My website is my safe space

I love it when I get email from readers. It's spawned blog posts before, and this time, well, it's going to happen again. This time though, I'm going to publish my reply for the world to see because, well, in truth, I'm a lazy human that enjoys linking to what I've said rather than typing everything out, again. Yes, this is a very cheap way to get you to my website. Moreover though, why would I reply on social media when I've already written it down elsewhere? That just seems silly!

Before I begin, I watched the Second Ace Ventura movie again, and, well, it didn't make any sense to me whatsoever, but I guess these movies were never meant to make sense. These movies are just supposed to be funny as hell.

I had the best time, but even the plot summary on Wikipedia left me confused. Let's get to why we're here, though.

I get all kinds of email. This one made me scratch my head.

The baffled email.

Subject: Profound Concerns Regarding Your Website, sightlessscribbbles.com

Dear Mr. Kingett,

I am writing to you today after spending a considerable amount of time analyzing your website, sightlessscribbles.com. I must be frank: I am in a state of profound confusion, bordering on disbelief, regarding your entire online strategy. My intent here is not to be inflammatory, but to express a sincere and serious bewilderment at the choices you have made with your digital presence.

Oh here we go! This is going to be fun!

I came across your writing and was immediately struck by its quality. This, however, only deepened my shock when I examined the structure of your website itself. There are no advertisements. Not a single banner, sponsored post, or pop-up. Furthermore, there are no nudges, no demands, and no "Subscribe to My Newsletter!" fly-ins that interrupt the reading experience. You are not selling a course, an e-book, or any merchandise. How do you still have readers?

I can tell from this guy's tone that he's genuinely perplexed why people would willingly subscribe to my stuff if I don't nudge them. This is your brain on capitalism. I'm not joking! The thought that I'd give my readers agency is so foreign to him that he felt so bothered, that he just had to email me about it!

This leads me to my first and most pressing area of confusion. A website, particularly one with well-crafted content, is a digital asset. Its purpose in the modern economy is to be leveraged. By failing to monetize your traffic, you are essentially leaving a fortune on the table. Why would you create valuable content only to give it away with no mechanism for financial return? It fundamentally subverts the very purpose of maintaining a professional online platform. A website that doesn't sell something---be it a product or the user's attention---is, respectfully, a waste of digital real estate.

Again, this is your brain on capitalism. A waste of digital realistate? So you're saying that because I'm not making money on every single thing that I do, that I can't possibly contribute anything meaningful to the web?

I shutter at this guy's friend interactions. I wonder if he sees all friendships as a transactional thing. I genuinely wonder that.

A longer reply is below the email, but here's the short, short, truth of it. Ready?

Because my website is my safe space.

My bafflement extends to the very openness of your site. You seem to want people to simply... read. This brings me to the RSS feed. Why, in this day and age, would you actively provide a tool that allows users to consume your content without ever visiting your domain? This cedes all control. You cannot track their engagement, you cannot guide them to other articles, and you certainly cannot present them with a call-to-action. An RSS feed is a relic of a bygone internet, an era before we understood the necessity of creating a "walled garden" or a cohesive content ecosystem to capture and retain an audience.

Even the design itself is perplexing. The text is intimidating. large, the contrast is high, and it's intimidating. People don't read today, Robert. Your large text implies that there will be a lot of reading on your website. Have you tracked how many people click away because the large text implies there will be a lot of reading? A strategically designed website should maximize time-on-site and exposure to monetization opportunities. Your design fails at a discernible strategic goal.

This brings me to a larger, more philosophical point. You are blogging on your own website instead of a major newspaper or established media outlet. The age of the solitary blogger is over, Mr. Kingett. Blogging is dead. Serious writers today understand that their work must be part of a larger machine to gain traction and, more importantly, validation. Influence is the new currency. The modern "serious writer" is an influencer---a personal brand who creates content across multiple platforms. They produce TikToks, host podcasts, and build massive followings on Instagram and Twitter. Their writing, when it happens, is published on platforms like Medium or Substack (behind a paywall, of course) or as a guest column in a major online publication to leverage that publication's built-in audience.

They understand that long-form writing on a personal domain is a shout into the void. The market now belongs to dynamic content creators who build communities that can be mobilized and monetized, not to static authors on isolated websites.

Your website feels like a carefully constructed last gasp to keep 2005 alive. It's utterly disconnected from the reality of the contemporary internet. You are investing the time and effort of a serious writer into a framework that actively works against your own success.

So, I must ask, with all sincerity: Why do you do this? Why would you blog on your own website?

Respectfully,

James XXX

My response to James.

Before we begin, I guess you missed the part where AI brands reached out to me?

Oh James. I don't know if you need a hug or some friends, but there's one single answer to all your points. No, really, there's one answer that encompasses every single question You've asked in utter bewilderment.

Again, my website is my safe space.

