I've been putting off this post for a bit. I wasn't kidding when I said I was heartbroken. It still doesn't seem real that this site is going away. I worry that it's all going to hit me at once when I wake up one morning and it's just not there any more.
I know this place had problems, but I truly can't express how important it was to me. For the first time since starting to have a proper online presence, social media didn't feel like a hazard to my mental health. I wasn't constantly being exposed to horrors beyond my control. I wasn't being bombarded with bullshit algorithm slop. I wasn't made constantly aware of the fact that I shared the space with people who very openly wanted me dead. With time, I managed to even unlearn some of that always-on guarded vigilance—the constant feeling in the back of my head that I needed to watch what I said, or some total stranger would jump down my throat over nothing.
For some folks, this has been a moment of realising they don't want or need to go back to regular social media. There's been talk of newsletters, personal websites, RSS feeds, blogs, going outside and staring at the clouds. I'm unfortunately not one of those people. Ultimately I'm too much of a recluse to not need some kind of online means of social connection. I'll be more conscious of what goes into it, and fight harder against every source of misery that's foisted on me as a user, but I do think I need it, in some sense.
I think something like Cohost will come around again. There's too much of a need for it, and too many people are walking away knowing that it's possible. I hope we'll be able to regroup somewhere like it soon enough. But for the time being, I'm reachable in less happy places.
My website, specifically the Contact page, contains all the ways of getting in touch. I'll try to keep it updated.
I'm on Discord (@trashbang). If you reach out this way, please actually message me and don't just drop a mystery friend request on me, or I will likely ignore it.
I'm still on Twitter, though I really wish I wasn't.
I've made a Bluesky against my better judgement. I guess this is where I'll be "posting" for the immediate future. Going back to a corporate-owned microblogging platform feels like a kind of defeat, but for the moment it at least feels tolerable. If that changes... I guess I'll pursue another option.
There are a lot of folks I care about here. I hope I'll see you again soon. Let's enjoy these last couple of weeks, hey?
