Is there even a point in hiding behind a mask? After ditching the concept of personal brand, here I go with a few principles I stand for. My takes on being genuine, pursuing sustainability, and more. Most of the following points are interconnected. The glue that keeps them together is mental health. Modern capitalism has made a clear point in exploiting stress and weaknesses in people to make money. I find it disgraceful, and my hope is that more people will take decisive steps to safeguard their well being. This website represents myself online. I don’t need to project a successful persona here. Owning both the code and the content has a real meaning, and I love it. I first created my website in 1997, starting a blog in 2002. I’ve changed its domain, design and content over many years. I might also offer services in exchange for money, however, this is my personal place, therefore I don’t cater to a specific category of people.

Being a brand is a thing of the past. Should be a given. Unfortunately, it needs to be said: I try to be as kind as possible, listen to everybody (except fascists), and don’t be judgmental. Also, whenever I make a mistake, I’m able to apologise and correct myself. I rarely swear online, but I’m never afraid to call a spade a spade. I despise patriarchy, racism, sexism, homophobia. Even though I relentlessly refuse to participate in locker room talk, I’m well aware of the advantages I have as a white man raised in a Western country. I refuse to take an active part in services profiting from people being distracted, envious and anxious. Hence, why I quit Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Reddit years ago and never joined TikTok or SnapChat. Even though I still have an account with YouTube, I don’t interact on the site, preferring RSS instead. I stopped following the news, which doesn’t mean I ignore what’s happening in the world.

A system based on creating anxiety, fake urgency, and designed to keep people on their toes stays out of my life. If it’s not an in-depth analysis, a long-form article or a book, it doesn’t get my attention. This article by Rolf Dobelli is a good starting point. As a gen X, I started hanging around the internet in the 1990s. IRC, BBSes, Usenet newsgroups, Eudora, Forté Agent - those things. I dislike all facets of the current corporate led internet, whether that be centralised social media, gigantic monopolies, and whatever else turned the so-called web 1.0 into the current dystopia. Having to put systems in place to browse the internet in peace, without being constantly tracked, bombarded by ads, pop-ups, modal windows and whatnot, is not fun. I’ll never support this crap. I think of this site as part of the small web. A few years ago I joined the Indieweb.

As an independent node of the larger internet, there’s no need for a comment system. I can send and receive webmentions, however, private conversations are more in line with my ethos. For more ephemeral discussions online, I use Mastodon. Over the last fifteen years I’ve been heavily invested in trying to stop wasting resources. I put my outmost attention to sustainability in every aspect of my life, including web design. I subscribe to the brutalist design manifesto.1 In line with a minimalist approach, fighting against bloatware means that my website doesn’t weigh on broadband or electricity with useless scripts, ads or pointless stock photos. For the same reasons, I refuse to take part in anything related to the blockchain. Not that is going great anyway. Helped by professionals such as Silvia, I made my website as accessible as possible. If a website is not catered to everyone, it has little to no use. Another facet of sustainability, I also refuse the corporate-filled idea of attaching myself to a brand.

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