Why there's a point to alternative protocols and spaces

[Matthew Graybosch]

On Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:36:54 +0000
solderpunk <solderpunk at SDF.ORG> wrote:

> I am keen to hear people's thoughts, both on what I've written and on
> the question in general, and receive suggestions on what good
> responses are to people who ask this question.

I think the general thrust of this post is solid, but I want to address
this part in particular. Not because I disagree with it, but to provide
my own answer.

> Why not just build non-evil websites using the existing technology,
> instead of building something new from the ground up?

I could, but I don't want to. It's too much like work. (I build
government web apps at my day job.)

* HTML is a pain to write.
* HTML is a pain to generate from markdown.
* HTML is a pain to style with CSS.
* CSS is a pain to write.
* Semantic markup is a pain.
* Worrying about desktop vs mobile is a pain.
* SEO is a pain.
* Knowing that Google will bury your site to push ads is infuriating.
* Knowing that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter see
independent websites as nothing but resources to plunder is infuriating.
* I'm tired of trying to help preserve a document-oriented web when the
vast majority either want the web to be about apps or a la carte cable
TV with a comment section.

TBH, I like that the Gemini scene has the sort of
underground/DIY/zine/samizdat vibe that it does. I like plain text. If I
still thought doing websites with a "safe subset" of HTML and CSS was
worthwhile I'd still be doing that.

Instead, I'm here.

-- 
Matthew Graybosch		gemini://starbreaker.org
#include <disclaimer.h>		gemini://demifiend.org
https://matthewgraybosch.com	gemini://tanelorn.city
"Out of order?! Even in the future nothing works."