about

Why this domain, "pokey.onl"?

This domain, just like all of them, has (at least) two parts. The Top-Level Domain (TLD) which in this case is ".onl" was chosen to represent the word "online"... and it's also quite cheap and works just as good as any other TLD. The Second-Level Domain (SLD) is "pokey", a reference to the first VAX computer encountered by the player of the 'dunnet' game built into GNU Emacs. Emacs and dunnet (by Ron Schnell) are two, interconnected pieces of software that helped to shape my use and perspective on computing.

The introduction of the pokey VAX in dunnet:

You are in a computer room.  It seems like most of the equipment has
been removed.  There is a VAX 11/780 in front of you, however, with
one of the cabinets wide open.  A sign on the front of the machine
says: This VAX is named ‘pokey’.  To type on the console, use the
‘type’ command.  The exit is to the east.
The panel lights are steady and motionless.
>

I am not sure if this pokey is named after something or if it is its own origin. Wikipedia states that "POKEY" (short for Pot Keyboard Integrated Circuit) was a digit I/O chip for Atari 8-bit computers first released in 1979.

Why this content?

My perspective on computers, the networking of computers, and the act of computing is largely philosphical in nature--this website embodies this perspective (the theory) while serving a practical purpose (the application) which I breakdown below:

The theory: I believe that computers have the profound ability to catalyze change at a scale never before seen, and the internet makes things accessible. The optimist would say that that the internet makes information accessible to regular people. The pessimist would say that the internet makes regular people accessible to corporations. I believe it is becoming more and more evident that people are getting too much information in the form of endless feeds, advertisements, pop-ups, upsells, etc, etc. Tangently related, I am a fan of the free software movement (free as in freedom, not free beer) although I am not a strict adherent. I think the best thing to do is for regular people like me to build, use, and promote software that respects users (in particular, the user's intelligence, maturity, aptitude, and ability to learn).

The application: I am an ardent procrasinator, but I tend to find that goal-oriented projects and a sense of social duty are the most effective internal and external constraints I can impose on myself to put this in check. The goal of this anonymous website is simple: I want to leverage the act of publishing to encourage myself to do more interesting and productive things without invoking Goodhart's Law (which I will now define).

Goodhart's Law, in case you do not remember (I'm just teasing; I looked it up to in order to write it here), is the idea that "when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". By making this website anonymous and disconnected from me, as a person, my goal is to use it to promote my own action without this website itself becoming a distraction.

Equally important is that I believe that the act of creating itself is very valuable. I don't have much to say on this topic, but I think this is intrinsic and I take it axiomatically.

Why these format choices, specifically?

Hypertext (especially with HTML) is very versatile; It is moldable, approachable, and universal. This is a meta-point here but I honestly don't understand why people seem to hide their HTML. It's the backbone of the world wide web, but developers go out of their way to avoid showing the ".html" extension of a webpage to the user in their browser's URL bar. Editing HTML directly gives maximal control, minimal vendor lock, and ensures that everything can run in a static server.

CSS can be a nice addition to HTML; however, I am planning to mostly avoid it. This is not because I think it cannot be done well, but because I think I will inevitably overdo it. At the end of the day, I want the words to speak for themselves; I want to do the opposite of maximal UI/UX deisgns of big tech that seek to subconsciously control users via dark patterns.

I plan to avoid the use of javascript on this website. I recommend reading The Javascript Trap by Richard Stallman of The GNU Project.

Inspiration

In my years on the internet, I've come across a few websites that have mentally stuck with me. Of course, I cannot and do not endorse the works of other authors of content on the internet. I'll try to add them here as I remember more, but these should mostly consistent of hidden gems of the small web that you are unlikely to find in a simple internet search for "best websites":

Last updated March 20, 2026