I started my first WordPress blog way back in 2004 or so, and for a while that was the thing to do. Now a blog feels archaic, or retro if I’m feeling charitable. That also kind of fits the overall theme of this project – going back to an “old” model of distributing written work. (Old, that is, when compared to 2025…but not old old like telegraphs or semafor or smoke signals.)

I considered trying to figure out Substack and quickly decided against it. For one, it feels odd to ask for subscriptions when I don’t have anything particularly valuable to say. My aim is more creative than commercial. I want to use this blog to create spontaneous connections with people who are searching for someone else who might be flummoxed by the state of the world.

Also, when I’m feeling conspiracy-minded, I wonder how long Substack will remain a viable platform for writers who publish fact-based dissent…or let’s say, facts in general. After all, the media landscape is already filled with news of organizations being pressured to change or delete content that isn’t favored by those in power. There are some amazing writers working independently via Substack, but how long will it be before they get the wrong kind of attention, and the owners of Substack are threatened in some way? How long until Amazon stops publishing certain books, etc. etc. It’s easy to go down that rabbit hole.

That’s why I went back to my 2004 roots: my own domain, my own web hosting package, my own blog management. Sure, it could still all be wiped out by the powers-that-be, but at least for now I have a lot more control this way.

That said, WordPress in 2025 is pretty annoying. I’ll stick with it until something better catches my attention, but the writing/editing process via the “block editor” is so bloated as to be nearly unusable. Even worse, there are AI components installed automatically. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – Microsoft and others are incorporating AI tools into all sorts of publishing applications. Still, it was disappointing to start a new creative project only to be met immediately by “helpful” AI nonsense.

Maybe I’ve just discovered another purpose here – I’m not only countering misinformation, I’m countering non-human “creative” work that’s being spewed out by AI language models.

Rest assured, all AI features have been disabled or will be aggressively ignored.