12 Years Of Xadara

I’ve been running this website in some capacity nonstop for 12 years now. Bloody hell! It’s honestly kind of amazing that I’ve been keeping at this for as long as I have, given all the ups and downs over the past decade plus, both online and in my personal life.

The rough early days where someone who I considered a friend decided to hack it for the fun, the time the original hosting provider just killed it off for no valid reason, with I and others later learning he was a scammer in the end, the “forum” era which went well until an improper deletion resulted in everything being wrecked, the “static” era where the site was just a few pages describing a self made game I was hosting on it, and then finally the “blog” era from, oh, 2012 onward which we are still in! I’ve written about much of this in previous articles, so check those out after this — links will be at the end of this entry.

Anyway, yeah, 12 years. Damn. It really is a long time to be doing anything! Granted, it’s come in phases, as mentioned above, but I’ve never truly given up on the core concept of this site, as a place for me to be myself online.

Right now, we’re in a pretty good shape. I’m continuing to tweak and adjust things to my liking, with new plans in the works. New fun projects that I think will really be enjoyed by many — At least, I’d hope they will be.

First off more review and retrospective types of posts. I feel like I’ve got some sub series ideas that I can keep up with pretty regularly and really enjoy writing. We will of course have the continuation of some “classic” series on here, like the very odd but not AVGN episode review series, among others, but with the new plans I’m hoping things will feel a bit more diverse.

We will of course still have the more serious posts, with me expressing what I think about various social subjects, at least with regards to technology, gaming, the internet, and the like — my standard “social commentary” posts aren’t going anywhere.

I actually debate myself constantly on these posts — should I do them, or should I ignore the urge to write about these topics? Ending these posts would keep the site more “friendly” in a way — making it more of just a media review and tech opinion site, but I feel that would ruin what makes the site that bit different from others in the same range in that I write posts like this very one, where I’m open about exactly what I’m thinking about whatever at the time — that, after all, is the essence of a blog. I can keep the “review” content available for easy access via pages, while continuing to intesplice the hopefully more steadily produced “review” content with social commentary where necessary.

Time will tell what comes, but I’m hoping to better flesh out the site in the upcoming year, and really get more content on a whole out for everyone without the same burnout I experienced last year. I’m also considering clearing out some older posts that just don’t fit at all anymore, so if an old article disappears, well, that may be the reason why.

Time will tell. For now, though, a little digital party. For 12 years I’ve had a presence online that’s under my complete control, as opposed to being dependent on other websites / social media outlets, something I wish more people would understand is important.

Whatever case, here’s to 12 years of having my own little slice of cyberspace to do what I wish, and here’s to another 12 more!

More to come, as always.