Every time I start a side project, I write something explaining why I’m doing it. I have had the habit of calling these “manifestos”. Usually it takes the form of a long, ranty email (occasionally referred to as a “missive”) to someone who is interested in what the project could be.
This is what I wrote for the front page: “I created Starbase Zebra in 2024 because I want a place to release various small side projects I’m working on. This is largely in an attempt to entertain myself more than anything else. If you happen to be entertained as well, that’s a happy coincidence.”
My vision for these “various small side projects” is that they are things that will somehow make sense deployed as web applications, but do not necessarily merit an entire grand deployment scheme on their own (domains, servers, etc). I have ideas for grander projects, but the thought of working on them is a little daunting right now.
More importantly, I am at a time in my life when I would like to work on things that are just for myself for a change. My side projects have been largely favors done for other people. The favors-for-other-people model is one that I’m not going to use for side projects anymore. It’s a model that leads to a sense of entitlement and mismatched expectations, and eventually turns parasitic. I’m done dealing with parasites. There are only two models I’m going to use now for side projects going forward:
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The “it’s for me” model. This is the model where I’m the only user whose opinion I care about. I might release things under this model, and I might receive and incorporate feedback under this model, but at the end of the day, the thing I am making is for my benefit and thus takes the shape that I decide. Which means I’m under no obligation to do anything else that anyone else asks for with respect to it.
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The “I get paid” model. This is the model where I do things for other people, but with at least some kind of path to monetization. The path to monetization is necessary because that immediately imposes a formalism on any particular conversation about what to do and when, and that formalism should prevent the things I have grown to dislike about doing favors for people.
Starbase Zebra is operating under the first model. You are free to enjoy Starbase Zebra however you want, if you want, but I’m doing it for myself.
This blog is also operating under the first model. I’ve decided to start a blog under Starbase Zebra because I enjoy writing, and it’s time for me to explore different forms of writing. I have avoided blogging previously because I felt I didn’t have much of interest to say that was not already being said by other people. Now, I find myself providing opinions to strangers on other parts of the Internet, and they actually seem to find those opinions somewhat useful. I want to collect those thoughts here, rather than spit them into the ephemeral stream that is modern social media.
I guess that’s also something Starbase Zebra is railing against, as well. It’s a “web site” in the age of the profile. Hearkening back to the nineties, when we all thought the internet would be decentralized. I want that decentralized internet, because it’s more interesting than the centralized one. It’s more effort, but all things worth doing require effort. Even with the effort, the possibilities now to create powerful, interesting “web sites” are greater than they ever have been. It’s something I want to explore.
I could go on, but my dogs need attention, and I’m only writing this now because I have a bug that throws an exception if there are no blog posts in the database. So, hooray for that.