If you want to the old internet back, you have to build it.
So here I am building the old the internet. The old internet was a place where people put their time and effort into hosting things they cared about. It was about sharing things you loved with people. It was making connections with strangers and discovering we are all more alike than different. It was about sharing ideas, art and building community. It was not commercial. It was not about profit. It didn't require investors. And it wasn't really censored.
This has been something I've been kicking around in my head a lot lately. We all saw the downfall and enshitification, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc, etc, etc. Those things happened because of money and greed. Payment processors are the latest mechanism of attack. While all of this has been occurring we've continued to see marginalized communities get further marginalized and the state of politics has made many of us targets. I've seen way too many wonderful people driven from the internet or taken from their online communities via de-platforming. Queer art and community has been under constant attack and SWer's have never been free from stigmatization. BIPOC people have dealt with aggressive racism and stereotypes forever.
I can't fix the things wrong with America as whole, but I can hold space for my community. I don't want queer art to be lost. I don't want people to feel alone. I want to share what brings me joy. I want a space for all of us. So here it is.
I can't say I can keep all the dicks of the world out, but I can say I will kick them out. I can say I will not allow harassment and abuse. I'm not a business, I'm a person. I don't need clicks and huge numbers of members. I don't have investors to satisfy. I just need to be responsible to and for my community. This is a private community, it's not necessarily for everyone, but if you'd like a place to share your art and build more community we're ready to welcome you in.