Friend, last night I watched the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice for the first time right after having re-read the book. This movie insulted my intelligence and I took it very personally. I will not dignify it with a post on my website trying to convince everyone what a piece of crap it is, but you may be someone who understands.
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Congrats on 100 followers!! That's a cool milestone!
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emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
Just made a lot of small corrections and updates, including adding alt text to my current Field Notes images.
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I got your letter today! Will reply as existential crises allow.
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kolala
2 weeks ago
Late to your original question, but how about using labels to be as a safe space? For instance, I have my pronouns in my site even though it doesn't make a difference to me. I'm a cis woman, so the default she/her works. And even if someone misgenders me, I wouldn't care because I have never suffered from it.
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kolala
2 weeks ago
So in that case, rather than being a defensive thing, it's just to tell others that I'll respect their pronouns if they ever interacted with me. To try to make it safer for those who might be dealing with discrimination in other places. I rarely interact with others, but if there's a chance to make things a bit less hostile then it's worth it.
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pixelglade
2 weeks ago
Agreed with Koala. Before I came out as trans, I didn't self-identify very much as anything online, in fact I preferred to hide it. But even coming against prejudice about being trans from even my own family and facing random abuse in public and online, self-identifying works as both indicating to others that I'm "in the know (e.g. about pronouns, etc)"/ am safe, and also practically works as a filter.
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pixelglade
2 weeks ago
Also, I've poked around on the old web on archives of geocities and others, there was quite a lot of self-identification especially in the LGBTQ community, much as there still is today. I haven't looked at other communities but I suspect your observation on race, nationality, etc, are the same. When there's so much information online, choosing who to follow or spend time with is important, labels help with that
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ghostscape
2 weeks ago
i think my thoughts are not comment-sized but: this topic is super interesting, your thoughts reflect a lot of my own feelings, and also the current comments are spot-on too. how I've felt about online labels over the years has maaassively changed and part of that is to do with the kind of privileges I have changing
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emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
@kolala Thanks for the perspective. Yeah, I think that different sites with different purposes use labels differently. For myself, I've had experiences where I thought I was a good ally and ended up causing harm, so I don't see myself as an expert on whether or not I'm a "safe" person. If someone is wondering if I am safe to approach, I would recommend that they read around my site a bit and decide for themselves.
emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
@pixelglade Several years ago, I got harrassed on the bus by someone claiming that they "couldn't tell" "what" I am. Shortly afterwards, I got some pride pins to put on my bag so nobody could claim to be confused about it and to take up space as a queer person. So I get that as a reason to self-label online. But to me there's a thin line between creating a community and creating an echo chamber in online spaces...
emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
...and that's the part that I'm still trying to figure out. I was not connected to the LGBTQ+ community in my early internet days, so I did not see the self-labeling happening there. My guess is that the practice started in small communities connecting around their identities and get got more mainstreamed over the years.
Another blog I follow also got a typewriter recently for seemingly similar reasons (as far as I can tell). They didn't use alt text unfortunately but they took a photo of the page they wrote for a blog post: https://jamesg.blog/2025/10/19/growth
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pixelglade
3 weeks ago
The first post with the typewriter: https://jamesg.blog/2025/10/19/beginnings-type-written
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emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
Ooh, thanks for this! You can kind of see the starry-eyed wonder that typewriters invoke. I have so far decided not to post images of my typewriting because it would require both high-res images and lots of alt text. But maybe I will one day with short bits of text.
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pixelglade
2 weeks ago
It might be possible to simplify the process of converting full-length pages of typewriter text to alt text using OCR like tesseract or something else, but even in that case, smaller segments will probably be easier. Personally I'd like to see an example of the text your typewriter produces, out of curiosity for how the letterforms look
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emilynhoward
2 weeks ago
My experiments so far with OCR have not worked out well. You'd think it would be easy for a computer to render typewriting into text, but the program I was using actually couldn't parse several of the letters. I will consider uploading some examples of text, though. Thanks for the suggesion!
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If everyone removed their social location labels from their site (nationality, race, age, gender, disability, etc.) would you browse Neocities differently? Would your own website be different? Just trying to think through the usefulness and limits of labels.
