I’m gonna try to be off of Tumblr for a while– possibly a month or more, and after that, we’ll see.

This is related to my recent post about alternatives to the dystopian way that social media sites are going. Which, to be clear, is NOT a problem we only need to face “if KOSA passes,” but is a systemic issue that’s been going on a long time already.

(Case in point: the egregious transphobia that is Tumblr’s current topic of the day. When communication is dependent on a corporation, and CEOs of corporations behave… the way they do… we need other options).

I VERY much appreciate that people are sharing that post and adding their own ideas and resources. Please keep doing that.

I’m just stepping out for a while because my part in that endeavor is gonna require some focus.

My goal is that, during this time, whatever time I would have spent posting and reading and checking my notifications on Tumblr… I will instead spend working on the website I’m making on Neocities.

It’s a huge endeavor, because I am trying to combine a lot of different topics and projects in my weird complex life.

The url will be astercontrol.com. When it is ready to be publicly viewed, I’ll change that placeholder page to the actual entry page of the site.

When that happens, you’ll be able to see pages about my writing, my art, many different things I’ve worked on and thought about… and of course, as many resources as I can gather to help others with that same struggle of getting free from corporate-controlled communication.

Because people being able to share their thoughts openly might be the one thing that makes the biggest difference to… ALL the other problems in the world.

Without the level of free dialogue I’ve seen about Palestine, police brutality, trans rights, COVID, climate change, anything… I’d know only what mainstream publications felt like telling me. I’d be in no position to even realize what help was needed, let alone give the donations and signal boosts I’ve been giving. And that’s where more and more people will be, the more our social media gets crushed under increasing corporate control.

My site will probably not be complete when you first see it. There will be lots of sections that still don’t have any content yet. The whole project would just take far too long, and I want to open the site soon. The way social media is going, “finding alternatives” just jumped to the front of my priorities.