Moving From Hugo to Bear
Somehow in this hellscape of an economy, I managed to eek out a new job that pays moderately well, but with much employment comes much responsibility. While I loved creating my original site with Hugo, I quickly realized that I couldn't update it fast or often enough to keep up with my changing preferences. I knew if I kept this up, I'd never be able to focus on ACTUALLY creating.
The whole purpose of this blog was to lower the barriers to posting, and yet I was overcome with dread whenever I thought of updating it. That's not why I set out to do this!
I still recommend Hugo if you're looking to host things yourself, but the endless pursuit of perfection is a horrible trap. Ironically, having unlimited possibilities ended up paralyzing me, and I need self-imposed limits to keep myself from spreading myself too thin too quickly.
So with that in mind, what is there for a gal to do? Open a Tumblr account! However, I still knew I needed a "home base" to feel confident enough to post on there. There are a lot of things I'd rather not post to Tumblr and just keep here as bonus content, like a Patreon but without the money.
I felt like there was no suitable solution to what I was looking for, though. How do I gain usability without forking over $15+ a month? I came to the realization that money had to be spent, and I was already paying for my domain anyway. With that mental hurdle out of the way, I assessed my options again and (re)discovered Bear.
I don't remember why I passed it over the first time, but I think it was because it has a premium tier and content policies. Well guess what? I have a job now, and therefore money that I'm willing to put into a good, reasonably priced platform.
As far as content policies go, Bear seems pretty tolerant considering. And at the end of the day, I'm not using this platform to spew hate speech or harm others—that's what social media is for. I just want room to express myself messily and let my hair down without looking over my shoulder all the time.
I understand that with any kind of moderation comes the risk of abuse, but I'll cross that bridge if I (somehow) get there.
Reading Bear's manifesto and Herman's last post, I feel like my goals and his are in alignment. The difference is that Herman is much smarter than me, and his knowledge and commitment to protecting us against scrapers and bots makes me feel very good about my being here. I thought the measures I was taking on my site were plenty. Spoiler: they weren't.
So starting now, Bear will be this blog's new home!
(All posts before this one were done on my old blog, RIP.)