As part of my new year’s cleanup I have decided to attempt to tidy-up Something Decent. If you have been around a while you may notice the distinct lack in content now on the site. The said cleanup is the reason for this distinct lack in content.
I have always struggled to find a real purpose for Something Decent. I bought the domain as an ode to an old childhood friend and, as a result, it will always have sentimental value to me on a personal level.
A Road with Many Turns
Since I opened the website it has taken many turns. If anyone has been around from the start, and is reading this, you will know that I pretty much jumped from Black Budget to opening this here old site.
As a result of the quick turn around there was never a real focus on trying to find a unique identity for Something Decent. It sorta started as this mish-mash of music reviews, video posts and random re-worded news articles then moved on to things such as food, travel and TV/film, following on from that it moved on to blockchain tech.
Throughout all of the phases there were little speckles of random articles which were simply mind dumps. Just blogs about random stages in my life. Looking back I can see that, barring the mind-dump blogs, these were all just examples of me chasing clicks and numbers in Google Analytics.
I didn’t know what I wanted Something Decent to be, but I knew this wasn’t it. This conversion addicted mentality was the kind of mentality which has directly contributed to the decimation of the free internet.
The State of the Web
The sad reality is that the current state of the web is shocking. It is far from the decentralised beacon of free information we claim it to be. All websites have one goal: get you to convert. They want you to signup to their newsletter, buy their subscription, use their affiliate link, relinquish your personal information to their marketing algorithm.
Have you noticed the drastic number of paywalled websites recently? Reuters Institute reported a 16% increase in newspaper paywalls from 2017 – 2019. In isolation that figure might seem harmless. In the context of the highly centralised web it is a little more depressing. It is a sign of the times in which we live. A time where information and data are being held ransom.
While Something Decent was never behind a paywall and, let’s face it, it never really had much traffic. The click chasing undertone of its content was a stain on the site, and it just wasn’t sitting right with me.
Going Forward
Truth be told, the articles which I think are the best representation to a free internet and, ultimately, the domain, are the random mind dumps. Those rants about wanting chips in a burger are absolute shite but, at the same time, they are what I want this site to be remembered for.
The mantra of the website, Always original, never sponsored, is one which I want to materialise and what better way than to write absolute brain farts which no-one in their right mind would sponsor anyway?
That probably makes it sound as though I will be intentionally making crap content. That is not the case. I aim to make the content of the highest standard I possibly can. I am hoping that removing the pressure of a conversion based mentality will enable me to write freely.
In doing so I will be continuing to write tutorials and travel diaries. I am aiming to commit to at least one blog post per month. A goal which I think is perfectly attainable. If you have read this, nice one, let’s see how the content goes from here! I won’t know, as I am removing any analytics from the site.
Peace, love and happiness.
