This touched on something I have also grown tired of, the public-facing aspect of online friendship, which has become a kind of performance. Great essay.
I'm sorry for your loss. I know you said you did not know her well, but death, especially at that age, has a way of messing with us and making us think more about what we want out of life, who to spend it with, how we wish to be remembered. I wish you well on the dating front!
thank you -- even though i didn't know her personally, in a way, i felt like i did. we were both active on the forum and read/replied to each others posts often. i'm sad it won't happen ever again. and you're right, it has me reflecting.
love this! I was going to comment something similiar — part of my attraction to the slow web is that I don't have to focus on what would get maximum views if I don't want to. Good writing should always keep audience and context top-of-mind, but at the heart of great writing is authentic self-expression. That's the sort of stuff that sticks with people, as opposed to something they "like", scroll past and forget.
really, it's a new blog post (https://sorbier.neocities.org/blog/emotions) nothing else has been changed