Dlay.eu

About

Name
'Dlay' is an inventive spelling of 'delay'. I named my blog this as a deliberate contrast to the fast-paced, always-on nature of the modern web. My intent is to embrace patience and reflection. Good things are worth waiting for.

TLD
I chose the TLD .eu because of a few reasons: I live in the EU, kinda like the EU, and it is cheap.

Content
I write about what ever I want to write, and whenever I feel like it. That means two things for readers:

  1. I might go a stretch of time without posting. I promised myself not to feel bad about this. I'll keep the blog online and might post again later on.
  2. You might dislike a post I make. Maybe you don't find the topic interesting, maybe you disagree with what I write. In those cases, I would ask you to stick around. Of course, you can make that choice for yourself. But you may just like the next post.

Language
English is not my native language. Dutch is. I chose to write in English because this is, more or less, the universal language of the internet. This blog is also a way for me to practice my English, so if my posts are full of grammar mistakes, please bear with me.

Form and platform
I use Mataroa. It's an extremely minimal blogging platform that has all of the features I want (newsletters, comments, custom domain support, some very basic analytics) and none that I don't (tracking, cookies, bloat, ads, big tech dependency). It's also basically free (USD 9 a year).

When I include images in my posts, they're either hosted at mataroa.blog/images or i.dlay.eu. The latter is a folder hosted on Fastmail. I use Fastmail for email, and simple site and file hosting was included. This embedding of images brings no tracking with it.

My blog is compliant with the principles of IndieWeb. As far as I know. At the bottom of each page are Webring links, allowing you to visit other interesting indie websites.

Conversation
I fundamentally believe that holding a stupid opinion doesn't make one a bad person. I am open to all viewpoints, as long as they're expressed in a respectful way. You can comment on my posts, and I'll allow and interact with all comments of good intent. Sincere, substantialised disagreement is welcome as well. You can also send me an email or write to me on Mastodon.

Independence from big tech
The modern internet is bloated with ads, content aiming at ranking high in search engines for the purpose of selling you stuff (SEO spam), addictive, always-on, full of tracking. These practices are upheld mainly by big tech. With this blog, I won't participate in that. Adhering to small web principles, this blog is and will always be:

  1. Free to read
  2. Without ads
  3. Without affiliate links
  4. Without invasive tracking
  5. Without content with the sole aim of ranking high in search engines
  6. Independent from big tech: no Google trackers, no Cloudflare hosting, no Facebook share buttons
  7. Without bloat: lightweight, simple and fast

License
I value freedom on the internet. I don't think it makes much sense to enforce arbitrary restrictions on things the internet allows. I mean, isn't it a bit strange that using someone else's image is both so easy and possibly illegal? Technically speaking, this site is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

This means you are free to:

  1. Share: copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
  2. Adapt: remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Under these terms:

  1. Attribution: You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests I (the licensor) endorses you or your use.
  2. Apply no additional restrictions: You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything this license permits.

Basically, use my work if you want to. But please don't copy my entire site without mentioning me. That wouldn't make me happy, though I'm unlikely to sue you.