For years, it was great, it was good. I would walk to the Auburn Draughton library every other weekend to go research things I was interested in, and learn more about them. This was the one place I could go where I felt safe, and the one place I could go and find my people. I wanted internet at home, so over time I built up the parts to build myself a decent-enough little 486 DX-33, and got my first internet connection in 2001. The stress and strain in real life imposed by other "nerds" pushed me to make my first website on Geocities that year: The Creeping Network. Then YouTube came along and I decided to fiddle with the idea of making videos for a few reasons. First off, to continue THAT site, secondly to get over my camera-shyness (Which is back with a vengence by the way).

In 2006, I started dabbling with this new platform, YouTube, originally with the intent of creating a "Retro-COmputing" Channel. If I had know the guitar test videos I made were going to take off I would have named it something else. But I digress, I enjoyed a bit of success on YouTube for awhile as one of the first offset-oriented YouTubers with some gaming and computer stuff mixed in for awhile. This was before Google bought it out. Once Google bought out YouTube, I knew the writing was on the wall. Then when the "partner program" started, I really knew the writing was on the wall that this was going to turn into a money-oriented endeavor, instead of a have fun, make a community yourself, DIY endeavor. When 2010 came, and the views started dropping, and I Was in a relationship, I almost called it quits then.

But then people reached out to me periodically and that got me in the mood of making videos again, off and on. Sometikmes I was encouraged, sometimes I was discouraged by people around me. The 2010's were really where I believe the activities of the internet as a fun social platform for DIY'ers really died out. Everything since 2010, has been about money. I should have known when many of my "Friends" at the time were all about wine tasting and plotting on how to buy a Tesla or a Bugatti, even though they made the same money as I did or worse, and worked in jobs more menial than my 25 year long I.T. career. As that time has gone on, the thumhbscrews hafve been twisted on me to turn this from a "hobby" into a "hustle", and I don't want to do that. I'm sick of late stage capitalism, and I'm quite well sick of YouTube at this point as well. There's just too many ads, most of which are so cheesy I have to wonder if they are a joke.

I originally planned to quit in April of 2026 but I'm at a point now to where even making videos have become exhausting, and frustrating at times, and that's told me that maybe it's time to hang it up. I start making videos, and I just don't feel the passion for it anymore. There's just too many variables to worry about now...

• Do I make a long intro to seem human to cut straight to the point?
• Do I timestamp everything over the course of a few hours so people can pick things out?
• Do I just keep making the same videos forever, just with nicer video quality?
• Should I upgrade my camera, or keep with the "just like 2006" thing?
• Should I consider working towards becoming a real contender again? Or Just try and hold the line for the DIY community that this site started with?

To add to it, I see the writing is on the wall when it comes to the modern internet. This place just isn't what it used to be. Neocities is really my last bastion before I either hang it all up, or start a Bulletin Board System (BBS).

On the music front, the communities I used to be a part of have turned into circle-jerk-echo-chamber-hive-minds. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in it if they agree with you, sometimes it's easy to remember what it was like to be an outcast when they don't. A lot of toxicity (predominantly male, surprise surprise) have taken these places over, and filled the places with Chad-Bro-Incel-SEO-Branding-Obsessee types.

Speaking of Brand, I'm not sure CreepingNet is really a viable name anymore. I used it in a time when I was an 18 year old with no money, no prospect of college, using computers so slow, they really did "creep" across the "internet". Now I have a 486 with a 128GB SSD in it that boots as fast as my Linux Box and can download a 250mb file in 15 minutes, and rip a DVD in the same amount of time. So what's "creeping" about that setup? The most waiting I do is for it to honor my hostname! Nothing I have is all that slow anymore. ACtually, I'd be comfortable if technological progress stopped right here, with Linux 3rd hand i5s and 486's running partial 21st century hardware.

Musically, I'm toying with the idea of making my next *band* type endeavor just a little more mysterious. I think that's something music has lost in recent decades with the advent of the internet. It used to be, you rarely heard from the musicians and artists you listen to, and that made it so much more special when they would share information. Now anyone can just get online and find the guitarist's guitar-rig, and what they did to get that tone, or how they recorded that part, or what they like to do in their off-time. And I'm beginning to think that's one reason music isn't as interesting to people anymore. We used to look at these people like living gods, or artistic marvels, something to aspire to. Now we look to these people and question all sorts of things that have nothing to do with music.

I'm going to admit, I've kind-of-quit YouTube early because it's just exhausting for me at this time. Maybe I'll do some more content after awhile but right now, I need to stop.