I mean that sincerely. It's where I go to tend to my own garden instead of relying on a third party platform. It's where I go to tell the world and my readers what I'm thinking or how I'm feeling or what's new with me. It's where I publish so the world can get a glimpse of me online without distortion or sabotage.

As to the question about why readers subscribe? You'd have to ask them, not me, but I can take a guess.

Because they feel comfortable.

Let's play a psychology game. Turn every speaker up to 900 in your house/apartment/living thing. Have each speaker play something different at full volume. Go about your day with those speakers blaring. See how well you make decisions throughout the day.

If you take away comfort, you take away trust. Readers feel comfortable when they visit my website, so they like that I gave them the agency to not be bothered. They can come and go as they please. They can unsubscribe and subscribe at any time. I couldn't care less, because someone else will take their place as fans.

Moreover, with your text comments, you're assuming people are never going to read again. I don't know if you know this, but actually, reading has been on the rise, and shorter form stuff/content isn't so popular these days. It simply isn't healthy to be flitting from one thing to the other constantly. As much as influencers hate engaging with long form stuff, I think, now, more than ever, it's the most crucial way to encourage critical thinking in people today. We should be encouraging them to pause and reflect instead of reacting anyway.

The text on my website is intimidating? Probably! I can't see it. But in all seriousness though, why would larger text be intimidating? Yes, it's going to signal to the reader that I'm going to write long form stuff. That's the readers problem, not mine. This is my website. This isn't their website. This is my website. They can freely read or not read as they please.

What I'm actually doing is imbuing a bit of anarchical agency into their brains. I'm giving them all the clues, and all the choices. To read, or not read. In a world dominated by everybody telling everyone else what to do, I think a little agency is good. Give the person the understanding to engage or disengage, and that's why the text is so big.

Yes, you're going to read a lot while you're here. That's the point. I don't do video. I don't do short form content. This is me. I'm not like everyone else.

There's also the accessibility reason why my text is so big, but I figured that would be obvious. I prioritize comfort over making it my own experience.

Now of course you could argue the giant text is making it my own experience, but again, your browser has tools to shrink the text if that's what you want to have. Lastly, it's text. You can copy it elsewhere and make it small as you want to make it.

It's the same reason why I have a full text feed. I don't give two shits if you visit my website or not. I don't care. I'm not making my website for my wallet. Although, money would seriously be fucking nice, so give me all your money, but the point is, I'm not forcing you to do anything. I'm not forcing people to register to my mailing list. I'm not forcing people to do things. I'm giving them the control. I'd rather have readers give me money because they want to support me rather than give me money to get out of an technological hostage situation.

This will mean that a lot of readers just don't give me money. That's fine. I'm not writing exclusively for you, so you do you. If you want to support me, fantastic, but I'll never willingly place you in a technological hostage situation on my website.

My books? that's a different story. I consider those to be products. This is why I have everybody paying money to access them, because I worked hard on this product, so I want to have you pay for it, but even then, if you can't afford something, my newsletter readers get things for free because they promote me on their various platforms and to their friends, so I'm still getting something out of it even if it's not finances.

My books and stories and scripts are one thing. My garden is another. The two are separate in my mind and will always be separate until I change my mind.

There will come a day when I want to give my writing away to people when I feel I have something better to say, but that's different from my digital garden. Why should I charge people to visit my digital garden and talk to me? I sell things in my garden, yes, but it seems bizarre to me that I'd prevent people from spending time in my digital garden anyway. I want to have open access for everyone, regarding my website, because even free readers are people with tastes and opinions. People will write about me, and that will bring people back to me, but how can I converse with people if they don't have at least some access to me?

It's true I don't have comments on this blog. I never will. Comments are not email. If you want to talk about me, do it on your own platform instead of mine. My space is a space for you to talk to me directly. I'm not sorry if that makes you uncomfortable.

The modern mainstream web sucks. This is why I stay in the small web. I'm done playing it's games. I'm old. I want to have my own space where people can come and go as they please. People should be chasing me, not the other way around. I'll still syndicate outward wherever and whenever I can, but again, I'm giving you all the agency in the world to come here, sit down, and read some giant ass text that's intimidating instead of watching a short video.

My hope is that you'll reflect why I'm giving you this agency and why I trust you'll make your own online decisions. I'm not a corporation so why should I pretend to be one?

Would I like money? Fuck yes, but it's not my end goal. I'm tired. I'm tired of hustling. I'm tired of chasing other people. The internet isn't worth fighting. It's short term gain to trap you. I want to have long form trust and long form comradery with you. I don't want to use you for a short term transaction. I don't know what else to tell you. I'm just tired. I experienced burnout, twice, to where I couldn't write for two years. The only thing that remained constant was my friends, my love, and my offline found family. I prioritize them over anything and everything else because, frankly, it's not about what you know, but who you know, and people will be more willing to connect with you if they trust you.