I swear I'm gonna start swearing.
"Swearing is a sign of frustration: stupid people swear because they are frustrated with how stupid they are, smart people swear because they are frustrated with how stupid the stupid people are." - Me.
I was back at one of my usual tasks of trying to find a 'suitable site' for a project and of course I went looking for reviews. The usual suspects came up: WordPress, Wix, et cetera. Some of the reviews were from 2020. Some of them were from 2026. The content was nearly word-for-word identical. Come on, people! Can you name any web site that hasn't changed in the past six years? These 'reviews' were obviously simply parroting what the authors had read in previous reviews.
Having actually looked at many sites, including the usual suspects, earlier this year for another project I can assure you the laudatory content of the reviews is so much marsh gas. I pity anyone who is trying to undertake any kind of project that requires an Internet presence these days. Either you have to have the knowledge and resources to self-host, or you have to resign yourself to being another impossible-to-find face in a sea of suckers who have been taken in by the metaphorical ad in the back of the digital magazine: MAKE BIG MONEY ON THE INTERNET!
This is why I feel a compulsion to start swearing in all my posts: the sheer frustration of encountering this repetitious scamming from supposedly legitimate sites. Maybe the honest evaluation is that there are no 'legitimate' sites; the Internet has become the ultimate vanity press.
Okay, I haven't vented as much as I was going to, but for now I feel the pressure is off. I can go back to ignoring work and waiting for the next inspirational exasperation that causes me to rant again. Maybe next time I'll "go full Ginsberg" so I can relieve the frustration more effectively while at the same time offending any readers who might not appreciate my point of view or how I express it.
You no like? Bite me.