to connect with people who were too detached and irony poisoned to be.

Worst of all; I was starting to get sick of myself. How I'd find myself typing in the urls to these sites before I even noticed, I was sick of it digging into my own free time, sick of not enjoying these sites with their dogpiling cultures, sick of stupid artist and fandom drama, sick of feeling like I was letting myself down, ignoring my own artistic sensibilities, I hated following a new artist and then going "hmm maybe I shouldnt because someone annoying with dm me and tell me I'm evil"... I was sick of me being sick of it.

It's clockwork.

If you're an artist online, no matter what, you'll get your callout. I wish I was joking, but I think it's that commonplace now. Sites like tumblr or twitter tempt you to just... share your thoughts. But these can be seen by random people, who have no context whatsoever. I'm sure we've all had to experience of a random reading too into something, or completely missing the point. Of course they did, you only had 200 words to fit your thoughts into.

I had seen a few neocities sites throughout the years. I'd never really given it much thought besides "oh, that's cool!". Then I saw what was happening to my friends and other artists online: being harassed, accounts being targeted and taken down, LGBT+ spaces and people having to deal with more and more censorship. My soapbox became about being self-archival, putting yourself first online, don't let the site control you... But that's well enough to say and then hit post, job done. But how do you go about it? I could say it, that's the easy part. What's the next step after deciding I don't want to play this game?

I thought I can make a website. Surely it can't be that hard.

...And it's not!

It's easy enough. Is it new? Do you have to put time and effort it? Yeah. Do you have to build it from the ground up? Yes, of course. Anything worth doing is worth that. Why do we expect success and forever from these socmed sites that want to milk you for everything you are? Why do we say oh no, that's too much work when it's less work then filming shortform videos, nursing a post for a week, keeping track of the Best Time To Post...?

Is posting art to (insert socmed site here) easy? Does the number go up? Yeah. Does it feel good when a post does Big Numbers? Yeah, I guess so. But it has to keep going up. That's how our brains work.

So I deleted my twt account a little before 2025! I don't miss it at all. I think I'd stopped seriously posting during... 2021... LOL

I don't consider myself a part in any "online community", and I think you should be weary of anyone peddling one. I have found the resources for the indieweb to be open enough for my tastes. Is there is still drama? Yes, that's human nature. But it is a lot easier to avoid if youre not a fan of headmelters.

I enjoy the slower pace, taking things in my own time. I like how easy it is to change my website, to customize it to my own needs as I learn to code. I LOVE how it's never-ending. I don't have to follow trends, I can be me in every sense of the word.

I feel much freer to speak my mind, to be able to explain myself fully, to not mince my own words, to not have the context removed because I only have 200 something words to express myself perfectly or die.

I am a big believer in self-talk and self-belief. I see a lot of oh, I wish I could code a website, I'm not good enough... Why are you not giving yourself the chance? Why are you giving up before you even tried? Of course you can code a website. You don't have to be an expert. Yes, you'll run into walls... But that's expected when learning a new skill. That's the fun part! It doesn't have to be the best thing ever, it has to be yours. All it takes is time, and that's all we have.

my promises

i will not delete this site

In some way or form, this site will exist. I've had a horrible habit of simply deleting my old sites when I've gone through a rough patch in my life: my old tumblrs, my side twitters, my dA, anything... this is one of the actions I regret the most. But the intense feeling's of shame lead me to do those things. I cannot get them back. Can you tell I struggle with stress? I'm working on it, and I'm doing a lot better now ^w^

I wish I had those time capsules of me. So this site is more me than any of those.

I'll work on this as long as it's fun.

I don't want this to become work. This is a place to play and learn. A space for me!

I won't compromise

This is for all my work. Yes, there will be site sections, and I'll pick and chose what I want to publish BUT it's my choice. I don't have to worry about being a "brand", or if my followers will like it, or worry about hundreds of eyes looking at a half-thought through discourse post. It's not for anyone else but me.

Thanks for reading. I may add or edit when I think of them at a later date. Let's have fun online again!

Other Essays

--xoxo becky