Blaugust 23 - Neocities TOS

I usually do my best to be positive. I hate cynical people, I hate people who don't try at all and I hate mé féiners. I do think there's a solution to every problem, even if it's not immediately obvious. Not that I believe that a positive attitude can change the world, but perspective is everything, and I'd rather believe that things do get better.

For anyone that uses Neocities, sharing this from the Fediverse. It looks like if you've got adult content on there, potentially discuss said content, or even just us it for your art gallery... You might want to download your full website and be ready to move just in case...

Fuck censorship!

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— Borealis AKA LiteralGrill (@literalgrill.com) August 21, 2025 at 11:55 PM

This has been a long time coming. I expected it to be nekoweb first, since the mods/owners and general site attitudes are very.... teenybopper reactionary. I think the site age skews younger than neocities, if you can believe that.

I will be using "neocities" throughout this, but I need you to understand neocities is one guy. You can agree or disagree with some of his stances or how he runs things, but I think neocities (like itchio) is an important part of the internet that isn't controlled by advertisers or a company that wants you lonely, hooked to a screen and talking to failing ai bots. The willful ignorance of people dunking neocities for "complying" instead of "resisting"... We do not live in a perfect world. I wish we did.

Sometimes when I see those "I called my local mp/call center and they told me 17 people called and they changed their mind!! 17 is a weak number!!!" .... if you worked front desk, or in a retail job... and had 17 people come up to you and make the same complaint. You'd be worried too. That is a big number. It's the same when I see people mock others for reacting to online harassment campaigns. Like. Yes. Your phone becoming a blitzkrieg of hate can effect you, even if the number is "small". Human beings are bad at picturing the scale of numbers.

On one hand, I wish this email wasn't shared around. I don't think it's avoidable feelings will be hurt, especially in this online climate and coming in with the free Palestine protestors getting arrested in the uk, their age verification system, the youtube age verification system, itchio/steam hits, tariffs on post and a lot of small business worldwide being unable to sell the the states, ai... Have I missed something? Probably. I do think neocities tos has been wanting for more clarification. But on the other, I don't think professionalism is a huge deal to these second wave tech guys, so I'm happy there was preemptive warning. (white woman voice) can I speak to someone PROFESSIONAL? what happened to be PROFESSIONAL??

How I feel about this tos update... As long as it's professional, prompt and upfront. I can't complain. I think it never hurts to treat your paying userbase with respect, and I hope he does. I hope neocities is able to cover all the bases that he must. I don't like some of the tone used in the email, but again, one guy worried about his business thinking he's not going to be blasted on socmedia. But again... these tech guys could watch some marketing pr videos LOL

There was more smug reactions to that post then I liked. I've seen a few reactionary posts in the lines of I don't wanna make a website I just wanna be where everyone is and now it's the gleeful look you guys aren't safe either!! yes lol we know. the point (to me) of making a site is that it is transferable. It's yours. No matter where you end up, it'll always be the same. Yes, it's a pain to suddenly have to pay for a space online... but (white woman voice) as a paying customer, you have a lot more leg to complain if a host does kick you. This isn't like socmedia where your follower count means absolutely nothing. Money talks.

I'm hoping for the majority of people who host via neocities, the incoming changes won't be too bad (TRYING TO BE POSITIVE!!). But continue to be cautious and think of yourself first. Keep a local copy of your work, and start researching other vps or hosting services. Since I'm a freaky evil yuri enjoyer, I will be forever an internet nomad. I don't know if there will be a forever home, unless I make it myself. Do I finally get into selfhosting and raspberry pi this way...

It's strange how quickly vpn ads have popped up on buses here in Ireland. I think people are preparing.

Expanding from my post on bsky on the matter...

Genuinely the idiots in charge worldwide don't want people to be able to effectively communicate with one another and organize. I think BLM (during covid) and the pro Palestine movements show that the people aren't going to take it, and we're stronger together. People don't trust offical news sources anymore, on both sides. Tech companies now know that forcing people to argue online all day isn't enough lol, that's why they're forcing all this ai shit down before it goes bust. Go talk to the bot on your phone and buy products. Don't think about why you're lonely. Don't think about how these sites are engineered to rewire your brain into assuming the worst in another person. Don't think about the destruction of an entire society and how the phone or system you're using supports that war. But that war happens far away.

I think the future is going to have a lot more friction. Yeah, it is annoying to not use Spotify or make a website or switch to linux or make phone calls. It's not a lot, but I'm doing little by little.

I will again be attempting to move servers this week and checking out IRC clients. That was a bit before my time on the internet. My first messaging program was MSN messenger. I think discord will be hit next, now with the EU's proposed Chat Control proposal coming up in October (with a scary amount supporting). If you're in the EU, follow that link and contact your MPs! Your voice matters!!!

Proper preparation prevents poor performance and all that. I have been going through my ao3 bookmarks and slowly downloading them. I need to take some time and write down a bunch of artists usernames so in future I can attempt to track them down.

I'm going to weatherspoons with my sisters today, and I'm going to drink so much cheap pitcher cocktails. Have a nice weekend yourself. Take care.

Listening to...

--xoxo becky