Writing - A human-centered website
A personal capsule
Second Brain
This personal website can be viewed as a publicly accessible subset of my personal knowledge base. A series of notes in plain text to process raw thoughts, formulate them in a coherent and logical manner, organize any learning or work in progress for later retrieval, showcases creative endeavours and disseminate knowledge.
Devoid of and unsullied by synthetic media
Since we are in 2025 I feel obligated to put a disclaimer regarding the use of AI or rather lack thereof.
If I were to surrender cognition to this usurpator and spewer of galimatias, I would have signed my own death warrant, turning into a shell of my former self. What sense of identity would remain if thinking and creating suddenly became out of grasp? How powerless would I feel then? What control would I have over my life if nothing was of my own volition?
Fortunately this nightmarish scenario can be relegated to the hypothetical realm. I can safely assert that I am still in control of my mental faculties. As such any valid insights as well as any poorly written sentences, factual mistakes and ill-thought-out writings are mine and mine alone.
Resisting Technofeudalism
Having an independent self-hosted website is an act of resistance against mainstream technology in particular Big Tech; born out of the odious capitalist system from which emerge a more loathsome one: Technofeudalism. Where one has to trade their freedom for not even a modicum but only a veneer of convenience.
If I were to disregard this fact, I would find myself a subservient participant in a corrupt system, with very few rewards. My abdication would result in a loss of agency. My writings buried under the weight of poor quality content, increasingly of the generated variety.
This situation would also be unfair to the readers that would be subjected to platforms with poor privacy policies, requiring an account, full of advertisements, deliberately blocking access to certain networks and myriad of other deceitful tricks.
Independent shared spaces
Many alternatives exist as a response to the aforementioned issues. They deserve proper presentation as they are more likely be suitable for the majority of people. Now I simply show how I break down the problem and build my own solution. I am very much conscious that the technical knowledge and time required does not make it a scalable.
Self-hosted website
I have an insatiable need to understand everything. Using the default solution without questioning its implementation and ramifications is unacceptable. Stopping after a simple overview would be quite insufficient, only delving into the underlying mechanisms and intricacies of a system would be satisfying. While understanding is a good first step, the goal is to experiment and create using these building blocks of knowledge, choosing sparingly the premade components upon which my work rest. This upfront planning pays off; I can now be certain to rely on a solid foundation without any strong dependencies; as they would easily be swappable if they were to become unreliable or due to requirement changes.
Until now I have only highlighted the technical aspect, but I would be remiss if I did not mentioned the impact on the end result as seen by readers. Having control over the presentation (i.a layout and style) gives a unique look to the site. Beside the writing itself, the aesthetic defines the singular voice of the writer, giving it more authenticity and a breath of fresh air for the reader.
Free Software stack
The sine qua non condition that guarantees it is the exclusive use of Free and Open Source software. Giving me access to a broad ecosystem with the freedom to use, modify and share my work while being part of a community that share the same ethos. This control over the tech stack allows for a very customizable workflow.
Operating System
My workflow is operating system agnostic and has been tested on various Linux distributions and BSD systems; GNU Guix locally, OpenBSD on the server.
Text editor and markup language
For writing I have a predilection for GNU Emacs thanks to its extensibility and built-in Org mode support providing me with the markup language of the same name.
Version control & Backup
All files are tracked with Fossil and backed up with Borg.
Static website
My website is essentially a simple build script that takes my notes as org files and export them to HTML with some CSS for styling. An external package is used to create the RSS feed.
Hosting
Once exported I send it to my server provided by the wonderful people at OpenBSD Amsterdam. To avoid using external tools I rely on the built-in web server httpd and relay daemon relayd.
Fediverse
My minimalistic website lacks ActivityPub integration, the protocol powering the social networking services of the Fediverse. As a remedy a Snac instance has been deployed.
Contributing back to the commons
We are standing on the shoulder of giants, the commons represent our shared and collective resources produced and maintained by us all since the dawn of humanity. Any knowledge and culture arise from it and should return to it. Any attempt to restrict it is an aberration, a moral failure. To uphold this fundamental truth my work is licensed under a copyleft Free Culture CC BY-SA 4.0 allowing anybody to use, share and adapt it freely.
Join the movement
If you were to acknowledge these issues and try to extricate yourselves from such a predicament, know that you are not alone; we are waiting for you. One note of warning, do not listen at their their insidious murmurs and desperate efforts to persuade you that [sic.] "there is no alternative". Under no circumstances should you fall for their lies. These giants with feet of clay will stop at nothing to prevent you from unmasking their terrible secret: Their power lies in our collective apathy.
No systemic problem can be solved by technology alone; come, join and participate in spaces building alternatives designed to alleviate our dependence on a oppressive system and strive for a better future. Make your voice heard; your input and contribution are sorely needed for truly inclusive solutions.
Do not doubt yourself! While reassessing your approach will inevitably come with a bit of a learning curve this challenge is not insurmountable. Remember, there is a least one suitable solution for your needs. If you fell out of your depth do not be a stranger and ask for help. People including myself who have already crossed to the other side will happily do so.
Our strength and resilience lie in our communities.