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nohappynonsense
3 weeks ago
i was thinking lately i should update my about section, but when i just checked it i realized it is as bare bones as i'd like it to be while still existing and providing some navigation. i think labels are good for new visitors, to sort of orient themselves in a general direction of the author, but ultimately the writing/content of the site is where we truly learn about who's behind the html
barndoors
3 weeks ago
I'd judge way less while browsing. age range is the only stat I look for. no one does media queries here but you can't hate on a 14 yo's first chatgpt-less build
maxcrunch
3 weeks ago
self categorization is really important for me and I do self labeling as a way to get to know myself. sometimes you self label and then find out you're wrong. it's a harder question to answer for other people. for websites, I'm more into the style of expression than the actual person. although there are some people I followed only because they're only
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ghostscape
3 weeks ago
I don't usually go looking for those tbh: it's useful to know gender if I'm going to refer to someone (even if just to myself) but I don't think I know the rest about most of you unless it comes up organically
ghostscape
3 weeks ago
but then I am very into small-web anonymity. I've had enough of labels and minutely detailed self-branding as the cost of entry to a lot of social media and online spaces
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emilynhoward
3 weeks ago
Thanks for your responses @nohappynonsense @barndoors @maxcrunch @ghoatscape! I started typing my reply and realized that it was going to be way longer than a Neocities comment will allow, so I will try to put up a page on my site and link it here today or tomorrow. I appreciate all your perspectives.
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emilynhoward
4 weeks ago
I added some extracts from my journals. I don't know how you'll feel about it, but this is my favorite page that I've uploaded in a long time.
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nohappynonsense
4 weeks ago
this is like a cheat code to skip out on my own notebook practice and just get all the good stuff from yours
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heya, just want you to know that canada post is on strike ): i haven't forgotten!!!
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skep
1 month ago
You ought to have written it on a typewriter and posted pictures of the pages. And then typed it all out again on the computer for the alt text.
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
@Skep you act as if this idea had not crossed my mind. But I don't hate myself quiiiiite that much.
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sorbier
1 month ago
thanks for this essay, i know you said you don’t romanticise the typewriter yet it’s still so cozy to think about drafting at that pace. bouncing ball imagery makes me think of pianists, i’m sure an obvious comparison — they way they strike the keys so purposefully and precisely
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ghostscape
1 month ago
ooh I've been pondering getting a typewriter recently, a decent one has popped up for sale near me. this isn't helping dissaude me 👀
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
@sorbier I was thinking about including the piano as a comparison because I imagine the mechanics are very similar to a typewriter. But I've never played piano so I didn't know if the feel would be similar.
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
@ghostscape I feel like I have been forthcoming as possible about how much of a pain in the butt typewriters are, so if this didn't dissuade you, nothing will.
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ghostscape
1 month ago
i am really curious about it as a physical experience (among other things). i used to play piano and i assume i'll be needing to rebuild those finger muscles
emilynhoward
1 month ago
You'll probably have a head start because you used to play piano, but yes, finger strength is definitely necessary!
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pixelglade
1 month ago
This was fascinating. I understand to some extent the forearm pain. Using braille input on a normal qwerty keyboard involves pushing multiple keys down at the same time in a sort of rhythm and I get pain after doing it for awhile. A Perkins brailler is much like a typewriter in design - I've never used one but it's a fascinating piece of machinery if you want to look up about it.
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emilynhoward
1 month ago
@pixelglade Wow, that's so interesting. My workplace has a braille printer, but I had no idea that a typewriter for braille existed!
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I... actually like it, for the most part. I remember you saying you thought it was one of Austen's weaker novels for its fairy-tale-ness, so I imagine it doesn't improve things if you have to trim out all the subtleties to fit it into a 2-hour runtime.
I will agree that the ending scene is really bad. It's so bad. I dread re-watching the movie because I don't want to be subjected to that scene again.
It's mostly that they took out the humor that was in the book and replaced it with their own bad humor. And cut out a lot of plot points to make room for random fancy shots of landscapes and statuary. And everybody was played so flat and subdued that it didn't make sense why any of the characters cared about each other.
Well if you make them hot then they don't need personality. Everyone knows this.
BBC Pride and Prejudice is superior. "Oh, my poor nerves!" Is what Mrs Bennett says when she sees the Kiera Knightly Pride and Prejudice.
Though, some of the casting choices weren't too terrible
I recognize I do actually have to watch that version at some point.
I think they could have gotten away with 5 hours instead of 6, but the BBC is much truer to the spirit of the book. They actually let people be funny and ridiculous.