It's been building up for a while and I'm now at the point that I just don't feel good about being on Neocities anymore. I understand the principles that founder Kyle Drake is wanting to adhere to, though unfortunately, on the ground, I don't feel that "when thought is free, the best ideas win", as he was once quoted as saying. There are far too many misogynistic incel sites, racist right wing sites, Russian trolls and even outright Nazis on here. And many of them follow similar tactics as paid online trolls where they spread hatred under a banner of free speech and then block, delete, bully and harass anyone who disagrees with them or challenges them. Some of these sites have upwards of 100,000 hits and there are mini networks, mostly consisting of young men, who spread around some gnarly content that promotes violence and hatred towards women, BIPOC people, trans people and other marginilized people. I don't feel that free speech should be used to oppress the freedoms of others.
I realize that there is a delicate balance between provocative art, self-expression and blatant hate speech. The kind of violent rape content, promotion of the War in Ukraine and advocation of eugenics that I've found on here is a clear case of outright hate speech. It's not vague or complex or satirical.
There's so much I love about Neocities and I know that Drake and many others on here don't personally support Nazism or violent misogyny and there is an argument that censoring content may actually have the opposite effect intended ("Streisand Effect" as he put it). That could be true, I really don't know. I really don't know what the best way to deal with bigots is; yet there are many examples I could give from my personal life and through activism I've done where changes were enacted by direct action and calling people out, or through "accountability culture".
I don't believe that either having a sense of entitlement around freedom of expression, or neurodiversity (as some have used to excuse the behaviour of Richard Stallman) are legitimate justifications for spreading hatred and ignorance. Even if those of us on the spectrum aren't always able to relate to superficial social cues, we're still fully capable of learning about systemic societal issues and responding in mature and accountable ways, even if the understanding is purely intellectual.
Furthermore, for those edge lords who cry about the old days of the internet and the modern day "woke mafia" (who are somehow seen as a bigger threat than actual rapists and ecocidal billionaires), Geocities, more than 30 years ago, did not allow hate sites to be hosted and worked in collaboration with the Wiesenthal Centre. It's so weird to hear 30 year olds pining about the "old web" as if they were there to experience it when they weren't even fucking born yet! I was there hiding in the library of my school going on BBS in the early 90's and experienced the very early days of GUI internet, mailing lists and IRC. Gore sites, misanthropy and artistic exporation of all kinds of extreme and fucked up shit was the norm, but outright Nazism was where the line was drawn. We understood the difference between artists like Rozz Williams using a Swastika for art's sake and the literal use of swastikas by groups like the Aryan Front.
Seeing how so-called "free speech" gets misused played out when Elon Musk took over Twitter. He was one of the biggest screamers about "free speech", yet once he had control over the network he banned the anarchist collective Crimethinc from posting (read more here), yet continued to allow far-right extremists and misogynist incels to spew their hatred.
So I'm out of here and will be moving to another host in the next while and will put a link up to the new site at some point.
❤❤❤ I GIVE A FUCK! ❤❤❤
UPDATE: January 2023
新年好 Happy Lunar New Year... My site is all moved over to Autistici now and can be viewed by clicking below:
Excitingly, I already found a new host that is anarchistic and autistic and offers free hosting for activists, so stay tuned for the site to go back up again soon!
It still freaks me out that so many people ended up reading the stuff I was sharing on here and I hope it helped some not feel as alone in their darkness and strangeness. I know that many sites on here were that for me..
