NeocIties? But why?

I first created a neocities page in the summer of 2023 after stumbling across the community (i don't remember how) and thinking it was neat as hell. I, too, am fed up with the current state of the web. And also I was in a big toyhou.se coding mood and wanted a bigger canvas to wipe on, and make stuff that's wicked cool mega awesome(tm).

My priorities have changed since then. Turns out personal websites and blank character templates have some crazy differences!

Context: I live with crippling anxiety that makes it mortifying to share anything about myself, both irl and online, and if I do share it's like it must be the very best I can offer. It's seriously impacted my ability to form connections with others, it's crushed my sense of self, all of the not fun things. Something something constant masking destroys you.

Crafting a personal website under these conditions turned out to be super difficult. I was constantly getting lost not knowing what to add. I relied heavily on looking at others' sites to make a list of what "a neocities page should have". Surprise, there is no such thing, so the list of "things on a website" got super bloated super fast and I got overwhelmed almost immediately trying to match it all AND make it look perfect. Constant masking destroys you pt 2.

I really don't want it to be like this forever though. I think that a niche & algorithm-free space is the perfect place to start when trying to overcome an issue like mine, even if it's proving to be way harder than I thought. So, for the foreseeable future, I am going to try:

• Take it slow and sporadic. No one's in a rush. Take your time.
• Keep it scrappy!!! Very funny to be noting this down as I am reworking the front page. But keep it simple when you're stuck. You can always pizzazz it up later.
• Keep it me. Don't compare. Content wise, conding wise, just don't.
• Be cringe be free. Get those gifs that speak to you even if they're stupid as fuck. Please.