This post is more or less just a test of the underlying system (hugo, zzo theme, etc.) and includes (some of) the reasons for doing this. Have a look here for the basic intentions of this site
Why not just use a public platform?
People keep asking constantly why I keep on running my own IT systems ("Self hosted, that’s so 20th century"). Well, there are several (IMHO good) reasons for that. Of course I could have used one of the notorious blog platforms, it would have been much easier - and cheaper. But…
First of all, I’m pretty privacy and data protection aware (even more so, when it comes to my own private data) and whom would you trust in today’s IT biz?
Secondly, as G+' shutdown clearly showed, nothing lasts forever. As soon as economic constraints step in, some suits trying to maximize their incomes decide to shut down your website, eMail account or whatsoever. No way to escape, no rescue, you’re kinda doomed…
Moreover - I grew up with the Internet in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the times when the Net was at least fairly democratic and users were largely considered equal. Nowadays a handful of (mainly US and Chinese) enterprises control the Net and its users, trying to monopolize it to their own benefit. This not only completely contradicts the intentions (and also the technologies!) of the Internet, it also puts users under tutelage. With all the bad effects already known…
And finally, I’m an engineer and running this site provides me a perfect playground for trying new (technical) stuff, making mistakes, learning from these and finally getting new insights for some of my teachings. So, I’ll keep running my own servers, sites and services. Forever. OK, almost…
The (weird?) color scheme
Strange, some say. At least hard to get used to, so the others. True. Obviously I’m not a designer, I guess I’m partucularly bad at these things. So I just used the colors from my (future) tube amplifier housings - grey, black and purple, combined with the greenish cyan from electron-ray indicator tubes ("magic eye tubes"). And - some sunset yellow representing neon lamps and tube heaters :-)
Comments?
Basically I do plan to include some sort of commenting system for this site in the future. Thus having said, I’m not willing to use any of the public services (e.g. Disqus etc.) due to privacy concerns. I have Isso for future use in mind, but this still needs to be tested and approved. So, this might take some time - stay tuned…
